That evening, after the tour of the castle, you sit down on a couch in the castle’s library and wait for Twilight to finish prowling around the library’s labyrinth of bookshelves.

Several minutes pass. As Twilight makes her fifth pass through the central reading alcove, muttering incoherently to herself, you decide to clear your throat and speak up. “Excuse me, Twilight?

The Princess of Friendship halts in her tracks, her ears perking up. “Wuh...What?” she groans, turning to face you in confusion.

“Are you alright?”

Twilight exhales sharply, as if relieving some crushing internal pressure. “No, not really,” she sputters, lowering her head in defeat. “I’m just trying to find the book I had in mind. It’s not under the author’s name, I can’t find it in the relevant topical section...I even checked the returns basket!”

You glance over to the large, dull green tome lying on the end table next to you. It’s your choice for the first book to read, and you and Twilight planned to exchange your choices after you had both finished. “Well,” you say to her, letting out a quiet grunt as you rise to your hooves, “Let me help you look for it! What’s the name of the book?”

“It’s actually written as a play, but with all of the footnotes it really does feel like a substantial piece of literature!” she explains proudly, her previous exasperation forgotten while extolling the virtues of the work. “It’s called Three Sisters, and it’s written by Checkered Hoof.”

Rolling your eyes, you saunter back to the couch and sit down. “Found it.” You grin and tap your hoof lightly against the ‘missing’ book.

Twilight’s eyes grow as she approaches you. “You took it as your pick? No wonder I couldn’t find it! The library only has one copy indexed.” Biting her lip, Twilight looks at the ceiling of the library. “Great, now I have to think of another compelling piece to read for the project…”

You tilt your head curiously. “Why don’t we just read it together?”

Twilight blinks several times. “Are you sure? I don’t want us to interfere with each others’ progress!”

“Of course I’m sure,” you offer with a wide smile. “We shouldn’t have to take turns with the best example of modernist foreign romantic social commentary theater in existence!”

Twilight practically hops over to the couch and sits on the cushion immediately adjacent to you. With her magic, she pulls the book over to rest between her and you, and opens it to the first page. “I couldn’t agree more!”

You chuckle as your eyes begin to scan the first page. “Great minds think alike…”

Proceed to Chapter 12.

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