"Sweet Celestia."

"I know, right? It scared me to death!"

Rarity blinked slowly, still trying to register what Twilight had told her. "So, you're saying that you were in your library, and somepony was talking to you through a book?"

"Yeah." Twilight nodded. /That sounds really stupid out loud./ She realized. /But I know what I saw!/

The two mares were sitting in Rarity's kitchen at the dining table. The unicorn had offered Twilight a cup of tea, which she accepted with a small nod.

"And then your coffee mug just, exploded?"

"Not an explosion. It shattered."

"Oh." Rarity tipped her head sideways. "That's a rather interesting set of events."

"Do you have any idea what it could mean?" Twilight asked desperately. /Hopefully Rarity has some input on this! I mean, I think I know what it was, but... I hope it's not./

"Er... not really, no." Rarity bit her lip in thought. "Do you think it was part of a prophecy? From the dead or something?"

Twilight shook her head quickly. "I... I think it's a... stalker, of some sort."

"Goodness gracious." Rarity covered mer mouth with a hoof. "You may want to notify Princess Celestia about this."

"I don't know." Twilight buried her face in her hooves. "What if I'm just slowly losing my mind or something?"

"I highly doubt that." Rarity reassured. "You're the newest princess, so it's likely that there are ponies trying to pick on you." She lifted her own cup of tea off the table and took a small sip.

"I don't care who it was." Twilight glanced out towards the window. "I just don't want to have to go through that again." /I still don't understand./ Twilight thought to herself in confusion. /How did they get ahold of the book I read as a filly? It doesn't make any sense!/ Twilight's lip quivered. /Unless I've met them before, and just don't remember them at all./

"If you'd like, you could spend the night over here." Rarity offered with a smile. "I have a guest bedroom, after all."

Twilight dismissed the offering with a shake of her head. "Thank you, but I think I'll be fine." She replied, almost sounding as if she was trying to reassure herself. "It kind of seemed like it was more of a stupid prank or something, anyways." She shrugged.

"Whatever you feel comfortable with." Rarity dipped her head. "Does anypony else know about this?"

"Other than you? No." Twilight answered after taking a drink of tea. "Rainbow's still out of town, and I didn't think Pinkie would take it too seriously. Meanwhile, Fluttershy would make it too BIG of a deal, and I didn't feel like taking the time to go to Applejack's farm. I had to talk to somepony."

"What about Spike?"

"I wanted to get away from the castle." Twilight reminded her.

"Ah, yes."

"Plus, he's still technically a baby dragon."

Rarity nodded. "Well, I wish you the best of luck on getting to the bottom of this. But, considering you have exquisite detective abilities, I'm sure you'll find out in no time at all."

"I hope so." Twilight chuckled.

The light shining through the window began to fade, darkening the room. Rarity used her magic to rattle the wall lanterns, awakening the fireflies inside them, so they began to glow.

Twilight bit her lip as she glanced out the window, where the sun was setting on the horizon. "Man, time likes to fly fast."

"It would seem so." Rarity shrugged. "But, if I had to guess, you were reading and did not notice how much time had passed?"

Twilight turned to look at her with a slightly stunned expression. "Your guess is as good as mine..?" Twilight chuckled quietly.

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Ah, don't worry. I do the same thing quite often. I love being a fashion designer, after all, so I focus on my work a great deal of the time."

Twilight smiled meekly. "I honestly don't know how long I was reading. But I could probably ask Spike if I needed to." Sighing heavily, she rose to her hooves and stepped away from the table. "I should probably get going."

Rarity acknowledged this with a small nod. "Thank you for coming to talk with me about this. I can keep it between us if you want."

"Preferably... yes." Twilight waved goodbye before walking towards the door.

"Stay safe." Rarity smiled.

"Hopefully so."

•••

Twilight peered into Spike's room and saw that he was already fast asleep in his bed. /Well, he is a baby dragon./ Twilight told herself while smiling slightly. She blinked and bit her lip in thought. /And I don't really want to think of how big he's going to end up being. That's a bit of a scary thought./

She made her way down the large hallways to her own bedroom. Her blue canopy bed was in the center of the room and against the wall, with a small crystal bedside table next to it. There was a tall bookshelf that housed many of Twilight's favorite stories, and as well as an armoire made of crystal. Even more so, a large table sat in the corner of the room with a chair, both carved from crystal to match the room. Twilight honestly never used it, but it had been there since the castle formed, so she just left it sitting there. A glass chandelier hung from the ceiling with many candles adorning it.

Twilight yawned quietly. Normally, she would want to stay up all night and read books, but after everything that had happened that day, she decided she'd rather hop into bed and get some sleep.

And that's what she did. She pulled the purple covers over her and closed her eyes.

But something felt unsettling to her.

She lay there for a while with her eyes shut, trying to ignore the pang of doubt she was feeling. When this proved unsuccessful, she partially opened one eye.

And she felt her blood turn to ice as she saw a shadowy figure looming over her and staring into her eyes.

"Hello, princess." It rasped in a hollow voice. "Don't you remember me?"