> Twilight Opens a Book
>  by aricaitlyn
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Twilight Opens a Book
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a dull, stormy day in Ponyville. Thunder raged outside. Raindrops fell, hitting the roof of Golden Oaks Library, where Twilight and Spike lived. They had decided to stay inside for the day due to the weather. Maybe they'd go out once the rain cleared up. Spike was upstairs taking a nap, and Twilight was downstairs in the foyer. As Equestria's newest princess, she often felt overworked and rushed, and she never got a break from filling out princess papers and attending Canterlot's many royal summits. 

But today was different. She was shuffling through her shelves looking for a good book to read. Every single book that Twilight had picked up was immediately dropped into a haphazard sea of books on the floor. She had read every single title on her bookshelves approximately forty-seven hundred times and wanted something new. Nothing was more refreshing than reading each page for the first time and experiencing a new story. 

As she dropped older books to the floor, she noticed a newer-looking title. The spine of the book was a bright blue, and it was a paperback, looking almost as new as the day she had gotten it. It was almost shining on her shelf. The pages in the book remained a crisp white, as opposed to the yellowed pages of many books written and read before. Twilight picked up the book with her magic.

"Ah, yes," she said aloud, remembering when and where she had received the book. Rainbow Dash had given it to her for her birthday last year. It was a novel set in a post-apocalyptic Canterlot. Twilight had never gotten around to reading the book. With so many ponies asking to borrow her older, more familiar titles, this one had just gotten pushed to the side somehow, despite her weekly shuffling and organizing of her library's books. Twilight read the title aloud as she sat down. "Pony Pride, a novel by Natural Fuse." 

She could withhold her curiosity no longer. Quickly, she opened the book to its first page, only to be interrupted by a familiar sound. It sounded like scales against wood. 

"Twilight!" The little purple dragon was running down the stairs full force. Twilight put down the book, marking the place with her magic.

"What is it, Spike?" she asked. "I'm kind of busy right now." Twilight gestured to her book, hoping that Spike would get the message.

"I just remembered that I told Rarity that I'd visit her today!" Spike's voice was rushed and he was twiddling his little claws. He almost seemed like he was lying to Twilight.

Twilight groaned. "I can't take you anywhere right now." She tilted her head to the window. "Just look outside. It's raining."

"Come on, Twilight. Please?" Spike was insistent and, of course, he was making "the eyes": big puppy-dog eyes that everypony seemed to fall for.

Twilight rolled her eyes and stood up. "All right. Can I just drop you off there?"

Spike's grin grew. "Yes, please!"





After dropping Spike off, Twilight was finally home alone. No dragons to worry about, just peace and quiet. She opened the book again to its very first page, one that mirrored the title. Swiftly, she passed the page; title pages were useless to her unless the book was, as the publishers called it, a "stripped book".

There was a knock at the door, which had been left unlocked. "It's open," Twilight hollered towards the door. If this guest didn't need something urgently, she could get this over with, then start to actually read the book.

Rainbow Dash trotted in, a worried look on her face. "Fluttershy," she said, her voice cracking.

"Excuse me?"

"Fluttershy," Dash repeated, choking back tears. "She's...not okay."

Twilight stood up and trotted towards Rainbow. "Well, what's wrong?"

"She hasn't left her house in days. We're all really worried."

"Well, it is raining outside," Twilight commented, trying to get this done quickly. "Maybe she's just...cold?"

Rainbow Dash shook her head and bit her lip. "Before she locked herself up, she had been acting really weird. Like she's been...disconnected from her animals."

"Disconnected? Rainbow, why don't you go over there yourself and see?"

"Already tried," Rainbow replied, "but she won't even answer the door anymore. I can't even go right in. It's locked."

Twilight frowned. "Well, we can only hope for the best," she said quickly, moving Rainbow towards the door. "Maybe she's been busy knitting sweaters for us, maybe as a surprise gift. Ooh, that'd be nice. The weather's been pretty chilly lately. Well, it sure was nice seeing you, Rainbow. Bye!" 

And with that, she sat down and got back to reading.

"I was just an ordinary po-"

Her reading was, again, interrupted by another sharp knock at the door. "Ugh! It's open!"

Pinkie Pie hopped in, pulling along her familiar Party Cannon. "What time is it?"

Twilight Sparkle glanced up at the clock. "Three in the afternoon."

"No! It's party time!" Pinkie shouted, answering her own question. In one quick stroke, Pinkie lit the fuse. Twilight gasped at the inconvenience. Pinkie wasn't the best at her timing, but right now was one of the worst times to light the Party Cannon. Twilight hated the action of lighting the cannon in the first place. It smelled of sulfur, the noise was nearly earth-shattering, and the aftermath was difficult to clean. "Pinkie, please..." 

BOOM!

Twilight shook the confetti mess from her mane and looked to the floor, which was covered in colorful streamers and confetti. "Pinkie, I've got a lot of important princess business to take care of." 

Pinkie Pie nodded, understanding every word. When Twilight Sparkle tossed the "P" word around, it made things a heck of a lot more important. "Okay, Twilight. Just give me a minute to fix this." 

She pulled out a device from nowhere. It looked a lot like a glorified mop. It was pink and had "Party Clean Up" written all over. Pinkie pressed a button on the device and the confetti mess on the floor was cleaned up in an instant, the mop whirring and scooting about. The floor was spotless afterwards. Nopony would have known about the cannon, except for the awful smell still in the air. If possible, Twilight's jaw would have hit the floor, and she was ablaze with questions. "How did you do that?! Where did you get that?! Would that work for non-party clean up? Like, regular, everyday stuff?"

Twilight immediately remembered her task for the day and ushered Pinkie out the door with the Party Cannon and mop in tow.

"Finally, peace and quiet." Twilight grabbed the book with her magic and eased herself into her favorite chair. 

"I was just an ordinary pony," she repeated. "who lived in Cant-"

Instead of the usual knocking, two orange hooves bucked the door open. Twilight dropped the book in shock and turned to see Applejack, who looked a bit overworked. The orange pony had two large baskets of apples with her.

"What are these for?" Twilight asked, getting up from her chair.

"They're for later," Applejack sighed. "Ah was thinkin' maybe we'd get Fluttershy outta the house if she had somethin' to do. Ah was hopin' we could all head down to Sugar Cube Corner an' make some apple fritters."

Twilight smiled, a genuine smile this time. "That does sound nice, but I'm in the middle of a very important book."

"Book?" Applejack asked. "What kind'a book?"

The purple alicorn held up the book in question. "I'd say it's pretty good so far, but then again, I haven't really gotten so far into it."

"Oh, yeah, Ah've read that one before. You wanna hear what happens at the end?"

"No! Shhhh!" Twilight pushed her hooves over Applejack's muzzle, trying to silence the pony.

"Alright, alright." Applejack picked up the apples glumly. "An' Ah'm guessin' you're too busy to hang out with your best friends, too, huh? Considerin' one of 'em locked herself up in her own home." 

Twilight sat down in her chair, waiting rudely for Applejack to leave. She didn't mean to brush her friends off so rudely, but she hardly got a second to herself anymore now that she was royalty. Even going to the bathroom in her own home became a non-private domain. Twilight picked up the book and started to read from where she had last left off.

"Who lived in Canterlot." Twilight finished the sentence and looked around for a second. All was calm, and there was no danger of somepony coming in.

Immediately, Twilight's prayers for peace and quiet were shattered by a more polite knocking at the door. 

"It's open," Twilight hollered.

Rarity opened the door. She was holding Spike by the back of his neck with her magic.

"I simply cannot believe you right now," Rarity groaned, dropping the dragon to the floor. He landed on his feet with a loud "oof". "You flew by my house and dropped Spike off. At least call me before I become a dragon-sitter for the afternoon. At least stop by and say hello to your friend." At this point, Rarity was pouting.

"I'm sorry," Twilight Sparkle replied monotonously, flipping the pages of her book.

"I'm serious, Twilight. You made the wrong decision."

"Mm-hm," Twilight replied, irrelevant to the conversation.

Rarity let out a small growl, then stepped outside and slammed the door shut angrily. Spike walked up to Twilight.

"Twilight, you've been staring at that thing all day."

Twilight's magic surge that held up her book weakened as the novel fell to the floor. "Yes, because I've been trying to relax and read this new book all afternoon, but I can't even finish a mere sentence without somepony disturbing my peace!" Her eye was twitching at this point; she took reading very seriously.

"But, Twilight, can't you take a break from...taking a break?"

Twilight sighed heavily. "You're right, Spike. I've been brushing my friends off all afternoon and, for what, this book?" She picked the title up, disgusted. "Plot holes everywhere, shoddy writing, irrelevant pop-culture references, and the main antagonist is shallow and weak. Plus romance is wedged in where it doesn't even belong."

Spike gasped. "You read that far?"

Twilight Sparkle shook her head. "Nope. I literally read a book by its cover."

"So, you have any plans for the day?"

Twilight put the book back on the shelf and turned to the window. The rain had stopped. She was so preoccupied with handling her friends' antics that she hadn't even heard it cease. "Well, apparently Fluttershy hasn't left her house in a while and - "

A soft knocking at the door interrupted her. Spike opened it and outside stood Fluttershy, who was holding a small basket. 

Twilight grinned and threw her arms around Fluttershy's neck. "Fluttershy, you're okay!"

"Well, of course," the pegasus replied. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"It's just that Rainbow was almost in tears over you, and Applejack made it sound like a big deal..." Twilight said hurriedly.

"No, I'm fine," Fluttershy replied. "I just thought I'd visit you and show you something Rarity helped me make." She shuffled through the basket and pulled out a light blue sweater. "This one's for you."

Twilight grabbed the sweater with her magic, thinking, Sweaters! I was right this whole time!. "This is beautiful, Fluttershy. And you made some for everypony else?"

"Yes." Fluttershy nodded. "That's why I haven't left my house in three days. I was busy."

"And your animals?" Twilight asked.

"Angel had seen that I was busy. He took responsibility for them."

"So, now that we have this cleared up, are there any plans for the day?" Spike asked, hoping to tag along with the pony gals.

Twilight nodded. "Let's find Applejack and the others."

She began to walk outside, with Fluttershy and Spike following. For the rest of the day, Twilight planned to relax...with her best friends and number-one assistant.

The End