Twilight sat at a wooden desk and once again looked down at the book she had been given. It was one of many; the shelves around her contained countless thousands, and this was only one chamber of so many more. Yet to her endless annoyance she found herself barely able to read the one she had taken down. Every time she started a page, she would find herself reading the same paragraph over and over again, never really comprehending its contents. The pages all seemed blurry, and even if Twilight had been invested in the contents she would have barely been able to see the text. After a few minutes, she realized that she had no idea what the book was even about.

Groaning loudly, Twilight pushed the book away. Faulkner looked up from the book she was reading.

“Is something the matter, miss?”

“Why can’t I read this book?” moaned Twilight, putting her head down on the table.

Faulkner carefully set her own book down and walked to where Twilight was sitting. She gently lifted the edge of the cover to see the title. “This is a text on advanced historical mathematics,” she noted.

“I know! Do you know how excited I would be to find a book like that back in Ponyville? Even the Canterlot library doesn’t have books like that! But I just can’t get through it!”

Faulkner looked somewhat dismayed, but smiled regardless. “We’ve found that comprehension works best when texts are read in an organized hierarchy. Understanding the lower levels creates a knowledge-base for the next level, and so on.”

“But I should already understand this one…”

Faulkner looked at the book again. “Well…it is possible that you’re having trouble because your rote memory system is failing.” She looked at Twilight, whose eyes were peering out over her hooves and not looking at anything in particular. “Or…it is possible that you’re nervous.”

Twilight sighed. “Maybe a little,” she admitted.

“That’s natural, I guess, but there’s nothing to be nervous about. You’re safe now, here with us.”

“But my body…”

Faulkner put her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, and Twilight turned to her. “Look,” said Faulkner. “I know it might seem a little scary to you, but we are going to fix it. I promise.”

“Your mother didn’t seem too keen on it.”

Faulkner sighed. “Aeschylus can be sometimes be excessively erudite, to the point that it detracts from moral decisions. That happens to us sometimes when we get old. Sometimes if you get to buried in books, you forget what’s supposed to matter in the real world.

Twilight stared, almost in awe. “That’s why Celestia sent me to Ponyville,” she said after a moment. “Because even though I knew a great deal, I didn’t know what really mattered in life.”

“Which is?”

“Friendship.”

Faulkner laughed. Twilight frowned, annoyed. “What?”

“Oh, nothing, it’s just such a blunt way to put it! But it’s true! Philosophers have been debating about what makes life worth living for millennia, and frankly you just summed up several thousand texts in just one word.”

“Are you calling me inarticulate?”

“Would you rather go over the several thousand texts instead?”

“Maybe I would!”

Faulkner chuckled. “Well, we don’t exactly have time to do that right now.” She watched as Twilight’s expression sank. “But maybe later. Once you have hardware that can keep up with me. Then you can read all the books you want.”

Twilight sniffled. “Really?”

“Our Library isn’t normally open to the public, but I think we can made an acceptation by appointment if you’re really interested in reading.”

“And… Aeschylus won’t mind?”

Faulkner’s expression darkened slightly. “Aeschylus isn’t against people reading the books, miss. That’s not what Morgana did. Not exactly.”

“Then what did she do?”

“It was before I was born. I’m not very old. But from what I’ve heard, she came here to be one of us. Not just to read some books, but to read them all. Then she took the ones she needed to build a powerful knowledge-base and abandoned us.”

“Is that how she learned…you know…magic?”

“You mean technomancy? No, she was always like that. It’s something you either have an aptitude for or you don’t. Stealing from us just made her much better at it.”

“But you’re one too…”

Faulkner laughed again, covering her mouth as she did so. “I’ve never thought of myself as one, but I guess it is true by now, isn’t it? I’m not very good at it, really.”

“But you made Forth move, didn’t you?”

“That only worked because Blossomforth units are not well secured when they’re functioning on their own processors. They’re not really meant to except in emergencies. Hacking you would be impossible for me, and Morgana…well, that would probably kill me.”

“Well I think you did an amazing job.”

Faulkner looked confused. “Really?”

“Sure. You just need a little more practice and you’ll be just as good as her.”

Faulkner smiled. “Thank you. That really does mean a lot.” She sighed. “I guess I let my practice start to slip a little bit when I took this job.”

“Job?”

Faulkner smiled. “I’m head of security at this branch of the Library.”

“Oh.” Twilight sat up. “My brother does that! Well, not at a library, but at Canterlot. His name is- -”

“Shining Armor.”

Twilight gasped. “How did you know?”

Faulkner giggled. “Because we have Shining Armors here too. Lots of them. In fact…” She leaned forward and her face took on a sly expression, “when I was on walkabout, I actually dated one for a few months.”

Twilight gasped. “But he’s your brother!”

“Only in the Canon! In real life, he was a rugged and handsome Turkish customs agent.” She sighed. “Yeah…that was fun…”

“Turkey?” Twilight was confused.

“Oh. It’s a country, near New Macedonia.”

“I know that. But…”

“But what?”

“But that’s so far away…at least I think it’s far away…”

“It is, yes. But I have been farther.”

“But…”

“But aren’t I supposed to stay here in this dark Library?” Twilight blushed slightly, embarrassed that she had been implying exactly that. Faulkner just shrugged, though. “Most of the ponies here are elders, or just stopping by. Our purpose is to seek out books, remember? We can’t exactly do that in here, can we?”

“I don’t understand…”

“When we are young, we wander the world. We go anywhere we can, trying to find precious books. Seeking them out. When we find them, we read them. Then we take them to the nearest branch of the Library for storage.” She paused, as if remembering something. “An example! Do you know why I am named ‘Faulkner’?”

“Because it’s your name?”

Faulkner laughed. “Yes. But I got that name because I once recovered the very last copy of ‘As I Lay Dying’ in existence. It had been considered a lost work up until that point.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “You saved a book from extinction?!”

“That’s one way to look at it, yes.” Faulkner’s expression fell. “That’s sadly the way the world has gone. Books just don’t have a place in modern society anymore. Copies have faded, gone out of print, been burned or reduced down to make ballistic cellulose. I saved just one book, and I found many…but that is barely a drop in the ocean compared to what we’ve already lost.”

Twilight almost felt a tear come to her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

“But look at me,” sighed Faulkner. “Being so gloomy.”

“It’s not gloomy! It’s sad, but it’s beautiful too! I just feel so bad! All the poor books! I wish there was something I could do! I mean, travelling the world, finding books, seeing all these grand library branches, it just sounds…”

“…like something out of a fantasy.”

“Yeah.” Twilight nodded.

Faulkner paused for a long moment. “You know,” she said at last. “You’d get a lot of pushback from Aeschylus, but we do sometimes accept new members.”

Twilight gasped. “You…you’re not serious!”

“I’ll write a recommendation for you myself. After I get to know you a little better, of course, but I think you’re a good Twilight. You can join us if you like. Become a Librarian.”

Twilight clapped her hooves over her mouth in shock. “I…I would be honored!”

“Don’t accept it just yet. It requires a lot of thought. Our lives are long, and it isn’t exactly easy to leave once you start. And like you said before, you have to consider the cost.”

“Cost? I don’t remember saying that.”

“But you did. We run the risk of becoming what Canon Twilight was, at least at first: perched in her mighty library, high and away from a real life. Away from friendship.”

Twilight’s joy fell, leaving only behind unpleasant mixed confusion. “I…I don’t want that.”

“Which is why you need to think about it and make the decision carefully.”

Twilight nodded. “I will.”

Faulkner suddenly turned her head toward the door of the room. Twilight did as well, and she saw another robed Twilight standing there.

“Sapkowski?”

The pony bowed. “It is time, if you are ready.”

Twilight stood up, nearly falling over in the process. Faulkner caught her and supported her.

“I’m ready,” she said.