//------------------------------// // Ch. 9: Even Books Hold No Hope // Story: Surrender // by Saekwaka //------------------------------// Twilight slams her book onto the ground aggressively. "No, no, NO!" She roars to the empty library. "There's nothing in here that could help in anyway." She sifts through stacks of books, throwing them around in a colorful, noisy mess. "Why isn't there anything? It can't be true; there has to be a way." Owlishious hoots indignantly. Twilight ignores this, then continues to skim page after page of several unharmed books. "Nothing, no, no, nothing... USELESS!" In an instant clatter, she drops the books to the ground and stomps around in rage. Her owl, growning concerned, seats himself up on the centered statue in the room where Twilight paces. He hoots yet again, gaining her attention. The purple pony looks up and sighs. "I know, I know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made all that noise."  The owl hoots in response. At least now, she's calm. Never before had Twilight referred to a book as "useless." "I just wish there was another option, some other pony I could get help from." Her pet owl remains silent at this, allowing Twilight a few seconds to absorb what she'd just said. I know what you're thinking... Or, maybe not. Regardless, I don't want to call up Celestia for this matter. Twilight says silently. What if she's too busy to attend to this? What if... She's ashamed of me?  Heavy silence sets a pressure on Twilight's shoulder, and she bites her lip to restrain more tears. No... Now's not the time to hide from deserved ridicule. Now is the time to act. Maybe this time, my acts won't be a mistake. With new-found confidence, Twilight raises her head and levitates a quill and parchment in front of her face. "Spike!" She commands, smiling slightly. "Take a letter!"  No response. There is no shuffling of claws or grab of the parchment and quill. Twilight wanders upstairs to find her lost companion. Gone. "How close are you and Twilight?" Rarity asks, lifting a tea kettle up on the stove of her kitchen. "We're best friends," He answers, "you know that, Rarity." Yes, but asking never hurt, did it? "Yes, well, I'm afraid that wasn't the answer I was hoping for." "Why not?" He asks. Rarity grabs two empty cups to set the tea in, and blushes. "Sweetened or unsweetened?" She asks. "Sweetened." He seats himself beside the table, careful not to crouch too close to the chairs. He's much too large to sit in those, so he prefers to sit on his hind legs instead. "Sweetened it is." Rarity adds two teaspoons of sugar to both cups. "You never answered my question. What's this about, anyways?" Spike snaps, a little sharper than Rarity would have liked. "I have something I need to tell you; something I probably should have told you a while ago." She stares at the stove, and nearly whispers these words.  Spike grins, revealing several glistening, spiked teeth. "So do I." Quickly, he appears at Rarity's side and continues to smile at her glare. "Honestly! What has caused such an unpleasant change in humor?" In all honesty, Spike isn't sure either, so he just laughs. "Lighten up, sweet heart. I just had the greatest night of my life. Let's be happy today, huh?" When Rarity's facial expression remains stone cold, Spike's grin grows.  "I didn't find it at all great. I was in tears, and you think that's great?" Rarity's face burns scarlet. Spike's grin turns into a soft smile, and he says, "That's not the part I'm happy about. Didn't you notice? I nearly burned the park down because of that." "You did not!" "Did so." "You huffed out smoke, but I saw no fire. And I fail to see what might have ignited your agitating levity." "There are a lot of things you don't see. Part of the reason being there are no mirrors in this kitchen." The tea kettle screeches, water vapor shoots out of the nozzle. Rarity shuts off the stove, pours out the tea, then sets the kettle else where. She does so in bitter silence. "If I were you, I'd be flattered." Spike says after several awkward minutes. "Silence your tongue and drink your tea, you rude little drake." Rarity snaps. "When will you tell me what you wanted to say?" "When I want. You stay there while I go upstairs." Rarity spins sround and huffs upstairs to her bedroom. Spike is no longer smiling. I really messed that up. That whole conversation didn't make a lot of sense to me; I'm not even sure why I acted that way.  Author's note: More later. Don't bother correcting my mistakes. I'm making edits later.