> A Jarring Conclusion
>  by Clue Finder
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike entered into the kitchen of the friendship castle and found a defeated looking Twilight resting her head against the counter. Right in front of her nose rested a jar of jam and to the side he noticed a couple of slices of bread resting on a plate, barren of any condiments.

"Um, are you okay there Twilight?" Spike asked looking at Twilight's expression with a hint of confusion.

"No, Spike" she sighed "I'm not okay. I wanted to make a jam sandwich but this jar won't budge. If I apply a stronger force with my telekinesis I'm worried that the jar will break before this lid will get any looser." Twilight lifted her head from the counter and picked up the bread plate with her magic, as she turned around to put it away there was a popping sound and the clatter of a jar lid against the counter.

"There you go." Spike offered the jar up as Twilight froze before turning back around to see.

"How did yo- no, imposs... HOW?" Twilight stammered as she looked at the opened jar in disbelief.

"All in the wrist I guess" Spike shrugged and put the jam back on the counter before getting a glass from a cupboard and filling it with some water. As he was turning off the faucet he glanced and saw Twilight staring at the jar intently. "Are you going to make that sandwich or would you like me to do it for you?" Spike asked flatly, but Twilight shook her head. 

"No Spike, thank-you. But could you put the jar's lid back on, I want to try this again." 

Spike shrugged but did as asked, making sure not to turn the lid on too tightly "okay, there you go" he said, placing the newly closed jar back on the counter. 

Again Twilight picked up the jar in her magic's grasp and began concentrating at the hovering glassware. She strained and worked her magic carefully but to no avail, the lid seemed stuck fast.

"Maybe you could try doing it with your hooves instead, y'know, get a proper grip on it?" Spike suggested. 

Twilight considered the idea and brought the jar back down to the bench. Wrapping a forehoof around it she shook slightly, being unused to doing things the earth pony way but the jar relented as it's lid loosened easily. "This doesn't make sense, why is it that the jar is suddenly too slippery?" Twilight asked aloud "I handle flasks and test tubes in the lab every other day, so it can't be the fact that it's glass, surely!" Lighting up her horn toward all the cupboards Twilight levitated various containers in her telekinetic grasp toward the counter. 

Spike shrugged and moved to exit the room before pausing at the door "Whatever, just remember to put them all back when you're done, otherwise they'll spoil."

A few hours and some comic books later, Spike returned to the kitchen to find it in a state of chaos, various cans were opened, wrappers peeled back but he paused to notice that all the jars were stacked in a pile with their lids intact. Twilight had one placed in front of her nose just like earlier, chin rested on the bench and a new pile of messy notes strewn around her working area. 

"I just don't get it. I really don't" she spoke softly, her voice pained with defeat. "How come they won't open?" 

Spike casually picked up one of the jars from the stack and popped off it's lid, and then tried another and yet another. "They seem okay to me Twilight" he concluded, placing the trio of containers together.

Twilight glanced over and sighed again "Yes spike, they all open with a grip but never with my magic, I can't see any anti-tampering enchantment or mechanism nor anything wrong with my magic's grip" she grumbled as she gestured toward the pile of various things that she had opened.

Spike thought about the situation for a moment as he considered one of the jars "Which way are you turning the lids?"

Twilight's eye twitched before looking back toward one of the closer jars. "Left, of course. How did the old saying go? Left is loose and right to tight?"

"Well, I have heard that 'lefty loosy, righty tighty' is the mantra but are you doing left from the bottom or the top?" Spike gestured with his claws. 

Twilight looked back at the jar. "Bottom goes left then up if I were to draw a dot on it's edge, right?" she asked.

"Ah. that could be it then. It's meant to be left from the top, you know, counter-clockwise?" Spike stated matter-of-factly

Twilight considered the jar, looked over to her notes then picked one up in her magic's grip once more, it popped open with ease. She stared at it as it hovered in front of her face. Replacing it's lid she looked at it carefully then worked her magical grasp and did it again. "No, it can't be that simple, can it?" she said with an even tone as the jar was lowered carefully to the bench's surface.

Spike chuckled to himself before raising a claw "Now Twilight, when's the last time you opened a jam jar?" The question was asked almost in a mocking tone. "Ever since Canterlot I've handled the cooking, and as filly meals were prepared for you, everything else you deal with like potions either had a cork or was sealed some other way."

Twilight tapped a hoof to her chin and thought back on years passed. "You might be right there Spike, I don't think I've ever had to try." She looked at her hooves and then back to the jar pile on the bench before considering the ramifications of this insight. "I wonder if there are more unicorns who have this problem, nobility maybe? Do even the Princesses know how to do this or have I really never noticed?" Twilight thought aloud before shaking her head of the thought. There was a bench to tidy up and dwelling on the issue wasn't going to prepare her a late lunch.

Meanwhile, at the carousel boutique Rarity burst into Sweetie Belle's room with a rather frazzled mane, cast into disorder from her stress "Sweetie, could you?" she grumbled through gritted teeth

"Sure thing sis" Sweetie Belle replied cheerfully as she popped the jar open with a flick of her filly magic. "There you go" she said as she offered the jar back to her blushing sister.