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// 34 - Sweet as Candy 
// Story: Amber Starts, Comforting Endings 
// by David Silver 
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Misty was alone, the others having gone with Aloe to distract her away from things. Misty was looking back and forth between her book and the stump. "There has to be a way." She shut her eyes as she channeled what magic she could to solve the problem at hand, but there was no solution here for her yet, not without more knowledge on magic than she currently possessed.

She nearly jumped from her seat as she felt a hoof settle on her shoulder, spinning about to find Aloe behind her. "Ah! Hello!" She trembled at the sight of Aloe even as she did her best to remain brave.

Aloe frowned as she stroked at Misty's mane gently. "You look stressed. Why don't you come and play with us? Your friends are having so much fun." She pointed back towards the main group who had by this point taken to just playing with the candy critters who were making happy noises and smiling faces at them all even as they munched on various bits of the environment around them or tackled them to the ground with little kisses of affection for them all.

Misty laughed nervously at the saccharine scene. "I need a moment. Keep my spot warm for me, okay?" But an idea came to her. "Actually! Could I talk to you?"

"Talk to me?" Aloe inclined her head curiously as she sat next to Misty, kicking her hooves as they dangled off the edge of the little grassy hill they sat upon. "What about?"

Misty paused before launching into a question she hoped Aloe could answer. Her cutie mark glimmered gently as she gently probed and questioned, getting to know Aloe bit by bit. "That wasn't very nice of them."

"It wasn't." Aloe huffed and crossed her arms, turning up her nose in the meanwhile. "Worst parents, but I found this place, and it's way better!" She opened her eyes slowly as she stared off into the distance at something that Misty couldn't see. "Sometimes I think about going back, but why would I? I'm happy here, and I can still be there for them." She waved a hoof at the candied critters.

Misty's horn glowed as she focused on those questions she had been asked. "Well, sometimes parents can make mistakes too." She tapped softly at the ground before rising slowly. "But I think yours still love you. They're probably scared, and wondering where you are." She held out her hoof towards Aloe, waiting for a response from her.

Aloe smirked as she took that hoof and climbed to her hooves alongside Misty. "This is boring, and talking about grown up stuff like feelings is yucky."

"Yeah, sometimes." Misty rubbed one hoof against the other arm. "But it's important too. I understand they really upset you, and you get to feel that, but you have for a while now. Do they get a chance to say sorry?"

Aloe kicked at the dirt. "I guess they could say it, but they're all grown up and boring." She cast her eyes down at the ground as she turned slowly away from Misty and away from the rest of the ponies too as they continued to play with the other critters that surrounded them even as they took occasional peeks over at Misty and Aloe as they spoke.

"It's not all bad. Sometimes being an adult can be fun." Misty walked along side Aloe, keeping pace with her as they wandered through the sugar fields together. "But it does have some boring stuff you have to keep on top of." She nudged against Aloe. "Oh, I have an idea."

"Yeah?" Aloe peered at Misty with some doubt.

"I'll go with you." Misty reared up and put both her forehooves to her chest. "I'll back you up if they start being dumb."

Aloe scoffed at that. "Like they wouldn't start being dumb right away." She grumbled softly under her breath at the prospect of seeing them again after all this time apart, but slowly those thoughts began to wane as a gentle breeze played through the candied grasses that surrounded them all. She grunted and kicked in place, but her resolve was crumbling around her. "You promise?"

"Promise." Misty took Aloe's hoof and guided her along gently even as Aloe dragged her feet as they returned to where the others were still playing with the candy critters.

"Come on." Aloe tossed her head. "This way. Leave the critters behind. We're going to visit a few ponies, then, probably, come right back."

Hitch jumped to his hooves and trotted over to the pair. "That's great! We'll go too, but we need to leave now. Um." He tilted his head as he looked down at his leg, noticing that a thin layer of hard candy was beginning to grow over his hoof and creeping upwards. He waved for the others to keep up and the band rushed to keep up with Misty and Aloe.

Aloe guided them towards the borders of Candied Hills as she slipped into another old memory of her childhood. "They used to call me their little girl." She drifted over towards a field of strawberry plants that dotted the area with their brilliant red fruits all growing together in clusters. She reached for one with a hungry smile on her face before hesitating at the last moment, turning to share a look with the others as she did so. Misty noticed the delay and slipped in closer.

"Were these involved?" Misty took a single berry in her magic. "Did they tell you not to eat them?"

Aloe ground her teeth at that word. "Yep." She tried to keep up a light tone as she stared at the delicious fruit. "No eating candy before dinner, because I'll get a tummy ache."

Misty dropped the strawberry into Aloe's waiting hoof. "Just one. Your parents don't want you to get filled with berries, you know? But not to never have one ever. Sweet treats are nice." She put her hoof to Aloe's chin. "As long as you eat lots of fruits and veggies too."

Aloe smirked. "That's not even funny." She bit into it regardless, chewing slowly with a happy smile on her face. "Let's go."

Behind them, Hitch was sighing with relief, his hoof returned to normal, as well as all other other parts of them that had begun to slip towards candy-coated. "That was too close." He leaned against Zipp with a second sigh of relief as she hovered beside him, her wings flapping occasionally to keep her aloft.

"Seriously, what if we'd become candy ponies?" Zipp shook her head. "What made Aloe change her mind about it?"

Sunny pointed ahead at where Misty and Aloe were still chatting gently as they walked. "I'm pretty sure Misty came to the recuse." She giggled softly. "Again."

Zipp put her hooves on her hips and huffed in surprise at that statement. "Wow, that's great!" She beamed at the back of Misty's head. "I'm just glad we've called off the becoming candied critters ourselves before it was too late."

Pipp leaned in with a look of utter disbelief on her face as she did so. "Remember that movie Mom used to make us watch?"

"Which one?" Zipp snorted with laughter. "You know Mom liked all the horror movies, right? That's how we ended up seeing the same one so many times."

Pipp swung her phone around with a mischievous smirk on her face as she enjoyed Zipp's disquieted expression at those words. "Yeah, used to be one of her faves. She'll die if she learns we almost lived it out."

At the front of the procession, Misty and Aloe went up to a house built into a tree to knock on a door to have a little heart to heart with the ponies there.





Ponies that dripped with officious stepped into the library, looking around with coldly observing eyes. A mare at the front approached the front desk, where Amber was working. "Ma'am, can you tell us where to find Amber?"

"Oh, that's me." Amber waved hesitantly at the quartet of ponies in suits that stood before her desk, the tips of their hooves clicking gently on the tile floor beneath them as they shifted in place a little before beginning to speak in a calm and practiced manner that betrayed their serious business. "Can I help?"

"I hope so." The mare reached into a breast pocket and drew out a business card to slap down on the counter. "We're with the Library Board. Time for an inspection."

Amber squeaked with surprise. "They didn't tell me."

"That's the idea." The head mare waved for the others to fan out and begin their inspection. "If libraries just prepared for us when we said we were coming, we wouldn't fix much. Do you have a running tally of your daily visitor counts and material checkouts? Please share that with me."

Amber felt herself sinking as she slid that paper over with the figures written upon it, hoping that it was correct as the mare scrutinized the details with her sharp eyes that cut straight through the truth in a heartbeat. She grabbed a pen and scratched through some of the things in there before sliding it back over to Amber with a faint shake of her head.

"Do you offer any borrowable material besides books?" The mare adjusted her thin glasses. "I don't see any."

Amber blinked at the notion. "Besides books? Libraries are for books, um, aren't they? Oh!" She held up a hoof with a sudden look of enlightenment on her face. "There are the magazines. You know, for people to read?" She pointed over at the wall of glossy periodicals that shone in the soft light of the room with their bright pictures and vibrant colors that drew some ponies over for a peek.

The mare shook her head. "No. In these modern times, most libraries need a little extra to draw ponies into them besides just books. Though books are lovely, the interests of the populace have shifted." She leaned in. "You should consider other material.  Tools for around the home have become popular with several branches."

Amber chuckled as she listened to those words, feeling faint even as she bobbed her head in understanding of what was being said to her even as the sound of hooves tromping all over her library began to assault her ears. "What, exactly, are they looking for, ma'am?"

"Anything," the mare said plainly. "Dust on shelves, the scent of perfume, worn pages in books." She stared at Amber pointedly as she said that last part. "No rips or tears either." She huffed at the very idea. "Worn books are to be retired and replaced. Having damaged books hurts the reputation of your library, and all the others alongside it."

Amber gaped at that declaration, trying to wrap her head around it even as she struggled to contain her frustration at how pointlessly officious it all seemed to be, but her curiosity got the better of her even as she had to know what was happening to her beloved collection of precious books. "The library's still new, ma'am. There shouldn't be many worn books. Still, a little gentle love shouldn't disqualify any book from being read."

The mare inspected Amber closely before cracking a very tiny smile that vanished almost as soon as it appeared. "Maybe, but it's still a little worrying to see, isn't it?"

The others reappeared, all shaking their heads as they converged around their leader who raised an eyebrow. She collected a slip of paper from each of them, adding them to her own clipboard. "Excellent. Expect a full report within the week." She leaned in, looking over Amber with sheer pressure of will alone. "This goes a long way to determining if a head librarian keeps their job."

Amber gasped quietly. "It does?"

The mare tapped the counter idly. "Oh yes. Libraries are meant to be the treasure houses of the community, and ponies who don't take that seriously find themselves out of a job very quickly." She turned on a single hoof and began marching out, her assistants keeping step with her. "Good day, Miss Amber."

Amber sank to the floor the moment they were gone. "Nopony told me that was going to happen!"

Comforting patted Amber gently, despite not having been there a moment before. "We keep this place looking pretty good. I bet that report won't have much on it to bother us." She nuzzled against Amber's cheek with a tender smile on her face as she took a look around. "In fact, we'll polish things up a little more. Look good on inspection day."

Amber sat up, gaping at Comforting. "Inspection day just happened! We can't polish up for that." With a grown, she flopped against the counter. "I hope they didn't find anything serious."

"Libraries are quite boring places to inspect, darling." Comforting smiled encouragingly at Amber. "Worst comes to worst, they tell you that there's something wrong with something in here, you can just put in an order and replace it before anypony else notices."

"You think?" Amber took a slow breath, trying to calm herself. "I hope you're right. I like this job, and this library. I dont' want to lose either." She snorted gently. "Well, whatever. She did bring up one interesting idea. We have some magazines, but we don't have any tools or other items that ponies can borrow like that. We could start that, you know?"

Comforting preened as she slowly set some things aside on a shelf nearby that hadn't quite made it to their proper homes yet after they had come in. "Sounds like a bunch of things ponies don't read."

"I think that's the idea." Amber tapped at her chin. "A library is, hm, more than just books. That's what she was trying to tell me. We're a community center, where ponies can get things to learn and grow together. Getting tools to work alongside your fellow pony still fits that bill." She smiled gently. "Also, maybe a children's corner too? Little ones always love picture books, and not having any yet is a missed opportunity."

Comforting tapped on Amber's horn with a teasing grin on her face. "I hear where you're going. Well." She hiked a thumb upwards. "We have a whole second floor we're basically not using. Why don't we start there? Get this library outfitted with more than just books!"

Amber slipped past Comforting with a happy sigh on her lips. "It's a nice idea." She waved at a pony approaching. "Maybe that inspection wasn't all bad. Hello sir! How can I help you today?"