Ponyville Library Making 'amends'. (Open!)

[MudBug]

Fine, he admitted it. Not audibly ofcourse, but he'd admitted mostly to himself that he'd been wrong about the entire Tirek situation.

He had been in the wrong.

And despite being on mostly good terms with the gang again, he still felt an odd churning in his stomach, the same churning he'd felt every time Fluttershy pulled that stare on him, or told him off or admonished his intents in the past - especially that whole Everfree going berserk situation but really that was a completely different situation! And lately with the looks on his friend's faces when they'd been drained of their magic...

That was a sensation he never wanted to relive.

He assumed in the end that it must've been guilt, which he could understand, he had messed up quite spectacularly with the group, but after what he'd done he was....atleast in his mind, partly alright? For now surely? Oh whatever. What was bugging him right now was how did everypony else in this little town, now come Kingdom, felt about him at the current? It couldn't have been positive in any light. Granted he found that thought to be a bit preposterous, he was pretty marvelous after all-

Come on Discord, those thoughts never helped in the past.

The serpentine creature rolled his yellow and red eyes before knocking his metaphorical and quite literal shoulder angel off his perch with a small knock of his eagle claw, much to his shoulder seraphim's unamusement.

Now then, trying to please ponies was a tricky business indeed, for one thing he had no idea what really made them tick outside of his interactions with Fluttershy and honestly at times you had to wrap that mare up in cotton wool just to make her take a leisurely stroll or go hanging upside down by your tail. But other ponies? That was a tricky one. Rubbing the magnificent curl of white hair on his chin as he pondered, his fantastic brain literally lit up as a light bulb flashed into existence above him with a loud and triumphant 'BING!'

"Ofcourse! Flashy or not, that tree is still a library, I'm sure Twilight has some huge boring book about what makes ponies happy....or better yet! A book with PICTURES!"

He never was a fan of heavy reading, but Twilight's library - upgraded or not - usually did consist of helpful topics....atleast now and then. He never did find a reputable source material for 'rhubarb pie and pink mouse custard' recipe in any of those books. Honestly, some ponies. With a flash, the creature disappeared from his thinking tree and i the overly crystalized beacon of light that was the Castle of Friendship, sat atop one of the many library archives as he started searching through the books. Unaware of any pony he might've been bothering or disturbing at the moment.

[QuickLime]

It was supposed to be a simple trip to the Library to flip through some books about some embroidery techniques, alas the calm and the peace was ruined as out of nowhere there seemed to be a flash, and the embodiment of chaos was suddenly there...rifling through books as if he were seeking some sort of hidden treasure..The purple maned unicorn wrinkled his nose and levitated a few of the books that got tossed, neatly to a table "Are you looking for a specific topic or are you just browsing?"

Cashmere was fully aware of who Discord was, it was his home town that had been overridden with plants and drained of magic after all...but honestly he held nothing against the creature, it would be like holding a grudge against a bird for soaring, some beings were just doing what they were created to do, and who was to begrudge the embodiment of chaos for being chaotic? Certainly not Cashmere that was for certain.

"The library is set up with categories"

[MetalBronyATL]

Well, things just got significantly more interesting.

Seeing as how there was now a giant, crystalized castle in the middle of Ponyville that now served as the headquarters for Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, and her best friends, the remaining Elements of Harmony, Cadence thought it would be a good idea to stick around for a while and assist her favorite sister-in-law in getting situated and, Celestia willing, keep her from having a meltdown trying to reorganize everything.

Not that it bothered her much, after all she was due for a quiet, relaxed visit to town to spend time with her beloved Twilight. Her last visit was anything but quiet and relaxed, and although she did come away from that experience generally satisfied that she spent time with Twilight and got to see some action to leverage a rather boring few months in the Crystal Empire, she still wanted a moment with her sister-in-law that didn't involve the world potentially blowing up.

But it looks like that would not be the case once again, as the culprit for that particular action-packed day was now ravaging the library.

"Discord? What the hay are you doing?" She asked as she ducked her head to avoid an oncoming book. "You know Twilight isn't going to be happy with you throwing books around like that."

[Ashton]

Twilight had been wanting to spend some time with her favorite one-time-foalsitter and now sister-in-law, though before that she had indeed been reorganizing, and was even still doing some of that while Cadence was there. Upon hearing the commotion she in fact walked in with, of all things, her Starswirl hat on her head. Fortunately she wasn't wearing the beard or cloak, but it still looked a little out of place (though again, Discord was so old he might have known Starswirl while he was still alive...)

"Dont remind him of that, otherwise next week I'll be finding all my Astronomy books listed under '!'" snarked Twilight. She might have been more open to the idea of discord as a friend, but it still rubbed her the wrong way at times. Even more when she kept hearing ponies spreading rumors that the crazy chimera might be getting more-than-friendly with Celestia... Not that she would say anything, of course! The two could get married and have little... whatevers... but it didn't mean she liked the idea of her mentor and pseudo-mother-figure possibly getting intimate with discord himself... of course to get to the root of all these problems would require a trained psychologist and more than a few sessions, so it wasn't a good time to delve into them...

"Please promise me your not going to eat any more of my books" said Twilight "If your that hungry I have some in the other room that are duplicates I was planning to donate to the foal's hospital to give the injured fillies and colts something enjoyable to read" she didnt mention that these books were on such topics as string theory, mathematics, and other subjects that woudl likely be over the heads of many of the staff themselves, much less the foals...

[MudBug]

Ugh all these useless topics! Pony physiology? Please! Pony trivia? Like he didn't know enough of that already! Rolling his eyes ever so slightly he kind of carelessly threw the books away in a mild frustration before he started hearing voices....outside of the usual voices he heard. Oh right, this was a public library wasn't it? Blinking owlishly at the three seperate voices, the large serpentine chimera bent himself backwards to look at the trio of horned (and in the duo's case, winged) ponies upside down...until he righted his head that twisted to look at them properly.

That always did put such a kink in his neck.

Peering at the three, he couldn't help but arch a brow at their words before Twilight came into view and he pouted just a tad at her words, looking almost offended as he crossed his claw and paw over his chest in a slightly huffy manner.

"I only did that once! I am a connoisseur of fine literature, it just so happens to not be in the way you'd prefer it! You prefer to read and I prefer mine with ketchup or mustard." This wasn't really helping his quest for knowledge and he waved his hands slightly. "Anyway, perhaps you three can help me! Especially you, Twilight, you know these books front to back!"

Landing on the floor so he was atleast on some level with them, even with the obscene height he held himself at, he stared at the three equines quietly before...eventually, finding the words to put into order.

"I'm looking for a book on what makes ponies tick, more preferably, what makes them happy, is there any book about that in what remains of these tomes?"

Out of nowhere, because it was him, his tail just playfully flicked at one of the bells on Twilight's Starswirl hat playfully.

"By the way, LOVE the hat, never did get the bells but I'm never one to question such a good choice in fashion."

[QuickLime]

And suddenly there were princesses in the room, Cashmere took a soft breath through his nose to compose himself because that was not a planned part of his library trip today .. "In my knowledge, that sort of thing is actually rather individualized, and I don't think there is a set book on what makes ponies as a GROUP happy, because you know they all like and dislike different things" He moved a hoof up to adjust his monocle and thought "They seem rather fond of celebrations, there's a celebration for everything..the leaves fall? Celebration, it snows..celebration, the sun rose this morning...celebration.."

Lots of Celebrations...

[moonshineTheleocat]

After a long time spent baking out in the desert sun and crawling back to civilization with a new set of scars hidden away under his fur, all because he wanted to test his magnum opus. He couldn't help but to feel it was all a great success. Even when he appeared to look like a mummy. And even when things got a little more violent then he had hoped for.

All of his notes were perfectly documented, except for a few major details that tells how such an advice ticks. Got to protect property, and most certainly encourage other ponies to do their own things. And so, he went on to a stroll to ponyvile. A majority of his body wrapped up with bandages. His right fore hoof, and both back legs. The barrel of his body, and even his head!

Though the pony didn't seem all that in pain. He just wore the same old sane(?) smile he had every day while effortlessly balancing a hefty box containing fresh copies of his own research. He approached the library door, and slowly pushed it open to reveal to himself the boundless copies of books from all over Equestria. Though instead of letting his eyes dart to where they'd probably be more useful, they simply shifted to the science fiction section. And then the fantasy. Sure, he might be a pony of science. But non-fiction wasn't his thing when it came to reading for pleasure. He always had a preference of just learning things away from a book, and using a book to escape reality!

He trotted forward, humming a gentle tune to himself as he browsed the selections of fantasy books just sitting on the shelves. Each one of them beaming with untold tales of unwitting heros, or brutes and vikings! Maybe the occasional dragon slayer, or dragon slaying the slayer. Oh how exciting it would be just to pry one of the books open, and dive countless hours into them.

“The Strings of Time...” Java hummed to himself, after noticing the incredible fourteen book long collection. This seemed incredibly interesting indeed. And he had quite the interesting tale about these books from a few of his associates. It wouldn't hurt just to have a peak? No... not a peak. A read... not just a read... check out one. No... perhaps all of them? No Sleep, all the time in the world, these books can be finished within a couple of days or so easy. But what was this book about? The pony quickly recalled his friends telling him about it. About a farmer lad... who didn't have any real special powers, and did not answer to the goddesses will. But where ever he was... something about setting things in motion?

He reached out with his maw to pluck up the first book from the shelf. And just as his head extended, and his tongue could almost taste the musky taste of old paper and ink, out of the corner of his eye he caught a very familiar snake like... dragon... figure.

He could remember that figure from anywhere. It was Discord himself, in the flesh! And though most sane ponies would tremble in fear. Why be scared of a god of chaos? In fact, the pony actually did find humor in some of the things that Discord had done in the past. And while he might have never personally seen it... the idea of a pony howling at the moon did sound very entertaining to watch... and perhaps experience. Besides, he wasn't a emotion sucking creature. He just probably did it all in good fun.

“The lord of entropy, Discord himself,” the pony chirped, his head tilting a bit as he now spun around to trot closer.

[MetalBronyATL]

Celebrations?

Shoot. I totally forgot that we're supposed to begin organizing for the Crystal Faire in a few months. Oh well, Shiny is a big boy, he can handle it. For now I'm spending time with my sister-in-law......and apparantly Discord as well.

Shaking off the facehoof she had given herself, she returned her attention to the chimera that was still hard at work undoing the careful organization that Twilight had so delicately created. It had been some time since the whole Tirek situation, but Discord's presence was still nonetheless unsettling. She only had a taste of "reformed" Discord when he came and crashed her day with Twilight, so most of what she knew of him involved him either trying to turn Equestria into the chaos capital of the world, or enabling Tirek to continue his reign of terror.

But who was she, the Princess of Love, to truly judge the creature? Her very nature forbade her from harboring true hatred. Even with all that has happened, she could never bring herself to even think of the very notion of hatred. Discord made a mistake, was highly irritating, and uncomfortably shady, but maybe.....just maybe, he could truly be coming around. And if he is truly seeking to bring happiness to ponies, albeit in a very strange way, then Cadence would most certainly give him a hoof.

"He's right, Discord. You can't find the answer to making ponies happy in a book. To discover that you have to truly know the pony you are trying to make happy. Think about what makes Fluttershy happy. Helping small animals, singing, even a little bit of sowing, you know, those kinds of things. You figured those out through spending time with her and getting to know her. Now tell me what kind of book could tell you that?"

Cadence's voice, as sweet and loving as ever, brought a feeling of tanquillity to the room, and she hoped that Discord understood her point. She also hoped that her comment on not finding an answer in a book wouldn't cause Twilight to pop a blood vessel.

[Ashton]

"Ponies don't tick discord... well unless they swallow a clock... which despite sounding very crazy has happened to a couple of my friends..." she made a strange face, clearly despite whatever reason they had given, it still made twilight wonder how and why they had managed to swallow a clock... especially that time it was a grandfather clock! Though at least it didn't have an alarm... a certain some pony had to deal with getting up extra early several more days than she wanted to until twilight coudl figure out how to safely remove the alarm clock she ate!

"actually technically if you boil it down enough, all ponies are happy by the same thing" said Twilight as a magic window appeared showing a diagram of a pony's brain as she proceeded to explain about different hormones' release and the effects on brain chemistry... something she seemed to really enjoy but no doubt was boring everypony there, including discord, since this really wasn't the kind of question he had been asking...

[MudBug]

The mishmashed chimera peered between the ponies quietly as they spoke, ears flicking forward as he tried his best to pay attention to the small details - though he really wasn't one for patience in general, he thought for the sake of an already fragile relationship with ponykin that he had after the entire Tirek situation that he'd atleast try to listen through all of this....though granted when a new pony stepped up and aknowledged him, there was a slightly vain smile that parted the great serpentine creature's maw. Twiddling his little beard as he removed his horns like he was tipping his hat to the pony.

"In the flesh." He stated, maybe a bit too proudly.

However his attention was returned to the others as they said their peace, he had to agree with the purple haired unicorn that there were a lot of ceremonies, some for things he just couldn't understand. Leaves falling? Now the leaves performing impromptu theatre THAT would be something to be celebrated...though it did make a lot of ponies happy, he had to admit...When Cadence spoke up in that soft tone of hers and mentioned his dearest friend, Fluttershy, he had to scratch slightly at his neck. He did somehow manage to make her happy didn't he? Who would've thought cucumber sandwiches could mean so much.

"Princess Mi Amore, as always you're a font of empathy...however Fluttershy is a little more...well...open to my attempts...no offense." He bent himself forward as he approached the ponies closer. "It's finding something that universally appeals to ponies I'm looking for, not individually-"

And ofcourse. Twilight started being Twilight.

Blinking at the chart the pony suddenly had rolled out, the creature snapped his fingers and soon was donned in a large labcoat as he stood next to the lavender alicorn and scratched his chin in a mocking attempt to look educated.

"Well Twilight, while I enjoy scientific thesis' and commend the research, this isn't really what I'm trying to find out!" With another bright flash he returned to the book shelf, now himself and not the scientist he'd pretended to be. "I want to find out what big thing I could do that would appease multiple ponies at the same time, that celebration thing sounded like a good idea! How about an icecream cloud party?"

[QuickLime]

Twilight's lecturing was odd, he didn't know much of the princess but he was pretty sure that she couldn't be that dense...it was obvious what Discord was on about.. "I think a large party might be a good idea, it would give you a chance to meet and mingle with several ponies on an individual level, let them see you as a comrade and not a threat or something dangerous they only whisper about " Cashmere moved forward then to put his front hooves on the bookshelf, scanning it over, before focusing, lifting a book out of the shelft

"How to properly plan and host a party"

"This might have some use as a reference?" He offered "Other than that I suggest finding a few good friends that are willing to help organize it or something, otherwise it will be a mess, and I mean a bad mess not a good one"

He coughed setting the book down and took a step back, deciding he had gabbed enough and one shouldn't over gab in the presence of princesses...

[MetalBronyATL]

"How to properly plan and host a party"

That sounded an awful lot like something Pinkie would want to be around for.

Cadence had to agree with Discord though. Most ponies knew Discord for one thing and one thing alone, and that was his past. Both the stories that had been passed down over the course of a thousands years and the recent events that racked Equestria to it's core had given ponies an impression that probably doesn't help the patchwork creature's case. Fluttershy was the only pony who understood him properly, and could tolerate his trickery due to the fact that she was the one who finally got it under wraps. Therefore, Cadence could not see most of Equestria opening up and accepting even a reformed Discord.

Then there was this whole "celebration" business. Cadence didn't see any harm in giving it a go. After all, it was a pretty good way to cast yourself in a good light, no matter how troubled the past was. As the Crystal Princess, she was the overseer of the Crystal Faire every year, so she was used to the hustle and bustle that came with preparing such an event, and could happily offer her services for this particular festivity. The only difference was that the purpose of the Crystal Faire was to sustain the life of the Empire itself, while this one would be to try and create a positive opinion on Discord.

But that did matter much, did it?

"I agree with Cashmere, we need the right ponies to make this go right. I think it's a good idea if we can do it properly." The soft tone of the young alicorn spoke.

[Ashton]

Twilight looked between her 'sister' and discord, she had a very bad feeling about this... but maybe she could find a solution! "Well, it's a huge responsibility for you, Discord, after all you have to make sure the party's going smoothly, that there's plenty of food and drink for everypony at all times, you have to plan and manage the entertainment, prepare the food an decorations, and of course make sure all the guests are enjoying themselves - that alone is quite a task" she explained, hoping to talk discord out of it by making it sound like a lot of hard work and a lot of responsibility for very little -if any- fun on his part. Granted this was, at best, based on one's point of view and at worse a paper-thin lie since at least part of the planning and decorating was fun as well, not to mention the reactions that were seen by the guests and the feeling of a job well done... but hopefully discord would miss those and would see this as 'one big snore' and move on to a new, less volital idea...

[moonshineTheleocat]

Java's head tilted slightly after the princess of friendship went through some sort of biology lesson. Though he did start to grow rather board. Sure the pony himself is a scholar of science and technology! An engineer! A spectacular one at that! But when it comes to down time, and time in a library. He has no real desire to learn more than what he does on a constant daily basis! This was his personal time! His time to relax! Sure a lesson through biology would be rather helpful in explaining why he get's all flustered around cute ponies, but he'd rather not hear it at the time.

"I am sorry princess. Buuut..." The pony began now approaching the violet princess. "Do you just have a handful of those slides in hammer space or something?"

His thoughts then quickly swapped back to Discords idea of a party. Ice cream clouds? Ice cream falling from the sky? It almost sounded as brilliant as it was messy and cold. It even caused the pony to smile a bit. "But an Ice cream cloud party. Actually, I think I'd be up for that one."

Just before any other pony thought that he was strange, the pony quickly added. "I always wanted to meet you in person! Your sense of humor actually sounded pretty entertaining when I heard stories about you. Ah... both in not so good times, and reformed I should say."