A letter slipped under the door, sliding around and around until Easy's magic snatched it up and broke the seal without even looking to see who it was addressed to. "From Celestia," she announced as she read. "She wants to talk to you. Bet it's about the letter."

"Not a bet I'd wager against." I watched her eyes sweep back and forth over it. "When and where?"

"'At your earliest convenience,' and, 'Water will take you there.'" Easy shrugged softly. "Wait staff gets to know all the secrets sometimes. I don't get to come along for this, I assume?"

Having a friend there would be nice, but... "I'll have Water from the sound of it, and I bet she'd rather have some privacy." And she could dismiss Water whenever she wanted, while Easy would be more stubborn. "No reason to put this off."

I was soon striding through the hallways like I had somewhere to be, even though I wasn't sure where that somewhere was. Fortunately, Water found me not long afterwards, striding in an easy trot from the side to match my pace. "There you are. Are you wanting to meet her now?"

"If we can? No reason to delay this." Was I repeating myself? I hadn't said it to Water. "Did she seem happy?"

"She can be difficult to read. This way." Water began leading the way at a proper walk. She was on duty, so no touches or brushes were offered, just a maid leading the way towards her mistress. "She awaits you."

We were soon at a door too small to easily imagine Celestia fitting through it. Water knocked twice, then backed away. The door glowed golden and swung open. "Please, enter," bade the gentle tone of Celestia from within.

I stepped inside to see her not alone. Though the door had been small, the room was large enough to fit three ponies seated at the end of a table. She gestured to a spot at the opposite end of it. "Join us." The other two looked... like scholars, if I had to guess, which I did.

The male had a long beard and a heavy book in front of him. The female had big spectacles on her face that she was adjusting as I moved towards my position. "This is her idea?" she asked, pointing towards me.

"He," corrected the princess. "Sir Langerman is indeed the source of the missive I sent." She smiled at me as I sank onto my cushioned chair. "These are two clever ponies, as you would call them. They have ideas, though their talents are far more literary than that of practical problem solving."

The male sat up at that. "There are very practical problems to book writing and book archiving."

The female nodded in solidarity. "I could spend all day going over the things I wish we had, and the methods by which we could improve."

I supposed, to pony eyes, my clothed body gave few hints to my gender. "Nice to meet you both. As Celestia mentioned, I'm Langerman, Ian Langerman. Are you here to discuss the library idea?"

Both perked at that. The male spoke first, "You're authorizing the library project?!"

"How delightful," gushed the female, clopping her fore hooves and bobbing a bit, her glasses almost falling free. "I can not wait to begin. Why are we here instead of getting to it?"

"Still yourself," gently commanded Celestia. "We are here to discuss the idea." She pointed to Ian. "He will serve as an advisor, if you accept him. He has proven valuable with tips and insight alien to Equestria." Her smile deepened faintly. "With the humility to step aside and allow ponies to bring wonders to life. He has but one request."

Both sets of ears pricked at that. The male rolled a hoof for Celestia to continue.

"He would like a wing of the library to be dedicated to the storage of pony ideas. Both physical things, devices and the like, but also methods." She looked thoughtful a moment. "For instance... If someone were to dream up an improved way to get something done; till a field, harvest rocks, smelt metal, or even heal or treat a disease, it would be written down and stored in this library."

She leaned forward then. "Which means this library needs to be indexed in such a way that it is practical to search it by others looking for answers. It also needs to record when and by whom the 'patents' are registered with. For a time, any thing placed there cannot be used without permission of the one who put it there. After that, it becomes everyone's." She spread her hooves. "You two have come to me with many ideas, countless many."

She looked to the male. "Central Thesis, did you not have to spend so long recreating your master's technique for book binding?"

Thesis sank at that, sighing. "Years, lost. He was a genius, but he carried his wisdom to the grave and left me to walk his path behind him, blind and lost."

Celestia looked to the female. "Short Sight, didn't you have a trick of your own you wanted to share?"

Short was smiling, grinning even. "And it'll help with this project! My method of categorization would fit perfectly." Her clopping resumed, filled with eager energy. "No pony will suffer wandering the aisles in prayer of finding the right tome."

I decided to hop in, looking towards Short. "With this, you can write down the idea of your categories and release it to the world. While others can hold onto their ideas for a time, charging others, or simply denying them, you could lay it out for all to take advantage of from the start."

"Do you think they'd want it?" she asked almost instantly. "That would be so exciting..."

Central shook his head. "The book binding took too many years to simply give away. I will not be availing myself of that option."

Celestia nodded firmly. "And you would not be forced to, but, in that future day, when you have gone on, others will have that technique. No fresh student will have to re-learn it again. Doesn't that appeal?"

His fore hooves came together, not in a clop, but in a silent meeting. "I see the wisdom of it, Princess. Sir Langerman, it would be a pleasure to begin this project. Canterlot is in need of a truly magnificent library."

"And a category for 'patents', that's what you called it, is it not?" Short Sight looked to Celestia to get a nod, then continued, "A patent section would be just fine. I'll have to add that to my categories." She was already humming, likely imagining how it'd all fit together.

"Very well." Celestia's horn glowed as a paper appeared and writing began to adorn it from a floating quill. "I will give an initial budget, to be modified by the financier. It will be modest, as you do not have the full support of the council, but it means you can begin straight away."

I raised a hand, their eyes turning towards me. "Do you want me to come to the council to argue it?"

"Neigh." Celestia tapped the table. "I will bring it up. It will be done, but it takes time. I want to begin." She slid the finished paper over towards Thesis. "Here you are. I am naming you the head pony of this project, with Short Sight as your assistant and Ian Langerman serving as your advisor. I trust this is acceptable to you all?"

Short Sight adjusted her glasses back into position. "I am ready to begin. We should get an architect to plan things out. Neither of us are experts on that."

"An excellent idea," easily agreed Central Thesis. He stood up, sliding off the chair. "Thank you, Princess. We will not disappoint." He began to trot from the room, pausing. "Sir Langerman, are you coming with us?"

Celestia held up a hoof. "I need him for a moment longer. I will send him after you when I'm done with him."

The other two advanced past me, leaving out the door I had come in. When the door closed, I was alone with Celestia. "So, what's up?" I started. "You like the patent idea, I gather?"

"I trust this, too, is something present in your kingdom." She inclined her head at me. "Your warning, it struck similar to your dire warnings of smoke. Was that, too, something your people failed in?"

"The goal is to help spread information." I spread my hands. "An idea is at its most valuable when it's new anyway. Letting people hold onto ideas, be it methods, inventions, or even characters and stories, for too long can have a stifling effect on new things that would build on the old."

Celestia's ears raised. "Characters and stories? You did not mention either--"

"--We won't be doing that," I cut in. "That is a different, but related, thing. I wanted to do things one step at a time, not just try to do it all at once."

"Perhaps wise..." Her glowing horn brought a cookie over from a plate that had been ignored up until then, offering it towards me. "Will you fill this library with ideas? Surely you have more than I would dare to attempt to count..."

There it was. "About that, there is a related thing I wanted to talk to you about." I accepted the cookie but didn't bite into it just yet. "There exists knowledge that needs to be held, but just as strongly needs to not be available. Things for emergencies, for when all other answers do not work."

Celestia's brow raised slowly. "You would have me build a forbidden library?"

"A secretive wing of the library," I corrected. "Where only those you trust could enter." Where spells would end up in time for a Twilight Sparkle to run into and play time traveler. "Guarded and secure, for you and few others."

Celestia raised a hoof to her chin. "But if you were to put your ideas there, than how would a pony read it?"

"They wouldn't," came my blunt reply, crunching the cookie in half. "I will continue working as I am, giving little ideas, trying to help, but Equestria should pull itself forward. Its geniuses should be celebrated, not my people's."

"A secret... only turned to in the direst of situations?" When I nodded, she sighed. "You are asking me to lock away what I sought, to be the hooves that push away this incalculably valuable treasure of my own volition. You understand this, do you not?"

With a glowing horn, she conjured a sword of glowing golden light. "I could take it from you."

"But you will not," I stated as confidently as I could. She wouldn't... right?

"I could make you give it to me." She gazed into my eyes. "I could make you want to give it to me, to then retire to family life with your betrothed."

"But you wouldn't do that either." I hoped! She was making me really nervous.

"You are already one hoof into our world." She gently tipped a hoof. "A little nudge, you could become another of my ponies, beloved and cared for. You would want for nothing." She set her hooves on the table. "But that would break the heart of your beloved, who works even now to pull you back from that edge." She let out a slow sigh. "No, I would do none of those things. I will not steal from you, Sir Langerman."

"Allow me this question." She inclined her head, looking at me with one eye only, but quite piercingly. "Who are you to decide what we are worthy of?"

"I will not." I set my hands flat on the table. "That is why it will be recorded and sealed. You, or whoever is in charge, will make that decision, if there is a reason dire enough."

Author's Note

Yay, time to make a library! But does Celly agree with Ian's reasoning? Note that Ian was not put in charge of this project. An insult, or something else?

PS: Short Sight is adorable, fight me!

Written early for patreons who got this ahead of everyone else. Want to get early chapters, or even your own story written? atreon!

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