[Canterlot] The tour [PM TO JOIN]

[Conor Colton]

Colton put the bird back on his head and patted him slightly to calm him down, he then turned and responded to the concerns of his company. "Uh...I don't know what's got into him....Maybe he saw a worm..." Colton said as Sparks turned his beak up at the remark, the bird had always preferred actual food to that of a pet's normal diet so he scoffed the first chance he got, "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about...." Colton said as he knew he was lying to himself, but didn't want any more suspicion on himself or Flux.

When Colton brought his own thoughts back to reality, he noticed that the group had reached their destination. He looked upwards as he scanned the massive structure, standing in awe at the beautiful Canterlot architecture. He came out of this beauty filled haze though when he realized that there was a job that needed done.

He breathed a slight heavy breath out of his nose and proceeded to enter the library.

[ThunderFlash]

Thunder didn't really think a reaction like that could be just from a worm, but he just decided to let it go for now. "If you say so..." he said, following behind the two ponies. It was funny, considering that he himself had never seen the Library himself. Thunder just never really needed to go there. He figured that it would at least be something new to see, and so he quietly followed along.

All the while, he was starting to question the...odd...behavior of the other two. Especially Colton, who earlier seemed to be either very interested, or very scared of surroundings, as if he thought they were being followed or something. It puzzled him, but before he could do anything else, the amazing display of the Library was in front of them. He was in just as much awe as Colton was, snapping from his stupor a few seconds after him. "So, you two looking for anything in particular?" he asked, unaware that he might be prying into matters that didn't concern him.

[Neoniie]

Flux almost didn't catch Thunder's question, as she was grinning at the well-kept shelves of her second home. No matter how many times the unicorn visited the Library, it never ceased to amaze her. Though it was a cliched thought, Flux had always enjoyed the other worlds and perspectives that books could bring. Even though her preferred material was certainly non-fiction, they had a similar quality about them. She could marvel at the Library for days, but then she remembered her company.

"Not particularly," Flux said, the truth still slightly there in her words. "I've just got a couple tomes to collect and such. It is a bit difficult to give a tour of a library, so I suppose you can choose your own destination, Colton." She looked carefully about the many rows of shelves, hoping to find a place to begin her search.

[Conor Colton]

"Right....will do.." Colton said as he nervously scanned the library, he didn't know the first place to start as he wasn't always he 'literary' type, even though he enjoyed a good book he didn't tend to hang about library's. He tried to look interested though as he didn't want to stand out, well, more than he already did.

He perused the shelves further and then he noticed something, Sparks was once again acting strangely...The bird had flew over to nearby shelf and started to read a small handbook. Colton floated over to the sparrow and inquired as to what he was doing, "Uh...buddy....you found something?" Colton said as Sparks presented the contents of the book to the pegasus.

"Huh.....what's that say?....The North Equestrian Female Sparro-" Colton interrupted himself as he slapped the book out of the birds wings and placed it back on the shelf, ".......What is the matter with you?" Colton asked rhetorically as he continued to examine the library's contents.

[ThunderFlash]

Thunder walked into the library, but wasn't really as surprised as Flux and Colton. Books weren't really his thing. He was more of the outdoorsy-type anyway. Still, perhaps a book would be good to have, in case there wasn't anything else to do. He floated around the higher shelves, skimming through books, but not finding anything of particular interest. That is, until he got to the 'W' section. There was a whole section of books about the Wonderbolts! Thunder's eyes grew larger as he picked the first one up and began power-reading it.

Colton caught his attention as he slapped the book away from Sparks. Thunder put the book down to check things out, seeing the handbook Sparks must have been reading. He covered his mouth to stifle a laugh, though it was a losing battle. "Pffft...Sparks is my kinda bird. That's hilarious!" he said, laughing a bit more. Thunder picked his book back up, titled 'Wonderbolts: A History'. His eyes soon began glued to the text, soaking in every bit of what the book had to offer.

[Neoniie]

Flux caught snippets of conversation between the other patrons of the Library, including Colton and Thunder - to which she gave a quiet laugh, as she wandered through the shelves. She had found many a solution or piece of knowledge within the high-ceilinged building; it had never failed her before and she wasn't going to give up on it now. She had leafed through the historical section already, having some aspects of its shelves already committed to memory, so she trotted toward the shelves that held information on the old area that Appleloosa and the Borderlands now occupied. She knew she probably had a good chunk of reading ahead, but she noticed a book laying open on the ground in front of the shelf. Somepony had quite a swift exit, she thought. The unicorn shook her head almost imperceptibly and levitated the book up to eye level.

It was then that she noticed the title of the book. Secrets and Symbols: Sandy Superstitions, by an apparently anonymous authour. What luck! Perhaps this will hold the clue behind the actions of the pony who took those documents from the desk in the secret passage! She started reading the book in silence, eyes squinted in concentration. Flux knew that the pony wouldn't want to be spotted easily, if this was another almost victim of his quickhoofedness. Since the book remained, references to whatever interested their quarry would likely be difficult to find or else conceled by the pony. She trotted absentmindedly back and forth, scanning each page closely for some type of clue.

[Conor Colton]

Colton continued to search through random books in the hopes of finding something that looked relevant to his interests. He kept a tight hold on Sparks though, just to prevent him from drifting off into the zoology section again. He continued to peruse the shelves, still not finding anything of even partial relevance, he conceded in defeat and dropped onto a chair below him and leaned back slightly.

He thought this would be a good opportunity to get to know Thunder better as it seems he would be there for the foreseeable future. He grounded his chair and turned towards the other pegasus, "So Thunder..." The pegasus said as he got up from his seat, "What do you do around here besides weather?" He asked as he leaned over a railing overlooking the vast library.

"Ya know...for fun and stuff?" Colton stated as he was concerned his first question was too vague.

[ThunderFlash]

Thunder was sifting through another Wonderbolt-related book, clearly too interested to hear the first part of Colton's question. When he looked up, it almost seemed as if Thunder was broken from a daze. As the question slowly started to sink in, Thunder smiled, shutting the book so as not to get distracted.

"What do I do for fun?" he echoed the question, attempting to give it some thought. It was a question he found a bit hard to answer, but after a few seconds found that he had a reasonable enough answer. "Well, flying is a favorite of mine, believe it or not." he said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "I do a lot of practicing, trying to get better. Other than that, I just sort of hang out, I guess. I pull the occasional prank or two, things like that." Thunder said, a small smirk across his face. Thunder leaned his head against a hoof. "What about you? It's obvious you got a thing for Flux, riiiight?" he added, giving a few elbows to Colton's side in joking manner.

[Neoniie]

The unicorn was beginning to consider the possibility that there wasn't anything to be found within the pages of the discarded tome. Perhaps it was just a student in a hurry or a clumsy member of the Library's staff who had dropped the book, rather than the shadowy figure who was responsible for the missing documents. She had flipped through page after page, searching in an increasingly agitated manner. Each page held nothing other than legend of the desert lands. Though they were interesting, Flux was not much interested in them when there was a mystery ahoof. Determination was something that she didn't discard easily, but things were not looking up.

She was just about to turn the page with another sigh when a small detail caught her eye. In a curly script, much different from that of the book's authour, had scrawled in a stylized image of a hoof. It was drawn quite carefully and deliberately, leading Flux to the thought that it's presence was not an accidental splatter of ink. She examined the page more closely, drawing her attention from the symbol to the words of the page. It was another legend, but the symbol encouraged her to look at it in a different light. She scrunched her muzzle slightly in consideration, wondering what the connection could be.

[Conor Colton]

Colton shrugged off Thunder's sly elbow nudged, only to find that Sparks was doing the same thing with his wing on the pegasus' other side. He nudged away the bird slightly in a slightly jokey manner as well and then responded to Thunder's question, "That obvious huh?" Colton said as he leaned back on a railing and stared over at Flux on the other side of the library.

He let out a gentle sigh along with an equally as gentle smile before continuing his explanation to Thunder, "Well, ya got me there Thunder....yeah I have a 'thing' for Flux..." Colton said as he thought back to the day the two had first met, which wasn't hard considering it was yesterday after all.

"It's weird Thunder, I've been almost all over Equestria and....well...to be honest, I've never felt this way towards anypony else then Flux...I can't describe it really. I only met her yesterday for goodness sake, but I can't help but smile around her, and just be generally happy...." Colton said as he drifted into a melancholy with a light smile.

He snapped out of it though when he turned the question back on Thunder, "Well what about you...you have any girls you're interested in?" Colton said as Sparks gave what could only be described as 'wing elbow nudges' to Thunder.

[ThunderFlash]

Thunder chuckled as Colton went on about how he felt. "Love at first sight, eh? Don't get sappy on me now, alright?" he teased. When Colton asked him the same question, Thunder blinked, unsure of what to say at first. Sparks' 'winging' didn't help much either. He flapped a wing to shoo Sparks, though only meant it lightheartedly.

After that was over, Thunder leaned back on the same railing. "Nah, not really. I don't think I've really delved into that. But I suppose the right one'll come around eventually." he said with a shrug. "Or at least, I hope so." he added with a chuckle, and an ever so slight downcast look. It was a tad bit embarrassing to confess, but he got over that for the most part. Thunder smirked, leaning to one side with a raised eyebrow. "So...does she know too, or you bein' all shy about it?" he asked with a teasing tone to his voice.

[Neoniie]

The unicorn's eyes lit up as she realized the connection between the symbol and the legend upon which the symbol had been scribbled. It did seem that this book held the key after all. A wide smile grew into place on the mare's muzzle and she carefully placed the book into her saddlebags. However, she did need to cross-reference the legend and information in this book with a couple others, just to ensure that it was accurate. Though Equestria was a place where myth was truth more often than not, those myths weren't always completely accurate in their transcriptions. She perused the shelves, levitating down whichever volumes seemed relevant to her future cross-examination.

Satisfied with her choices, Flux trotted off to collect a few books that she had requested specifically from the Library a few days earlier. After all, her excuse to Thunderflash was only omitting the truth. With a swipe of the quill, the librarian on duty signed out her mythological novels and gave her the books she had requested. Flux placed each with care into her bags, already excited to read the next volume of "A Study of Equine Biology". She gave a nod to the pony who had assisted her, to which a little wave was returned. Then, she trotted back toward the area where she remembered Thunder and Colton being last.

[Conor Colton]

"Well yeah, I'm guessing she knows." Colton said as he started back at a rather confused pegasus, he thought he should elaborate on his point so that's what he did, "We did sorta...well...." Colton said as he remembered last night and rubbed the back of his head in slight embarrassment, "Well, there was an accident at her place...and she had to take me to the hospital..." Colton said as he remembered the harrowing ordeal like it was only ye-.....nevermind...

"Anyways...I told how I felt...and luckily she felt the same way....It's kinda awkward though considering I'm a traveler and she's a scientist, but we're hoping there's a way for this to work." Colton said as he nudged Sparks, who was making heart shaped gestures with his wings the entire conversation.

"I won't go into details but....last night was certainly something..." Colton said as he sighed and smiled. He then noticed Flux walking back towards the two and turned to see what the approaching unicorn had to say.

[ThunderFlash]

Thunder chuckled as Colton didn't wished to go into any of the details. "Alright, I won't pry. Even though I think I got an idea of how things went down, eheh!" he laughed, keeping his voice hushed. "It's good that you have someone to care about, I suppose." Thunder said with a nod.

Colton's turning to face a different direction made Thunder also look, seeing Flux trotting up to them. She had saddlebags of books, though none of which he could discern. "Didja get everything you needed then?" he asked, slightly curious to know what a pony of Flux's caliber might be interested in reading. However he kept that bit to himself, and simply waited patiently for wherever they might be heading to next on this tour.

[Neoniie]

Flux nodded her head in answer to Thunder's question. "I did. One of these book in particular is certainly going to be quite useful in proving a theory that I am persuing evidence of." She used a quick burst of magical energy to bring forth the biological book which she had requested from the librarian. She held it up before the two pegasi, the book moving up and down in the bubble of green magic that surrounded it. "It's actually quite fascinating and very well-supported. This volume alone took two years to fully verify and complete."

Then, she realized that she would likely start babbling unless she stopped herself there. Returning the book to her bag, she addressed Colton in particular. "I have also found a rather interesting legend, perhaps you would enjoy hearing it later." She then turned her attention to their destination ahead. "We're nearly at the end of our tour. In fact, we have only two more destinations to visit. This one may be more interesting to you both, as pegasi. The Wonderbolt Racetrack."

[Conor Colton]

Colton knew what Flux was getting at when she referred to the legend in her possession, although he didn't want his interest in it to seem too obvious less he look mores suspicious in an already tense situation. He simply retorted with what he perceived as a normal response to Flux's implying statement, "Yeah, that does look like a good read alright. I probably will have to look into that later..." Colton said casually as he waited for Thunders back to turn before he gave a wink to Flux to signal he got the message.

Colton was rather shocked by the choice of destination, but then again, all the destinations up to this point had surprised him. Strangely enough though...Colton didn't know the first thing about the Wonderbolts, despite him in fact being a pegasus. He mostly chalked that up to his traveler lifestyle though, but he still wondered what this supposed group of amazing flyer's was like.

He didn't want to sound ungrateful so he responded positively to it, even if he didn't know the first thing about the Wonderbolts he thought he could get some enjoyment with continuing on the tour with Flux and his apparent new friend, "Great, maybe I can finally show you guys what these busted up wings are actually made of." Colton stated both playfully and proudly.

[Inkwell]

Now, Rose wasn't normally sensitive to chatter in the library. She'd read a lot in bookstore cafes, and ponies were never really that careful about keeping their voices down when other ponies were reading their books around them. Rose was adept at blocking out white noise. At least, most of the time she was.

But today it seemed that she couldn't focus on anything else. All she wanted to do was concentrate on the out-of-print collection of neofantasy short stories she was lucky enough to find here, and for some reason her thoughts kept drifting to the trio of ponies that walked in not half an hour ago. They weren't shouting down the halls or anything annoying like that, but in the stark silence of the library Rose's ears automatically focused on them, much to her chagrin.

There were a pair of pegasus stallions and a unicorn mare, the latter of which was doing all of the browsing and research and library stuff. The guys just waited for her and shot the breeze, mostly consisting of one teasing the other about his attraction to the mare. That got a chuckle out of Rose, but since she was reading a tragic, heart-rending scene at the time, it served as one of the worst mood-killers she'd experienced that week. She slammed the book shut and levitated it into the air. If the library wasn't going to cooperate, she decided, then she was going to go elsewhere.

Not that she needed to bother, as by the time she'd finished checking it out, the trio who'd disrupted her concentration was already set to leave, heading straight for the Wonderbolt Racetrack. Rose's hoof rubbed against her forehead. That's what she almost forgot to do today! If it weren't for these three, she wouldn't have remembered at all. And so Rose decided she might as well travel with them.

"Wonderbolt Racetrack, you say?" she asked the other unicorn, walking up to her as if they were already well-acquainted. "Small world, I'm heading there too! I gotta get a first-hand account down for my friend Stormy. She's absolutely nuts about the track and never misses a showing, or at least not without coming down with the flu. So she practically begs me to see it by proxy." Rose rolled her eyes and smiled at her friend's rather persuasive arguments. "Who am I to say no to her?"

[Neoniie]

Flux suppressed a laugh, successfully for once, at Colton's simultaneously prideful and joking remark. "I'm sure you will," she said. The unicorn had always planned to take Colton to the Racetrack, but a peak at Thunder's previous reading material had cemented the idea in her opinion. After all, what pegasus didn't enjoy a good Wonderbolts Show? Even the rather socially out-of-touch mare could see that an old standby had not differed much.

Getting the tickets, on the other hand, wasn't exactly a breeze, so to speak. Wonderbolts ticket were in high demand, as usual, and their home track of Canterlot was certain to draw a crowd. Ponies from all over Equestria would travel to any racetrack to see the famous Wonderbolts perform. Luckily, one of her mother's old friends knew a couple of ponies in the ticket selling business who had managed to grab them a couple of tickets. However, as the tickets were originally for herself and her parents, a third ticket had joined the pair already in use for Colton and Flux's admission. Thus, everypony was still able to attend.

The white unicorn had taken a quick turn, nearly ready for their coming walk to the track, when a rose-coloured unicorn approached her. The newcomer was friendly, if a bit unexpected, so Flux wasn't particularly on guard other than from pure surprise. She listened to the small explanation that the unicorn had given, not seeing why the mare could not accompany them. "How fortuitous," she replied. "Perhaps you would like to join us? 'The more the merrier', as they say." As she extended the invitation to the mare, Flux look back toward her companions. Her expression silently conveyed a bid for their approval of the idea.

[Conor Colton]

(OOC: Right, so the order's gonna be like this now: Me, Inkwell, Neoniie. Thunder is having internet troubles so he asked for us to post around him for now )

Even though Colton's last remark was made in a more jokey manner than actually being serious, he found himself rather excited actually to see this racetrack; even if the odds were only a million to one that he could actually get to use it instead of being a spectator. Sparks began flying back and forth at ever increasing speeds to further show the birds eagerness. He turned to Flux to respond to her encouraging comment, "Well, with you cheering me on I'll probably do better than usual..." Colton said as he walked closer to the unicorn.

But before he could do anything he was rather taken back by the sudden appearance of a new pony, almost startling him and Sparks; more so Sparks than Colton mind you. He didn't even respond as it seemed Flux was handling most of the talking until she turned to him and Thunder for confirmation, "Well sure, I don't see any reason why not..." Colton said as he lightly nudged Thunder, making him nod in agreement.

It seemed this tour was somehow gaining almost instantaneous popularity, but Colton didn't mind much. He decided to be polite to the new pony as he didn't want them getting off on the wrong hoof, "Well anyway, pleasure to meet you ma'am, I'm Colton, and this is Flux..." Colton said he gestured towards the white unicorn. He then gestured towards his other travelling companions.

"And this is Thunder and Sparks..." He said, pointing to each one respectively.