Spike and Simmons reached the library within a few minutes, the books planted firmly on Simmons' back.
"I'm going to grab some gems to munch on. Want anything while I'm in there?" Spike asked as he walked up to the door to push it open.
"Nah, I think I'm just going to drop the books off and get back."
"Suit yourself," Spike said the a shrug, walking inside the library to see the resident stallion sitting at the table, focusing on a book. "Hey, Church."
"Hey, Spike," Church mumbled, giving him a small smile. "If you're going to the kitchen, mind grabbing me some water?"
"No problem," Spike said, returning the smile as he walked past Church.
"Just come in," Church said as he saw Simmons reach to pull the door shut. Simmons reluctantly walked inside and shut the door behind him. "Hey, Simmons."
"Hello, Church," Simmons said with a pleasant nod. "How's it going? Still getting headaches?"
"Yeah, but what're you going to do?" Church asked with a shrug. "I'll be surprised if I stop getting them, even when my head is all sorted out."
"You are taking the fact that your memories were messed around with pretty lightly," Simmons noted. "That seems like one thing you should take really seriously, but instead you seem... well, I don't want to say normal, since you're normally mad. I guess relaxed is the word, and that's odd for you, if you don't mind me saying."
"I guess it would seem like that, huh?" Church chuckled hollowly. "I guess I just know that since Discord is the toying type, he wouldn't do anything super bad to my head. Hell, since it was already a mess up there, maybe he fixed it up slightly to really make me worry."
"That's another thing you're relaxed about. Why aren't you worrying about Discord like me?"
"I told you before, there's no way he'd come back here after getting beaten twice," Church muttered firmly. "There would be no sense in it."
"Isn't that how Discord works?" Simmons countered. "He does things that don't make sense on purpose."
"I guess, but we have the Elements of Harmony to stop him right here," Church said, nodding towards the locked glass case near the back of the library, "If he comes to take them, Twilight will be the first to know. She'll gather the girls and give them the Elements in no time."
"Don't forget, you also have me here," Ol' Necky said from the shelves.
"I really think Celestia put you here as punishment for me knocking her around before I got trapped, not as something to use for help in case of danger," Church said harshly.
"Aw, you don't mean that," the ancient book said in a dejected tone. "In your time of need, you'll turn to me and expect to be helped. And you know what? I will help you, because I'm just that kinda book."
"Right. Why don't you go back to your Daring Do and keep your fantasies where they belong?" Church inquired.
"Oh, Church, you know just as well as I do that fantasies can come true. But very well. I will go back to Miss Do. When you need me, you'll know where to find me," the Necronomicon said with a laugh, before falling silent,
"Anyways, I just dropped by to bring Spike and these books back," Simmons said, using his magic to place the books from his back onto a small table near the shelves.
"Are those the books you came by earlier to pick up?" Church asked curiously. "I had you pegged for a fast reader, but I didn't think you could read that much in that short amount of time..."
"No, those are books Rarity borrowed a while back for her big order of pre-Celestial clothing," Simmons replied. "The books I took out are still at home. They're about flowers."
"Now that's something I didn't have you pegged for. When did you get into flowers?" Church asked with a lifted brow.
"I can't say much, but there's a really old flower that a friend found. He asked me to look into it, so I'm trying to find out what kind of flower it is. Before I could look into it some more back at the boutique, Rarity wanted me to bring those books back since she's basically done. She just has to find the right thing to add to give it a real authentic flair."
"So you left the flower alone," Church said, squinting at him. "The really old and ancient flower. The really old and ancient flower that belongs to a friend?"
"Yes, I did," Simmons nodded slowly, sensing that Church was attempting to tell him something.
"With Rarity," Church said insistently. "Who is, at this moment, trying to finish up her designs for really old and ancient looking clothing. The mare who, as I am to understand, wants everything to look authentic and perfect, which in this case means making it look old and ancient."
"Yeah..." Simmons mumbled quietly. He then let out a soft sigh and closed his eyes.
"Hindsight is a bitch, isn't it?" Church asked with a knowing smirk.
"You'd think we would have learned by now," Simmons groaned, turning around.
"If we learned from our mistakes, we wouldn't have made most of them," Church snorted. "Better get going, though."
Simmons quickly ran out the door and made his way back over to the boutique, spending no time taking in any details around him. Once he reached his destination, he knocked on the front door three times, then made his way upstairs to Rarity's room, where he expected her to have finished her dress.
"Rarity, don't do it!" Simmons yelped, slamming his hoof on the door three times before bursting through it.
"Er, don't do what, Simmons?" she asked with a strange look.
"Use the flower. Don't use the flower, I mean," he said quickly, looking over the lead female's dress.
"Oh, you mean the flower you had downstairs?" she asked with a small smile as used her magic to grab the small flower from her desk to show to Simmons. "Heavens, I wouldn't dream of using such a thing on the dress."
"You... wouldn't?" he asked, confused as Rarity placed the flower back on the table..
"No. So far everything has been made as a replica. The designs? Inspired by books written recently. The fabrics? While it was made the same way it was in the past, they were made recently. That flower, however, is quite literally an antique. Using an actual piece of the era I'm going for would throw the whole thing off seeing as I'm going for making the dresses from the past with materials from the now. Besides, that flower is not mine to use," she explained casually. "However, were there a place that grew said flowers, I would be interested in purchasing one to put into a different amber shell."
"So you want to use the same kind of flower, just one that was grown now?"
"If they aren't extinct yet, yes," she said with a curt nod.
"Great," he sighed with relief. "Thanks for not using it, though. Would have had a lot of explaining to do."
"Not at all," she said, turning to her dresses, only to glance back at Simmons as he began to walk out of the room. "Do you mind doing me a favor, dear?"
"Sure, what is it?" he asked, looking back at her.
"If the flowers do happen to be extinct, do you think you could, say, try to find another one? Maybe with Twilight's help we would be able to find out how to grow more of them for me to use."
"No problem," he replied, walking back downstairs, happy that his life had just been made slightly easier. Slightly.