[Bookhorse related title here]
"Ugh..." Moaned a sleepy-looking Rainbow Dash as she rested her head on a tree. "Remind me, why are we up this early again?"
In front of the annoyed pegasus stood Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy. Applejack sighed in response to Rainbow's question.
"For the third time now, Dash... all books in Equestria have disappeared and it's our duty to find the thief!" Applejack explained to her friend.
Rainbow Dash's eyes closed for a brief moment before they shot open again. "Right." Dash replied, rubbing her sleepy eyes. "So you dragged me out of bed to get back some dusty old books?"
Applejack rolled her eyes. "Some ponies in Equestria actually read books, ya know."
"Pfft. Please!" Dash gave out casually, still resting in the shadow of the tree. "If the eggheads love their books so much, they can get them back themselves." Closing her eyes, Dash set her head back on the tree behind her.
For a few seconds there was silence.
"Um...Rainbow Dash...?" Asked Fluttershy in her usual quiet voice. Rainbow Dash opened her right eye, spotting that her yellow-coated friend now stood right in front of her.
"Mhm?" Rainbow Dash mumbled loudly, closing her eye again.
Fluttershy hesitated to reply, looking back at Rarity and Applejack before finally opening her mouth, whispering ever so quietly: "Um, Rainbow Dash, doesn't it mean they have your..." She paused, gulping before continuing. "Don't they also have your Daring Do books?" Fluttershy grew so quiet that the others barely managed to understand her anymore.
Rainbow's eyes shot open, this time with anger and determination. "Oh, it. is. on." Dash said, pushing herself off the ground. "Where's this joker at? Me and him need to have a little..." She took a deep breath. "...talk."
"Now hold your horses, Dash." Applejack interrupted. "I'm sure there's a better way to deal with this thief than beatin' him up. Besides, we still need to wait for Pinkie and Twilight." Applejack concluded, causing Rainbow to grumble quietly.
"Speaking of Pinkie Pie and Twilight..." Rarity began, turning her head around frantically before looking at her friends again. "Where are they? Have they not gotten notice of this?"
"I, um...I did tell them about it. Or...um, I think I did." She paused, seemingly shrinking before the watching eyes of her friends. "...I hope I did..."
Much to Fluttershy's relief, Pinkie Pie appeared from behind the trees, casually bouncing up and down, toward the group of friends.
"Um...Pinks?" AJ asked. "How'd you manage to get behind that tree without any of us noticing?" Rarity nodded, also curious to hear her explanation.
"Hm? Oh, that!" Pinkie began. "That's easy, I just asked Twilight to teleport me over to you guys!" She replied happily. The other three looked at her in confusion. "What? It's not like I can just break the laws of physics and reality whenever I want to. My Great Grandpa tried that once, and I definitely don't wanna end up like him."
Fluttershy raised an a hoof. "Um, what...what happened to your Great Grandpa...?"
"Oh, he got sucked into a black hole and was never seen again." Pinkie replied joyfully.
The others looked even more clueless now.
"Hold on a moment, Pinkie." Rarity said. "You said Twilight got you here, yes?"
Pinkie Pie nodded her head affirmatively. "Yup yup! That's what I said."
"Then where is Twilight?" Rarity and Applejack asked in unison.
"Oh, pfft, that." Pinkie replied. "I noticed that the door to Twilight's castle stood open when I made my way over to you girls. Being the good friend that I am, I entered her castle to check if Twilight was ok. Then, when I turned up at her library, I saw Twilight sitting on top of a gigantic pile of books. I asked if she had slept well, to which she responded with some weird screeching so... I think she slept well."
The others looked at each other as questions formed. "Yeah but...why'd she teleport you here? And why isn't twi here herself?" Applejack asked.
"Weeeell..." Pinkie replied. "...I dunno."
Rarity raised an eyebrow at her statement. "What do you mean you don't know?"
Pinkie put a hoof on her chin as she thought deeply. Well, as deep as a Pinkie Pie can think anyways. "The last thing I remember was her screaming 'Books!'. That's when I suddenly appeared here. Weird, huh?"
The others looked at Pinkie Pie in confusion.
"I'd say 'weird' is the careful way to put it." Applejack spoke up. Rainbow Dash and Rarity nodded.
"Forgive me, Pinkie Pie, but... did you say Twilight was sitting on top of a pile of books?" Rarity asked politely.
"Oooh yeah!" Pinkie replied joyfully. "It was enormous! It almost reached to the ceiling, that's how large it was. And now that I think about it, I think the rest of the library was filled with books as well."
"How unusual for a library, hm?" Rainbow Dash commented sarcastically.
"Well in this case it is unusual, Rainbow." Applejack countered. "All books in Equestria have vanished from one day to another, and suddenly a gigantic pile of books appears in Twi's library?" AJ asked into the group.
"Somethin' ain't right..." She mumbled to herself.
Roughly 10 minutes later, the group of friends now stood before the castle of friendship. They noticed right away that the doors were no longer open, but shut.
They slowly advanced towards the doors, Applejack and Rainbow Dash in front, while Fluttershy was last, ~~cowering behind Rarity~~ watching their backs.
Applejack gulped as the group arrived at the locked doors. She shivered briefly, but quickly shrugged it off. She was not a softy like Fluttershy, after all.
She knocked on the door three times and then stood back. The entire group watched and listened in anticipation of some kind of response.
"You sure Twi's home?" Rainbow Dash asked, turning to Pinkie Pie.
Before she could reply, the door opened, ever so slowly. It made a creaky sound, which was followed up by a scared gasp from Fluttershy, who was cowering behind Rarity at this point.
"Um, hello? Anyone there?" Rainbow asked out loud as there was nopony to be seen who could have opened the door for them. A slight bit of fear could be heard in her voice.
"Ahem." Said a familiar voice. The group lowered their heads, spotting Spike as he stood in the door. "I'm down here..."
Spike walked out of the door, briefly looking back inside as he did so.
"Thank Celestia you're here." Said Spike with a lowered voice.
The group looked at Spike in relief, but also in confusion. Except for Fluttershy, of course, she was still on the brink of passing out.
"Spike?" Dash asked. "What are you doing here? And where's Twilight?"
Spike looked back at her with a grumpy face. "Well, first off, I live here," He replied, making Dash blush at her ~~completely retarded~~ silly question. "And second off, Twilight is a little..." He paused, looking for a suiting word. "...occupied, to say the least."
"Occupied? With what?" Asked Rarity.
Spike opened his mouth, but was interrupted as Pinkie Pie appeared behind him. "Oh! Oh! Oh! I know! She's busy reading stolen books non-stop while not eating, sleeping, taking a shower or doing anything else that's not reading!"
The others, especially Spike, looked at her in total confusion. Not because she magically teleported behind Spike of course, that was kind of a normal thing for them to see from Pinkie by now.
"Pinkie, how did you-" Spike began, interrupting himself mid-sentence. "Nevermind..."
"So you're sayin' Twi is the thief?" Applejack asked Spike in shock.
"Looks like it." Spike replied. "Unless you can find another pony in Equestria that is literally swimming in books." He added with a smile.
A loud noise from within the castle attracted their attention. Fluttershy gulped as she, once again, hid herself behind Rarity. The other 4 ponies looked at Spike in response to the loud noise. Spike, knowing more than well who caused the noise, gave out a sigh.
"I think It's best you girls take a look for yourself." Spike said, turning around and walking off into the castle. The others looked at each other briefly, then followed close behind. "About time Twi gets some help..." Spike mumbled under his breath as he lead the group towards the library. As they got closer, they could hear loud, intense breathing, followed by the chittering of Fluttershy's teeth.
"Get your act together, Flutters," Said Rainbow Dash without turning to look at her. "We're only meeting Twilight, nothing to be afraid of."
Fluttershy's body shivered as the chittering of her teeth became even louder. "B-but... what if..." Fluttershy stuttered.
"Relax," Applejack said calmingly as she looked back at her friend. "I'm sure This's all just a misunderstandin'. No need to worry."
Fluttershy managed to calm herself, or so it seemed to the others, as she smiled back at Applejack. AJ, feeling just a tad accomplished by calming her friend down, looked to her front once more, where Spike was still leading them, with Rainbow hovering behind him.
And then they walked. And walked... and walked. They also ate some Ice Cream on the way and had a heated discussion about the domestic problems of Equestria and how the Princesses should handle them.
We'll skip all that however, seeing as how this story is restricted to books and eggheads only. Also because we lack the budget to hire a more competent writer...and because I'm lazy. Oh well.
Ahem.
After what felt like hours to them, the group of ponies were simply unable to go any further. They were exhausted.
"Spike..." Rarity gave out, laying on the ground as she breathed heavily. Spike turned around, only now seeing just how exhausted all of them were. "Tell me if I'm wrong..." She paused as she took a deep breath. "...but wasn't the way to the library much shorter last time we visited?"
Spike scratched the back of his head awkwardly as the ponies looked at him. "Well, you see..." He paused, looking at the others for a brief moment as he continued to scratch his head. "No clue, actually."
The others raised an eyebrow in surprise. "What do you mean you ain't got a clue? Thought you live here?" Asked Applejack, speaking for the others as well.
"I do, but... it just kinda appeared from nothing. Twilight said she didn't have anything to do with it either. She was too busy stealing and reading books after all..." Spike explained. The group of ponies looked just as puzzled as before.
"Hey, it's not my fault, don't look at me like that." Spike said in defense. "Blame the writer for plot holes, not me. I'm just an asset here."
"Ooooh..." Replied the group in unison.
"That still marks the question however..." Applejack said. "How are we gonna get out of this endless corridor?"
"Yeah, how are we gonna get out? Some of us actually have appointments, you know." Dash added, referring to her weekly hooficure.
"Oh, oh, oh! I Know!" Said Pinkie Pie in a loud voice. "We could just-"
"No, Pinkie Pie, we can't." Applejack interrupted. "There's ponies here who actually can't teleport through time and space, ya know?"
Pinkie Pie's ears flattened in response. "Ooooh...right."
"Question still stands though." Applejack said, turning back to Spike. "How are we gonna get out of here?"
"Oh don't worry about that." Spike replied casually, walking off into the distance.
"What do ya mean 'don't worry'? We're trapped for Celestia's sake!" Applejack shouted after him.
"No, I mean don't worry as in 'the door to the library is right here'." Spike replied ever so casually, opening the large doors of the library that, apparently, nopony else had noticed until now.
...I guess being a hero doesn't automatically imply you also own a functioning brain.
"Hold on..." Hushed Applejack as they arrived at the entrance. "Can y'all hear that?" She asked quietly, referring to sounds coming from inside the library.
Rarity walked up to Applejack, listening closely. "It sounds like... talking, don't you think?"
Applejack nodded in silence as Rainbow Dash walked up to her and Rarity. "Sounds familiar to me."
The three of them looked at each other as they realized just who it was that they heard.
"Right then..." Applejack said, gulping quietly as a slight bit of fear went over her. "Let's go y'all." She said in a hushed voice.
Applejack was the first to peek her head into the room, followed by Dash and Rarity close behind her. Then Pinkie Pie shortly after and at last Spike who was pushing Fluttershy into the room with all his might. ~~Must suck not being part of the equine master race.~~
The Six ponies ~~and their unimportant dragon underling~~ froze as a gigantic pile of books blocked their path. About three-quarters of the library was now purely filled with books, allowing one to literally swim in them. Something Pinkie Pie tried out right away of course. But while Pinkie was busy swimming (and drowning) in books, the others noticed something odd.
It was silent... too silent...
That line is generic and dumb.
"Do y'all hear that...?" Applejack asked, looking at Rainbow Dash who was floating above the ground to her right.
"Hear what?" Dash replied.
"Exactly, there's nothin'. Something's fishy..."
The group looked up the huge pile of books as books suddenly came crashing down on them. The first one was aimed at Rarity, which she managed to barely dodge, followed by a polite insult to whoever threw said book at her.
Rainbow Dash laughed at Rarity, but was shut up when a thick book hit her right in the head, causing her to tumble out of the air.
"Twilight!" Shouted Rarity as Rainbow Dash laid in front of her, seemingly passing out. "Could you please stop throwing solid objects at us? That would be much appreciated."
She turned to Applejack who was helping Dash get back on her hooves. "It's all about being polite, you see."
Rarity screamed as multiple books struck her on the head, one of which got stuck on her horn.
"Yeah, all 'bout bein' polite." Applejack replied with a giggle. Rarity grumbled loudly, looking as if she were to explode at any second.
"TWILIGHT SPARKLE! STOP THIS MADNESS AT ONCE!" She yelled out as loud and angry as she could. Everything turned silent.
Pinkie Pie suddenly stuck her head out of the mountain of books, causing Fluttershy, who stood in front of her, to flinch and cower in fear.
"Wait, Twilight? I thought we were looking for the cupcakes I lost in here?" She asked, making the others look at her in confusion.
"Oh well, I guess I'll have to make new ones then." She said, looking over to Rainbow Dash who still laid on the ground, rubbing her in pain. "Wanna help me out again, Rainbow?"
Rainbow Dash's eyes widened. "The horror... the horror..." She said quietly to herself. "I'll never touch a cupcake again. Never..." She said, shivering all over her body.
"Right," Applejack interrupted, looking back over to Pinkie. "So, Pinkie..." She started, making Pinkie cock her head slightly. "Can't you, like, make Twilight appear out of nowhere or somethin'? Is that somethin' you can do with...whatever it is that makes ya so random?"
Pinkie giggled in response. "Oh yeaaah, sure I can do that. I can also choke somepony by winking at them if I want to."
Applejack and the others looked back at her in horror. "So... could ya do that?" She asked. "The teleport twilight thing, not that other one. Please don't do that other one."
Pinkie Pie nodded, turned around and dived back into the mountain of books. The others looked at each other as their crazy, pink friend disappeared within the endless amounts of books.
"Think we'll ever see her again?" Applejack asked with a sense of humour as she helped up Dash who still laid on the ground.
"Well, I hope so." Fluttershy said, quiet as always. "Who else would throw parties for us and... and make lovely cupcakes?"
Rainbow Dash cringed at hearing the word 'cupcake'.
"Got her!" Pinkie Pie shouted from within the wall of books.
The others watched as a familiar pony appeared from within the books. With a dull sound Twilight collided with the ground, holding a book in her hooves as she laid on the ground, still reading. Pinkie Pie then jumped out of the same spot Twilight had appeared in, casually walking over to the rest of the group. The four other ponies were unsure whether to be happy to see Twilight or if they should be worried.
"Twilight...?" Applejack said in a lowered voice, stepping closer to Twilight who still laid on the ground, not moving as she read a large, thick book.
"Twilight, dear, are you alright?" Rarity asked in a caring voice, keeping her distance as Applejack inched closer to Twilight.
"Twi, you alright?" Applejack asked, even quieter this time. She was close to Twilight, stretching out a hoof towards her when...
"Wake up, Twilight! The library is on fire!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she hovered above Twilight.
"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack yelled.
"What?" Dash asked innocently.
They were interrupted as Twilight moved. The group watched as she rose up from the ground, and how she slowly turned towards them.
"G...Girls?" Twilight said, rubbing her eyes as she spotted the group of friends. "W-what's going on? Where am I?"
The 5 friends looked at each other for a brief moment, worry could be seen on all of their faces. "It's alright, Twi. We're here for ya." Applejack said caringly. The other nodded affirmatively. "We're in your castle. We were worried for ya because you didn't show up to our meeting and-"
Twilight's eyes widened. "The meeting! Oh no, I'll be late! I've got to pack my things and-"
"Sshhh..." Applejack said as she put a hoof on her mouth. "It's alright, sugarcube. We're here for ya."
Twilight calmed down a bit, raising a hoof to her head in confusion. "I'm just... so confused. What happened?"
Unexpectedly, Spike marched forward, past the group of ponies. "I think I can explain." He said, now standing between Appleack and Twilight and the rest of the group. "It started with you acting out of the norm two days ago. I noticed you were missing out on most of your appointments of the day, but you were instead using almost all your time to read books in the library. It got me a bit worried, but I didn't think much of it at first. Then, yesterday, everything had changed. When I entered the library in the afternoon, you were piling up books. You were piling them up so quickly and without end, so that the mountain of books soon reached to the ceiling. To the ceiling!"
Rainbow Dash stepped forward, standing next to him. "And that's why we're here. Well, kind of. We were also worried about you. We were told that something caused all books in Equestria to disappear from one day to the other. Celestia wanted us to find whoever did this and..."
She paused, scratching the back of her head as she looked at Twilight awkwardly. "How do I say this..."
"And that thief seems to be you, Twilight." Applejack said.
Twilight looked at Applejack in confusion, then glanced over to Rainbow Dash and the others. "W-what? But I could never do something like that! I would never steal from others!"
"Twi..." Dash said, pointing a hoof at what was behind her. "You might wanna turn around."
Twilight raised an eyebrow but turned around nevertheless. She was almost immediately stunned as she saw the massed books in front of her that filled over half of the room, reaching from the ground up to the ceiling. She was not stunned because of feeling guilty for stealing them however. For Twilight, there was a completely different reason.
"Books..." She mumbled to herself, barely audible to Applejack who stood right behind her. "So...many..."
Applejack raised an eyebrow as she heard her mumbling. "Twi...you alright?" She asked, resting a hoof on her back.
Applejack noticed that saliva was dripping down Twilight's mouth. She gulped, turning her head around to the others. "Y'all might wanna lend me a hoof here."
Before the others could react, Twilight turned around, dashing towards Applejack who had stood right behind her. Applejack was knocked off her hooves, caught almost completely off guard.
"Booooks! I. Need. Boooks!" Twilight yelled into Applejack's face, spitting at her by accident as she did so.
"Twilight! What are you doing?" Rainbow Dash yelled back at Twilight. "Cut it out, Twi!" She yelled again, now taking flight and speeding across the room towards Twilight and Applejack.
Her attempt to 'save' Applejack was futile however, and she found herself frozen in mid-air, surrounded by the glow of Twilight's magical aura.
"Lemme go! Magic isn't fair!" Dash said, wiggling around as she was unable to move.
"What in tarnation has gotten into ya? We're your friends, Twilight!" Applejack said loudly, still laying beneath Twilight who refused to let her go.
"Books! I need them! All of them!" Twilight said in an unstable voice, her eyes and head twitching as she talked.
Suddenly, multiple books piled up next to Twilight, out of sheer nothingness. She engulfed them in her aura, causing them to lift off into the air as well as opening them.
"Endless knowledge...endless..." Twilight mumbled to herself as she began reading the different books in front of her, completely ignoring Applejack, Rainbow Dash and the others.
"Oh no..." Fluttershy said, ever so quiet. "What is wrong with Twilight?" She asked, looking over to Spike who stood close to her.
Spike sighed at her question. "I'm unsure. It may just be the lack of sleep that's driving her insane, or it may be because she cast a dumb spell on herself or something." His voice was surprisingly monotone for what was currently happening.
"Is there nothing we can do to help her?" Fluttershy asked, looking back over to the frozen Rainbow Dash and knocked down Applejack. "There has to be something we can do, right?" She asked back to Spike.
Spike shook his head. "Not that I would know. She seems pretty dedicated to this. And one thing is for sure, when Twilight is dedicated, she will stay dedicated until her job is done."
Fluttershy's ears flattened at his response.
"I agree with Fluttershy, there is a cure for everything." Rarity said, stepping forward. "And if fate demands it, I shall find it myself!" She said proudly, moving forward with big steps.
"Twilight, dear, you must cease this nonsense at once!" Rarity said, ever so politely.
About two seconds later, a bang could be heard, followed by Rarity flying across the room. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Spike winced as Rarity hit one of the bookshelfs with full force. Of course, Spike was the first to come to her aid, shouting "My Rari-poo, nooo!" as he ran towards her as fast as his little, short legs carried him.
But while Pinkie Pie and Spike turned their attention to Rarity, who was more worried about her ruined hairstyle than her well-being, Fluttershy did not. She instead moved closer to Twilight, breathing violently as she got closer. Her eyes narrowed, giving Twilight a determined stare as she drew closer.
And then, after just a couple seconds, she stood behind Twilight who still read her books with great dedication. Next to Fluttershy hovered Rainbow Dash, still frozen in place. Fluttershy took a deep breath, carefully opening her mouth.
"Um, excuse me Twilight..." She began, ever so quiet and careful, "But um, could you maybe let Rainbow Dash and Applejack go?" She asked. "Oh and um...could you also stop being insane? I mean, only if you want to of course..."
Needless to say, Fluttershy's speech wasn't exactly...convincing. Twilight simply kept her eyes locked on the books, while Rainbow Dash and Applejack shook their heads at how unassertive Fluttershy was.
Seing this, as well as not getting a valid response from Twilight, Fluttershy found it was time for Plan B.
"Um...ok. I guess you don't want to stop reading, that's ok." She said, turning around and walking off.
"I'll just have to take the books from you forcefully then, I hope you don't mind." She added. She then turned back around, charging forward at Twilight. Before she could react, Twilight was hit in the face by Fluttershy's front hooves. At first she tumbled, then her magic ceased, freeing Rainbow Dash as well as causing the books around her, as well as Rainbow Dash, to fall to the ground. Then she passed out, dropping to the ground.
Fluttershy turned to Twilight who now laid on the ground. "Thanks Twilight, I knew you wouldn't disapoint me." She then looked back over to her two friends who she had freed in her ~~barbaric~~ heroic charge. Applejack scratched the back of her head before slowly trying to get back up onto her hooves, while Rainbow Dash had already lifted off into the air again.
"Thanks Flutters..." Applejack said with a tiny bit of pain in her voice as Fluttershy helped her get back up. "Dunno what we'd do without ya." She said, looking over to where Rarity, Spike and Pinkie still stood. "...Since some ponies have more important things to do, it seems..." Applejack grumbled, rolling her eyes afterwards.
"Oh, no worries Applejack." Replied Fluttershy. "I was, um, just doing my part."
"Your part?" Asked Rainbow Dash as she tapped the head of Twilight's seemingly lifeless body. "You knocked her straight out!"
Fluttershy took a step back from Dash in reaction to this, feeling quilty to have hurt a friend like that. "I-I'm sorry, I..."
"Kidding? That was awesome! I never knew you could land a hit as strong as that. Up until now the worst I've seen you do is crack open a peanut. And you cried for a solid 15 minutes afterwards."
Fluttershy looked back at Rainbow Dash with slight confusion. "You...you aren't mad at all?"
"Mad? Never! If it wasn't for her stupid magic I would have done the same thing." Rainbow Dash said cheerfully.
"Uhm...girls? You two done?" Applejack interrupted.
"You lack style though. I can try to teach you some of my own personal techniques of awesomeness if you wanna." Dash said, ignoring Applejack completely.
"You think I would be able to learn those things?" Fluttershy replied, also firmly ignoring her apple loving friend.
"Please. Anything is possible with a coach like me! Come on, I'll get you started right away!" Dash said, flying off through one of the many windows in the library with Fluttershy following close behind.
...Wait, why didn't they just use those windows in the first place? They used the endless corridors and walked around aimlessly for countless minutes, if not hours...and all the while there are open windows in the very library they are trying to reach? Really?
Sigh. I don't get paid enough for this nonsense...
I don't get paid at all, actually.
Yeah...I might wanna discuss that with boss at some point. That's a problem.
...
Oh yeah, story. Yes.
Ahem.
Applejack watched as her two pegasi friends left her and the group. She was split between confusion as to what the hay had just happened and anger. Because hillbilly ponies really don't like being ignored.
There she stood. Seemingly alone with more problems than she could count. Twilight was ~~dead~~ unconscious, and also coincidently a thief, Rarity was still whining about her hair while Spike tried to help her, only making it worse (of course) and Pinkie...well, she's Pinkie. She bounced around the place while not being a help whatsoever. As usual.
Oh, and there was also an entire room filled with stolen books. But really, that's fairly unimportant. Book lives matter.
What happened next you ask? What happened to Twilight you may ask yourself. Did she go to jail, did she ever go to hospital after being knocked out?
Nopony knows. Some say Applejack imploded in a giant nuclear explosion, eradicating all of Ponyville and its surrounding land. Others say Celestia entered the stage and saw her 'most faithful student' all helpless and unconscious. They say she darted over to Twilight's body and 'helped her really hard'.
But those are just theories and rumours, really. Rumours that I will leave up to you to decide upon and think of.
Really though, Molestia is a menace. Somepony's gotta stop her. Like, now.
