lucetilogs | Should you choose to research it (Malnosso mission: May 11-16)

Who: Twilight Sparkle & Ami (two bibliophiles)
What: Their Malnosso research mission (a brief account)
When: May 13th (or thereabouts)
Where: Central Malnosso Library (where else?)
Summary: Some researching (well, and a little of this and that)
Rating: G (for "books are Great")

Some days into the trip, Twilight's at a desk, and there are books all around her - literally, surrounding her. The Central Malnosso Library is hugely bigger than the Luceti one, or even the library of the Crystal Empire. She's in heaven.

The work is brutal, but it's the kind of analysis and research she loves, so she doesn't mind. Right now she's got a bunch of books about airships littering the desk, along with a couple of drafts of the paper she's working on, several charts, and a stack of lists. She doesn't use the computer, though. Found it easier to write everything out by hand.

Right now, Twilight's searching through the piles of paperwork, looking for a particular chart, and once again wishing she had Spike here to help her. "Ami? Have you seen my analysis of public zeppelin networks anywhere?"

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Ami has to admit, it feels guiltily easy. This is the sort of thing she'd do for fun on her own. On the other hand, if the Malnosso are willing to pay for it...

She'd rather immerse herself in studying than consider the fact that many of her friends are currently gone. Perhaps they'll have returned - in good health - by the time she does.

Distracted by her thoughts, she startles slightly, and offers Twilight a sheepish smile. "I think it was over there..."

'Over there' turns out to be another mass of papers that both of them would probably swear is perfectly organized. Except for not being able to find the report.

The pile she points out is a very tall pile of papers that appears to deal with several different types of public transportation networks. Twilight starts shuffling through them.

"This is what I wish I had Spike around for. He was always better at finding things in the library."

She picks up a sheet. This one looks like it could be- nope. And the search continues. "My guess is the Malnosso want to be prepared in case we have to deal with airships on a mission again. Or it could be a post-mortem analysis."

That's a grim way to put it, but Ami doesn't argue.

"They may want to find ways to improve what they have," she suggests. She doesn't particularly feel like being helpful to the Malnosso, but in this situation it's her best move. So if they're looking for improvements, or revisions to their designs, she'll provide what could be useful.

After she makes a few more notes, she quietly goes about sorting some of the books into piles by topic.

"One of these books said that the best way to fight a war is just to be more technologically advanced than the other side. Actually, it's the first one I found." Twilight puts down the papers, rubs her eyes, and gestures at a small stack sitting near the front of the desk, topped with The Art of War. "Those were here when I got here."

Twilight sits staring off into space for a minute, then sighs and goes back to looking at the stack. "I just wish… no, forget it. That won't change what we have to deal with."

"What is it?" Anything, even a passing thought, is worth considering and then following or dismissing.

Ami doesn't agree that it's all about power, though - in this case, technology. She's seen what power can do, but she's seen what someone's love can do, too. And she's seen which was stronger in the end.

That time, at least.

She sighs. "Well, I guess I wish there didn't have to be so much fighting. The information we're finding here is really interesting! But... I can't help but feel it's just going to be used to hurt more people."

Ami makes a rather reluctant soldier herself, so she certainly understands.

"You might be right about that," she finally says. However, those battles will happen whether this research does or not. If we look into it enough, we may at least find way to minimize that."

That's the rationale she tells herself, at least, when the dislike of anything to do with helping the Malnosso and their battles wells up particularly strong.

"Do you really think so? Look at what we're researching!" Twilight waves her hoof at their stack. "Maybe we should start a side project."

"If we have time when we finish with our first project. I want to be sure not to be sidetracked right away."

This was, actually, a very difficult goal. Everything she researched seemed to lead to more things that seemed interesting to follow up, and soon one topic led to another until she could hardly remember where the start point was - if she let herself go.

"If we schedule this out right, and I alternate between projects every five minutes for the next fifty-two hours, it shouldn't be a problem!" She begins drawing out the schedule on a piece of paper ... and eventually slows down.

"Wait a minute. I know what this is. This is one of my famous crazy projects that everypony tells me won't work, and then it doesn't. And it's probably pretty important that we get this right for the Malnosso."

She thinks very hard for a second and then realizes - "So I alternate every fifteen minutes. Perfect!"

Sadly, out of all of that, what Ami argues with isn't the timing or the plan. They're definitely two cut from the same cloth. No, what she says instead is, "As long as we convince them to give us what they promised, I don't care if it's helpful to them or not."

She is, just a little, prejudiced against the Malnosso. Or very much prejudiced.

Twilight's got a large grid sketched on the paper by now, and she's cross-referencing books to figure out where she'll need to reference when. They parade in front of her in a magenta-hued telekinetic line. "I'll just need to find a way to get my research home with me. I'm not sure if you can bring things back from missions. Have you ever done one before?"

"Yes, sometimes," says Ami, though she doesn't seem very inclined to say a lot about it. "There was something I wanted at the time, and it seemed like the best idea to cooperate to get it for the time being."

Shrewd and, perhaps, cold of her; but she has very little reason - no reason - to want to lend her aid to the Malnosso.

"That's why I'm here, too. What was it?" She starts sorting the books into two piles.

For a second, Ami almost asks Twilight what she wanted, but it would be rude to ignore the question first. "I wanted to be sure Usagi-chan wouldn't be taken by the droids," she admits. "When she was still here."

"So you got some method of protection, then." Twilight nods. "I'm looking for something more like a weapon."

Should you choose to research it (Malnosso mission: May 11-16)

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