Twilight Sparkle skipped across the library to the supply closet. Only a faint red light poured their way through the windows. Several cleaning supplies levitate out and arrange themselves in the middle of the room. Twilight looked them over, double checking all her supplies. Once she made triply sure she had all the supplies she needed, she called Spike.
"Spike! Wake up. It's time to clean the library."
A sleepy groan came from upstairs. The sleepy dragon came only far enough down to look Twilight in the eyes.
"Didn't we just clean yesterday?"
"That was cleaning up after the study session. Remember?"
"But we spent hours putting those books back. Doesn't that count?"
"But today is the day I scheduled to give this entire place a top to bottom cleaning. We need to scrub every nook and cranny."
Spike groaned. "Now?"
"Now!"
Spike gave another groan and walked down the rest of the stairs. He picked a broom out of the pile of cleaning supplies and started going over the floor. He swept even though there was hardly enough dust to even justify sweeping. Twilight pulled a duster out of the pile and began levitating books off the shelf. She dusted the books and then dusted where they sat. The books then were piled onto the table as she started on the next shelf.
Twilight couldn't help but look over the titles for the zillionth time as she dusted them. The best part about living in a library is that no matter how often she looked over the books or how often she organized them, there was always a book she didn't realize she had or she forgot was even there. It was the icing on the cake when it came to cleaning the library.
She kept up her steady pace until she pulled a book that looked like it hadn't been dusted in years. It had gathered so much dirt that the colour of the book was obscured. Twilight flipped through the pages, looking at the book from all angles.
"Spike, how could we have missed this book?" Twilight said.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Spike said, dropping his broom to take a look at the book, "Whoa! Where did this come from?" Spike ran a claw over the dust, turning his purple scales gray.
"I don't know. I found it with the cook books, but I think it might have been somepony's journal."
"How can you tell?"
"Well, for one there's no title anywhere on the cover." Twilight opened up the book, "And the pages are blank except for the first page."
Twilight Sparkle tips the book so that Spike could read the entry.
"I can't believe that it's my birthday and all I got was this crummy book. Mom didn't even stop to wish me happy birthday. She was too busy working. It's not fair. I know we need the money, but I wish she didn’t have to work today. I bet it’d be cheeper to take a day off than to buy a journal, but I guess she’s too busy to notice. I wonder if she’ll even realize I’m not around?" He looks up from the page, "Hmm, this doesn't seem so bad. It just sounds like a normal filly's diary."
"I agree, but the other pages look blank."
"Yeah, so?"
"They look blank, but I think there's something there."
"Like what?"
"I don't know. Maybe the words are hidden by some sort of spell or invisible ink."
"How can you be sure she just decided to stop writing?"
"I don't know. But there's just something there. I can't really explain it, but I can feel there are words just under the pages. Do you understand what I'm talking about?"
"I guess."
"Great, so we're in agreement."
"Wait, what?"
"You can keep cleaning and I figure out what's on these other pages."
"Can't it wait until after we're finished cleaning? The book can wait." Spike said, not excited at the idea of having to clean all on his own.
"I guess so," Twilight set the book on her desk, "I did schedule to clean the library first."
"Great. Let's get cleaning," His enthusasm only lasted for a short while.
"Alright. First we'll clean and then I'll decode the book."
The rest of the morning passed as they swept, dusted and scrubbed every inch of the library. By the time lunch rolled around the library sparkled. Twilight and Spike stood back to relax and admire their hard work.
"So, there's nothing else that needs cleaning?" Spike asked tentatively.
"Nope. We're all done. You're free to do whatever you want today. I'm going to be working on that book."
"Great. I have so much I've wanted to do," Spike said as he jogged out of the library.
Twilight walked up to her desk and opened the book to its first empty page. She stared at it for a while, trying to see any signs that would tell her how the words are hidden. She couldn't see any noticeable indents in the page, which suggested that it probably wasn't invisible ink, but that still didn't rule that option out. It was possible that the filly who owned this wrote very lightly, or that it was so long ago that everything smoothed back out.
To try and eliminate some options, Twilight cast a spell to detect magical presences. There was a faint magical sparkle that came from the page, but it wasn't very strong. She couldn't tell if it was just residue from being owned by a unicorn at one time, or it the spell was just old. Come to think about it, Twilight couldn't figure out how old the book was. She knew paper didn't come into use until five thousand years ago, and books didn't become affordable for the average pony until one thousand years ago, but that still didn't tell her anything. There wasn't a date on the first entry, nor was there any names anywhere in the book.
"I guess I'll try everything. Maybe there's some sort of book on this."
Because she had just given the library a thorough clean, she knew exactly where the books on codes and hidden messages, most of them were aimed at foals who wanted to play spies. Twilight was sure whatever was written couldn't have been hidden too deeply. After all, this journal was written by a filly. She piled the books on her desk and opened the first one. She flipped through the book until she came across a spell.
"Oh, this one looks like it would help," She says cheerfully to herself, "Uncover Secrets," She read, "If it's a secret you must know, then cast the spell as so... Oh, this looks simple." Twilight read it over a few times to make sure she got it right. She took a breath and her horn began to glow with magic as she began the spell. "Here goes nothing."
A bolt of magic connected the page with her horn. Twilight closed her eyes in concentration as she could feel the words on the page come up from the depths of the paper and form as rough ink scratches. She pulled more and more and soon the entry that sat on that page was clear.
"I knew there was something hidden on these pages." Twilight flipped through the rest of the pages. They were all still blank. "I guess that spell only worked on one page at a time. Oh well, I can always work on it longer."
"Work on what longer?" Pinkie Pie chirped.
Twilight Sparkle jumped and turned around to see her friend sitting behind her. She also noticed that Spike had come back in. He hovered at the door, barely peaking in.
"I found this old journal. The pages are blank, but I'm sure there's something written on all of them. I've found a spell to help me out, but it's still going to take me a while to get through the whole thing." Twilight turned back to her desk and noticed that it had been cleaned of all the books she had stacked. "Hey, what happened to all the books?"
"I put them away this morning. You've been sitting there for three days straight, only staring at the same book," Spike said, still standing outside the room.
"Three days? That can't be right. I've only started looking at this book two hours ago." Twilight said.
"Wow, Twilight, you must be really into that book. I've seen you into books before and I know how you can lose track of time but I've never seen you this focused. So what is it about? You said it's a journal but who did it belong to? It must be somepony really important if you're this focused on it," Pinkie Pie rambled.
"I don't know who it belonged to, but I think she was a filly when she got it. I don't know how I lost track of time like that. It must have something to do with this book. Just give me a few more minutes."
"How about you get some fresh air first. Come on, Spike told me that you needed to get out a bit more. I'm sure you're really tired for working for so long."
"I feel fine, actually, but some fresh air does sound like a good idea."
Twilight stood up. As soon as she got onto her hooves, exhaustion caught up with her. Her front legs were the first to give out, followed quickly by her hind quarters.
"Twilight! Are you alright?" Spike cried out, running to her side.
"I'm fine. My legs are asleep. I really have been sitting there longer than I thought. I just need to walk it off."
Twilight struggled to get up, but before she could even put her weight on her hooves, she felt light headed and lost her balance. Even though she wasn't that far off the ground, Twilight was unconscious before she even hit the floor.
The hospital room Twilight woke up in was red from the setting sun. Her head still felt heavy and her neck felt stiff as she looked around. She could hear Pinkie Pie chatting to her left. She looked to see Pinkie Pie sitting on her neighbour's bed, playing some sort of card game. The other pony suffering from a broken back leg, so Pinkie had to sit at the edge of the mattress to make room for the cast.
"Look, she's awake!" Apple Jack called out.
Twilight looked to her right and saw all of her friends sitting on assorted chairs that looked as if they had pulled them from all over the hospital.
"How are you feelin' sugar cube?"
"A bit better, although I'm still a little tired, but I'm fine now."
"That's such a relief," Fluttershy said, "I was so worried when I heard you ended up in the hospital."
"I can't believe you ignored the first rule of beauty and went three days without sleep!"
"Which Twilight Sparkle have you been friends with? She's always doing these studying binges," Rainbow Dash argued, "What I can't believe is that Twilight managed to perform a spell for three days straight. I didn't think you had that kind of endurance."
"I didn't... At least, I don't think I did. It was weird, like no time had passed."
"My dear, what kind of spell were you working on?" Rarity asked.
"That's the thing, it was only a decoding spell out of a foal's book. It must be something about the journal I was casting it on. I don't know what. There didn't seem to be anything odd about it, hardly any magic, but I don't know what else this could have been."
The others looked amoung themselves, exchanging worried looks.
"Sugar, maybe you should leave that book alone then."
"Yeah, books are fun, but one that makes you freeze for days and days sounds creepy, and not the fun campfire stories creepy." Pinkie Pie cringed and shook as she spoke.
"Don't worry, I don't intend to work on that book until I learn more about it. It's clearly not just a filly's diary."
"Just be careful," said Rarity, "We don't know what we're dealing with."
"I promise," Twilight said with a nod.
"Well you know what we have to do now," Pinkie Pie said.
"What?" Fluttershy asked.
"Hospital room slumber party!"
"I think we should let Twilight get her rest," Apple Jack said.
"I agree, she looks dreadful," Rarity added.
"Okay," Pinkie Pie chirped as she bounced towards the door, "Bye bye, Cherry Bowl! Get better, Twilight!"
"Good night, Twi," Apple Jack said.
"Get your rest. Make up is such a tacky way to hide baggy eyes. Make up should only be used to accentuate your beauty."
"Don't worry, I'll be back to visit you every day until you get better," Fluttershy promised.
"Thank you. It's good to know I have such great friends."
Everyone filed out of the room. Rainbow Dash hung back, trying to look casual.
"I know you're better at being bored than me but I brought you these." Rainbow dash pulled a bag from under a chair and dumped almost a dozen books onto Twilight's bed.
"Are these all Daring Doo novels?"
"Yeah, there's just something I brought from home. I know you've already read them, but, you know."
"I don't think I've even have some of these. Thank you."
"No problem, just get better, alright."
"I will."
Rainbow Dash said goodbye one more time before leaving. Twilight stacked the books on her bed side table, making sure the spines were out and that they were ordered numerically and in the order she planned to read them. She tried to levitate them, but her horn sputtered out and stung like she ran it into a rock. After a few tries, she gave up and stacked them by hoof. Once everything was ordered, she went back to sleep.
The next day she found out that her horn was suffering from magic burns from casting a spell for three days straight. The doctors all were trying to be helpful. They asked her again and again what kind of spell she was trying to cast, and many of them suggesting she was over-extending herself by the spell. Twilight nearly exhausted herself again trying to explain that the spell wasn't anything hard for her. None of them seemed to believe she had been casting a spell for days straight.
She also found out that the nurses had wrapped her horn in gauze. They sent her home that afternoon with instructions to catch up some more on her sleep and to take care of her horn. They gave her some cream to sooth the burns. Twilight was still a little uneasy on her hooves, but at least Spike was there to keep her up.
"So you really don't know what happened?" Spike asked.
"For the fifth time, no. It felt like I was only casting that spell for a second."
"What are we going to do about that book?"
"For now, nothing. I'm going to send a letter to the princess to see if she knows anything that could be helpful. I haven't read the entry that I uncovered, so I want to look at it as soon as possible."
"What if something bad happens again?"
"I'm sure I'm fine if I just read it. I'm not going to cast any more spells on the pages until I learn more about the book, and I'm sure there must be some sort of clue on that page. I figured that everything was hidden because some filly didn't want anypony reading her diary, but after this," Twilight looked up at the white blur of her gauze covered horn, "I think we might be dealing with something big." Twilight made no attempt to disguise the excitement in her voice.
Spike tried to talk her out of even getting close to that book a few more times, but Twilight felt sure that nothing bad could come from reading a book. Books were meant to hold knowledge. There was no book in the world that could harm a pony for just reading it, not unless some pony wrote something very mean.
By the time they got home, Spike had given up trying to change Twilight's mind.
