Simply Existing

by BiniBean

Chapter Two:

Chapter Two:

Bini Filters, as many would say, was a cynical pony. This was probably one of the reasons she was accepted at the Royal Canterlot Library and Archives, not the city Canterlot Library or the position she had been praying for, the Library at Princess Celestia's school for gifted unicorns, but the castle's main Library. Arguably, the most important Library. But also the most lonely job in...maybe the city? She wasn't sure but based on the amount of traffic she got in the Library and around, she assumed it was.

She wasn't well-liked, maybe a few acquaintances here and there, but no real friends. She, usually, didn't consider herself the type of unicorn to need friends. Her job didn't require it and she liked spending her off days either reading books with a nice cup of tea or writing for the sake of simply writing a story floating around in her mind. Unfortunately, there were brief moments of weakness she wished she did have friends.

Shopping on the main street always caused one of those moments to occur. It drove her mad. One of the reasons she hated shopping. She had lived in Canterlot all her life, as she trotted down the semi-busy main street with bags on her back ready to be filled and a scroll with a neat list right in front of her, she had become used to the routine that would follow her.

She would, as she was always alone, pony-watching. As she trotted down the street she would watch the nobels and the locals interact. The locals of Canterlot by no means were at the level of simplicity you would find in...Perhaps Ponyville, but that didn't stop the Nobels from thinking such a thing and choosing to act on it.

Drove her mad, once again, as she watched nobels at least once a week, yell at some business owner, throw items and then cause a scene to the general public. As if anypony living in this city for more than a year hadn't caught onto the play they were running and chose to ignore it. But, as always, tourists happen to pass by and eat it up like disgusting food at restaurants.

She wished she could talk to somepony on these sorts of trips to distract her from...society itself in this city. Today, being the Royal Wedding and all, had of course a lot of tourists roaming, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Royal couple or watch a show of yet another Nobel making a fool of himself. Maybe even see the Alicorn rulers but that was even rarer.

Bini gritted her teeth as the tourists littering the street had no sense of direction and couldn't seem to look in front of them for five seconds to miss the "action" as some Nobel, who, Bini had forgotten the name of since they all sound like fancy liars trying to prove something in their names, yelled some waiter over a hay sandwich being too...big?

Really?

Bini shook her head to focus her thoughts on the stupidity of her existence once again invading her life as she quickly dodged a tourist and his partner. She refocused on her list.

• Quills
• Scrolls
• Labels (For Bookkeeping)
• Notebooks (3)

And...

And what?

Bini paused in the street, disrupting a few passing ponies' paths at the abrupt stop but she didn't mind. She rarely did that in a normal sense and right now she needed to stop. To think. She had the nagging feeling she was forgetting something on the list. What was it?

She ignored the bells of the Wedding, or the ponies passing by as they wished they could be in attendance at such a historic occasion inside the halls of Canterlot Castle. As a staff member, Bini could have gone. But frankly, as much as she hated being on the main street, it was better than dressing pretty, pretending that she didn't have anything better to do with her life as she watch two ponies she barely were aware of make out.

"What the hay is that?"

The voice caught Bini's attention. Not because of the voice itself, but the tone. That wasn't a good tone. Bini looked hesitantly up from her scroll to another couple staring up at the sky across the street from her. It seemed the wife's outcry had been heard by more than just her husband standing fearfully beside her with wide eyes directed at the sky, but by others and the number was growing. Everyone was coming to a stop, the world was practically stopping to look at something in the sky.

Bini, hesitantly followed the gaze of the crowd to look up at the shield surrounding the city. Something was up there.

It was a small change at first, Bini barely saw it. Five ponies, what she thought were ponies hovering about the shield. As she used her magic to adjust her small glasses and squinted up she realized they weren't ponies. Not exactly. They were more bugs, giant bugs.

That really disturbed her.

Her mind was working overtime, trying to understand what was going on when she suddenly remember what she forgot to write. Magic, she needs magic spell books to improve as a sort of hobby in her free time. She groaned at herself for being such a numbskull, as a threat loomed across the sky, she was literally still thinking about her shopping list.

But she brightened up, the shield, as stupid looking as it was, would protect her and the city. That's what it was designed to do after all. The ponies around her seemed to relax a little as they also came to the same conclusion with each other but no pony moved still, still staring up at the sky to the creatures now growing in number.

Ten, to fifty, to even one hundred of...whatever those things were, were suddenly teleporting above the shield. Bini was growing concerned again like everypony else as she flared her magic and rolled her scroll into her bag. Her stomach had a sinking feeling that whatever was happening was about to end very badly.

But, of course, there was still that pink hideous shield intact-

Everypony jumped as a magical blast could be heard from Canterlot castle, screaming from that area, a mere four streets away. Finally, every pony's eyes fell on the castle in dead silence as the structure loomed in the distance.

When Bini was sworn in as the Librarian to the Castle's staff, she made a promise that, at the time, didn't seem so hard, to protect the library from harm. Do NOT let the enemy take from Equestria. Do NOT let a single book, single page, a single scroll leave its halls in the enemy's clutches.

That oath was still in effect, frankly the moment Bini heard the blast from somewhere in the castle, she should have abandoned her quest and returned to her post. That Library was filled with countless secrets and dark spells that no one, no pony should know. Not even her.

But her hooves, at that very crucial moment, decided to give up on listening despite Bini's job. The unknown of what was ahead held her in place. Then, screaming around her brought her back from her mind in frantic thoughts of how to move.

They were screaming at the sky, Bini looked up to see the little bug things slamming into the shield and it was cracking. Easily. What a great job the Captain did, Bini has to look up at the abomination for weeks just for it to crack when a bunch of bug things slam into it. It's a wonder the city was still here.

Soon, the ground shook and rumbled as the shield completely broke apart. Everypony had to brace themselves as the ground beneath them rumbled so much that Bini thought for a brief moment the whole city would fall off the mountain. When it didn't, she found herself genuinely surprised she was still standing.

More screaming continued around her.

Comments

[new55]

That was a good story so far goodluck with the rest of it.

[BiniBean]

11409049
Thanks :)