Princess Sparkle Royal Library
Twilight Sparkle soared gracefully through the air, descending toward Ponyville. She was a bit exhausted; for the past two days, Princess Luna had been giving her lessons in making stars appear in the night sky. While she had not explicitly been given reign over any particular region yet, the princesses were easing her into her life as a Princess by giving her provisional dominion over the stars. For the time being, she had control over Scorpio and Canis Major.
Tired though she was, she was looking forward to returning to her comfortable library home and seeing all her friends, who had returned to Ponyville after the Princess Summit. Landing, she cantered up the main street of Ponyville. Around her, ponies knelt as she passed, something she had yet to grow accustomed to.
As she approached the library, she discovered crews of contractors and farm ponies swarming around the mighty tree. A crane crew had hoisted a new sign over the entrance which proclaimed:
PRINCESS SPARKLE ROYAL LIBRARY
She blinked. Trotting up, she cleared her throat. "Excuse me. What's going on here?"
Gasps arose from the throng, and the ponies knelt to her. The one in charge of lifting the sign accidentally released the lever, and the sign dropped dangerously to the ground. Twilight quickly captured it in her magic and lifted it.
"Oops, sorry about that, Yer Highness."
"I repeat...what's going on here?"
The foreman, wearing a different-colored safety helmet than the other workers, stepped forward, bowing. "The mayor signed an order to rename and expand the library. Seein' as a princess is livin' here now and all."
Twilight groaned. "First I've heard about this. It'd be nice if she'd bothered to ask..."
"Umm...Yer Highness? We swear we'll do our best not to bother you while we work..."
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Very well. Is it safe to go inside?"
"Ah, yes'm. Go right ahead."
"Thank you." Twilight opened the door and trotted inside.
As soon as she crossed the threshold, a mint green blur tackled her to the ground. "YOUSAWHUMANS!"
Twilight bucked whatever had assaulted her across the room and got to her hooves. Charging her horn warily, she searched for whatever had just tackled her, only to find a green unicorn splayed against the wall. She blinked. "Oh, hi Lyra. Umm...why did you just tackle me to the ground?"
Lyra peeled herself off the wall and bounced over to Twilight, hopping excitedly in place. "I heard all about it! Pinkie Pie said you went to another world! Spike told me about what you saw there! YOU SAW HUMANS! You've got to tell me EVERYTHING!"
Twilight's left ear twitched. "Uhh, Lyra? I just flew in from Canterlot, and I'm REALLY tired, and apparently they're remodeling the library, so if you could just...maybe wait until later?"
Lyra's ears drooped. "Oh. Okay." She skulked past the princess. "I'll come back tomorrow."
"Yyyyeah, you do that."
As Lyra left, Pinkie Pie trotted in. "Hey Twilight!" she called. "Welcome back! I'm sorry I don't have a welcome back party ready for you, but things have been really really super-busy!"
"That's okay, Pinkie," Twilight said with a smile. "I'm too tired to party right now anyway."
"I'll bet you are!" Pinkie giggled. "We all saw that little...um...accident you had with Canis Major."
Twilight blushed. "Please don't bring that up."
"Oh, come on! It was funny! Dashie thought it was the best prank ever!"
"It wasn't a prank, it was just--" Twilight groaned. "Anyway, what's up with Lyra? She seemed...really excited about my trip to the other world."
"Yeah, I know! It turns out Lyra's great-great-granny was from that other world, and came to Equestria through the mirror! But nopony believed her and thought she was like really really loco in the coco, but Lyra found her granny's journal and read all about that other world and humans, so she's been like really super-obsessed with humans since she was a filly. And now you've been there and seen humans and it proves her granny wasn't a Crazy Pants McSillyface, so she wants to know everything you did and saw there!"
Twilight groaned. "Wonderful." She winced at a stream of loud hammering from outside. "And THIS mess?"
"Oh, well...everypony thought it'd be a really good idea if since you're still living in Ponyville even though you're a Princess now that you should better have a bigger more Princessy place to live, but we know how much you love libraries so we thought it'd work best if we just made the library a lot bigger, so all the farm ponies are working on making the tree grow bigger and the carpenters are adding expansions to make it all more--"
"Okay, enough, I get it." Twilight sighed. "Well, I guess I wouldn't mind having a bigger library. I was starting to run out of shelf space after all." She yawned. "Let everypony know I'm back, okay? I'm headed up to bed."
"Oh, um...Twilight? Your bed's down in the basement."
Twilight blinked. "What?"
"Well...you heard how loud this remodeling is, and...they're kinda completely rebuilding your bedroom. So Spike and Applejack moved your bed and all your stuff into the basement."
Twilight groaned. "Okay then. I'm headed down to bed apparently. See you tomorrow, Pinkie."
"Bye, Twilight!"
* * * * *
The next morning, Twilight and Spike had barely finished breakfast when the workers arrived. The noise they were making was unbearable, but Twilight persevered with the grace of a true princess.
At 9:30am, Lyra zoomed in.
"TELLMEABOUTHUMANS!"
"Now's not a good time, Lyra."
"OHCOMEONPLEASE?"
"Later, Lyra."
"I'LLBEBACKAFTERLUNCH!"
Lyra was barely out the front door when Rainbow Dash breezed in. "Hey Twi!" she called. She had a twisted, mischevious grin on her face. "AWESOME prank with Canis Major."
"It wasn't a prank! It was an accident!"
Rainbow snickered. "Yeah, it sure was an accident alright."
Twilight rolled her eyes. "So, was there something you wanted?"
"Oh...uh, yeah, actually. I heard about this comic from Neighpony some of my friends from the academy have been reading. I was wondering if you have it here in the library?"
"Sorry, Rainbow Dash, I don't have a section for comics, foreign or otherwise."
Spike popped out from under the reading table, where he was scraping chewing gum that thoughtless ponies had left behind. "We're putting one in after the remodel," he said.
Twilight blinked. "We are?"
"Uh-huh," Spike said. "It's a pretty popular request, so I sort of approved it while you were away. Since we'll have the room and all."
"Oh. Uh. Alright...I guess..."
Rainbow Dash sighed. "Guess I'll have to wait until after they're done working on the place then."
"Which comic were you looking for?" Spike asked.
"The one about ninja deer. Ummm...Narato or something, I think."
Spike nodded. "I've got that. You can borrow a few volumes while you wait, if you want."
"Awesome!" Dash cried, giving Spike a noogie. "You're the best, Spike!"
Spike led Rainbow Dash down to the basement to go through his comics collection. Twilight sighed. "Good grief..."
There was a knock on the frame of the open door. "Hello? Princess Sparkle?"
"Yes?" Twilight asked.
A unicorn mare whose coat was a slightly lighter shade of lavender than her own, with a black and green mane and a screwdriver Cutie Mark, stood inside the door. "My name is Zile, I'm here to install your telephone," she said in a Saddle Arabian accent.
Twilight blinked. "Telephone?"
"Yes...we're setting up a public telephone system in Ponyville, like the one they have in Manehattan," Zile said. "Every residence and business in Ponyville will have a telephone, with only a slight increase in taxes to cover the service." She paused. "N-not that you need to worry about taxes anymore, Your Highness. After all, you're a town official now..." Zile laughed nervously.
Twilight blinked. "Umm...okay? I...had no idea Ponyville was getting telephone service. I mean, Canterlot doesn't even have telephones yet!"
"Oh, Canterlot is getting them next month," Zile said. "We are setting the system up in Ponyville first."
"Because it's easier to set up and test the system in a smaller town?"
"That and we're not sure the new switching apparatus won't explode and cause a feedback surge that'll..." Zile trailed off. "Nevermind, we haven't had a disaster yet."
Twilight's eye twitched. "Uh...huh. Well, um..."
"I'll just install this over on the checkout counter," Zile said, opening her saddlebag and pulling out a lot of equipment and tools. "I'll be out of your mane in ten minutes."
"Right. Take your time," Twilight said.
Spike and Rainbow Dash resurfaced, the latter tucking a few comics in her saddlebag. "Oh, by the way," Rainbow Dash said to Twilight as she headed for the door, "I think I'm gonna add a few cloud balconies around the top of the library once they're done working on it."
Twilight tilted her head. "Why?"
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "For hanging out, duh!" With that, she left.
A few brief minutes passed in relative silence. Then, Apple Bloom trotted in, looking contrite. "Umm, Princess Twilight?" she asked. "Could...could we get your help with something?"
"Of course, Apple Bloom. What can I do for you?"
Apple Bloom nodded to somepony outside, and her friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo trotted in, the earth filly following behind them. Sweetie Belle had a sheepish, guilty expression on her face, and Scootaloo looked very upset.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "What did you girls do this time?" she asked.
"It's not what you think!" Apple Bloom said hastily. "Um, well...not really, anyway." She paused. "We weren't crusadin' for our Cutie Marks. We were just helpin' Sweetie Belle practice her magic."
"Go on..."
Suddenly, Scootaloo let out a loud, chicken-like cluck and began pecking at the ground. Sweetie Belle blushed.
Twilight frowned. "What's wrong with Scootaloo?"
"Well..." Sweetie Belle said. "You've heard of hypnosis, right?"
"Yes..." Twilight said warily.
"Well...I might've tried to hypnotize Scootaloo into thinking she's a chicken..."
Scootaloo let out a squawk and laid an egg.
"Yeah, and, um...it might've worked a little too well..."
* * * * *
At lunchtime, Applejack showed up with a catering wagon loaded with apple treats. The construction workers gratefully and eagerly attacked the buffet lunch, and Twilight helped herself to some of Applejack's famous fritters and a large piece of apple pie. During lunch, Applejack asked, "So Twi...what was all that about, with Canis Major peein' shootin' stars?"
Twilight blushed. "It was an accident," she groaned. "Honestly, am I ever going to live that down?"
Lyra burst in, gasping for air. "TELLMEABOUTHUMANS! NOW!"
Twilight gave her a hard, frosty stare.
"Um...please. Your Highness?"
Twilight sighed. "Wait right here. Spike? Take a letter..."
* * * * *
Three hours later, Princess Celestia arrived at the library. The two alicorns put their heads together and whispered back and forth for several minutes. Finally, the ruler of Equestria sighed. "I don't know if this will even work, and I'm not convinced it's a good idea..."
"We can try," Twilight said. "It's better than having her nag me all the time when I'm trying to deal with all THIS mess and everything else."
Celestia chuckled. "Very well." She stood and raised her voice. "Lyra Heartstrings? Please, come here..."
* * * * *
The sun had set, and Twilight stood outside the library, focusing her power and attention on the stars. Slowly, steadily, the two constellations she had been given control of winked into view, one star at a time. Scorpio and Canis Major were allowed to twinkle brightly in the empty night sky for several minutes before Luna raised the moon and filled the night sky with the rest of the stars.
Twilight sighed happily, and turned toward the door, when...
"YEE-HA!"
Twilight stared at the bizarre sight speeding through the dark streets.
A mint-green human teenager wearing a cream-colored sweater and dark blue skirt sat astride a cream-colored pony with a two-tone mane, who was galloping down the dirt road with a distinctly displeased scowl on her face. "Twilight Sparkle," Bon Bon growled as the duo rode past, "I swear I will get you for this!"