>Celestia disregards her sister's remark and instead looks at the spines of a few encyclopedias behind you.
"Doesn't it seem a bit early to stop talking? I mean, we haven't been speaking for five minutes. There's still loads to learn about- gravity, electric power, the laws of physics-"
>"I really don't see why you need to rush through the whole learning process, Anonymous," Celestia says. "We can stay with you as long as we need to, and come and go as we please once we find the gateway-"
>Luna rolls her eyes at this term.
>"-so why don't we just take our time?"
>you are confused.
>it's as if Celestia is reluctant to learn about your world.
>you should be irritated, but you find that she has a good point.
>but in that case, why aren't you looking for the portway?
>Celestia is looking at you with her arms crossed.
>"Can we go now?" she asks.
>perhaps she just wants to experience the world firsthand.
>dangerous...
>what about Luna?
"What about you, Luna?" you ask in desperation. "Anything you were curious about?"
>you can tell you're trying Celestia's patience.
>"Nothing... dreadfully prominent," Luna murmurs.
>well, fine then.
>it's not like you need the library for this anyway.
>correction, you don't need the library, period.
>you hold out your hand again for the two sisters to climb onto.
>you feel a light scrape as Luna boards and slips on her way into your palm.
>boots. Little boots with little treads.
>this time, you'll ask for a preference.
"Which pocket?"
>"Shirt pocket would be preferable," Celestia replies.
>"Agreed," says Luna.
>you place your hand perpendicular to your chest and hold open the top left pocket of your blazer.
>Celestia drops down.
>you feel a slight tug on your chest from the weight addition.
>Luna gestures for you to move your hand to the top right pocket of your jacket.
>you comply. Apparently, the sisters are not comfortable with sharing a relative five-foot-wide space with each other.
>Luna drops down.
>the weight on your pockets is more-or-less evenly distributed.
"Just nudge me if you need anything," you whisper.
>"Very well," you barely hear from both pockets.
>you stand up.
>you list through the arrangements that ought to be made in your head as you walk outside into the brisk morning.
>some miniature silverware may prove useful. Evidently, they don't need any new wardrobe, but they may need somewhere to wash their clothes. You yourself would need to find a jacket with better-lined pockets so that the sisters aren't sliding along a tarp with every step you take. If they ever come back after going home they might have guests with them- ambassadors, Christ. You would really need to tidy up if you were going to keep the company of a dragon prince or a gryphon baroness or-
>nose.
>your right nostril just became clogged all of a sudden.
>usual routine, block the left nostril with your thumb, remove tissue from pants pocket, place under right nostril in anticipation of delivery, blow.
>a jet black shape about the size of a jelly bean covered in mucus flies into the tissue.
>"Is something wrong?" Luna shouts.
"Just blowing my nose..."
>you examine the shining figure in your hand.
>it opens its glowing green eyes so that they are pointed downward in frustration.
>"Eugh," she groans in a chorus of voices. "what a loathsome first impression. Should've just gone up the throat..." she sits up and begins drying herself off on the tissue paper.
>"Is that the changeling Queen?" Celestia asks.
>"Celestia! So glad you made it!" Chrysalis shouts at your left pocket. “You wouldn’t BELIEVE the things I’ve seen!”
>you save whatever questions you have about this statement for later.
>”I’m just happy you didn’t get lost! Not even I can tell how spontaneously those tunnels can twist,” Celestia hops up to look over your shirt pocket, crossing her arms over the button.
“So, you- don’t mind each other?”
>Chrysalis jerks her head up to look at you.
>”A local! Goodness, I didn’t know you were sapient. Bring me closer, stranger. I can’t see your face.”
>as you lift your hand up to your eyes, you notice that Chrysalis is actually a lot smaller than Celestia or Luna.
>you would estimate she was about the size of a queen ant.
>she’s looking into your eyes now.
>she’s also still covered in mucus, despite her best efforts to scrub it off.
“Should I get you another tissue?”
>”I can take care of it,” Chrysalis replies, violently scrubbing the stuff out of her hair. “Did I miss much?”
>“Just introductions, really!” Celestia shouts before you can say anything.
>”Ah! That’s right, I haven’t introduced myself!” Chrysalis wipes the last of the mucus off of her arms in quick gestures, and begins rising to her hoof… things.
>you gesture with your left hand to stop her.
“No need.”
>Chrysalis sits back down, cross-legged.
>”As it turns out, Anonymous has learned most of what there is to know about Equestria already,” Celestia says, gesturing up to you. “He’s a little behind, as you can tell by his first remark, but otherwise doesn’t seem to need much education on the matter.”
>”What an anomaly,” Chrysalis murmurs as she begins to roll up the tissue in your hand.
>to your surprise, you find that you have been unconsciously walking home for the past few minutes.
>is life really so monotonous that your own motor functions have been hardwired to a cycle?
>of course it is.
>lowering your hand a bit so as to see over Chrysalis, you see that she is struggling quite noticeably with the carpet-sized tissue.
>this shouldn't be her responsibility. It is your snot after all.
“I can take care of the tissue, Chrysalis. Could I just move you somewhere a bit less… obstructive?”
>Chrysalis ceases the apparently futile task and quickly hops onto your nose bridge, landing with her eyes looking directly into your left pupil.
>you react with mild recoil, but otherwise simply take to the task of crumpling the tissue and expertly tossing it into a public garbage can.
>as you head towards home, you begin to notice that Chrysalis is actually quite stabilized on your face, despite not even having dug her nails in.
>this must have something to do with her more insect-like attributes, you think.
>eventually, she takes her hands off  and falls down so that she is hanging upside down with her head resting on the tip of your nose.
>makes sense, you continue to think, that generally boneless area should more or less work like a cushion.
>you just don't understand the scale difference.
>it was confusing enough that the two sisters had arrived short a substantial number of kilograms, but now they appeared Amazonian to the little jelly bean queen.
>the leotard-looking green garment covering her abdomen makes her look like a jelly bean.
>that's, uh... why you called her that.
>still not taking them seriously enough.
>at least you're not baby-talking to them.
>you're going cross-eyed looking at Chrysalis, so you try to pay attention to your route.
>your nose is beginning to itch.
>you wrinkle it many times before Chrysalis reaches down and scratches it for you.
>"Was that it?" she asks simply.
"Yeah."
>she sits up with her arms supporting her and looks to her left, then into your left eye.
>"Does anything live here?" she asks.
>there isn't a single pedestrian on the sidewalk.
>not a single car has passed you by on your way to or from the library.
>the most logical conclusion you can come to is that there isn't any demand for residences in the immediate vicinity of a library.
"Apparently not..."
>"How far away are we from your home? I'm getting a lot of unease from you here."
"Can't be more than a mile."