Chapters “Thanks for coming with me to Canterlot, Rainbow Dash.”
“No worries, Twilight. What are friends for?”
As the two ponies trotted, the purple alicorn gave a nervous chuckle, “Well, when I asked the other girls about accompanying me to the Royal Canterlot Library, they all seemed less than interested.”
The blue pegasus brushed it side, “They don’t know what they are missing. Besides, I like hanging out with you, egghead.”
Twilight giggled at her friend’s comment.
“So where is this place?”
“Oh, not far. Just up the road a bit.”
The two ponies finally arrived at a large, majestic looking building. While Twilight seemed unfazed about the library, Rainbow Dash seemed a bit frightened about the imposing building before her. There were fancy columns holding the structure up, stained-glass windows with different scenes from Equestrian history, and even the large doors of the entrance seemed to be something that was designed solely to be imposing to those who look at it. Those very same doors opened as Twilight and Dash neared them. Inside, the atrium of the library was vast. Ponies and all sorts of creatures were moving throughout the building. Some going into the many rows of shelves, others were quietly flying or trotting to other parts of the library. There were also some that were seated, deeply engrossed in their reading or work. But no matter what the others were doing, each and every single one was silent, only the sound of hoofsteps and hushed whispers echoed through the halls.
Under her breath, Dash muttered, “Whoa.”
“I had the same reaction when I first came here as a filly,” Twilight quietly commented with a smile as she started trotting onwards.
Dash took a second before following after, “Wait, where do you need to go again?”
“I am looking for a few books about the different architecture from past cultures in Equestria. I was wondering if there was some sort of underlying theme between the different cultures. Princess Celestia asked if I could help look into it,” the purple pony explained quietly as she trotted into one of the many rows of books.
Rainbow seemed a little surprised about the reasoning for the trip, “That’s it? That’s why we came here?” Her voice grew a bit louder.
Twilight turned and lightly hushed her, “Sshh! We are in a library! And yes, I know this library like the back of my hoof. So I know where the books are that might hold the answer we’re looking for.”
Tilting her head up as she walked, Rainbow looked at the towering book shelves, each holding countless books, “Not sure how you could find anything in this place….” she commented, “This place seems way too big for my liki- oof!” Her statement was cut off as she bumped into Twilight who had stopped in her tracks. “Why’d you stop?”
The purple alicorn was looking at one of the shelves, “Let’s see here….I know I’ll need ‘Early Griffon Society’ and ‘Unicorntopia: An Illustrated History’.” Using her magic, she pulled the books out from their housing on the shelves.
“Oh, need me to carry those?” Dash asked, her voice not being kept in check.
From somewhere nearby, both ponies heard a muffled, “Ssshh! Some of us are trying to read!”
Dash seemed to be embarrassed about her loud voice, “Sorry!” she whispered back, hoping the pony could hear her apology.
Twilight silently chuckled with a raised hoof. “If you want to, that would definitely help me as I get the last few books I need.” She carefully lowered the books upon Rainbow’s back.
While the books seemed to be easy to carry, they were pretty heavy on Dash, but she wouldn’t let it show.
“Now, what else?” Twilight returned to looking at the bookshelf, “I’ll need this, and this one as well.” With each new book, she added it onto the stack on her friend’s back. “And I think ‘Ancient Architecture Of Eastern Equestria’ will do it.” She placed the book on the stack and looked at Rainbow. It was obvious she was not doing too well with the large books on her back. “Uh….do you need some help, Rainbow?”
Dash was having a bi of trouble speaking, “Please….just take one or two off….”
Using her magic, Twilight took a couple books off and started trotting off towards an exit from the labyrinth of books.
The exit was a relief for Rainbow Dash, as she saw exactly where Twilight was going; a table to begin her research. Once the two reached a table, Rainbow collapsed and the books on her back fell down to the floor and on top of her, making a loud thudding sound. A number of ponies in the immediate area turned to Dash and shushed her for making such a racket.
Twilight picked up the books and helped her friend up off the floor, “Thanks for your help, Rainbow.”
“Yeah, no prob,” Dash stretched her wings out and moved them to make sure they weren’t hurt.
“Well, I’ll go ahead and get started on my research,” Twilight organized the table as if it was her workspace that she had back at her home in Ponyville.
“Alright, what am I supposed to do then?”
“You’re in a library, Rainbow, there are plenty of books that can captivate your imagination!” Twilight mused as she raised her hooves up as if to show off the building.
“I see….where are the books that I would like then?” Rainbow wasn’t sharing her friend’s enthusiasm. She’d rather just get to where the fiction books would be.
“Go ahead and explore. This is the Royal Canterlot Library, filled with all sorts of books that are just amazing,” Twilight continued quietly explaining as she opened up her first book.
Seeing that Twilight was diving head and horn first into her work, Rainbow decided to find her own way, “Okay then, I’ll find ya later.”
Rainbow started to wander to the front of the library. While she might not know libraries all that well, she did know that most libraries would have a directory of where a pony could find where certain books would be.
The trek back to the front was longer than she thought. Maybe it was the seemingly endless wall of books or the high ceilings, but Rainbow felt that this place was designed just for ponies to get lost in. But despite her fear of becoming trapped with the books, she found the atrium where she and Twilight had entered.
There was a pony asking help from the griffon librarian, so Rainbow figured she’d look for a map to find the fiction books. She didn’t like asking for help anyway; she was Rainbow Dash after all.
At the directory map at the edge of the circular room, she looked at the huge map of the library and the different topic areas. Biology. Mechanics. Magic. History. Architecture (where she had just come from). Folklore. Meteorology. Aerodynamics. Mathematics (an area Rainbow would never go into). Astronomy. There were tons of different sections, but none of what she was looking for.
It was just as Rainbow Dash had feared; there was no fiction section.
Rainbow galloped quickly across the tiles of the atrium, causing a loud echo to fill the air. She was quickly scolded by a unicorn librarian to both trot at a calm pace and to keep her noise level down. She followed the orders, but Rainbow still was moving in at a panicky speed. She had to tell Twilight of the horrors she just learned.
Again, she entered the large walls that housed the books. She continued on until she reached the table area where her alicorn friend was busy at work. Rainbow went up to Twilight.
“Twilight, there’s something horrible!” her voice was soft but jumpy at the revelation she had just learned.
“What? What is it?” Twilight turned, concerned.
“It’s just awful!”
“Yes?”
“Like, the absolute worst thing imaginable!”
“Yes, yes, what is it?” Twilight leaned in.
Rainbow Dash leaned carefully and whispered to Twilight, “There are no fiction books in this library.”
Twilight’s face turned to a mixture of annoyance and disbelief in Rainbow’s reaction, “Really? That’s what’s so awful?”
“It is!” Rainbow exclaimed in a hushed manner.
“Rainbow Dash, the Royal Canterlot Library doesn’t have any fiction books at all. It’s a research library,” Twilight explained.
“What?!” Rainbow exclaimed loudly.
Again, various other library patrons turned to the blue pegasus and shushed her for being loud.
Rainbow adjusted her statement and volume, “What do you mean? You knew about this?”
“Of course I knew about this. I spent most of my school years within these walls, studying numerous things for Princess Celestia. It was designed for researchers and learning more about a topic. I thought you knew that.”
“No, I didn’t know that!”
“Rainbow, do try to keep it down. Anyway, even though there’s no fiction books, I believe you can still find something that would spark your interest,” Twilight continued.
“I don’t know. I was hoping to find some more action-packed books, like Daring Do or other stuff,” Rainbow admitted.
“How about I help you find a book that’s right up your alley?”
“Okay, I guess,” Rainbow seemed to not be completely onboard.
Twilight guided Rainbow through he maze of books that made up the library. After a few turns, Dash was already lost and unable to figure her way back to where they had started.
“Let’s see….I believe this section would be good,” Twilight said to herself as she trotted down a row of books. She stopped as she saw a certain book that was up high on the shelf. “Oh, I think this is perfect for you,” she commented as she used her magic to lower the book down.
Rainbow looked at the front cover of the large, red book. In black lettering, it read ‘Fundamentals Of Aerodynamics’. “What is this?” Dash asked.
“It’s the book I read shortly after I gained my wings. It helped me understand heavier-than-air flight with wings, and it was quite a fascinating read. I think it’s something that’s a perfect fit for you,” Twilight trotted out of the aisle with Rainbow to a reading area. She placed the book on the table.
Looking at the book, Rainbow made a noise of doubt.
“Please do give it a shot? I have to get back to my research, I’m at a real interesting part in the ‘Early Griffon Society’ that deals with how they constructed their buildings,” Twilight trotted off back to her section of the library. Rainbow lost sight of her within moments.
Turning her attention back to the book Twilight had gotten for her, Rainbow sighed. It looked larger and even more boring now that it was out in the open. She opened the book and started to read the section that it had opened to. It read as such:
“Understanding the motion of air around n object (often called a flow field) enables the calculation of forces and moments action on the object. In many aerodynamics problems, the forces of interest are the fundamental forces of flight: lift drag, thrust, and weight. Of these, lift and drag are aerodynamic forces, i.e. forces due to air flow over a solid body. Calculation of these quantities is often founded upon the assumption….”
Rainbow Dash couldn’t make heads or tails of what she was reading. The sentences seemed completely made up and designed to make her head hurt. And to top it off, it seemed as if the words on the page were blending together, causing her to hate the book even more.
She thought to herself, ‘Ugh, this book is complete junk. I don’t need to know the science of how to fly, I already know how to fly.’ She hit her head down on the open book with a light thunk. ‘Maybe I’m not cut out for reading stuff like this. But I don’t want to hurt Twilight’s feelings. She did pick this book for me and is expecting me to read it. And, if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be interested in books to begin with.’ She raised her head up and had a determined look on her face, ‘I got to give it my all, for her. She’s my friend and, by Celestia, I’m not going to do my best for Twilight.’ She moved her limbs around as if she was trying to warm herself up and get herself psyched up for some sort of physically demanding task. Apparently, reading about aerodynamics is such for Rainbow Dash. She didn’t realize it, but her internal struggle and physical preparation was watched by a few library patrons around her, each one of them thinking she had completely lost her mind.
‘Alright, I got this,’ Rainbow said to herself silently, ‘I can read this, I can do this!’
She fell asleep three sentences into the first paragraph that she read.
“Rainbow,” a voice whispered, “Rainbow Dash, wake up.”
The pegasus opened her eyes to see a purple pony with a neat and tidy mane lightly shaking her awake. “Wha…?”
“Are you okay? It seems you fell asleep while reading.”
Lifting her head up, Rainbow noticed she had drooled on the hoof that she used as a pillow. She then quickly shouted, “I wasn’t asleep!”
A chorus of “ssshh!” came from throughout the library directed at the pegasus.
Twilight giggled softly at Rainbow’s statement, “It’s okay, it happened to me a lot when I was studying here as little filly.” She used her magic to both close the book and levitate it.
“Wait, are you done?” Rainbow asked quietly as she wiped the drool away.
Twilight started to trot toward one of the aisles of shelves. “Yup, I got all the facts I needed from those books and it’s ready to be put into a report for the princess.” She raised the book up with her magic and returned it to its proper location amongst the books. “There you go, back to your home.”
“So, that’s it?”
“That’s it!” Twilight chimed with a smile.
“Ah, alright.”
The two were quiet as they trotted out of the library.
“How’d you like that book on aerodynamics?” the purple alicorn asked now that she didn’t have to whisper.
Dash almost tripped over her own hooves at the question, “Oh, uh….it was…..um, really something….”
“Did ya learn anything good in there? Before you dozed off that is,” Twilight smiled at the second part of her statement.
“Yeah, I really did. A lot, I learned a lot. Too much even,” Rainbow lied through her teeth. She didn’t have the heart to tell her that she actually found the book boring and she fell asleep after a few sentences.
“I’m glad to hear that. And don’t feel bad about falling asleep while reading. It happened to be a lot when I was here. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how exciting or fascinating the book is, there are times when your eyelids grow too heavy,” Twilight said.
Rainbow was feeling guilty, “Hey Twi, can I be honest with ya? I didn’t like that book at all. I mean, it was so dang boring.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I couldn’t figure anything out in that book,” Rainbow admitted, “But it’s not like I tried. I really did try to read the book since you picked it out for me and stuff. Since you went through he trouble and all. I didn’t want you to hate me for not reading it.”
Twilight couldn’t help but laugh, puzzling Rainbow Dash.
“What’s so funny?” the pegasus asked.
“You, silly!” Twilight finally ceased her laughing but still had a smile on her face, “Rainbow, you don’t have to force yourself to do anything for me to like you. You’re already my friend and I like you for who you already are.”
“Even though I don’t like reading all the same stuff as you?”
“Of course! Why would I not like you for not sharing every single interest I have? You’re you and I’m me. So what if we’re not exactly the same? I say we still make a pretty good team, if I do say so myself.”
Rainbow Dash lightly blushed at what Twilight said, “We….We make a good team together?” She paused for a moment to think before adding on, “Huh, I guess we kinda do make a good team.”
Twilight smiled brightly as she wrapped one of her limbs around Rainbow’s neck and pulled her in for trotting hug, “Come on, teammate, let’s go get something to eat. My treat.”
END