Inventors

Armadillo

The next day Bookins had a fairly big problem. He didn’t know whether to meet Twilight at the cafe or at her house, he just remembered she didn’t actually say.
He figured it was best if he just turned up at her house early. But then there still was the problem of finding a book he hadn’t returned. He said it as a sort of joke but he wanted to find a book anyway.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuuuuuck!” He went through piles of books kicking up dust, unable to find a book he was absolutely sure came from the liberty. “Ah Ha” he held up a book titled ‘The Shards.’ He was almost certain this came from the liberty.

Bookins arrived at the liberty and knocked on the door, a small purple dragon answered the door
“Um. you are?” The small dragon said.
“Bookins. I was here yesterday.”
“Oh you. Twilight told me about you. She left about a minute ago.”
“Oh shit.” Said Bookins. He threw the book at the dragons feet and bolted into the sky to search for the cafe.
Spike shook his head “This place is weird.”

Bookins found the cafe and touched down beside Twilight.
“sorry I’m late.” He said.
“Don’t worry I always come too early. Your actually on time.”
“That’s a first.” Bookins shook his head. She almost seemed to glow.
“Thanks for coming. I haven’t talked to anypony who knows as much about books as I do since I came here. I doubt I’ve ever talked to a pony who knows as much about books as you do.”
“Look at my name Twilight, its not like I’m gonna be some racer pegasus.”
She laughed, which surprised Bookins since he knew the joke was terrible.
The rest of the day was mostly talk about books but occasionally they went off-topic.
“You mentioned yesterday that Conrob is your only friend. is that true?”
“Yeah. I guess. I’m lucky, at least I have a friend.”
“What’s he like?”
“Hmmmm.” Bookins tapped his chin “You know that kid who never saw the difference between anything, be it griffin, zebra, pony, male or female, whatever, they just didn’t see the difference?
“Yeah, I know somepony like that.”
“He was that kid. He’s bisexual now, very bisexual and has an unending love of music, I’m just surprised he’s in the inventors and not somewhere else.”
“He sounds perfect for Pinkie Pie .”
“Pinkie Pie is the bakers assistant isn’t she?”
“She works at Sugercube Corner.”
“Conrob went out with her once.”
“Really!? When?”
“Last summer. They went out for two days, then he just stopped seeing her and when I ever mentioned it he just said something about not being able any more.”
“Wow. I never knew about that.”
“Not many do, and don’t go spreading it around, doubt he’d appreciate it.”
“I won’t.”
“Also might have something to do with the way he can’t eat.”
“He can’t eat?”
“Inside of his mouth is melted very bad, he says he was born with but I doubt that.”
“Then how does he get nourishment?”
“Cold soup, strained until its about as thick as water and he can’t drink anything but water.”
“Poor guy.”
“It’s got to do with his past, he has night terrors and his mouth starts bleeding when he’s singing an emotional song and sometimes at night. He’s fairly messed up.
And then there’s the schizophrenia.”
“In which he has two different personality’s?”
“Yeah.”
“I shouldn’t ask but...”
Bookins shrugged.
“I saw his alter-ego once and this isn’t where they go a bit strange, this is a complete mind switch, he has no memory of the incident, which means its quite serious.
It started when I talked to him about his past, found out his mother died of cancer, his mouth was bleeding pretty heavily at this point, then he mentioned his ex I think, and then.
He changed,his chest started bleeding, his mouth grew to his ears, his teeth became pointed like a triangle and he had this huge smile across his face with blood pumping out of his mouth.
One second there was Conrob, then there was this thing smiling in front of me. Not good being a schizophrenic and a morpher.”
“What’s a morpher?”
“those ponys who can change and stretch their body’s.”
“Oh. In Canterlot we call them changers. But I didn’t think there was any true ones left.”
“Conrob isn’t a true morpher, those ponys can change their body’s to become something else completely, all those disappeared a long time ago due to inbreeding and such, he’s just a very good mopher”
"What does he do for a living?"
"Genetic scientist."
"What?"
"Strange job for a pony like him but his mother died of cancer and he wants to find out if there is a connection between cancer and genes and if he can find a cure that way."
"Thats a big thing to be working on."
"He's Conrob. Conrob does things."
“Do you have any other friends apart from Conrob?
Bookins shook his head. “Not really.”
“But don’t inventors live together?”
“We might live in the same building but that don’t make us friends. Your Canerlot upbringing is really obvious sometimes.”
“Yeah. I was overwhelmed with luxury.” She said in a sarcastic tone.
Bookins shrugged “With inventors it’s either better not being their friend or they just don’t want friends, like that pony who lives across from me, Darnles or Darmis or what ever his name is, only seen him twice this year, spends all his time locked away in his bedroom.”
“That...that’s sort of.”
“Sad? Yeah even for an inventor he’s shy. Then again I think he might be a werepony.”
“No way! wereponys only live in the forest.”
The wereponys are a cult of psychopaths who dedicate their lives to making sure the predators stay in the forest during winter. He can live where he likes.
“But a Werepony living in town? that’s just dangerous.”
“Why?”
“If a werepony is found to be in Canterlot the order is to fall back to the castle and wait for reinforcements, and that’s the royal guard.”
“Didn’t know it was that extreme, and I didn’t think Twilight sparkle would know so much about wereponys.”
“Well I only know that last thing because my brother is a guard captain.”
Bookins eyes widened.
“Your brother is guard captain?”
“Yeah...Something wrong with that?”
“Well..No.No. Nothing wrong. Nothing wrong at all.”
“Do you know anything about Darmis?”
“I paid somepony to find whatever they could out about him. He used to live in the machine building sector of the Inventors, he’s a talented lightbender, he was taught micro levitation there and after that he went to the lightbending school because of some horrendous factory accident, where he learned to play the piano, because everypony who goes there has to learn how to play an instrument, and then he came here and that his entire life story as far as I know. No history at all before that.”
“How did you find that all out?”
“Pay the right pony and you can find out a lot of things and I was curious about Darmis because of how illusive he is and the pony I paid found out extra because they where also curious.”
“Did that pony you pay check birth records?”
“Yeah they did and they came up with nothing that fitted him, he’s not even from Equestria.”
“Then where’s he from?”
Bookins shrugged “No idea. The information seller I paid is really good so I doubt anyone apart from Darmis knows where’s Darmis is from.”
“Information brokers I know about, they practically set up stalls in Canterlot.”
“It doesn’t matter where you go information always has value.”
“Are you quoting from the Last Shadow trilogy?”
“Of course I am.”
The conversation then returned to it’s normal path of the general discussion of books and everything that had anything to do with them.
Eventually the to leave came.
“I’ve got a lot of going on tomorrow so will I see you here the same time the day after tomorrow?” said Twilight
“Yeah sure, I never have anything going on so I’m always free.”
Twilight smiled and Bookins had to shake his head again “see you then Bookins.” And then they parted ways for the day.

That night Bookins was in the bar with Conrob and Bookins was drinking more heavily then usual, or at least faster.
“And guess what?!”
“What?”
“Her brothers the guard captain! The fucking guard captain!”
Conrob did a sly little smile.
“This is going to be interesting.”
Bookins attempted to stare at the two Conrobs in his vision.
“Shut the fuck up you!”