"Come on Twilight!" said Spike. "How many concerts have you been to?"
"For the last time Spike, I'm not going." proclaimed Twilight, searching for a specific book in her library. "Besides, we have more important things to do, don't we?" Spike sighed.
"Yeah, yeah..." he uttered. "But once we're done, can we please.... please go?" Spike crossed his fingers and stared at her with dog eyes.
"Umm.... Maybe." she replied, causing Spike to shout "YES!"
"So... what do you need help with?" he asked, dodging a book she flung away with her magic.
"A book on spells. I can't find it anywhere!" she said, gradually becoming more and more desperate as she threw the unrelated books to the other side of the library.
"What's so special about it?" asked Spike, catching a book in mid air and putting it on the table.
"I forgot to practice spells!" she said, still desperately searching for said spell. "Where is it?!" Spike turned to other bookshelf and grabbed a big red book. It was exactly the one she was searching for.
"You really need to calm down." he said and gave it to her. She already had a mental breakdown this week when she forgot to make time for making schedules, but this was just ridiculous. Why would she want to practice so desperately? And what exactly?
"Why? I didn't-" She looked around and saw the mess that was her library. A sorry look appeared on her face as she looked down and saw that she was standing on a book. "I did..." Spike went closer to her.
"I know being Celestia's student is a lot of work but..." he said, looking at her sadly. "you're making me worried. You just don't know where to stop. Please, take a break. Just this once." She sighed.
"Let's just get over this so we can go to the concert..." she said, opening the book and started looking for a specific spell. Spike leaned to see what sort of spell it was and gulped.
"A... demolition spell?!" he said worringly. "Why on Equestria would you want to learn that?!"
"With that spell, I won't have to worry about getting surrounded by trees in the Evertree Forest." she said and closed the book. "It's not that dangerous, really."
"But why would you go there again?" he asked, very worried since destructive spells had the habit of backfiring on the pony who casted them. That and the fact that in very unfortunate circumstances, it could backfire at whoever was nearby as well.
"You never know." she said, lifting an apple with her magic. "Maybe we'll go there again."
"So... what am I supposed to do?" he asked, looking at the apple. "Should I get you more apples?"
"No. Not just yet." she said as the magic aura surrounding the apple started shifting to another color. Seconds later, it was orange and if Spike read a small part of the description right, that was exactly how it was supposed to look while the spell was being cast.
"What's it supposed to do?" he asked, gazing at the apple as it levitated above her head.
"Explode." She was quite new to these kinds of spells, but what gives? A good unicorn knows a lot of spells to fit each situation and since she's the bearer of the Element of Magic, magic should be her speciality. The apple inflated, but instead of exploding as expected, it flung itself at the trunk of the library and then exploded, tearing a hole in said trunk.
"Was that supposed to happen?" asked Spike and rushed to the hole the apple made.
"No, it wasn't." Twilight too rushed to the hole the apple made, but since she was taller than Spike, she was able to look into it. Apart from parts of the apple scattered everywhere, she also saw a dusty old book resting in the trunk. Suprised, she took it out and brushed off the dust with her hoove.
"A book?" asked Spike, looking very suprised. "How did that end up there?" Underneath the dust was a black-reddish cover with strangely unaged white pages underneath.
"I dunno." She put the book on the table, clearing it of everything else just to make room for it. "I haven't seen any book like this before." Curious, she opened the book, hoping to at least find out its name. Both of them opened their eyes wide when they saw orange, glowing text organise itself on the paper. One word bigger than the rest appeared at the top, with several smaller ones underneath. However, the language was unlike anything Twilight ever seen.
"Ultima." she read the first word. "Non uti, nisi omnes aliud deficit." It was quite hard to pronouce since she had no idea what language it was, but she did her best.
"What... what does it mean?" asked Spike, looking at the book.
"I... I don't know Spike." she replied, looking puzzled by the book's writing. "I've never seen a language like this." Suddenly, the book shut itself violently with a loud thud, dispersing her magic aura into nothing but violet dust. It was almost as if it wanted her to use her hooves instead of her horn.
"Argh!" Spike jumped. "Did you see that?!"
"Yes, I did. Nothing to be scared of." she said calmly and opened the book again, this time with her hooves. "I've read a few books that were enchanted to shut themselves after being opened by an unicorn, but none of them so violently. It was primarily to stop thiefs from stealing them." She turned to the first page right after the title and was once again greeted by orange text, jumping around and organising itself into something intelligible.
But much to her confusion and disappointment, it was just wall of text, impossible to understand. She looked at the other page but much like the one of the left, it was just plain, orange glowing text that she didn't understand. Some words seemed familiar with her language, but they possibly had a completely different meaning altogether. She sighed and closed the book.
"Well, did you make out any of it?" asked Spike.
"Not even a single word!" she said. "Why would someone write a book in a language no one understands? I really want to know what's in it."
"Well, you have a lot of books, one of them has to know at least something." he said, taking a random book out of the bookshelf, looking at it briefly and then returning it back.
"You're right... Spike, you're a genius!" she said, happy that he reminded her that. "I'll start right away." She took ink, scrolls and a bunch of language books from her shelf and put them on the same table with the book.
"What about the concert?" asked Spike, showing her the two tickets he had. "You promised we'll go after you're done practicing the spell."
"Oh, well... I umm..." Twilight quickly started thinking about what was more important - going to a concert with Spike or spend time trying to translate the book. Obviously, concerts don't happen once in a while, so they could go right after she was finished with the book. The book, on the other hoove was something so exciting and interesting, she was sure it would never happen again. And so, with most awkward smile she could make, she said "Can't you go with someone else?"
"What?!" he said, unable to believe what she just said. "You gave me a promise!" The first thing that came to her mind was that it wasn't a Pinkie promise and as unfitting as it was for the moment, that's exactly what she used as an argument.
"I didn't Pinkie promise." she replied, still keeping her awkward smile. Spike looked at her very sadly and then sighted.
"Fine." he said as he walked towards the door. "I wonder when will you start ignoring your own friends." With that sentence, he left the library, probably to convince Celestia-knows-who to go with him.
Oddly, she didn't feel sorry, not even the slightest. In fact, she was happy that she could continue her work without him interrupting her.