Twilight smiled as she opened the door to her castle. She still missed the coziness of the old tree some days, but she wouldn’t trade the castle to have it back. Trotting into the great room, she unloaded her saddlebags, and began unpacking. With both Luna and Celestia coming over tonight, for an officially unofficial visit, she wanted everything to be casually perfect. A few cheap bottles of wine and some fruit floated out of the bag, set aside to be made into sangria later. Snacks followed after that in a parade that ranged from common to exotic. Pausing a moment, Twilight looked around the room. Something was off.

It was just too quiet.

“Spike?” Twilight called out.

She had expected him to be home. When no answer came, she scratched at her chin. “Where is he...” Walking through the castle, a faint sound finally caught her ear as she neared the other end of the great room. It was an odd tune drifting up from the basement, something from the device Shane had given her.

Thanks to Vinyl’s expertise, they were going to have all the audio duplicated in a week or so. Twilight had left her and Spike down stairs this morning. Vinyl had left hours ago; she couldn’t imagine Spike was still working.

“Spike?” she called again over the haunting tune as she walked down the stairs.

“In here,” Spike answered.

Following the music, Twilight found Spike leaning over the phone hooked into Vinyl’s machine. A notebook beside him was filled with his writing, but at the moment he appeared to just be reading something from the device.

“Find something interesting?” she asked, picking up the neglected notebook and giving it a read. It was covered in in a mix of Equestrian and Shane’s native language.

“Yeah, actually.” Taking the note book from Twilight’s magic, he added to the illegible script. “I’m starting to be able to read his language without the omniglot spell, and this history book is really interesting.”

Casting the omniglot spell back on herself, Twilight saw Spike’s notes for what they were: a detailed lexicon of words and notes on grammar.

Spike stopped his writing. Twilight was giving him a smile, and looking at him like she expected to find something hidden on him. “What?” he asked, looking himself over. “Did I spill something on me?”

“No.” Twilight laughed, and gave him a light hug. “I was just half expecting to see a cutie mark on you.” Sitting close to Spike, Twilight looked over his shoulder at the fine text on the screen. “So what have you learned?”

“Well, I’m kinda guessing at the sounds for now. The audio we duplicated helped a bit, but it’s a pretty intricate language. Reminds me of Griffon. I’d really like to meet Shane, get him to teach me how to properly pronounce these characters.”

Twilight nodded. “He mentioned wanting to meet you. I’m sure we could arrange that in a couple weeks. You could deliver his music to him.” Scanning what Spike had been reading, Twilight tilted her head. “Is this a narrative history?”

Eagerly turning back to the phone, Spike nodded his head. “Yeah! It’s pretty dense though. It’s going to take a long time to copy all this.” Looking down at his hand, Spike flexed his fingers as if the mere thought of that much writing had induced a cramp.

Patting Spike on the back, Twilight gave him a reassuring smile. “I’m not going to ask you to write all that out. I’m hiring some ponies from the Canterlot Archives to handle that for us.”

“Oh good,” Spike said through a chuckle.

Turning to go back up stairs, Twilight looked back at Spike as he returned to his work. “When you get to the end of the page, unhook it from Vinyl's machine, and bring it up stairs. I’m going to show Celestia and Luna one of the movies on it. You’re more than welcome to watch it with us.”

“Sure thing, Twilight!”

Behind her, Twilight could hear Spike settling in with the bowl of popcorn. Luna said something about sharing, while Celestia grumbled as she broke off another chip off in the bean dip.

Taking another sip from her sangria, Twilight gave the magnification and sound boosting spells one last tweak. It had taken her a couple tries to get it set up right, but now they could all watch the little device.

Waving her hoof across the screen, she woke the machine up, and went to the icon leading to the movies it contained. “There’s four on here. Any of them look interesting?” Twilight asked, stepping back so the other’s could see the titles and art that represented the selections.

A flicker of magic from Luna granted both her and her sister the ability to understand the titles.

Celestia gave her own glass of fruity wine a sip as she studied the choices. “What could a movie about sand dunes be about? Sounds boring.”

“That looks interesting,” Luna said, pointing her hoof at the projection. “I vote for the frozen one.”

“That does stand out from the others,” Celestia agreed.

“It’s all the same to me,” Spike said before throwing a handful of popcorn in his mouth.

Tapping the icon to play, Twilight slowly backed away to make sure everything was working right.

“Is it a musical?” Luna asked as the human characters sang their jaunty tune.

“Oh look at the little caribou and human colt,” Celestia said with a wide grin. “They’re adorable”

Spike and Twilight sat in awkward silence, neither sure what they should do. They watched the movie playing out before them, if only to keep from staring at the pile of sobbing princesses on the other end of the sofa.

Luna stretched her neck to better see the blond-maned princess flee from the castle in a wake of ice. “You fool...” she said, maybe to the ice princess, maybe to herself.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to turn it off?” Twilight asked.

Luna sniffled as Celestia laid a wing over her. “This is beautiful, I need to see how it ends.”

Not taking her tear-stained eyes off the projection, Celestia nodded in agreement as she passed Luna some tissues from her box. She opened her mouth to speak several times, but only a harsh rasping sound came out.

Silence fell over them again as they watched the story unfold. The sister's tears thankfully faded to content smiles as the red-maned princess began her quest.

Celestia laughed at the human’s antics with the caribou. “He reminds me of Shane.”

A giggle escaped Luna. “If you mean they are both silly and easily flustered, I must agree.”

“Forget the human,” Twilight said, nursing her newest glass of wine. “I want to know if caribou are that hot in real life.”

It was only as the words left her mouth that Twilight realized she’d said them out loud. Slowly, Luna and Celestia turned their heads towards her, both with expressions of first disbelief, and then humor.

Even in the dim light, Spike could see the blush crawl across Twilight’s face.

“They’re not my cup of tea,” Celestia said with a forced seriousness.

Luna huffed, nudging her sister in jest. “That is because you like effeminate stallions with delicate bones.”

“I prefer good conversation over broad chests and muscled thighs,” Celestia corrected. “But I will let Cadance know she has a volunteer to be the new ambassador for the caribou.”

Looking over the top of her sister’s back, Luna met Twilight’s eyes with an expression that said she should accept the offer if given the chance.

As the movie came to a close, the two sisters pried themselves apart to stand.

Lighting her magic, Celestia began to collect the pile of used tissues on the floor. “That was wonderful; thank you very much, Twilight.”

“Indeed,” Luna agreed as she attempted to reattach the arm of the sofa, which had been an unfortunate victim of the prince’s betrayal. “Though it has left me rather drained.”

Celestia nodded. “Would it be too much trouble if we slept here tonight?” Tossing the tissues into the trash, she stepped next to her sister to lay a wing over her. “Wine and old heartaches have a way of making one tired and the trip home seem daunting.”

Grinning wide, Twilight nodded with excitement. “Of course you can!” Calming herself down a bit, Twilight thought over what would be needed. “I mean... If you’re okay with sleeping in a normal room. I haven’t had time to convert any to royal suits yet.”

“We have slept on grass under nothing but the sky,” Luna said with an assuring smile. “I’m sure your home will be a fair and warm place to sleep.”

“First room on the right,” Spike said, pointing up the stairs as he plodded off to his own room. “I’ll see you ponies in the morning.”

Scowling at Spike, Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but Celestia’s wingtip stilled her lips. “Goodnight, Twilight. We can see ourselves to bed. No need to fuss.”

“Okay,” Twilight said, as her look of disappointment faded to an easy smile. “See you in the morning?”

“In the morning,” Luna said, giving her a nod as she headed towards the stairs.