Spread the Knowledge [Twilight]

[Richter]

The task was so simple...too simple. Richter thought it was just a bit demeaning being sent on an errand. He was a soldier, not a carrier pigeon. Well, apparently that's what his commanding officer thought he was today. The armor-coated pegasus found himself descending the hills of Canterlot and heading to Ponyville, mumbling to himself about how his skills weren't being utilized to their full potential. Whatever. His bitter attitude dropped as he touched down in the small town. Being the middle of the day, the streets were busy with vendors and buyers. Ponies would turn their heads as he walked by, and he could hear whispers and see smiles of excitement. They probably thought something important was going on. "Ha, books. What a thrill," he thought to himself. What could books do that he couldn't? Everything he learned in life came from living off the streets, these streets no less. Though Richter had technically lived in the poor outskirts of this town, Ponyville was where he did all of his food shopping for his little sisters. He could remember them running around, excited to be able to pick out their favorite fruits. The memory made him smile, though a past like his could really scar a pony.

Moving past all of the shops, the Guard eventually came across the building he had been sent to: the Library. He certainly hoped that the pony who ran it would be there, for he wanted to get in and out as quickly as possible. It was kind of embarrassing, having a pony who was supposed to be protecting the Princesses asking somepony for a stinkin' book. Approaching the front door of the tree-shaped structure, Richter raised his right hoof and gave the door a good few knocks, loud enough for anyone inside to hear. So he waited, awkwardly, for someone within to answer.

[Twilight Sparkle]

Everything was set. A quill lay on the podium, the end of its feather pointed at a new bottle of black ink. A stack of blank papers was set out, each sheet perfectly aligned with those above and below it.

Yes, everything was set perfectly.

Twilight Sparkle was a bit behind on her studies. Normally, such a thing would never have happened; but with the surprise of her brother's wedding and the subsequent trip to Canterlot, a significant hole had been opened up in the unicorn's schedule. And even though she'd claimed to no longer be so concerned about keeping things organized, it was a difficult habit to break. Besides, she was a student of Princess Celestia. If she didn't take her studies seriously, how could she justify such an honor?

With that in mind, Twilight read the last reference she'd looked up on constellations, then set the book down atop all the others she'd used (and they formed quite a hefty pile). Trotting up to her writing podium, she focused her magic on the quill, levitating it within a reddish-purple field of magic, and dipped it in the ink vial. "Ahem...'The Constellation Leo,'" she said aloud as she wrote, the quill seemingly moving of its own accord in front of her. Once it had underlined her title, she launched into the essay itself. "Leonis, more commonly known as 'Leo,' is a constellation consisting of 9 main stars. It is named Leonis because these stars are said to form the shape of--"

A short series of knocks at the door cut through Twilight's scholarly train of thought so effectively that the new arrival may as well have been knocking on her head. Throwing a frown at the door, the purple unicorn stayed long enough to finish writing her sentence. "...a lion." Setting the quill down, she strode calmly to the door, now using her magic to 'grasp' the handle and pull it open.

She didn't expect what greeted her at all.

"Uh...good morning, sir," she said, clearly surprised at the sight of a Canterlot guard. What could he want? Twilight could only hope that it was nothing to do with Changelings; she'd thought that mess was over and done with. Besides, her brother and sister-in-law deserved to enjoy their honeymoon without troubles back home distracting them. "Can I help you with something?"

[Richter]

Upon seeing her face, Richter couldn't help but break his blank expression and chuckle a bit. "Dis girl? Dis girl?" he thought, recalling the recent attack on Canterlot. Ah, what a battle. The Changelings had certainly given them a run for their money, but as Richter recalled, this was one of the mares who took to the action straight away. Hey, she was the one who saw right through the Queen's lie that even had Richter fooled. Despite all of that, they were able to run the infestation out, and with Cadence's help, peace was restored. Somehow, the stallion found it hard to believe that such a hero was still wasting her time here in Ponyville, but then again that's exactly what Richter did whenever he wasn't in armor. Still, this girl had to be pretty smart, and certainly her skills could be useful elsewhere.

"Aahh," he said at last. "You's is Armor's sis, ain't ya?" It was probably a bit odd seeing a guard with a grin on his face, but Richter didn't even think about it. He did, however, recognize her concerned tone; it was something that he was practically trained to point out, so he set out to calm her worried mind. Small talk aught to do the trick. "He's mentioned ya before...Twilight Sparkle, in't it?" He was pretty sure that was her name. "He sure does care 'bout'cha." Shining Armor sure did care about Twilight, almost as much as Richter did about his own sisters. They, of course, had a bit more luck than Richter's family. None of that mattered now though, for his hard work had payed off rather nicely. The stallion turned his attention back to Twilight. "Don'chu worry 'bout nothin' miss, I just need a book." He peeked over her shoulder, wondering just how many books they'd have to go through to find the one he needed. "Mind if I come in?"

[Twilight Sparkle]

If Twilight hadn't expected to see a guard in Ponyville, she really hadn't expected him to lose his stern expression and smile at her. As strange as it was, though, she realized it probably meant nothing dire was going on. This, of course, raised the new question of what one of the Royal Guard would be doing away from Canterlot without any sort of emergency or royal business going on.

Then he started speaking, and the unicorn realized there was a linguistic emergency unfolding right before her.

"Aahh. You's is Armor's sis, ain't ya?"

Twilight had to stifle a grimace, merely nodding while forcing herself to retain a polite smile. Even if somepony didn't have the best grammar...or syntax...or vocabulary, it didn't give her the right to act superior. She'd just have to grin and bear it. "Yes...I am," she replied, subconsciously putting emphasis on the correct verb form and sounding for all the world like an English teacher correcting one of her students.

"He's mentioned ya before...Twilight Sparkle, in't it? He sure does care 'bout'cha."

Smiling appreciatively at the comment, Twilight nodded again. "Yes, that's me." Knowing just how much Shining Armor cared for her was no longer an issue to the mare; their parting words to each other had settled it quite clearly. He remained her B.B.B.F.F. Though frankly, she was a little surprised to hear that he'd mentioned her to another guard. It didn't seem like the sort of job where anypony engaged in much chit-chat. That this might have occurred when they weren't on active duty did not occur to the unicorn.

"Don'chu worry 'bout nothin' miss, I just need a book."

"Oh!" Twilight chimed, never one to be upset when somepony arrived thirsting after knowledge. "Well, which one do you need? I'd be glad to help you find it, I just re-shelved everything yesterday."

[Richter]

Not very outgoing, was she? Richter couldn't help but wonder this about the little librarian. Hey, maybe she ran off of adrenaline. Sometimes it's much easier to step into action with that stuff pumping through your veins. Heck, Richter knew plenty of ponies in the guard who used the exact same technique. Of course, it all came naturally to him, so he didn't need a rush to push him forward. Unfortunately, his somewhat hyper personality wouldn't do much else in here besides destroy everything, honestly. So Richter did his best to keep himself calm, despite despising the fact that he was even here in the first place.

"Ahh..." Richter vocalized his thoughts, realizing that he had in fact forgotten what the book had been called. Could anyone blame him? Believing that a bunch of pieces of paper bound together was a waste of time, it couldn't come as a surprise to anyone. He lifted a hoof to his helmet, somehow thinking that a good tap in the head would jog his memory. He'd admit that it was all a bit embarrassing. "Sorry girlie, I ain't too good at 'membering titles." He certainly hoped that she wouldn't get too frustrated about the whole thing, but then again she seemed to love books. Perhaps she'd get a thrill from it. "I'm pretty sure it was 'bout...defensive spells or somethin'...?" He planted his hoof back on the ground, giving a nod. "Yup, pretty sure dat was it."

[Twilight Sparkle]

"Ahh..."

Twilight grinned expectantly.

"Sorry girlie, I ain't too good at 'membering titles."

The mare's face fell a bit at the anticlimactic admission. What was she supposed to do with this information--or lack thereof? Even in a library as small as Ponyville's, there were several hundred, if not thousands, of books. True, one could guess that it would only be a text that wasn't in the Canterlot archives (something the unicorn had never thought possible), but then, she hadn't memorized either location's entire collection. No matter how they went about this, it was going to be a lengthy ordeal unless Richter could remember anything more specific than 'it had a title.'

"I'm pretty sure it was 'bout...defensive spells or somethin'...? Yup, pretty sure dat was it."

Well, that was getting them somewhere. Perking up, Twilight trotted past the guard, halting in front of one set of shelves close to the door. "The defensive spell section is up there," she said, pointing to the top two rows. Turning back to the shelf, the purple pony focused her magic, enveloping the entirety of the defensive spell collection in a purple, shimmering aura.

After a moment, both rows of tomes, references, and how-to books floated off the shelf, descending to the eye level of the two ponies. Soon, they lined up in single-file, all prepared for quick examination. "Alright, let's see what we've got here..." Twilight thought aloud, floating the first book in front of her. "Ancient Alicorn Aegides," she read off the first one, levitating it over to Richter once she had. Pulling the next one up, she read off its title as well: "Armor Enchantments and Incantations." The stream of books continued on the same path as the first two: to Twilight, to Richter, then in a loop behind them, waiting to be re-shelved.

"Fantastical Fortification Enchantments," Twilight read off of what must have been the twentieth book she'd looked at. Glancing aside at Richter, she asked, "Are any of these sounding familiar?" As she waited for his answer, she turned back to her sorting until another question popped up in her mind. "Who wanted this book, anyways?"

[Richter]

The things that magic could do.

The fact that Richter had basically already lost his composure probably caused his jaw to remain dropped as Twilight sifted through the books. Sure, he was used to the Unicorns of the guard using their magic during intense combat (and quite recently, defense), but he never would have thought that it could be used for simple tasks like this. Honestly, the stallion was just about to fly up to the high shelves himself, but instead he stayed back and watched as Twilight named off the books. Honestly, he found it a bit odd that she didn't even notice him staring at her, at least until she had gotten tired of just reading off books. "Man, dis girl." he thought. "So buried in books. Books!" The stallion gave a wary glance around at the shelves surrounding him. There were already so many lined up before him, and those were just based on military discoveries. "Who needs dis many books?" he thought.

Honestly, he hadn't been paying attention to the titles she'd been reading off, but he was sure that he'd be able to spot it once he gave the books another look-over. "Ahh...let's see here," he said, realizing that some of these titles contained words that he'd never even heard of in his entire life. The stallion swallowed, trying to figure out just why someone would need a book with a title like these. "Naw, none of 'dese is the one," he said. He did recall the title being far simpler than these. Giving a snort, Richter added, "But one of the colonels needs it. Dunno what for."

[Twilight Sparkle]

"Naw, none of 'dese is the one."

"Hm," Twilight responded simply, turning back to the train of books still whizzing past her. "We'll just have to keep looking, then." It occurred to her that whatever they were looking for might not even be in the defensive spells archive. Heck, it might not even be in the magic section at all. Lots of other sources could contain references to defensive magic: encyclopedias, histories, poems...granted, it was unlikely that Richter was after literary works. But still, it made the search that much more difficult.

"But one of the colonels needs it. Dunno what for."

Definitely not a poem then, Twilight thought to herself. "He didn't tell you?" she asked, practically flinging away a copy of A Manual of Magic, Volume III. Three books later, the unicorn gave an exasperated sigh and, unintentionally, cut off her stream of magic. Jumping a bit in alarm as dozens of books suddenly clattered to the floor, she gave Richter a slightly guilty look before illuminating her horn once more, this time to start stacking the books in neat piles.

"Well, this hasn't gotten us anywhere," she stated, eyes still trained on her stacking. After sorting the last of the books into a nice, even pile, Twilight turned to the guard pegasus, a businesslike expression set on her features. "How much do you remember? Did this colonel say anything else?"

As much as Twilight would have loved to sort through all the library had to offer, that essay remained dangerously unwritten.

[Richter]

Richter was certainly used to surprised by now, so he wasn't completely startled when Twilight dropped the books, though he raised an eyebrow and watched her once again, somewhat curious. He realized another reason why he despised being here: he felt useless. It wasn't only because he had forgotten what the book he needed was called; he could have been helping her actually look for the darn thing if she hadn't been using her magic. He would have least been courteous and flew up to those high shelves or picked up the books she dropped. Normally he would have stepped in by now, but it seemed like she had an organized system, and he didn't want to risk messing that up. The stallion gave a sigh, frustrated only because he was sure that he was getting on her nerves. "Sorry," he said, "'e didn't say much else." He felt bad. He was supposed to keep the peace, but instead he seemed to be bugging one to no end.

Suddenly, a little idea came to his head. "How 'bout dis then, girlie? I'll look for that book, and you's can go back ta doin' whatever you were doin' before." The stallion gave another glance to the shelves surrounding them. "I'm sure da title'll come ta me when I sees it..." He wasn't ready to take no for an answer, so Richter pushed himself from the ground and flew over to where the defensive spell section was. "You said da books would be here, right?"

[Twilight Sparkle]

"Sorry, 'e didn't say much else."

"Of course he didn't," Twilight muttered to herself. She knew it was rude, and she felt bad almost immediately, but she couldn't help but think that it was absurd that a royal guard--the best of what Equestria had to offer, supposedly--couldn't even carry out a task as simple as fetching a book. She thought Shining Armor ran a tighter ship than this; evidently, some ponies may have slipped through the cracks.

Of course, once she'd ran through this train of thought, the unicorn felt guilty again. Logically, if Richter had made it to the royal guard, then he no doubt had other excellent qualities. They just weren't immediately apparent to Twilight.

"How 'bout dis then, girlie? I'll look for that book, and you's can go back ta doin' whatever you were doin' before. I'm sure da title'll come ta me when I sees it..."

The plan seemed satisfactory to Twilight. She was starting to feel a little antsy about what she'd been doing before the stallion had arrived; if she waited too long, her train of thought on the constellation Leo might leave the station without her. And it wasn't like her initial plan had granted them much success. So, nodding her agreement, the unicorn said simply, "Alright," and began heading back for her paper.

"You said da books would be here, right?"

"That's correct, upper two shelves," Twilight responded automatically, already trying to get back into a writing flow. But it was hard, trying to focus while somepony she hardly knew was rummaging through the library collection, so she set down the quill almost as soon as she'd picked it up. "So..." she said, walking back in his direction. "How are the repairs to Canterlot coming?" She'd seen firsthand how much damage the Changelings had caused to the city; even with them defeated, it would no doubt be a long and costly endeavor to remove the traces of their brief conquest of the city.

[Richter]

The stallion, figuring it would be generally silent from then on, began investigating the spines of the books in search for that specific one that he needed. Again, he came across some titles that contained words that he didn't even know existed, but he simply surpassed them since none of them were the one he was looking for anyway. Why did they need such long words anyway? As long as a pony could get his or her point across, why did it matter which words they used? He supposed maybe some liked using them, or they didn't know how to use much else (he could think of Princess Luna during a period of time, for example). But even working in Manehattan, he never really came across extravagant conversations. Then again, that was probably because he worked the streets and never attended those fancy parties. "Just say what you need to" became a major philosophy to him then.

Hearing her voice from behind him, Richter's ear twitched a bit and he gave a smile. No one could really resist conversation for long around him, that was for sure. He took a break from digging through the titles (Celestia knows he needed it) and turned back around toward Twilight. "'s goin' just fine," he informed her. "Wouldn't be here if we hadn't made much progress." The stallion gave a chuckle, still wondering why he was sent here in the first place. He turned back to the shelves for a brief moment. "I'm sure dey wants to explore otha' ways ta protect Canterlot after de attack."

[Twilight Sparkle]

"'s goin' just fine. Wouldn't be here if we hadn't made much progress."

Twilight just rolled her eyes, as if to say 'okay, fair enough.' It wasn't like she'd received any updates on the city's status; no doubt Princess Celestia was far too busy, what with managing the reconstruction and making sure that the Changelings had been safely expelled from Equestria. And as Shining Armor was still on his honeymoon, he was hardly going to spend his time writing to Twilight about construction. Or anything at all, for that matter. They deserved to get away from thinking about what had almost ruined their wedding.

"I'm sure dey wants to explore otha' ways ta protect Canterlot after de attack."

"Uh-huh," Twilight responded distractedly. For a few moments, she remained lost in her thoughts about her brother and Cadance. After that brief pause, though, what Richter had said hit her, and the unicorn whipped her head up to look at him. "Wait, are you sure?" she asked, her tone suddenly much more eager.

Maybe now, they wouldn't just make 'progress.'

They'd find the solution.

Trotting to the center of the main library floor, Twilight levitated down a trio of new books, sending them soaring toward the stallion. "These ones would be perfect for that! Runic Ramparts is all about using magic to secure a location, so that would be particularly useful." A second book flew directly at Runic Ramparts, knocking it away from Richter. "This one's not a spellbook, but it's got a good description of the fortifications applied to Canterlot during the Cockatrice Crisis." The third book, apparently imitating its predecessor, jostled the history tome out of the way as well. "And this one's got a mix of both defensive and offensive spells. I didn't think about it because it wasn't in the 'Defensive Spells' section, but I'm sure it would be very helpful!"

Floating all three choices back together so that the guard could see them all, Twilight grinned expectantly up at him. "So? Are any of these the ones your colonel asked for?" Even if they weren't, the unicorn was seriously considering telling him to take them anyways; they couldn't hurt, could they?

[Fluttershy]

Fluttershy was worried, so very worried indeed. "Oh boy... Oh boy," she said over and over to herself as she galloped to the library. She had lost Angel's snack. Well, lost was such an indefinite word. A better one would be to say that she had misplaced it, but she couldn't remember where! It was a special treat she had bought just for her pet, something Angel really wanted for her to get. Fluttershy didn't really know what they were. They were as big as grapes, looked like a nut, but smelled like an apple! Whatever it was, it took a bit of money and a lot of time to get them. She didn't think Angel would hold out anymore.

She had tried to trace her steps, starting with Rarity's boutique, then to Mister and Missus Cake's place, where she had babysat the unicorn and Pegasus, but she had yet to check the library, where she had borrowed a few books about the care of young bears. It wasn't like she hadn't dealt with it before, but she had found a small one, unprotected and all alone with a bad fever. She couldn't leave it like that! Oh, it wasn't an it...oops, it was a boy. Though she did work with animals a lot, she hadn't wanted to mess anything up. But she did! She messed up! She lost something so simple as Angel's snack!

She turned a corner, skidding along the ground, barely making it without running into a wall, then went straight for the Tree that housed all the books in Ponyville. She stopped abruptly at the door, sliding on the ground. She spread out her wings, trying to slow down. Despite her efforts, she smacked into the door, but made a quick recovery. She looked around, head low, wondering if anyone saw that. Oh, that would be so embarrassing.

She pushed open the door slowly and peaked inside to see Twilight helping out a colt, a pile of books all around on the floor. She opened her mouth and tried to tell Twilight she lost Angel's treats and ask for her help, but all that came out was a squeak, and some whimpering that followed. She lowered her head, direction her attention to the floor, her front right hoof a step back, as if she was prepared to take flight from the library. A colt that she had never seen before! Oh boy. Oh boy...

[Richter]

It was as if his last phrase had set off a bomb; after assuring her that the Royal Guard was in fact interested in increasing Canterlot security, it seemed to set something off in Twilight's mind. She went right back to work, retrieving a trio of books for the stallion and explaining them aloud to him. He listened carefully, and though he couldn't keep up with everything that she was saying, at least he had three more books to look over. With the first one, he was absolutely sure that it wasn't the one he was looking for, simply because he could remember the title sounding differently than the one he was supposed to retrieve. Turning to the second, he tilted his head slightly and stared at the cover, almost certain that it wasn't the one either since the colonel hadn't mentioned anything about landscapes and Cockatrices. At last, turning to the third one, his memory shifted back in to gear, and he recalled the title as it appeared before his eyes. "Dat'll be da one!" he said excitedly, realizing for a brief moment that he had never been so excited to find a book before now. Lifting his front hooves from the ground, the stallion reached for the book in front of him and began flipping through some of the pages, curious to see if he'd be able to find that one thing that the colonel so desperately needed to see.

What he would call 'reading' (though it was simply skimming through the pages) was quickly interrupted by a sound just outside the library door. The stallion's head jolted to the side, watching the door out of pure curiosity. When it opened, a smile stretched across the stallion's face; a shy pegasus entered, obviously nervous. He could tell that she was shy since it seemed she could only make quiet noises, and the fact that he had never met her before probably made her just a bit uncomfortable. He hoped his uniform could speak for itself, but apparently not. Luckily, Richter was quite the smooth talker. "'ey dere," he said. "Come for a book, just like me, eh?" The stallion certainly hoped that she'd warm up to him, at least a little bit.

[Twilight Sparkle]

"Dat'll be da one!"

The long-awaited positive response had Twilight Sparkle positively beaming. She released her magical hold on the book Richter had grabbed, floating the other two away to be reshelved. "Your colonel has great taste in books," the unicorn remarked as Runic Ramparts slid snugly back into its home on the shelf. "I've read that
one, it's an excellent reference for mirror-shield spells." She remembered that Saturday all too well; she'd finally managed to pull off the spell on the fourth attempt, and without the odd inversion that had plagued her second two tries.

Blocking anything that might try to get out of the bubble instead of in could be a disastrous mistake if made at the wrong time.

But this was irrelevant. What was relevant was that Richter had what he'd come for, and, to the unicorn's delight, was reading it. Twilight could tell (for obvious reasons) that the guard wasn't given over much to reading, so seeing him take it up of his own accord was a joy to the much more literate pony. Before she could comment on it, though, Twilight heard a rather curious noise from the doorway and, like the stallion, turned to look.

"'ey dere. Come for a book, just like me, eh?"

Given that it was Fluttershy, Twilight didn't think so. After all, the shy pegasus had already rented several books earlier that day; what else could she possibly have done since that morning that would require more books? "Good afternoon, Fluttershy," the purple pony chimed to her friend. "Was there something you needed?"