Disclaimer: I do not own anything MLP FiM related, Hasbro and co do.
For want of a book
Author's note: I wrote this as a short little story for a different place initially.
For the briefest moment calm hung over the library of Ponyville as the afternoon sun beamed down on it from above. Only a few members of the town were currently within its natural tree walls, indeed only one pony and one dragon. But it was enough for the silence to be broken:
"What!" asked Twilight Sparkle, the purple unicorn pony spinning around to face her young dragon assistant Spike. The dragon gave a faint shrug and held up a neatly folded piece of paper. The pony focused intently upon the paper she had folded herself.
Regretting mentioning anything the dragon unfolded the paper and scanned over the list one last time before glancing back up:
"According to this we're missing a book Twilight."
The pony gasped in horror. Spike frowned mildly as the list was lifted up in the air by the unicorn pony's magic.
"A book? Missing? A missing book?" she asked as she held the list in front of her, Spike grabbing it back to again make sure he hadn't missed anything.
"Yeah that's what the list seems to be saying," said Spike holding up the list and pointing to the one book title without a tick next to it. "I guess somepony must have borrowed it and forgot to tell us. Or somepony borrowed it and we forgot to write it down. I'm sure it's fine."
"Forget? No Spike, no I wouldn't forget to do something like that," said Twilight in a grumpy tone.
"We all make mistakes sometimes Twilight."
"No. Not with books!" said Twilight stomping one hoof lightly. Behind her a book fell over. "Oh no!" she said rushing over and lifting it up with her magic. She held the book up in the air in a purple glow, turning over the novel to check the cover hadn't been scratched or marked. To her immense relief it remained pristine. No marks left from that little accident.
"Crisis two averted Spike," she said as she placed the book back in its rightful position. "But we still have to deal with crisis one."
"I don't think it's a crisis Twilight," said Spike, finding one thought running through his head- 'please don't go through the entire inventory again'.
"Spike we need to check through the entire inventory again, double check to make sure the book is actually missing! And if it is still missing…well…"
"I didn't quite catch that Twilight; you just kinda trailed off there."
Twilight's shoulders slumped slightly: "I'm not sure what we could do next, if we can't find the book here, where can we find it? A book can't just grow legs and walk away."
"How do you know that?" asked Pinkie, appearing behind Twilight. Spike fell backwards in surprise. Twilight did a double take herself before finally realizing who was with her.
"How did you get in Pinkie, the front door is closed," said Twilight in a confused tone. She certainly hadn't heard the door open.
"Oh Twilight there's always more than one way to get into a library," said Pinkie nodding her head as though it was common knowledge. "But that's not important, what's got you all worried and saddy-waddy?"
"I am not saddy-waddy, I am concerned," said Twilight. "There is a difference."
"Concerned about books walking away? Is this that magic of reading I've heard so much about?" asked Pinkie in a puzzled voice. She turned and stared at a hardcover novel. "I can't see any magic," she whispered.
"The what now?" asked Spike, standing back up and brushing himself down. "Books about magic?"
"No, books cannot walk, they never could and they never will!" said Twilight growing flustered.
"What if Discord ever returns Twilight?" asked Spike. The pony sighed.
"Ok Spike, if Discord returned, perhaps books could start to walk," said Twilight with the faintest shake of her head.
"They can? So that's why I could never find my books at filly school," said Pinkie Pie. "Mrs Cream always said I was just forgetful but I guess she just didn't know the truth about books!"
"Yeah, let's stick with that," said Twilight, her eye twitching ever so faintly. It was enough for Spike to notice and he walked up to Pinkie holding the now crumpled list.
"We're looking for a missing book," said Spike.
"Oh I know what books look like, I bet I could help you out!" said Pinkie.
"That really isn't necessa-,"
"And won't it be fun Twilight? You and me, I and me looking for books. A book finding adventure!" exclaimed Pinkie. "Twilight, Spike and Pinkie the book hunters!"
"It doesn't sound very fun," said Spike turning away.
"Oh anything can be fun if you're with friends Spike," said Pinkie as she started bouncing around the library. "Is it that one?" she asked pointing to a bookshelf.
"It won't be on the bookshelf Pinkie," said Twilight groaning as Pinkie Pie continued to hop around, glancing at the shelves as she went. "We've already checked there. We checked all the shelves."
"Oh," said Pinkie coming to a sudden halt. "It can't be there then, it's always in the last place you look after all! Not the place you already checked."
"Hey now would you look at that, you have somepony to help you check the inventory Twilight," said Spike slowly backing away. He eyed the door excitedly, but Twilight stepped in the way to block his path. "Erm Twilight?"
"Searching seven hundred and forty nine books is a hard job Spike," said Twilight. And she had no intention of being left alone with Pinkie Pie in the library. She would need an assistant around to clear up…any accidental mess caused by her excitable pink friend. And a dragon skilled with quick inventory listing.
"But Twilight a young dragon needs sleep…or something," said Spike. "I read about it in a book...'The dragon book'," he added, trying to think of a title. Anything but checking over all of those books again the dragon thought to himself.
"No excuses."
"Fine Twilight," groaned Spike.
"Won't this be a fuuuun adventure?" asked Pinkie Pie putting one hoof on Spike's shoulder.
"Yes…fun…," said Spike.
~Five hours later~
Spike lay curled up on the floor, snoring away as Twilight marched along the bookshelves, peering under each one. Sure the book was over two hundred pages long and the gap between floor and shelf was less than half a centimetre, but she had nowhere else to look. Perhaps somehow it could have snuck away under there. Though she hated to think about the state of the book if that was the case. Crumpled covers and pages, was there anything worse in the world?
"Any luck Twilight?" asked Pinkie as she turned over the next page of a pop-up book. "Hey look its Princess Celestia this time!"
"Oh I give up!" said Twilight, sitting down in a huff. "Either the book has just vanished…or I did make a mistake recording who took it." She lowered her head.
"Oh Twilight I'm sure every library loses books every now and then," said Pinkie.
"It was a special book though Pinkie- it was signed by the author when they visited Ponyville! It's been here longer then I have and I lost it!"
"Why not make your own copy Twilight?"
"I can't write a book Pinkie…"
"How about I make a copy huh? How many t's are in 'written by'?"
Twilight was set to give a resigned reply when she noticed the shadow across the far wall. Somepony was in the next room! Twilight stood back up. Nopony else was meant to be in here, and she certainly hadn't seen any other pony come in. An intruder! It took her a moment to gather her 'strong' voice:
"Who is in there? I have a dragon here and I'm not afraid to use him!"
No response. Her dragon continued to snore.
"Is anypony in there?" called out Pinkie standing beside her friend.
"…no," came the reply.
"Liar, I can see your shadow!" called back Pinkie.
"…that's not my shadow."
"A ghost pony!" said Pinkie.
"Oh Pinkie it is not a ghost pony," said Twilight trotting over to the half open door. Despite her words she was still for a moment, and did take the faintest gulp before pushing open the wooden door.
"It's not what it looks like!" said Rainbow Dash, dressed in a black balaclava and holding a book in her mouth.
"So you aren't stealing a book Rainbow Dash?" asked Twilight.
"How did you know it was me?" asked Rainbow Dash, stunned at her identity being uncovered.
"You didn't bother to cover anything other than your face," said Twilight pointing to her friend's rainbow coloured tail. Rainbow Dash laughed nervously.
"I knew I'd forgotten something- and I'm not stealing a book…now."
"Then what are you doing?" asked Twilight, brow furrowing slightly.
"I'm…I'm returning a book," said Rainbow Dash, trying to avoid Twilight's gaze. She placed the book on the floor.
"That's the missing book!" said Twilight excitedly. She was so happy she even ignored the fact the book was on a floor that hadn't been cleaned in two whole days.
"I'm sorry, I just didn't want anypony to know I was reading it," said Rainbow Dash in a slightly ashamed voice. "I thought I'd be able to get it back here before anypony noticed it was missing."
"I didn't make a mistake!" said Twilight joyfully as she leapt around, "I didn't lose it!"
"So a happy ending huh? I've learnt my lesson, I'll just be on my way," said Rainbow Dash eyeing up the open window.
"Oh no," said Twilight placing her hoof on her friend's shoulder, the tone of her voice turning ever so slightly menacing. "You have two hundred and thirty three books to put away."
"Ooooo can I be her supervisor?" asked Pinkie bouncing into the room. "I'll be all supervisory and stuff!"
"Aww come on!" groaned Rainbow Dash.