“So, how is it going?” I asked as I settled down by the table across from Twilight in her room/observatory/library.

Honestly, I was not surprised this was where she lived when in Canterlot. It just fit her so well it was ridiculous.

Twilight shrugged her wings and sighed, “She still refuses to talk to me,” she said, then frowned and speared a cherry tomato from her salad on her fork, “I have tried everything.”

“You’ll figure it out,” I said and poked at my salad, “I got through to Sunset, but Sunny was never… well, insane. But you are the Princess of Friendship and everything, I mean, if anypony can get her to talk it's you…”

Twilight sighed and nodded, “Not sure she is insane, but… I don’t know. To blatantly change the subject, any word on Discord?”

“No sign of him so far,” I answered and shook my head, “Seriously, not a single sighting, sign or anything like it. It’s like he just evaporated or something… which honestly isn’t out of the realm of possibility if he took that magic blast to the face when Tirek went supercritical. I didn’t see him there, but…”

Twilight eyed a piece of carrot, “Maybe he is hiding.”

I eyed her piece of carrot. Evil vegetable. Wonder if I can get Luna to ban them?

I then turned back to my evil free salad, “Discord doesn’t strike me as a being that can keep hidden. But… he is powerful enough that for all I know, he just Noped all the way over to the other side of the world. Or even to another world.”

“I really thought he had changed his ways,” Twilight sighed, “He was a friend… is a friend. Why did he do it?”

“His nature, I guess. Chaos…”

An open mind is a fortress with its gates open and unbarred… no wait, wrong universe. Like any of the actual chaos gods would allow something like Discord in their forces. Well, maybe the Changer of Ways.

Pushing that silly thought out of my head I smiled, “Forget that for now. If he shows up, we can handle it. If he doesn’t… well, he is somebody else’s problem.”

Twilight nodded, still looking a bit sad about the entire thing, “…Yeah.”

“Well, I know something that’ll cheer you up at least,” I then said, “How do you feel about things?”

“Things?” Twilight asked, “What things?”

“No idea,” I answered and shrugged, “We would need to see when we get there.”

Twilight just looked confused so I grinned,

“There is a charity auction next week. I’m wondering if you want to go with me. I honestly don’t know what they have up for auction other than some of my old drafts, but I do know it’s for the sake of the Canterlot Hospital and then there is a dinner after.”

Twilight smiled and raised her wings, “I would! I have never been to one of those! I heard there is a lot of old historical items sold!”

I blinked at her, “You haven’t? Twilight, you basically grew up in the castle. You are the personal student of Celestia. Don’t you get invitations to these kinds of things all the time?”

She nodded and sipped her water, “I do, I've just never seen the point to going earlier. I mean, I wouldn’t be able to buy anything. When it comes to balls, dinners and things like that… I never was the most social pony before I moved to Ponyville. I prefer a good book.”

“Me too,” I said with a grin, “Luna is the same.”

Twilight grinned, “I figured. So yes, I would love to go with you.”

“Thank you, I was worried I would need to show up alone, I didn’t think of bringing a date when I accepted,” I said before I shrugged, “Honestly, not that big of a deal… but it would leave me needing to talk to other ponies. I’d much rather have somepony to talk to that I actually like.”

“That does sound nicer,” Twilight agreed with a smile, stretching her wings.

Something she said earlier hit me though and I frowned, “Wait… how could you not have the bits for this kind of thing? Princess, student of the Princess, living in the castle.”

She shrugged, “You have more bits than I do.”

“…How?”

Twilight looked amused, “Page, you are a famous author. I’m still a student, I just get a stipend from the Crown and the paycheck I get for handling the Ponyville Library. My parents were never really rich. We did okay and they could afford to send me and Shiny to good schools and such, but....”

I nodded, “…Same here. But without the good schools, just the normal ones in the area. Not that they were bad, they were just not those extra fancy ones. We had everything we needed though and never lacked anything,” I said before I shrugged my wings, “Honestly, I find that as long as you have what you need and want, money doesn’t matter at all. It’s just a pointless number.”

“Exactly!” Twilight agreed with a smile before she picked up a piece of carrot in her magic, “That’s the way I see it too.”

“Mmm.”

We settled into silence for a moment, focused on our salads before Twilight spoke up again, “How is your book coming along?”

“Terminator?” I asked and then sighed, “Well enough, I have it written down. Now I just need to edit and then rewrite and then edit and possibly rewrite before getting it proof read… I’m letting it sit for a week before I start. It really help to look at it with new eyes.”

“I do the same thing with my essays if I can,” Twilight agreed “If you want, I can help with the proofreading.”

“You have the time? Because that would be great,” I with a smile, “I think the checks you did on my last book were really nice.”

She grinned at that, “Are you kidding? For the chance to read it before everypony else? Of course I do!”