Twilight's Bookless Week (Celestia Help Us!!)

by ThePinkedWonder

The Brother-Sister Bet

Hey, Eric "Buggie" Reed here.

In Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle, in her library, Twilight and I were reading some books together, for some "big sister/little brother" bonding. We both were sitting beside each other on a purple-colored couch with about half a foot of space between us, the couch itself was near one of the bookshelves of the library and we were facing away from it. Twilight was levitating a book in front of her with her magic and was reading it out loud. It was during the mid-afternoon, and the only sounds that could be heard, save for when we said something (obviously) was the quiet humming the pink magic from Twilight's horn made.

We don't always want to read the same book at the same time, but when we do, she'll read it out loud to me. Sometimes, I'd do it, but most of the time Twi reads it, which I generally prefer, and Twilight seems to prefer it being that way too. Though I've never bothered to ask her if she does.

Twilight stopped reading to ask, "So, how you like this story so far, Buggie?"

"I like it a lot. Glad you suggested reading it, Twi."

"I don't know if I ever said this. But I'm really happy you like to read more now than you did when you first came to Equestria, because I like having somepony -- er someone -- to read with."

"Really? I guess I should've asked if you wanted to read together more often." I thought about how Spike only reads comic books, Rainbow Dash don't read much else besides Daring Do books, and Starlight usually reads by herself in her room. So before she met me, Twilight hardly ever got to read with someone about other things. I wouldn't call myself a "bookworm" by any means, but I still enjoy reading with "big sis" Twilight, and is part of the reason we grew so close. "But I take it you didn't mind reading by yourself before you came to Ponyville and met the gang, since you didn't want friends back then, save for Spike and your BBBFF?"

"Yeah. Before I came to Ponyville and learned the true value of friendship, I liked reading by myself."

"But what about Moondancer? I thought she loved reading as much as you, so you never thought to ask her if she'd want to read with you?"

"Moondancer? Yeah, she likes and might read anything, but I hardly get a chance to visit her, but I should ask her to join us sometime and you can meet her." The fact how I already knew about Moondancer only sunk in now for Twilight and, a bit confused she asked, "Wait, how you even know how Moondancer likes to read? I don't remember telling you that."

"You didn't, but most of what I know about Moondancer came from watching your 'cartoon' back in my world, but I don't know that much about her."

"Oh, right. I still sometimes forget you might be aware of some things nopony told you about."

"Ha, I think that's the fiftieth time you've said that line, Twi."

"And I think that's the forty-ninth time you told me a line like that, Buggie."

"Point taken, we do that a lot, don't we? But I doubt I love to read like you do." I turned my head to my left, where Twilight was sitting, with my eyes at the book she was holding, I thought hard about how much Twi loves to read books. As I did, I wondered if she could last long if she couldn't read. She's gone on long trips before, but she had always brought books with her so she could still read. I couldn't help but tease, "In fact, I bet you couldn't even go a week without reading a book!"

"Oh, ha-ha, very funny."

"Who said I was kidding, Princess of Books? There's a reason why a lot of us in my old world that know about you loved calling you 'bookhorse'!"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Oh, not that nickname again! You guys could've at least called me 'bookpony', but seriously, you really think I couldn't go a week without reading a book?"

"In the words of Big Mac, 'Eeyup!' You'll never make it!"

"That's ridiculous, Buggie! I don't like reading that much!"

"Suuuure you don't." I raised my head up and placed a finger on my chin. A thought popped in my head, and I lowered my head to Twilight, with a big 'ol grin. "But if you're so sure you can do it, Twi, I have an idea. How about we make a brother-sister bet?"

Twilight must have been interested because she turned her head to me and tilted her head down to my face, but she kept the book she was still levitating where it was. Twilight and I are about the same height when standing, but my head came up to her upper chest, because of how ponies sit on couches. Thus Twilight had to look down to me here. "A brother-sister bet?"

"Yep. Today's Tuesday, so how about, starting tomorrow, you try to go without reading a book, list or anything, till next Tuesday? Then, if you break before then, you finally buy both Spike and me 'The L-a-a-a-z-y Colt Five-Thousand' we've been wanting, but you keep putting your hoof down on getting us."

Hearing my idea surprised Twilight so much, she gasped, lost her magical grip on the book she was holding and it hit the floor, and her horn stopped glowing. "What?! You and Spike still haven't given up on 'The L-a-a-a-z-y Colt Five-Thousand'?! Eric, how many times have I said that bed's not worth the nine hundred bits it costs?"

It was my turn to roll my eyes. "Twilight, sometimes you remind me of my mom when you give Spike, me, or even Starlight your 'lectures', so you probably told us nine-thousand and one times! In fact, I almost want to start calling you 'mom'."

I wasn't completely kidding; Twilight Sparkle does sometimes act more like an Equestrian mom than my Equestrian big sister. Especially during times when she uses my real name, like she just did, and not the nickname she and "big sis" Starlight gave me. Since she can't send me back to my old world, maybe Twilight's subconsciously trying to fill the roles of not just my human big sisters, but also my mom, even though I'm eighteen years old, so I'm not exactly a "kid".

"Oh, you're in one of your more joking moods today, huh?"

"Fine, I guess I am in more of a joking mood than usual." With a sneaky smile, I leaned my head closer to Twilight by about two inches. "But what's wrong, big sis? You don't think you'll last the full week?

"No, it's not that. It's just..." Twilight slightly tilted her head down, then after a few seconds, she groaned, "Fine. I'll do it."

"You mean it? You'll really buy Spike and me each 'The L-a-a-a-z-y Colt Five-Thousand' if you don't make it the whole week? This isn't a trick is it, because you and I both know I can't outsmart you when you're ready for me, Twi, and I'm not joking this time."

Twilight sighed, and responded, "You really shouldn't sell yourself short like that, but I promise, it's not a trick. If I can't make it to next Tuesday, I will buy you and Spike that overpriced bed."

I wasn't sure if I could've actually got Twilight to do it, so when she said she'll take the bet, I almost jumped off the couch we were sitting on in happiness, but the only movement I did was leaning my head away from Twi. "Yes! I can't wait till you--"

But Twilight interrupted, "Not so fast. You said this is a brother-sister bet, so you have to offer something too."

"Okay, what do you want me to do if you last to next Tuesday?"

"If I make it, you will have to reorganize all the books of the library for me, every other week, for two months, by yourself, and without the help of spells from Starlight." Twilight's voice tone became a more joking one as she added, "And if you try to get out of it, I'll ground you for three months."

Twilight giggled at her "grounding me" remark, which I more or less ignored, because my mouth was too busy dropping at what she'll make me do if I lost our bet! "What?! All the books?!" With a frown, I lifted my head to look around the room to the hundreds, no, thousands of books on the bookshelves, which lines the walls of nearly the whole library, and covers a little over two-thirds of the walls. "If you make me do it by myself, I'll never finish reorganizing them!"

Now Twilight leaned her head down to me with a smirk and taunted, "Oh, what's wrong, little bro? I thought you were so sure I wouldn't last a week without reading?"

"Well, yeah, Twi, but...ohh..." I again turned my head to the books all around us, but I couldn't back down now. Twilight had me, and as I looked up at her, the grin on her face and the look in her purple eyes showed she knew it. After a few seconds, I gave a big sigh and answered, "Okay. If you make it the whole week, I'll do it."

"So, is that a bet, son, uh, I mean, little bro?"

"Ha, now who's in a more 'joking mood'? But it's a bet, big sis."

With both of us giggling, Twilight raised a hoof to me. I "fist-pumped" it, then Twilight leaned her head up to where it was before.

"So, starting tomorrow, no books for you for a week."

"Yep, but that's future Twilight's problem so, for now, I'll make the most of the time I have for today."

"What you mean?"

I got my "answer" when Twilight's horn glowed pink again. A bunch of books from the bookshelves lining the walls of the library, all glowing pink, flew in from every direction and were all laid in front of us. It was like a mountain of books, maybe two hundred of them, and the height of the "mountain" was twice as tall as either Twilight or me.

"Let me guess: you're going to try to get as much reading out of your system as you can, aren't you, Twi?"

"Maybe?" Twilight replied in a cute voice tone. Her face was a bit red, with a little embarrassed grin, and she looked adorable. Or in Twilight's case, adorkable; she does that sometimes.

"I knew it. Well, you might as well try it, because this week will be like 'Lesson Zero' all over again!"

"Huh? What do you mean by 'lesson zero', Buggie?"

"Oh, uh, nothing, I was thinking about something else. But you go ahead and read as much as you can so it's out of your system, because you are going to need all the help you can get!"

Twilight seemed like she wanted to try to counter my last jab, but she had nothing, so she didn't say anything back. Instead, Twilight picked up the book she was reading out-loud with her magic, turned her head to it so she wasn't facing me, and got back to reading it. I, in turn, cooled it with the jokes and listened quietly. After she was done with it, I had enough and left the library to tell Spike about the bet. Twi stayed, and read more books by herself.

And yes, I was thinking about that episode when Twilight lost her mind and went nuts.

---

In the quiet hallways of the castle, outside my open bedroom door, I was telling Spike, as well as Starlight about that bet I made with Twilight.

"So, let me get this straight. Starting tomorrow, Twilight's going to not read any books, or anything, till next Tuesday?"

"Yep, Spike, and Twi said that if she can't do it, she'll finally buy us each 'The L-a-a-a-z-y Colt Five-Thousand' we've tried so hard to get her to buy us."

A big smile formed on Spike's face. "WHAT?! She will? Twi really said she would buy us each 'The L-a-a-a-z-y Colt Five-Thousand' if she doesn't make it to next Tuesday without reading?!"

With a grin on my own face, I answered, "Yep! So when she cracks, she's gonna buy us each that bed." I stopped grinning and a scowl took its place when I thought about my boss at the spa, where I've worked at during the last month. "But if my witch of a boss at the spa weren't so bucking cheap with my hourly salary and give me more hours, I wouldn't have even asked Twi about the beds, since I don't want to depend on her too much."

"Yeah, I know, and I still say you should ask Rarity to hire you part-time at one of her shops, Buggie." Starlight advised.

I sighed, and Starlight and I had this discussion before. "And I want to ask her too, Starie. But I've told you about a saying in my old world about how you don't hire your friends. Even though this is Equestria, not my old world, I'd rather not take any chances by asking Rarity to hire me."

Starlight sighed and backed off. "Well, I guess I can understand. But what if Twilight makes it the whole week?"

"If she does, I will have to reorganize the whole library, every other week for two months, and I'll have to do it by myself. And I wouldn't be able to ask you to cast spells on me to help."

"And Twilight has a lot of books, so without help, that wouldn't be fun for you, Eric."

"No, no it would not, Spike! But I'm not worried. There's no way Twilight Sparkle could go a week without her books."

"I don't know. Twilight really didn't want to buy you and Spike those beds, so she's gonna try hard to not read anything."

Spike chimed in, "Oh, yeah, that's right, Eric. Twilight's one of the most determined ponies in all of Equestria, so she might last the whole week."

Hearing that got me a bit nervous, and I even facepalmed. "Oh...yeah, I forgot about that. Twi doesn't give up easily on anything she's serious about. But still, she loves her books too much, so even she might not have enough fight in her to make it."

"I hope you're right. You don't have magic, so reorganizing the library would be a lot tougher for you than for Twilight when she does it."

"And I'd cast an Accelero spell on you to help, but you said Twilight wouldn't let me do that if you lose. But we'll see if she loves books as much as you think, starting tomorrow."

---

On the next day, Twilight started her no-book week. Ponyville was even more peaceful than usual with no issues, and she didn't have any "princess" stuff to do, so being unable to read would be even tougher for her, because she'd usually do it more doing these times. But Twi can't do that now, unless she buys a certain Dragon and human each a "L-a-a-a-z-y Colt Five-Thousand".

Even so, during the first two days, whether it was counting or cleaning something, helping Applejack at her farm, having "Twilight Time" with the CMC, practicing spells with Starlight, or whatever, Twilight found things to amuse herself during the times she'd normally read something, and she truly seemed okay. In fact, she looked to be doing so well, I got more worried that Twi might actually last the full week and force me to reorganize her library every other week, for two months, after she won our bet. Gulp.

However, on the third day, the effects of not being able to read started to show on Twilight. Some of the hair on her mane was out-of-place, making it slightly frazzled. She talked a lot more than normal, had moments when she'll talk a bit faster as well, flew all over Ponyville looking for someone to help, and got on our friends' nerves. She even annoyed Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie! Despite Twi getting on my nerves, and sometimes being like a purple shadow I was stuck with, I thought it would be more than worth it when she finally taps out, and buys that bed. But she refused to give up, became worse as the day went on, and some of us even tried to hide from that pony.

---

Now it's around noon of day four of Twilight's bookless week. Relaxing in the library in Twilight's castle, in a couple of chairs, about two feet from each other but facing the same direction, sit Spike and me. We were each holding a cup full of apple juice and were trying to decide what to do for our "bro time". Part of the reason we picked the library to relax in was simply to hide from Twilight. Usually, if you want to hide from Twilight Sparkle, the library in the castle is one of the last places you run to, but we thought being surrounded by books would be too hard on Twi, so she'd stay out. Unless she's ready to cave and gives up the bet, that is.

Spike took a sip of that apple juice. "So, how Twilight's doing today, Eric? You think she's gonna give up the bet?"

"I haven't seen her yet, so I don't know for sure. But I do know she was a royal pain yesterday! I wasn't sure if she'd ever shut up or leave us alone!"

"Tell me about it. She was worse than Pinkie Pie! She wouldn't stop talking or asking me, or anypony if they wanted her help."

'Yeah, even for her, Twi took being a "goody-goody" to another level. But enough about her; we still haven't picked what to do for our 'bro time'."

"Well, what about we--"

Twilight, almost on cue, teleported into the room, right in front of us. It made both Spike and me gasp and we nearly dropped our cups, since she usually doesn't teleport into rooms like that, unless something's seriously wrong...but I guess there was something wrong: her. She kept her wings flapping so she remained airborne by about a foot, and she stared at us with a friendly, yet somewhat creepy smile. Twi's mane looked about as frazzled as it did on the third day, but now her tail was just as frazzled. Her left eye twitched a couple of times, but other than that and her wings, she wasn't moving a muscle. Well, so much for being safe from her in the library.

Spike stuttered, "U-uh, Twi? W-what are you doing?"

"Oh, me? Nothing, nothing at all, I'm just trying to find something to do because I'm soooo bored. What are you two up to?"

I tried to answer, "Uh, well, we were--"

Flying around the room, but still facing us, talking faster and faster as she went on, Twilight offered, "Because if you two need some help with something, anything, and I mean anything at all I, the Princess of Friendship, is at your service." Twi pointed a hoof at herself. "What can I do for you two?"

"But, we don't need any--"

Twilight flew beside Spike, wrapped a foreleg around and pulled him to her, which cut him off from what he was saying. "Maybe I could cook you guys something, because you're always the one to cook, Spike, and I owe it to you? How about pancakes because you like them right? Do you want plain or blueberry pancakes?"

Spike tried to answer, "But we don't have what we need for--"

Twilight, still with that big smile, took her foreleg off Spike, flew to me, so she's flying beside me. I leaned away a little, but Twi wrapped a foreleg around the upper part of my back and pulled me to her, like she did with Spike.

"Okay, then how about we play a board game? You enjoy board games, right? Right?" Twilight asked while nodding her head, with her mane flapping with her nodding, I guess hoping it would make me more likely to say I'd play. Unfortunately for her, even if I wanted to, there were no board games in the castle. The few we have were currently with Starlight and she was away from the castle with Trixie; and they were also hiding from Twilight.

"But, Twi, we don't have any--"

Twilight flew to the open door of the room, still staying airborne, and her left eye twitched again. "Then how about we get a bite out to eat? We can go anywhere you want, and it's my treat!"

"But Eric and I have already--"

Twilight flew back in front of Spike and me to the same spot she was when she first teleported into the room. "Then, uh, how about I give you two a massage?" Twilight flew over to me again, but didn't wrap a foreleg around me this time. "You give them at the spa all the time, Buggie, and it's time you got one yourself, so let big sis give you and Spike a massage!"

I yelled, "NO!" but I immediately cleared my throat and much more calmly added, "Uh, I mean, no, we're good, big sis."

In case you thought I yelled "NO!" because Twilight was bugging me, not quite. Twi once tried to give me a massage when my back was sore and...oh boy. Twilight Sparkle can do a lot of things, but giving massages to humans isn't one of them! After only five seconds of it, that Alicorn made my back hurt so bad, I had to stay in bed for three days before my back felt well enough to leave it! I guess in the state Twilight's in right now, it slipped her mind. Or what's left of it.

"Okay, so how about the three of us go and...uh...well..."

As the Princess of desperation had her head tilted up and a hoof on her cheek, struggling to think of something, a grin appeared on my lips. "I have an idea."

"You do, Buggie?!" Twilight moved her hoof off her cheek and flew right in front of my face, looked me in the eyes, with that friendly yet creepy smile, and her left eye twitched again. "What is it? What is it? Ask me anything, anything at all!"

You know, some bronies would've had...ideas in their heads if Twilight begged them to ask her anything, but not me. I simply pointed to my left at one of the bookshelves. "You could read one of those books."

"Okay, I will! Anything you want!" Twilight's smile became a more "normal" cute one when she picked up a red book with her magic off the bookshelf and pulled it to her. Her smile grew even bigger and was about to open it, till she realized what she was doing. Her eyes widened, gasped, that big smile turned to a frown, and the book she was holding hit the floor. "Oh, no, no, no! Nice try, but I'm not giving up that bet!" Twi's friendly but creepy smile returned, and, while talking faster than ever, she begged, "But you two gotta need something. Come on, please, just tell me, tell me! You can tell me! What is it?!"

Buck, I almost had her. But Spike groaned, "Seriously, Twilight, we don't need anything! But if you're so bored, how about you see how fast you can fly in the castle or something?"

Twilight's left eye twitched again. "Oh, that's a good idea, Spike!"

"Wait, I was jok--"

Before Spike could finish, Twilight, still airborne, flapped her wings harder, then flew from one side of the library after another. As she did, she counted under her breath, with a few giggles mixed in. At first, she stayed in the room, so she flew over our heads in what felt like random directions. But after about twenty dashes, she flew out one of the doors to the library, which Spike and I were facing away from, flew throughout the castle, counting to herself and giggling.

Spike took his head as he asked, "She's not going to make it, is she, Eric?"

"Nope, Spike. Soon, we're gonna be sleeping good in our 'L-a-a-a-z-y Colt Five-Thousands'." A thought popped in my head, and I joked, "But maybe it's for the best that she's flying so much. Flying burns more calories than walking, and Twi's had a bit too much cake lately, if you know what I mean." With a smirk, I gave a wink.

Laughing, Spike warned, "Oh, you better hope Twilight didn't hear that, Eric!"

Spike kept laughing, and I burst out of laughter too. After about five seconds, something hit the back of my head, making both Spike and me stop laughing. As I rubbed my head, Spike and I spun our heads to see what it was; the red book that Twilight dropped a moment ago, and from where it hit me, somepony threw it from the open door of the library, though I saw no one there. However, I heard annoyed mumbling coming from the hallways.

"It was worth it!" I yelled out, with another chuckle. I guess Twilight wasn't freaking-out bad enough to not get mad at those kinds of jokes, but I really should watch it. As one of the strongest ponies in Equestria, Twilight Sparkle could put me in a world of hurt if she really wanted to.

But on the fifth day, things became even more...interesting, for my favorite princess.

---

Opening up one of the green doors to the room with the Friendship Map, I called out, "Hey, Twi, do you want to--" I spotted Twilight pacing back and forth near her chair by The Map, muttering under her breath, making me stop in my tracks. The door I picked to come in the room was in front of Twilight's chair, so she was pacing only about three feet away from me. Her mane and tail were more frazzled than before. Her left eyelid was open wider than the other, and it twitched every five seconds or so. "Uh...Twi? You all right?"

Still pacing back and forth, Twilight turned her head to me, with a more crazed smile when before. I took a few steps back as she babbled, "Oh, yes, I'm fine. I'm very, very fine. Sure, I can't read any books because of our bet, there's nothing to clean, I'm bored with testing my speed and I'm tired of counting books, sheets of paper, spoons, forks, plates, rocks, trees, ponies I see outside, how many times Pinkie Pie hops or steps you take in a minute--"

"Wait, did you say you've counted how often Pinkie hopped, and how many steps I took?"

Twilight went from pacing back and forth in a line, to walking in circles, with her left eye still twitching every five or so seconds. "Yep. I saw that when walking non-stop, you take an average of one-hundred and eight steps, and Pinkie takes an average of fifty-one hops in a minute. But I'm bored with that, you don't want me to try to massage you and I know you already ate, Spike still doesn't need me for anything, I asked Rainbow Dash if she wanted to race but said she doesn't want to, I already finished all of Applejack's chores for her, Pinkie Pie did all the baking she'd need to do today, Fluttershy said she's good with her animals so she doesn't need my help with them, Rarity has enough help at her stores, Starlight's with Trixie so I can't practice spells with her and I'm tired of that anyway, the CMC seem to be hiding because I can't find them anywhere, Discord told me to stop bugging him, and I'm seeing little purple and blue books floating in front of me that are not really there because I tried to touch them but I couldn't. But even so, I'm still just fiiiiiine."

Yeah, my big sister did not sound "fine", and I could barely follow everything she just said.

"You're 'fine' huh, Twi?" I walked out of the room, came back through the same door, holding a green book from the library, and held it near Twilight's face, who was still walking in circles. She stopped, smiled cutely while looking at it, but said nothing. I slowly moved the book from side to side a few times and she moved her face in sync with it, with her eyes locked on it. "You sure you don't want to end our bet and get Spike and me those beds? You're not looking so good."

Twilight shook her head and took some steps back. "Nope! Nope, nope, nope! I said I would make it the whole week, and I'm going to do it!"

About to turn away, I said, "We'll see, big sis."

"Yeah, we'll...oh!" Twilight's eyes suddenly got big, her smile changed from a "cute" one to a more crazed one, flapped her wings, and flew right at me!

I gasped, dropped the book I was still holding, turned away, gritted my teeth, and prepared for impact. But instead of slamming into and possibly injuring me -- I'm not as durable as ponies -- Twilight changed her direction just enough to swerve around me, and a weak gust of wind blew over me from her wings' flapping. Twi, with her magic, grabbed a bucket of water and a cloth that was by the Cutie Map (from earlier cleaning I guess) and wiped the top part of the door I came in from, hard.

I gave a relieved sigh that she didn't level me but still yelled, "Twilight, watch where you're flying! You almost hit me!"

But Twilight wasn't listening and she, mainly to herself, said, "Oh, yeah, I missed this bit of dirt. Well, don't you worry, I'll clean it riiiiiight now!"

Twilight wiped the same part of the door over and over, and then flew to a different green door, cleaning a part that was "dirty", talked to herself faster and faster till I couldn't even understand what was coming out of her mouth. As the Princess of Cleaning was busy...cleaning, I walked backward out of the room, thinking about the L-a-a-a-z-y Colt Five-Thousand I'd be getting soon. I walked backwards because I wanted to keep a close eye on Twilight, who was still flying from one door to another, and to the windows, in case she did another "fly-by". The room of The Friendship Map has several doors that led to it from every direction of the room, so Twi was flying all over the place, talking to herself.

That night, I don't think Twilight got much sleep, because outside my closed bedroom door I sometimes heard her muttering, as well as hoofsteps, when I was in my room trying to sleep.

But things went downhill even more for poor Twilight, and for that matter, the rest of us. Or instead of "Twilight", I should probably say "mom" because of what that pony's going to do to anyone near her, at the start of day six of her bookless week.

Author's Note:

What did Eric mean in his last lines? Will anyone get through whatever Twilight's/"mom's" going to do in Chapter two?

Comments

[ThePinkedWonder]

9641218
And Twilight's even stronger now then she was then. They're gonna see a LOT of luck to survive Alicorn Twilight in Lesson Zero mode!

[TheHardie-Boy]

Thanks for the shout-out!

[ThePinkedWonder]

9641352

no problem!

[Eddy13]

I'm surprised you didn't make a chapter for each day of the bet. Passing through the first five days in one chapter seems like a missed opportunity.

[SamSwordsman123]

Well finally started reading this after a while of letting sit on my later shelf. Not bad, human fixlcs kinda make me feel weird at first but once I got into the humor it caused me to chuckle a bit. Though I would have preferred you showed rather than told on Twilights first couple days with the activities. That's my only complaint for this chapter. Read more later.

[ThePinkedWonder]

10480882

In hindsight, I should have at least shown the 3rd day since that's when things started getting interesting, but the first two days of the bet really wasn't anything special.

At best, it would have acted like filler and shown how days are like when nothing's going on. Similar to how this chapter started off with Twilight & Eric peacefully reading together.

At worst, boring and a waste of words.