"You're not going to go out at all today?" Spike asked, carrying a stack of books up the stairs and placing them on Twilight's desk.
"Why bother?" Twilight responded, rolling her eyes indignantly. "I can see how paranoid everypony is just fine from here."
"I talked with Rarity yesterday. She's worried about you."
"Why is she worried about me? I'm just fine!"
"Don't you think--"
Twilight turned around sharply. "Spike, I'll go out when I'm ready, all right?!" She stopped herself. Her voice had been much louder than she knew was justified. She took a moment to do her breathing exercise, and while it didn't work as well as it usually did, at least now she could speak with a level tone of voice. "I just don't want to deal with all of that for now. It's been a week, and nothing has changed."
Spike had dealt with an angry Twilight before, so he wasn't as fazed as the average assistant might have been. "All right, then. Will you at least let visitors in today?"
"...Yeah, I suppose. If the others are worried about me, it's probably a bad idea to give them more of a reason to."
Knowing that was all he was going to get, Spike put on a satisfied grin. "Is it okay if I head out, then? I imagine those books are gonna keep you pretty busy."
"Yeah, go ahead. I'll let you know if I need you."
"All right, then. See you later!"
Spike went down the stairs, and after a moment, Twilight could hear the front door open and then close. She focused on her book again. However, without Spike's or anyone else's presence, the silence that accompanied her reading seemed almost oppressive. She opted to read the book aloud, if only to give her something to listen to.
"The history of rock farming is quite extensive, leading back to B.C. times. Though it isn't a widely-populated business, there was always been at least one rock farm somewhere within what is now Equestria's borders during any given time within written history."
Well...I guess that means the case is over.
Twilight stopped for a moment as she heard Fluttershy's voice echo in her mind. After a moment, she shook her head and went back to reading. "However, despite the practice being one that has endured throughout history, only recently was the science behind it explained. Whether rock farmers knew and simply didn't tell anypony or whether nopony knew and the rock farmers were just going through the motions, no one knows."
The culprit disintegrated...we have no one to turn in to Officer Looking Glass. And...with no one to turn in...
"Several theories have been put forth regarding the nature of the rock farm, ranging from the reasonable to the absurd, but recent discoveries have uncovered the facts."
Hmm...we can't exactly tell anypony that it was a Shadow that did it, either...
Twilight didn't realize at the time, but by this point she was talking through clenched teeth. "The most universally-accepted theory was that the stones absorb sunlight in a way not unlike photosynthesis and turn the energy into mass. Though this theory has now been proven false, there is some truth to it."
So...it's a victory, but only for us.
"The stone actually does benefit from contact with the sun, but it isn't absorbing sunlight. Instead, it absorbs the..."
Just give up.
Before she knew what she was doing, Twilight had already thrown the book in her magic across the room. She breathed heavily through her teeth, her mane sizzling in her rage. It took her a moment to realize what had just happened, but once she did, the sizzling stopped immediately, and she opened her mouth. Clenching her teeth like that left her with a bit of soreness, but that was of little importance.
"What am I doing?" she asked herself. She turned around and flopped onto her bed, her expression much heavier than it had been before. "Maybe I should go out today...I'm going to go crazy if this keeps up."
Despite what she said, she couldn't bring herself to get back up. She continued to lay there, her eyes slowly fluttering closed. Just as she was about to drift off to sleep, however, there was a knock at the door. A moment later, she heard Rarity's voice. "Twilight, please open the door!"
With a heavy sigh, Twilight got up and trudged downstairs. She opened the door a few steps before she was actually in front of it, and standing outside was indeed Rarity. The moment the door opened, the unicorn's eyes lit up with joy, and Twilight could tell that she was resisting the urge to glomp her. However, after a second, her expression became horrified. "My word, Twilight! You look like you aged ten years!"
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Thanks, that's just what I needed to hear today."
"Oh, forgive me, darling, I meant no offense. May I come in? I'll have you looking like your normal self again in no time, I assure you."
Twilight considered turning her away, but she couldn't deny that she was feeling rather lonely. She tried her best to smile and nodded, stepping out of the way to allow Rarity in. "Spike didn't send you here, did he?"
"Oh, heavens no. I'm only content to leave you to yourself for so long--I believe we all know the dangers of letting you stew over a problem for a long period of time."
"It's really not the same." Twilight closed the door. "With those problems, I was going crazy because I was trying to come up with a solution. Here, there IS no solution."
Rarity frowned. "I...wasn't about to bring that up." She cleared her throat. "Well, never mind that! You just sit back and relax. I'll make you some tea, and then I'll get you cleaned up."
"Do I really look that bad? I've been taking baths."
There was silence for a moment as Rarity froze up. She turned towards Twilight sharply, her eyes filled with abject terror. She seemed even more horrified now than she did when she was up against Margaret's Orthrus. "You take baths for HYGIENE?!" She put a hoof up to her forehead. "No doubt that's part of the issue!"
"...What's wrong with that?"
"Darling, take it from an expert--baths are meant to be for relaxation, not cleanliness. It is true that it will remove the grime from your body, but then you just...sit in it for however long you're in there!" She shivered violently for a moment. "A bath is much better used for when you want to unwind. Light a few candles, use a scented soap, and just let yourself marinate for a while." She smiled, clearly getting absorbed in what she was talking about. "In fact, that sounds like just what you need! The chance to relax will no doubt do wonders for your...complexion."
"There is no way it's as bad as you're saying it is."
Rarity's eyes became ever so slightly deadpan, and she pulled over a mirror with her magic. Twilight looked at herself and was quite surprised with what she saw. More than a few hairs in her mane were out of place, her feathers were matted, and there were bags heavy enough under her eyes to stuff a foal into. After briefly wondering why that analogy came to mind and shrugging off the incredibly disturbing mental image that came with it, she turned to Rarity and smiled sheepishly.
"Not to worry, dear. When I'm done, you'll look just like your old self again!"
Rarity's experience and eye for detail were powerful weapons. Half an hour later, Twilight looked at herself again in the mirror, and this time saw nothing of the tired and frustrated mare she had been earlier. She couldn't help but smile.
"Now I'm afraid that caring for feathers is a bit beyond my scope," Rarity said. "I did what I could with them, but I suggest you take some time to preen later."
"They look fine," Twilight replied, spreading her wings to take a look. They weren't perfect, but at least she looked like she hadn't flown through a tornado now.
"For now, yes. But I must insist that you take care of yourself better, and that includes proper wing care." Rarity's eyes wavered a bit, but she managed to keep her smile. "We've all been...very concerned over you these past few days."
"I know, Spike told me. And...I'm sorry." Twilight turned away from the mirror to look Rarity in the eye. "You all deserve better than that from me. I just didn't want to go out there and have a constant reminder of our failures shoved in my face."
"Our failures? Perish the thought, darling!" Rarity put a comforting hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "We did a great thing for Ponyville and for Equestria."
"Well...yeah, but we're stuck like this for Celestia knows how long." Twilight shook her head. "It doesn't feel like we've won, that's for sure."
Rarity stayed silent for a moment. "Perhaps you just need to take your mind off of this for a while. You haven't been thinking about it nonstop, have you?"
"I tried reading a book, and even that didn't work. I don't think it's going to be that easy."
With that, Rarity was out of ideas. She liked to think she was good at this sort of thing, but there were some things that couldn't be fixed. Just like the town, Twilight was going to stay this way until the case blew over. "I'm...sorry I couldn't be more helpful."
"It's all right. I do feel better after that bath." Twilight tried to look encouraging, lest her sour mood ruin Rarity's day. "At any rate, don't you have anything better to do than tend to me all day? You should go and relax. I'll be all right."
"I sincerely doubt that, but...if you're sure..."
"Of course I am!" Twilight opened the door and started pushing Rarity towards it. "If it'll put your mind at ease, we can all do something tomorrow. As a group. That'll show you that I'm not too bad off, right?"
"W-well, perhaps...but--"
"See you later, then! And tell the others I'll be okay!"
Rarity tried to reply, but before she could say anything, Twilight pushed her onto the doorstep and closed the door. Twilight felt bad forcing her friend to leave like that, but she would feel a lot worse if she were so inconsolable that Rarity got dragged down with her. Unfortunately, now she had nothing to think about but the case again. It didn't bother her quite so much, however, now that she had been able to relax for a while.
"I guess I'll just try reading again," she said to herself. She started walking upstairs. "Not really much else for me to do until Spike gets back."
Spike silently cursed his lot in life as he walked back towards the library. He thought he was headed towards the library, anyway--he knew this town backwards and forwards at this point. On the other hand, it was difficult to tell if he was headed the right direction when he was pushing along a cart taller than he was. There was a gap between the tops of the books on the bottom shelf and the metal plate that formed the top shelf, but it wasn't at Spike's eye level, and that would not be very good for peering through regardless.
"Twilight would've been able to get this done in no time flat," Spike grumbled. "One spell and all the books would just be on the shelves already."
Spike's ruminations ground to a swift halt as the other end of the cart suddenly bumped into something. Spike peered around the corner warily, praying to Celestia that it wasn't Bulk Biceps. Fortunately, it was just the trunk of the most important tree in town. Spike mopped his brow and pushed the cart around to the front door. Before he could get it inside, however, he suddenly felt as if his throat had been inflated with a bicycle pump. He swiftly turned away from the extremely flammable books and belched loudly, releasing a plume of green dragonfire. The flames turned into a scroll with a blue seal adorned with a wand and a crescent moon. Spike could swear he had seen that symbol before, but he couldn't put his finger on where. After thinking about it for a moment, he wrapped his tail around the scroll to free up his hands and opened the door, managing to get the cart up the doorstep with minimal effort (but with some annoying clattering sounds).
"Spike, is that you?" Twilight asked from upstairs.
"No, it's Commander Hurricane," Spike replied.
"Well, Commander, what's all that noise?"
"It's the book cart. Cheerilee asked me to bring the returns back." Spike paused for a moment as a realization came to light. "Now that I think about it, I'm not sure how I even ended up at the schoolhouse..."
"Okay, just put it by the table. I'll deal with it later."
Spike did as he was told, closing the door behind him. He grabbed the letter from his tail and started walking upstairs with it. "There's something else. Somepony sent you a letter."
"How do you know it's not for you?"
"Because the only pony who writes to me is the Princess, and it doesn't have the royal seal."
Twilight got off of her bed just as Spike reached the top of the stairs. She took the letter from him with her magic and got a closer look at it. "Isn't this Trixie's cutie mark?"
"Is it? I never really got a good look at it."
"It looks just like it." Twilight opened the letter and checked the bottom. "Yours truly, Trixie. Huh."
"Well, what does it say?"
Twilight started reading the letter from the beginning. "Dear Twilight Sparkle...I'm sure you're busy, so I'll keep this brief. Last time we spoke, I said some things that I now regret. I apologize sincerely if I offended you, and hope that you'll understand that I was and am under a great deal of stress. I'm still on tour at the moment, but it will be over before long. When we're both free, I would greatly enjoy the opportunity to share notes with you. I'm sure that we could learn a great deal from each other. Yours truly, Trixie."
"Well hey, it's good that she came around!" Spike said. "She seemed pretty upset last--"
"Wait, there's something else." Twilight narrowed her eyes. There was something hastily written at the bottom of the page, much more messy than the rest of the letter. "P.S.: Please don't let anyone else know about what this letter says."
There was an awkward silence for a moment. Twilight and Spike slowly turned to face one another, both of them looking slightly embarrassed.
"All right, she can't possibly blame me for that," Spike said quickly.
"Of course not!" Twilight replied instantly. "The letter literally passes through your body on its way to me! How could she blame you?"
The silence persisted for a moment. Sometime in the middle of it, Twilight rolled the letter up and put it in the drawer of her reading desk.
"I gotta wonder where the change of heart came from," Spike said. "I mean, wasn't she pretty mad when you even suggested studying together before?"
"Hmm...yeah, but..." Twilight suddenly looked very thoughtful. "Maybe something happened to her?"
"I'm not so sure." Spike put his chin in his hand, and his brow creased in deep thought. "If she swallowed her pride to send you that letter, then she would probably figure that she had nothing left to lose by telling you that something happened."
Twilight smirked. "Well, she has a lot of pride to swallow." She climbed back onto her bed and picked the book she had been reading back up. "In any case, there's not much we can do about it now. It sounds like she'll be visiting when she's not on tour any more, so let's just not worry about it until then."
"All righty then!" Spike walked over to his basket and drop-kicked the cushion. "I'm gonna take a nap. Lemme know if you need anything."
Twilight was about to respond, but as soon as he said that, he was asleep. She couldn't help but giggle at how easily sleep came to him. She resumed reading her book, feeling a bit better about what was to come.