Friendship Day

by Crescent Pulsar

Chapter 3: Hitting the Books

By the time Twilight Sparkle was back on her hooves, she was looking forward to all of the time that she would have to make friends. True, she didn't know if or when the time loop might end on its own, and whatever progress she made with anyone would reset, but it would still be a learning experience and give her the foreknowledge to make friends with certain individuals easier. As a bonus, she would also have time to find out how to deal with Nightmare Moon.

It would just be a matter of deciding on what to prioritize. However, when she noticed Pinkie Pie making her now-usual approach, she realized that she could harvest two apple trees with one buck. The problem was: she didn't know how to avoid having a party at the library without revealing that she knew something that she shouldn't. So, when Pinkie Pie stopped before her, they ended up staring at each other awkwardly. Well, it was awkward for her, at any rate.

Finally, between the wait and wondering why Pinkie Pie seemed intent on staying put to stare at her, seemingly without a care, she became irritated and asked, "What are you waiting—"

Pinkie Pie hopped into the air and gasped, but Twilight Sparkle caught her with her magic before she could get away, since she needed the library to be free of distraction and unwanted observation. Unfortunately, she still didn't know what to tell Pinkie Pie without giving away the fact that she had some insight into the near future.

Pinkie Pie calmly looked down to observe her situation and absently voiced, "Huh. This is new."

The mention of "new" sparked a memory of when Pinkie Pie had said it before, and Twilight Sparkle quickly jumped on the idea that formed from it. "Could you do me a favor and hold off on giving me a welcoming party until tomorrow?"

Visibly surprised, Pinkie Pie asked, "How did you know I was going to throw you a welcoming party?"

"I heard about you from somepony who knows a pony here," Twilight Sparkle confidently replied. Since Pinkie Pie had claimed to know everyone in town, it seemed safe to assume that word about her would get around — even if it had never gotten to her.

Pinkie Pie's surprise turned to confusion, bordering on disbelief. "Who and who?" She held up her hoof before she could be answered. "And I'm not trying to imitate an owl."

Twilight Sparkle would have found the clarification strange if she hadn't been put on the spot despite the reasonable claim that she had made. Not knowing what few ponies to name, who could be checked out if Pinkie Pie was of a mind to do so, she tried to hide her nervousness as she evasively countered, "Does it really matter?"

"Yes," came the quick reply, as Pinkie Pie stared unerringly into her eyes.

Between not wanting to deal with Pinkie Pie's odd behavior and problematic questions, and losing her patience, she testily said, "Look, all I want is some peace and quiet in the library."

She realized her mistake even as Pinkie Pie slowly lowered her eyelids until she was being peered at with suspicion. "How did you know I was going to have the party at the library?"

Twilight Sparkle clammed up as her mind frantically searched for a solution to the problem that she had just created. After asking herself how she could explain her knowledge about the party's location many times, however, it eventually occurred to her that she wasn't the only one in possession of knowledge that they probably shouldn't have. So thinking, she met Pinkie Pie's suspicious stare with one of her own and pointedly said, "Hold on: how did you know that I was going to be at the library?"

Pinkie Pie reflexively opened her mouth to reply, paused, then snapped her mouth shut. Eventually, she smiled weakly and offered, "Would you believe me if I told you that I heard about your plans from somepony who knew a pony where you live?"

Twilight Sparkle simply answered with a half-lidded stare.

"What did I miss?" Spike inquired as he stepped up to the pair.

When Twilight Sparkle spared Spike a glance, Pinkie Pie used the distraction to exclaim, "Boink," and tap the tip of her horn. Yelping more out of surprise than pain, Twilight Sparkle lost her hold on Pinkie Pie, who took the opportunity to beat a hasty retreat while shouting, "You win this time!"

Trying to make sense out of what had just happened, Twilight Sparkle stared in the direction that the retreating mare had disappeared to until Spike spoke up and asked, "What was that all about?"

With a shake of her head, Twilight Sparkle focused her attention on Spike and casually said, "Don't worry about it. Let's stop by the library before we oversee the preparations."

With a shrug of his shoulders, Spike said, "Okay."

---

It wasn't until they entered the library that Twilight Sparkle said, "Now, help me find a book on friendship."

Having just dismounted from her back, Spike looked up at her incredulously and asked, "Why would you need something like that?"

"Why else?" Twilight Sparkle absently replied, as she stepped up to one of the built-in bookcases of the library and began to browse its contents. "Because I've never actively tried to make friends before. The only ones I have are a result of being in the same class since we were foals, and I don't have that kind of time."

Her thoughts were derailed by the initial results of her perusal, which brought a look of disgust upon her face as she muttered, "Who in Equestria organized these books?" She was sorely tempted to sort out the entire library, because of how often she might use the library's resources, but she surmised that her efforts would likely reset at the start of each loop. That reminded her that she would have the time to make friends, although that didn't mean that she should be unprepared, waste time or risk embarrassing results.

Spike took a moment to consider that, along with the fact that she didn't hold up her side of the friendships all that well, and conceded the point. "Okay. So, anything about friendship?"

Looking over her shoulder to regard him, Twilight Sparkle nodded her head and said, "Yes, Spike. I don't remember even coming across the subject by chance before, so I don't know what to look for."

With a sigh, Spike admitted, "Me either."

"Well," Twilight Sparkle began, as she returned her attention to the bookshelves, "these books seem to be sorted into alphabetical order, so let's start at the 'F' section and hope we find a title that starts with what we're looking for."

Friendship: For Silly-Heads, written by Surprise, was found less than a minute later, which Twilight Sparkle gave a dirty look after reading the pink, gaudy and festive-looking book's title aloud.

"No...?" Spike fished.

Twilight Sparkle fixed him with an unamused glare. "Do I look like a silly-head to you?"

Spike was quick to shake his head. "Nope!"

After setting the book down on the other side of the stairs, as if it would cease to exist if it were out of sight, Twilight Sparkle said, "Then let's move on."

The "F" section was finished in short order, but — unfortunately — they found no more books that seemed to match what they were looking for. That continued to be the case until they reached and finished the "Z" section, at which point Twilight Sparkle had grown quite frustrated. The library had quite a number of books on love, including a book called How to Hitch Ponies Together, no doubt for the matchmaker-in-training, yet it might as well have had no books on friendship. She simply couldn't understand how that could be the case, conveniently overlooking the fact that she had surrounded herself with a private collection that hadn't covered the subject at all.

Her spirits rose when she spotted a book of interest in the "A" section, called Art of the Spiel: How to Win Friends, which was written by Flim and Flam. She visibly perked up and exclaimed, "Ah-ha! Finally!"

She quickly pulled it out and opened it up, fully expecting to receive the wisdom that she usually found in books. However, the more she read, the more her joy was sapped and face fell. It wasn't long before she began to skip to certain chapters, to confirm what she began to fear, and felt nauseous just from reading the ideas being conveyed by the book. One likely couldn't live in Canterlot and be completely oblivious to chicanery, and what she was reading was completely about manipulating ponies to fulfill one's own selfish desires — there wasn't anything about making friends at all.

She was strongly tempted to incinerate the book, but knew that the time loop would make that pointless. Instead, with great reluctance, she closed the book and placed it back where she got it.

"No good?" Spike queried, despite already knowing the answer.

"No good," Twilight Sparkle confirmed.

It was with far less enthusiasm that she continued the search, not expecting to find anything else after going through most of the alphabet. However, when they reached the "E" section, she was pleasantly surprised to find a book that covered another subject of interest: The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide. For Spike's benefit, she read the book's title aloud before removing it from the bookshelf.

Strangely enough, no author name was given anywhere on the outside; on the inside, where she would expect to find a name, she found none. Regardless, it looked like she had finally found something that she needed for one of her objectives, so she was willing to overlook such an oddity. That is, until after she went right to the part of the book where she expected to find the information that she needed. While there had been information to be had there, it hadn't been enough to not look for more information elsewhere. At that point she discovered that every other page of the book — that she checked — was as vaguely and distantly connected to the subject as possible, offering nothing of substance.

It was baffling, and her face must have shown it because Spike asked, "What's wrong?"

"I don't know," Twilight Sparkle answered slowly, distractedly, as she tried to figure out what she was seeing.

She was sure that the book couldn't have been created as an elaborate prank. What information was to be found in the book was a reflection of the scarcity of the information on the Elements of Harmony in general, considering how she had barely seen any mention of them despite her extensive studies and interests. The vast majority of the content seemed like it had been done for the sake of the book's appearance, if someone wanted to secretly pass on information through a familiar source. It wouldn't pass muster with enough scrutiny, which she would ordinarily give it, and that raised some questions. Had the book been meant for someone else? Or, had the book's creator expected her to find it when she was pressed for time?

Considering how events would have normally played out, where she had gone to bed without finding the book first...

She shook her head clear of the path that her mind had been going down. Things were complicated enough without adding some conspiracy whose intent was barely known, and that was assuming that there was one at all. Perhaps the mysterious author of the book had merely tried to capitalize on what little they knew about the Elements of Harmony, and had conceived it to scam a certain pony out of their money. That seemed to be a much more likely scenario.

Unfortunately, that meant that she couldn't depend on anything found in the book. However, since she had the time, she could verify the information herself if she wanted to. After glancing back at the bookshelves that she had gone through without much success, save the potential offered by the book that she held in her magic, she decided that she could spare some time to check its veracity.

Conveniently, the Everfree Forest bordered Ponyville, so it wasn't so far out of her way that she wouldn't be able to find the ancient castle within the time allotted to her by the time loop.

Comments

[Venerable Ro]

Well this is interesting, the looper actually knowing what's going on and treating the phenomena with a healthy dose of pragmatism is a new twist. We'll see how she'd doing after a few dozen loops though.

If Celestia or anyone else is trying to manipulate things, the eventual limited omniscience acquired after innumerable loops will tear those machinations to shreds.

[Spark Plug]

Well, I’m always up for some time loop shenanigans. Let’s see where this goes!

[Architect Ironturtle]

Ok, aside from a few weird word choices in the first paragraph, this looks really good. I just hope she uses the time loop to its full potential by:

1. Mapping out exactly how far she can get away from Ponyville before the loop resets. This is her sphere of influence.

2. Reading every single book inside that sphere.

3. Learning every possible trade.

4. Figuring out clinical immortality and how to make physical changes loop with her so she can bulk up and learn muscle memory skills like martial arts.

5. Grab a mind reading spell so she knows everyone in range inside and out (a day isn't long enough to get that info by befriending them, after all).

6. Set it up so Nightmare Moon is back in Equestria for all of two seconds before she gets blasted by the elements of harmony.

[Vaguely Demented]

Love the impromptu starring contest. Also wonder if Pinkie will somehow pick up on this.

[Yoshifan30]

Her spirits rose when she spotted a book of interest in the "A" section, called Art of the Spiel: How to Win Friends , which was written by Flim and Flam. She visibly perked up and exclaimed, "Ah- ha ! Finally!"

Poor Twilight she doesn't even know about these two swindlers that they're nothing but cheap con artist

[Yoshifan30]

So basically Twilight reset again and this time she told Pinkie not to do any surprise party even though that kind of raised a lot of question for Pinkie How the heck did she knew about that but after that she tried to find any information about friendship and she basically found nothing but at least you found the elements of harmony even though she still doesn't know yet I wonder how this will work out