The population of Ponyville gathered around in front of the town hall - everypony was wondering what the Mayor’s announcement would be.
“Oooh, I hope she brings back candy day, I just loved candy day! Everybody else was like super hyper and I thought it was so much fun. Hey, Rainbow Dash, remember when you...”
Twilight sighed - Pinkie was busy rattling off what felt like a pre-prepared speech to anyone listening. They had been standing here for several minutes, and she already felt restless.
“Do you think I gave Mysteria enough to do, Spike?” she asked her scaly companion worriedly. He turned to her and gave her a frank stare.
“You told her to read a shelf full of books and take notes on all of them, that’s plenty.”
Twilight nodded slowly and focused on the stage. The curtains were twitching - something was about to happen.
Mayor Mare ascended the stage to a polite round of applause. She took her place behind the lectern and smiled at the crowd.
“Welcome everypony. I have called this meeting to discuss the blue house on the edge of town. As you know, the previous resident Dr Hooves had to leave urgently a few weeks ago and took his house with him. I want to see the land go to use, so I am putting Twilight Sparkle and her friends in charge of finding a new use for the site, to do with as they see fit.”
Another round of applause followed the speech, along with some glances towards the unicorn. Twilight was surprised, she hadn’t known that Dr Hooves had left.
“When did Dr Hooves leave, Spike?” she asked on their way home.
“I think it was about two weeks ago.” he replied.
“About the same time Mysteria arrived.” Twilight noted, more to herself than to him.
“What does that mean, Twilight?” Spike asked, looking confused.
“Probably nothing.” She responded, turning around to smile at him.
Moments later, they stopped outside the library. From inside, they heard a loud series of thumps, followed by a quieter,
“Whoops.”
Rolling her eyes, Twilight entered the library. Mysteria was pinned to the wall by what appeared to be all the books in the library. Twilight looked at her pupil, her eyebrow arching.
“I can explain...” Mysteria said weakly, shrinking back under the stare.
That evening as the three of them enjoyed some hot cocoa, Twilight told Mysteria what the Mayor wanted them to do.
“...and so she wants us to make something new there. I want it to be something that everyone will have a logical use for, like a second library.”
Mysteria and Spike shook their heads, smiling at their friend’s obsession.
“Hate to break it to you, Twilight, but I’m not sure how much the others will agree with having another library. They’re not the most bookish of sorts.”
Twilight nodded, but was not dissuaded from her good mood and dreamed that night of bookshelves rising up into the sky.
The next day, Twilight arrived early at the vacant site. There was a large depression in the ground where the foundations had been, but overall, the area was larger than Twilight had thought it had looked from the outside.
Setting down her supplies, she set up a table and laid several sheets of paper over it, ready to be covered in schematics. Spike soon arrived with the others and a large pile of tools. Twilight immediately levitated them into neat piles and turned to the others.
“Alright everypony,” she began, walking among them.“ We have been given a task by our Mayor and I intend for us to see it through. We need to decide what to do with this place, and then build it.”
Chuckling slightly, Applejack held up her hoof.
“I think we all know why we are here, sugarcube. I myself don’t see the point in waiting around, let’s just build this thing.”
Slightly flustered, Twilight found herself nodding along. They were going against her schedule and plan but as long as they had fun, it was fine, right?
Soon, all six of them, Fluttershy included, were engrossed in the building of their perfect building.
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were flattening the ground.
I need to be able to plant my garden, Fluttershy thought happily, imagining the delight of all her woodland friends when they could enjoy this communal garden in town.
The cyan pegasus had different a different idea - imagining a racetrack, just like the one in Cloudsdale, but one where she could compete against Applejack, where her friends could be there to support her.
Rarity was beside herself - she finally had the chance to bring some class and elegance to the ponyfolk of the town.Yes , she thought to herself, an opera house would be lovely - just the sort of thing to go to wearing a brand new dress from Rarity.
Applejack looked thoughtfully at the ground, seems nice and fertile she thought, plowing up a patch. I’m sure this would be great farming land, and everypony could enjoy the satisfaction of a hard day’s work. In her enjoyment she forgot the white unicorn next to her and the mare’s dislike of getting mucky.
Pinkie, completely oblivious to what was going on around her, was trying to combine Candy Day with a building. Can’t be Sugarcube Corner ‘cos we already have one of those. What if I made it a chocolate fountain? She patted herself on the back - awesome.
Twilight sighed, and began designing the new library complex. She was unsure how the others knew to build it or in fact what they were doing now, but as long as they didn’t complain about the project and did the work, she supposed she couldn’t complain.
For the rest of the day, the ponies worked hard - they tilled earth, erected timbers, laid down carpets, planted flowers, and at the end of the day they stood back and admired their work.
It was an absolute disaster. The left side was in the style of a glorious building, whilst the right disintegrated down to a ground level affair. The first part of the racetrack ran across a vegetable patch and into a small forest. Inside, seats were being used as shelves for books and the bookshelves had been placed diagonally to make stairs. Chocolate sprayed all over this discordant mash up, falling like rain upon the chaotic compilation.
They stared in horror, realising what they had done, before turning angrily to each other.
“What in the name of sweet Celestia have you crazy ponies done!?” Twilight screamed at them. “I thought we were all working off the same sheet - build a library.”
They all looked confused for a minute.
“Well ah thought it was obvious that this was prime growing land” Applejack huffed back indignantly.
Soon all the ponies were yelling at each other. Fluttershy stared at them, though turned away when they turned to her, preferring to mutter,
“Think of the animals...”
With a loud harumph, Rarity spun on her hooves. She disdainfully tossed her mane and remarked.
“Philistines.”
One by one, the others turned their backs on the group and without a word, walked away from Twilight. Behind them, the structure oozed and creaked. One of the roofs collapsed, a wave of chocolate books bombarding the garden.
Twilight’s anger quickly dissipated, to be replaced by sadness - were they such bad friends that they would be at each others’ throats over a silly mistake? Sighing heavily, she began plodding back to town.
Arriving back at the library, Twilight grabbed some books without a word and buried herself in them, desperate to escape from the situation.
“Twilight, what happened?” Spike asked her, walking slowly forward and putting his hand gently on her shoulder.
She turned around - Spike saw tears welling up in his friend's eyes before she turned away again.
“I...just need a moment alone. Please.”
Spike and Mysteria looked sadly at their friend, but did not force their company on her, leaving silently. It was clear she wanted to be left alone.
Later that day Rainbow Dash came by - she too looked depressed and refused to make eye contact with Twilight.
“Do you have the next Daring Do book?” she asked quietly awkwardly, shuffling her hooves and fluttering her wings.
Twilight nodded slowly and went over to the bookshelf. She stopped suddenly, her ears perking up.
“You’re asking for a book, Rainbow Dash, aren't you?”
“Umm yeah, Twilight.” Dash responded, slowly emphasising the words.
Twilight smiled and quickly grabbed the book, passing it to the cyan pegasus with some force before rushing out of the library.
Rainbow Dash gingerly felt where the book had hit, wincing slightly.
Why must I always be in pain to read these books? she thought to herself, while wondering what had excited Twilight so much.
The unicorn in question was busy tearing her way over to Rarity’s Boutique. She burst through the doors dramatically, the sun at her back. Rarity looked up with a completely deadpan expression.
“Yes, Twilight? You want to buy some simple clothes, or perhaps you want me to mend your curtains?”
Twilight bit back a sharp retort and looked around for something to reinforce her theory. Finally, she remembered a conversation with the unicorn about one of her stays in Canterlot.
“When you last stayed in Canterlot, did you go to see the Wonderbolts’ race?”
The white mare stopped what she was doing and glanced up, a slight frown creasing her head.
“Why of course I did Twilight, It was a social event. Besides, the Wondebolts are truly are a sight to behold, flying that fast. As a bonus, I was even able to gain some standing using knowledge I learnt from Rainbow Dash.”
For a moment Rarity smiled, reminiscing about good times past. She then remembered the events of the morning, her face becoming emotionless again. She brushed past Twilight and walked away.
“Now if you don’t have something for me to do, and there are no further mindless questions, I have a hat to make for Applejack.”
Twilight smiled enthusiastically and ran from the room. Rarity looked after her in confusion.
What has got her so chipper? she thought to herself, placing some fabric on a mannequin.
Who shall I go to next? Twilight wondered, galloping through the town. Fluttershy, she then decided. The element of kindness surely has some good memories of us doing stuff together.
As she approached, she knew that something was amiss - all of the animals were clustered at one end of the garden. She soon heard a conversation going on between Pinkie and Fluttershy
“Come on, it’s like we’re mixing our two favourite things.” That was Pinkie, you could almost hear the interspersed jumps.
“I don’t think it’s such a good idea, it could get everywhere.” That was definitely Fluttershy, no other pony was that quiet.
As Twilight rounded the corner, what she saw had her taken aback for a second. Fluttershy was standing on her hind legs, wings and front legs spread in front of her pets whilst Pinkie Pie leaned on a massive cannon pointed directly at them.
“What are you doing?” Twilight gasped at Pinkie Pie as she took in the sight.
The pink pony turned and slowly raised her hoof to her mouth, licking it slowly.
“This is going to be so delicious!” she beamed, and fired the cannon.
Fluttershy shrieked and ducked down as chocolate streamed out of the end and splattered over her pets, most of it plastering their food, which had been set aside for them.
The tableau froze for a second and then chaos broke out as the animals fled in all directions, cleaning themselves in a frenzy.
Pinkie moved forward. Seeing that none of the animals were enjoying their chocolate treats, she began finishing the food off for them. Fluttershy stared for a second at the spectacle before shaking her head, smiling slightly.
Twilight cleared her throat. The two mares looked up at her, beaming.
“It’s so good to see you two happy again.” Twilight smiled “I have a plan on what to do with the project the mayor gave us.”
They nodded eagerly, and she began to explain her plan.
The sun was beginning to set when they were all gathered again at the building site. Pinkie and Fluttershy stood alongside Twilight, Pinkie giggling, Fluttershy smiling softly.
“Everypony, we are gathered here a second time to make the right choice.” Twilight began, her voice cutting cleanly through the quiet. “The only reason we made this mess was because we forgot to work together. Why don’t we all work on something that we all like, and we think the town will like too?”
They all smiled, relieved and moving over towards the table, began brainstorming. Ideas flew thick and fast for a good hour but with a constant supply of cakes from Pinkie no one could find it in themselves to argue.
Finally, they stood back and looked at the plan. Each pony nodded in turn, then high-hoofed their neighbouring pony happily.
“Now we just have to build it, girls.” Twilight told them cheerfully. “We should each try to do what we enjoy and are good at - I can do the organisation and Rarity can do the decorating. The rest of you know yourselves best, so just do whatever feels right.”
They nodded and within moments were off. Applejack began digging up the ground for foundations - she tilled the earth like a field then scraped the loose earth away. As the earth pony finished, Twilight looked over and ticked a box on a checklist.
Soon everypony was working - Pinkie pulled carts of materials, while Rainbow Dash collected tools from town. They all worked hard throughout the day, and when it began to get dark, Twilight and Rarity made lights. It was late at night when they finally finished. All of the ponies were exhausted - they said goodnight and made their way back to their homes.
The next morning dawned bright and peaceful. The ponies left to see their creation as fast as they could. Surprisingly, the Mayor was there too, Twilight and her friends stopped and gulped nervously. She smiled and walked over.
“Well, I must say girls, it looks lovely. Do you mind giving me a tour?”
With enthusiastic nods, smiles and in some cases bouncing, the group entered the new building. From the outside it was a pale blue and white affair, the windows were large and high. The roof tapered to a high point and the corners ended in towering spires.
Inside, they entered a hall - this was to be the centre point of a host of attractions. There were shops for sports equipment, animal toys and books. Dresses stood on mannequins in alcoves in the wall,looking down on the interior plaza. In the center, a large stand selling a multitude of apple treats had been set up to one side, mirrored on the other by a chocolate fountain.
The Mayor took this all in a state of wonder and pleasement. She turned to the other poneies.
“You’ve really outdone yourself this time, girls,” the Mayor congratulated them, “but why leave so many spaces empty?”
It was true - the shops only took up half of the space, the rest looking decidedly bare.
“We thought that there should be spare spaces, in case anypony wanted to add their own contribution. This way, it is just as much the community’s project as it is ours.”
The Mayor nodded and went into one of the shops to see what was being sold.
“Not to shabby, if ah do say so mahself” Applejack grinned, adjusting the stetson on her head.
Later Twilight turned to the window in her library.
“Spike, take a note.”
Behind her, Spike sighed, rolling his eyes, as he got the paper and quill. Mysteria saw his reaction and had to stuff her hoof in her mouth to stop from giggling. Twilight continued.
“Dear Princess Celestia, I have learnt that it sometimes isn’t easy working in a team - you all want to do your best but it can conflict with what other ponies want. However, as long as you can compromise and do what is best for everypony, not just for yourself, then you will be able to make something wonderful with your friends. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”
