"That's... unusual."
Twilight inspected the open tome before her. Princess Celestia had given her a few books to investigate recently, their common feature was the titles being written in some unknown language, but the text within was completely understandable.The Princess hadn't offered any insight on the nature of the books, or the report Twilight was supposed to write, but simply gave the instruction to research and report.
Twilight had begun by opening one of the books at random, and with quill and parchment at the ready, she began to read, ready to take notes as needed. However, she recognized rather quickly that the book was a work of fiction, just like the Daring-Do novels she'd collected. She tried to take notes as she read, but every time she took her attention off of the novel, she felt oddly out of place, almost guilty for pausing her reading.
"Spike!" Twilight called her faithful assistant. "I'm going to need a hand with these."
"What do you need?" Spike asked as he descended the stairs.
Twilight looked toward the neat set of books."I need you to take a couple of these books and read through the very beginning of each of them, see if we can't find some order we should handle them in."
Spike picked up the book closest to him and opened it to the first page. "Um...en-thrall.. Oh, ponyfeathers, I can hardly read it, Twi. The script is impossible and I've hardly heard half these words."
Twilight was surprised to see Spike giving up so quickly, he was usually adamant to finish a job even if it took him hours to complete. "Let me see that, Spike."
Twilight took the book from him using her magic and brought it to her. 'fascinated by the flashy display, Violet stood still.' These are all words Spike knows, and they're written perfectly clearly, what was spike complaining about?
Spike pointed to the page. "What does Ost-ost...En...ta-tion mean anyway?"
Twilight inspected the page carefully while responding. "Ostentation is some pretentious display of wealth..." Twilight couldn't find the word anywhere on the page, but perhaps- "Spike, read aloud the next words."
"V...iolet...Um, Filter? No,wait...Falt...tered?" Spike was obviously having trouble reading it, but Twilight could tell he was really giving it his very best.
Twilight rushed to take notes as Spike struggled through sentences. For whatever reason, the text changed according to the reader, but the contents seemed to stay about the same. Twilight knew there was some magic soaked into the pages, but for it to perform some kind of illusion, and over some work of teen drama? Twilight had originally thought the assignment to be oddly average, but excitement welled inside her as a mystery was revealed.
Although Spike couldn't help Twilight organize an order, his efforts had given her incredible insight into the nature of the books. There were five leather bound novels, Twilight confirmed that each of them were works of fiction, and after some study, determined each story was self-contained,they weren't a series like Daring-Do. Twilight briefly considered them all to have the same author, but the only evidence to suggest it was that they all behaved the same way magically.
"Well, I suppose there's only one thing left to do." Twilight had written every observable trait of the books, but was still left with too many questions. Taking the book she first inspected, she began to read, stopping every so often to take notes. Again, the feeling of taking notes bothered her in a way she had never felt before. Every time she took a note some feeling bubbled up from her gut, she noted this sensation down, but otherwise did her best to ignore it.
An hour passed before Twilight Sparkle actually stopped to see what notes she had written thus far. Looking through them was... frustrating, every note was just a sloppy rehashing of the book itself, offering no valuable insight to anyone. With all the trouble notetaking had been giving her, the results weren't giving her any sense of accomplishment.
Twilight decided to simply sit down and read the book. Notetaking simply wasn't going to get her anywhere this time around, and as much as she didn't want to admit it, she just wanted to read it more than work on it.
"Once I can separate the book's story from the writing, I'll be able to study it better, I'll read it so the plot won't get in the way of my assignment." Twilight said aloud, with nopony around to hear her.
Sitting quietly in the corner of the library, Twilight began to read.
Riverbell had galloped across half the field before hearing it. The festivities were in full swing, and everypony was already there.
"Clover, please, oh please just wait" She muttered to herself as she ran as hard as she could.
Every building was dressed in stripes, seemingly leading the sweet perfumes of desserts throughout the town. The chatter of a thousand ponies filled the streets, feelings of enjoyment and excitement overflowing from every smile. Confetti seemed to float through the warm air, filling every direction with bright color.
The large stage in the center of town was covered in large draping cloth and beautiful flowers. Although the streets shone with every color imaginable, the majority of the decorations on this stage were a brilliant white. Two ponies took the center of the stage, one olive stallion, dressed in a white tuxedo, and a misty rose-colored mare, in a layered white dress.
Riverbell's sweat dripped from her nose as she ran harder than her legs could handle. Every muscle fiber within her screamed and ached, but she couldn't slow down, not now. Ponies in the streets gave her odd looks as they jumped out of her way, while she simply ran.
"CLOVER!" The shout had silenced the entire audience surrounding the stage. Mild noises from other streets could be heard, but the silence in town square was deafening.
The crowd parted, revealing a sole pale turquoise mare, panting for breath. Her breathing was the most prominent noise for several blocks.
The two ponies in the center of the stage looked on Riverbell, but remained silent.
Riverbell tried her hardest to hold back tears and arrange her words. She had come this far, but now she actually had to tell him...
"Clover..." Was the only word she could say before the tears flowed freely from her eyes. crumbling down to the ground, she wept. Every color and shape had blurred away as tears filled her eyes, every scent dominated by her running nose, every sensation replaced by the burning of her muscles, every sound drowned out by her desperately trying to breathe. "I love you!" Those words that slipped from her mouth like honey felt so sweet to her. Every sense was torn away, leaving her alone, but she could taste those words.
"I love you" those words tasted so good as they fell out, to be heard by everyone, but it didn't matter. She didn't care. "I love you" She repeated herself again and again. "I love you" she couldn't tell whether her sobbing was getting better or worse, but she felt warm. "I love you, I love you, I love you"
"I love you too." Riverbell finally noticed the embrace surrounding her when she heard those words, and fell silent, unable to even cry.
Clover had descended from the stage and held his very special somepony tight, as though he was afraid if he loosened his grip she might slip away. Fighting the urge to only squeeze tighter, he brought his head far enough back to lean his forehead on Riverbells'.
"And I always will." Clover assured her. Placing his hooves on her neck and cheek, he pulled her close, and met his lips carefully to Riv -
"Twilight! Are we going to eat dinner or what?" Spike practically shouted.
"Wha-!" Twilight Sparkle lowered the book in her hooves and looked around, as though she had just woken up in a stranger's house. "What?"
"I know it's your assignment and everything, and you really seemed to be enjoying it, but you haven't moved anything but those pages in hours, and more than just hungry, I'm a little worried." Spike explained as he dropped a bookmark into the book in Twilight's hooves.
Once Twilight got a hold of reality she looked down at the pages, and then frantically for a quill. "I have to write that down. I have to."
Spike didn't do much to stop her, but felt it was a little hasty to be taking notes like this. "Write what down?" He asked.
Twilight explained as she wrote. "I remember distinct details of that story that were not written on those pages. It's like I was there, I swear. This is more than engagement in a good story..." She paused before looking towards Spike and the books with a big smile on her face.
"This is magic."