Twilight woke up bleary and tired. Looking down she saw half a page of notes about Applejack reading a book. What book was she- The realization struck Twilight and she immediately snapped to attention looking around the room for Applejack.
Applejack was staring wistfully out the window of the room into the late afternoon sky. Her eyes were red and puffy, but she didn't look particularly upset, but rather... thoughtful.
Applejack was the first to speak. "Ah was livin' in that there book, everything seemed so real, so important... But-" She closed the book and raised herself off the chair. "Ah found mahself unable to read through all them tears wellin' up, and so Ah was pulled back here not too long ago."
Twilight wasn't in any haste to write any of it down as she tried to apologize for leaving Applejack unsupervised through the experiment. "Applejack, I-" But her apology was cut short as Applejack raised her hoof.
"Ah don't mighty care, Twilight. Ah'm goin' to go find Rarity, and we're goin' straight to the spa, an' then I'm gonna go give mah granny a big hug n' kiss." Applejack talked as she walked toward the library's front door.
Applejack looking for Rarity was rare. Applejack initiating spa time was completely unheard of.Twilight had to take time to register what she had heard as her friend stopped at the door.
"And you're not invited until you and Spike make up. Ah'm not gonna handle this... quiet no longer, Twi. No excuses, an' no dillydallyin', The next words Ah hear from you had better be 'We're better now.' Or so help me-." Applejack sighed and walked out the door, leaving Twilight Sparkle completely alone.
The library was silent. Twilight never considered how large and open it was, and wondered how she ever complained about there not being enough room. She left her notes and walked up to her room. She had walked up these stairs every day at least, but today the stretch of stairs seemed twice as long, and she could hear them creak under her hooves. Falling on her bed, she was left to her thoughts.
Twilight knew she hadn't slept hardly at all last night since her fight with Spike had weighed so heavily on her, but felt truly ashamed she'd left her friend unsupervised with unknown magical artifacts by picking then to take a stupid nap. At least Applejack seemed... okay? There was something different about her as she spoke today, aside from choosing to go to the spa, there was some kind of aura of a motherly reprimand toward Twilight when she mentioned Spike. Applejack was right, but that didn't make it easier for her to face the music.
Twilight grumbled in her bed as she slowly dozed off.
Lotus' hooves worked like magic on Applejack's shoulders as she let the mud bath soak into her coat. Applejack felt the cool cucumbers over her eyes, and had never appreciated vegetables on her face as much as she did now.
"Darling, you must have been terrified. I do so appreciate you trusting me to help at a time like this." Rarity spoke to her friend from the next tub over.
"Frankly Rarity, Ah couldn't imagine a better place to be, or a better friend to share it with."Applejack confessed."You know, being in that book wasn't actually all so bad, though. What hurt most was comin' back to seein' Spike an' Twi as broke up as they are. Ah really think this book business is workin' their nerves somethin' fierce."
Rarity worried for her friends. There had been bumpy patches for everyone, but this seemed serious. "You know, I saw Spikey earlier today, and he did appear a lot less gleeful than he usually does. He said something about feeling left out, so of course I offered to have him fit for a new apron, but he said he had other things to attend to. Oh, I do hope things will turn out okay."
Applejack's eyebrows lifted beneath their cucumber covers. "Ya do know not all life's problems can be solved with clothes, right?"
"Oh, poppycock darling, if a problem is not fixed with one layer, simply add another until it is." Rarity declared the solution to all the world's problems as though it were common knowledge.
Applejack couldn't hold back the giggles blooming in her chest and openly laughed. "Well shoot." She said between giggles. "Why didn't ya say so earlier! That would'a made that whole Discord business a walk in the park!"
Rarity smiled and relaxed into her mud bath, keeping her eyes on Applejack. "What else is a friend for?"
Spike walked to the front door of the library, nervous to see Twilight again. The sun was already setting, and Spike hadn't thought of any way to apologize or explain himself. He kind of painted himself into a corner with his performances the other night, so any explanation would feel a bit like admitting defeat.
Surprisingly he entered into a silent library. Upon inspection, Spike found Twilight sleeping heavily on her bed. Relief washed over him knowing that he wouldn't have to maneuver a conversation tonight, but he also felt guilt for getting away with what he did without confronting it all day.
Spike's thoughts were interrupted by a bright, rhythmic tapping on the door. Answering it, he found Rarity on the other side.
"Oh, hey Rarity."Spike's eyes widened all at once as he remembered."Wait, you're not here to get my measurements, are you? I like my apron already, I don't need a new one."
Rarity giggled at the flustering baby dragon. "No Spike, I was actually hoping to get a hold of Twilight, is she available?"
Spike looked over his shoulder in thought. "Em... no...she just fell asleep actually, it was a long day for her. Yeah." Spike said.
Spike was an awful liar, and Rarity knew it, but she also didn't want to disturb any emotional wounds right now. Applejack had given her a pretty good idea of the situation, but she was here for a purpose.
"Well I've got a day off of work tomorrow, and I was hoping Twilight could recommend a good book, so I came here to see if we could meet up." Rarity put on a nervous smile as she tried to dance around the topic.
Spike's eyelids dropped. He was a bad liar, but Rarity's poker face was awful. Spike let out a long sigh. "You want to read the books Applejack read today. Fine, I'll let Twilight know to expect you tomorrow."
Spike was turning around to shut the door and go back inside, but Rarity jumped down on him before he could separate them.
She gave Spike the tightest and most genuine hug she could muster. "We all love you, Spike. I don't know what's happened, but don't take our Spikey-Wikey away, please."
After a minute to relax, the two let go and had trouble looking each other in the eye.
"So,you'll let Twilight know then?" Rarity asked.
"Yeah, we'll be expecting you tomorrow morning." Spike answered.
"Okay then, thank you Spike." Rarity, turned to leave rather quickly.
"Yeah, and Rarity?" Spike called to her, turning her eyes to meet his before she got too far. "Thanks."
Awkwardness still hung in the air of the library.Twilight and Spike hadn't made up, or even acknowledged the problem, but the sunlight falling through the windows broke up some of that tension.
"Applejack told me all about these books and their magic. Although I don't look it, I do know a thing or two about magic, being a unicorn as I am. I think I could help make sense of these matters, Twilight." Rarity spoke balancing along the line of honest and self-indulgent, as she had practiced so often.
Twilight had started to feel more relaxed giving the books to her friends, given Applejack had gone in and out of the trance-state without help. Having a full night's sleep had also reinforced her confidence.
"Well, I didn't get very good notes yesterday, so even if all that happens is seeing how long you go in and what it's like, it will all be quite helpful." Twilight led Rarity to the same soft chair and handed her one of the books, this one had an unusually thick binding.
"Oh, I'm certain this will be quite informative." Rarity predicted as she opened her book and began to read.
Violet Lantern had heard this story ten times now, trying to pick out the pieces that changed with every re-telling. The night rain was not making her job any easier as she tried to approach the scene.
"Harry, I can do without the redundant details." Violet felt like a broken record, perhaps one of these days Harry will understand how to make a report.
"I keep tellin' ya, I saw the red jacket, but once he turned into the alleyway, he right disappeared!" Harry had strained to keep from biting his hooves as they got closer to the alleyway in question.
"The alley's a dead end, if you really did see the red jacket, then the only way he could've gone..." Violet paused as she ran her hooves across the brick walls. One brick pressed in like a button, revealing a hidden doorway. "Is through."
"Sweet bees' knees, boss! Now we can follow 'im!" Harry tried to enter before Violet blocked his path with an outstretched hoof. "What the hay? Why not?" Harry asked.
"This needs to be reported, what would we do if we couldn't find our way out?" Violet closed the secret passage and turned back to the streets. "We're dealing with a professional, we need to be just as good."
Violet's office had enough loose papers to constitute four separate fire code violations, but out of all the cases she was in charge of, at least half of her papers were dedicated to the elusive 'red jacket' killer. Two and a half years of chasing, and the list of suspects had only just been whittled down to two dozen ponies.
"Boss, we got a new scene!" Harry called to Violet from the hall, a scroll of paper in his hooves.
"Now Harry, I want bullet points. Give me the details." Violet asked her assistant as nicely as she could manage.
Harry read over the scroll and then looked to Violet. "Two ponies down, looks like there's at least five part-"
"Why can't you just read it and talk at the same time? I told you to give me bullet points Harry. Stay away from 'looks likes' just facts for us, remember?" Violet took the scroll from Harry and glanced it over. Her eyes widened. "Suspect apprehended? Why didn't you tell me!?" Violet grabbed her coat and threw herself out the doors.
"I don't know what happened, I said I was sorry, why are you all so scary?" A golden-brown colt cried in the interrogation room. He was old enough to be tried as an adult, but young enough to be under another pony's roof.
Violet looked deep into this colt's eyes. Fear commanded his every action, his every word. "I'm just asking, why were you at the corner of Carousel and Fetlock?"
The colt couldn't speak, as though the sweat dripping down his forehead had taken control of his vocal cords.
"Why were you wearing a red jacket!?" Harry threw his question at the colt like he was hurling a spear.
Violet rested her head between her hooves. Harry wasn't being useful, but at least he was trying, somewhat.
"Somepony gave it to me! I didn't know it was bad!" The colt exclaimed trying not to cry.
Violet's ears perked up as she threw her hoof over Harry's mouth to make sure he didn't screw up this lead. "Who? Listen, we're here to help you, but you've got to help us, okay? Who gave you that jacket?" Violet wasn't known for being especially delicate, but she tried her hardest to calm the colt who had their lead.
Her hardest wasn't quite enough. The colt burst into tears as the pressure of questioning broke him. "I don't know!" Was all anypony could hear between sobs.
Violet headed back to her office feeling defeated and fighting off a headache. Harry's voice was not helping either problem.
"Can you believe that colt? We ask some simple questions to help him, and he gives us nothin'. What are we supposed to do with that?"
Violet responded. "Shut up." As rude as it might've sounded, she had more reason than annoyance to get him to stop. A large knife was implanted on Violet's desk, pinning a weathered piece of paper to it.
Picking up the knife to get to the paper beneath it, Violet could see it was written in large splotchy letters, making it impossible to identify the writer. Worst of all were the words themselves.
"Quit Looking."
Violet planted the knife back onto the table as a chilling smile crept across her lips.
"Challenge accepted." She announced decisively.
"-Rarity!"
Rarity was pulled back into the real world by the sound of Spike's voice.
"Oh, oh my, why, how long have I been sitting here?" Rarity asked as she tried to get her grip on the world.
Spike smiled with relief. Not that there was anything to worry over, but a part of him was glad to see that Rarity would pick Spike's voice over whatever world the book offered her.
"It's late afternoon,Twilight wanted to make sure you didn't stay in there for too long, we can't be sure what it would do yet." Spike explained.
Rarity looked around to find that it was just Spike in the room with her. "Where is Twilight, anyway?" She asked, trying not to seem to happy that Twilight and Spike must have spoken.
"She went to go see Fluttershy. I think she really needed to get out of the house, so she left me to keep an eye on you." Spike was also fairly certain Twilight didn't want to talk to him much yet, and that had some influence on the decision.
Rarity grabbed Spike and pulled him into another big hug. This time she didn't treat it as something embarrassing, but held him comfortably.
"Twilight has the most excellent assistant, and I don't think it will take her very long to realize it." Rarity practically whispered as she held Spike.
Spike wanted to act like this was embarrassing, like this was extremely strange, but instead he just felt comfortable in the mare's embrace.So,he just let it be, and enjoyed Rarity's company.