The bell above Rarity's door jingled the instant that Twilight entered the boutique.  The unicorn looked around for her friend, unable to spot her in the immediate area.  

"Rarity!  You there?"  Twilight called out into the store.  "I'm here to give you back that thread!  The candles worked wonders."

"Is that you, Twilight?"  The white unicorn's gentle voice came down her stairs and into the bottom floor of the boutique.  "I'll be right down, dear!"  After a very short delay, Rarity trotted down the stairs with her trademark red glasses on and a strip of measuring tape draped around her withers.  Clearly he was distracted by her business; just enough to not keep her mane from covering her eyes.  "I do hope you're feeling better, I'd hate for you to be sick for too long."

"Oh, you could say I'm starting to come around."  Twilight let a sarcastic tinge linger in her voice as she spoke, tracking the white unicorn as she trotted downstairs.

"Well that's wonderful Twili--"  The unicorn caught glimpse of her friend and stood awestruck at her appearance. "H... Bu-... H-ho... Ha-wha?"  Only gibberish escaped her mouth as her attention divided between trying to find the right thing to say and take in all that she could see at once.

Twilight could only giggle in self-satisfaction.  "What's the matter, Rarity?  You feeling okay?"

"I've got to get the name of those candles!"

"It's nice to see you too."  Twilight set the thread down on a nearby box and couldn't get the grin off of her face.  Rarity's expression was priceless.  

"Oh don't get me wrong, dear, it's lovely to see that you're feeling better.  It's just that...  Well, you looked like death just yesterday!  How in Equestria could you pull off a look like that overnight?"

"Just some really good tea, a little 'R&R' and some aromatherapy.  Also a nice mud mask...  You know, the usual homeopathic remedies."

"Well whatever it is you've done has certainly worked for you.  Goodness, you really do look... spectacular."

"Thank you, thank you.  I feel great.  Listen, I need to go see Applejack real quick and thank her for letting me rummage around in her farm for a little while, but if you aren't busy tonight d'ya think that you might wanna go out?"

"Where did you have in mind?"  Rarity asked nervously with an obvious shift in her body language, expecting some kind of museum or archeological dig site to be Twilight's area of interest when she brought this up.

"Oh I dunno, wherever you go to meet colts, I know you go out on the town from time to time."

"Are you... being serious, Twilight?  You've never been interested in 'going out' like that before."

"Exactly.  While I was sick I uh, I got to thinking.  Maybe I should try and get out more, maybe meet a nice guy...  Try something new."

"Well then!  I guess I could find some time later tonight.  Any what you're looking for in a stallion?"

"Patient, calm, nice, and intelligent...  I guess that's it really."

"Hmm...  You've never considered Big Macintosh, have you?"  Rarity didn't really have to think about that one too long before throwing her suggestion out there.

"Not that I could ever say...  He doesn't exactly strike me as the sharpest knife in the drawer."

"Now now, Twilight.  He may just be a country boy but he's not dumb.  From what little he's said to me I'd be inclined to think that he's actually a quick learner.  You ought to talk to him while you're out at Sweet Apple Acres."

"I'll think about it, but I'm not sure how Applejack would feel about that."

"He's a big colt, older than Applejack anyhow, I'm sure she'll respect whatever he wants."

She's hiding something from you, Twilight.  That familiar, raspy voice snuck its way back into Twilight's mind as she chatted with her friend.

Oh?  What's she hiding?  Twilight responded in thought.

Well I couldn't tell you exactly, but she certainly can.  You mentioned you wanted to read thoughts earlier, right?  Why not give it a try?

How do I even start?

Every thought has a voice, Twilight, you just have to listen for it.  Wait until she speaks again on the subject, and take in everything she says.  The important thing for you to do, though, is to listen to what's behind the voice.  What gives her words substance?  What are her thoughts?  Once you hear them, it'll get easier and easier to drown out what's said, and to pluck the source of each statement directly from her mind.

"Twilight?  Are you sure you're feeling better?"  Rarity chimed in with a cock of the head and a few concerned blinks.

"Huh?  Oh!  Sorry, just... lost in thought, that's all."

"Just that you trailed off there for a moment..."

"Yeah, I'm fine.  As I said, I was just thinking.  I've been doing an awful lot of that lately."

It's not working, Iago.

She has yet to say anything with a distorted meaning.  She's honestly concerned for you.  Just take that for what it is, but try to get her to lie to you.  Blatant lies are the easiest to hear.

"You've certainly got a high opinion of Big Mac."  Without too much transition or hesitation, Twilight went right for the throat.

"Well it's just a little... girlish interest, what can I say?"

"You're certain that's it?"  Twilight eyed Rarity for the usual body language, picking up a tell that she was lying from a little twitch in her ear.  From here, she listened in, and did exactly as Iago said.

"Well he's no Prince Blueblood..."

"I thought you hated him for how he acted at the gala?"

"Well... that was a bit rude but I'm sure he was just on an off day..."  Rarity's tell returned, betraying to the unicorn that she was certainly altering the truth.  Twilight focused on every single word that escaped Rarity's lips, trying to pick them apart.  Her heightened senses allowed her to actually analyze everything in extraordinary detail, even locating the forced Canterlot dialect that she had been putting forward for years.  Just toward the end she thought that she could hear something like an echo behind her voice.  It was faint, but it was certainly there.

"Oh c'mon.  He treated you like a servant!"

"I'm sure he just wasn't used to the company.  Or he mistook me for somepony else...  There's no way he could treat everyone like that!"  Again, at the end of Rarity's statement Twilight heard an echo.  This time she could actually make out what it was, though: He was such a jackass!

There, you heard it, didn't you?  Iago seemed to be enjoying himself a little too much as he spoke, and Twilight couldn't help herself but share in the feeling.

Yes I did.  I wonder why she would lie about that though?  She yelled at him in front of Princess Celestia and everypony else.

"Oh c'mon Rarity...  He was acting like a complete jackass don't you think?"  Twilight decided to use Rarity's own description just to see if it could incite any other reactions.

"I dunno if I'd go so far as to say that.  He definitely wasn't very polite, though."  Rarity's responses were getting a little more shaky during this interrogation.  She didn't like lying to Twilight, but she couldn't admit the obvious crush she had on the big red Stallion.  There was one more echo behind her statement: Not like Macintosh...

"Oh Rarity, you don't have to hide anything from me.  I'm your friend aren't I?"  

"Well, yes.  Yes you are, Twilight.  B-but I'm not hiding anything.  Honestly, Big Macintosh just isn't my type."

"I didn't mention Big Macintosh being your type..."

"Oh... right, you didn't...  Uhm... I just..."

"You've got a crush on him don't you?"

"Okay fine!  Maybe I do.  Why is it so important to you, hmm?"  Rarity finally exploded and took a very defensive posture.  Her body could tell Twilight almost as much about her current state of mind than the echoes could.

"Woah, calm down, Rarity.  I didn't mean anything by it.  Why is it such a sensitive topic?"

"It's not...  Who said it was?"

Listen for the reason, Twilight, it's got to be fresh in her mind.

Twilight was getting better at listening to the echos and pulled the meaning away while almost drowning out her voice.  Rarity's question: "Who said it was?"  was just a vessel to carry along the real message.  I can't be seen with him...  I'd have no future.

The lavender unicorn gave a little smirk and looked into Rarity's worried eyes with a gaze of understanding.  Twilight slowly walked over to Rarity, brushing her nose against her friend's neck right behind her ear and whispering, "Don't be so shallow."  With that, she turned to leave.  Rarity stood absolutely speechless, not understanding exactly how Twilight had done that; moreover worrying about whether or not Twilight could actually read her thoughts.  The idea was implanted in her mind, however, and Rarity mentally went over the way she might consider talking to Big Macintosh the next time she saw him.

Twilight left the boutique in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, figuring that Rarity would get back to her on going out for a little fun after a little recovery time.  She trotted along with an obvious sense of satisfaction after her tiny victory with Rarity.  She was definitely being liberal with her new skill, trying to improve on it a little more each time she was presented with the opportunity.  Every single conversation she passed by was ripe with distortions of the truth, leaving every one of the individual ponies' reputations stained in Twilight's mind.  She didn't quite see the transformation, but she was slowly learning not to trust anything that was ever said.  

You know, Twilight.  Your friend Applejack would be an interesting test subject for this skill.  Iago kept chiming in from time to time to express his own interest in something.  She certainly wouldn't be an easy 'read', but claiming to be one of the most honest ponies in town certainly is a large order to fill.  It would be fun to see what she lies about.

I've never known Applejack to lie...  Well, except for that time when Discord got hold of her, but that was a completely outside force.  Twilight happily responded any time she was spoken to, but kept walking in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, taking a shortcut through the park in the center of town.

Ahh, Discord, he's quite the fellow isn't he?

You know him?  Don't tell me you taught him too.

No, not quite.  Though I have to admit that he did teach me, although unwittingly.  He loved to torment Celestia, so naturally I idolized him.  I documented all of the things he did to her and the reactions that they brought out, trying to get a little dirt on the old hag should I ever decide to get back at her for anything.  Back then she had a simple pink mane; now she wears it as a badge of her power and has changed it to the flowing celestial texture that it currently presents.  Celestia very much dislikes the color pink, Twilight, so she even used to go so far as to dye it once or twice; she would use fresh blueberries to turn it a dark purple.  Discord, knowing this, turned her hair into cotton candy one day and I swear I thought she was going to burst into flame with how angry she was.

Yeah, that sounds like Discord.

Once she defeated him and turned him to stone, cruelly using him to decorate the back yard, I determined him to be weak and chose to ignore him from then on.  No offense to you, but if you and your neurotic friends could defeat him even after he had taken away the very essence of what made you friends, I don't see how he could command the respect of someone that could turn the very air around him into a sword to rip his enemies to pieces with.

That sounds like a nifty trick...  I'll have to try it.

Well you continue to astound me, Twilight.  The way you use telekinesis to create small blades and textures is very interesting.  To manipulate spacial inertia in such a way definitely shows me that you're more than promising.  I dare say you could be the one.

What do you mean by 'the one'?  Twilight found herself wandering a little too close to the curb and had to stop herself from stepping off in a puddle.  Her attention was unduly divided, since she could focus on several things at once now but she wasn't quite accustomed to multitasking yet.  She tried to get used to that ability, but still needed a little practice before it became second-nature.

Why, the one to help me finish my research, Twilight.  The very secrets to immortality itself.  I've explored many venues, from the manipulation of time to the manipulation of the earth, as well as a rather scarring attempt at travel through the Aether, but I'm afraid the frailty of my body caused my eventual demise, however long I put it off.  Undeath wasn't my idea of continued life either, because to my knowledge you can't come back from that, so I decided to avoid it.

Undeath?  Like a zombie or a vampire?

Almost, Twilight.  Zombies are mindless, however, and vampires are as frail as their curse wills them to be, so that's just a different set of weaknesses beyond mortality.  What I want is the strength of the stars themselves, to hold the universe in my claws and shape it how I please.  Becoming a Lich is very close, but I'd still be dead, only bound to a body that would continue to rot away until the bones became dust.

I'm sure I've heard of Liches before...

Yes, you read about them in the third volume of "Tales from the Occult" which imparted to you, and I quote: "A Lich is a very powerful sorcerer who has given his body to death so that his spirit may remain bound to the earth, unhindered by the ravages of age and time, and free to learn as much about magic as they wish to pursue."  Not a bad definition, but they're still dead, and they're still rotting.  Not what I'd like to have for myself.

Well you can maintain a body with energy from the Aether, I'm living proof of that, so why don't you just do something like that for yourself?

A very good question, Twilight.  For which I have two answers:  One: I learned about maintaining bodies through the help of a rather talented mule named Edwin several centuries ago, long after my body's death and my imprisonment within the book, so I never had the chance to maintain my own body in such a way.  Two: doing this is a full-time job, Twilight.  I'm able to analyze your memories and learn a little about you constantly, as well as communicate, because I'm very practiced and very well versed in this kind of maintenance, but I'm not alive.  My brain is free from the limits of structure, and my body is free from the limits of time.  My consciousness, most of all, is free from the limits of having to divide itself into the various processes of keeping a body alive, much less between doing that while also manipulating energies into every single atom within said body.  I simply can't be alive and do all of that kind of micromanaging at the same time, at least I haven't found a way to efficiently do so quite yet.  Even if I could do that and survive, I wouldn't be able to do much else.  You can see the conundrum.

Yeah, I guess that would be a problem.  Twilight stopped as a carriage crossed in front of her.  She looked into it and, as usual, picked out the position of every single nail on the thing.  She was trying to train herself to focus on several things at once, and so gave herself a goal to shoot for.  The portions of the wagon that she couldn't see gave way to estimations based on the side that she could, and she even went so far as to spot loose or missing nails based on how the wagon swayed and rolled along on the wheels.  She was definitely getting better at everything she put her mind to, and at an incredible speed.  Not sure how to fix that.  Is there any way to have something mediate the energy that goes through the Aether and into your body?  Some kind of...  ethereal capacitor or something?

Not at the moment, but I'll look into it.  Perhaps there's a way we could develop such a thing.  But I've taken up enough of your time, this is your day, Twilight.

Never a bother to hear from you, Iago.  I hope it's not too cluttered in there.  With that, the voice in Twilight's mind quieted down, leaving her behind to her own devices just in time.  She could see the peak of the Apple family farmhouse off in the distance, so she simply brought up the clip and crossed the street in front of her quickly.

  Twilight crossed the street carelessly, not paying attention to the quickly moving cart that had just rounded the corner.  The unicorn realized that she was on a collision path with it just a moment too late and, while the driver of the cart yanked the reins and tried to stop, she was hit.  Twilight was immediately thrown to the ground with the impact and pulled under the cart.  Time slowed down for her, and every little creek of the wood rolling over her body seemed almost musical to her.  She heard her leg snap and felt a small change in pressure, but she didn't feel any pain to go along with it.  She looked down to see the wound, almost completely ignoring the rest of the cart as it skidded over her and rolled over her legs again.  From the twisted shape of her right leg, she could tell it was broken very badly, but a cursory glance at her other leg didn't reveal any injury (further clouded by the fact that she couldn't feel any pain, she had no idea of the nature of the problems).

After what felt like ages, the cart rolled all the way over Twilight (physically spinning and rolling her broken and battered body in the process) and came to a prompt halt.  The cart driver and the panicked stallions pulling it immediately began the process of detaching themselves from the cart and hurrying toward the unicorn.  Once she could see the sky, however, Twilight simply laid on her back and looked up into the air, relaxing in the middle of the street and even giving a little chuckle.  She sat up and examined her leg, running her front hooves down it as the three stallions ran over to her side.  Twilight watched her leg morph back into its usual shape, listening to the organic and muffled crunching of bone setting itself within the confines of a toned muscular structure.

"Sweet Princess!  Are you okay, ma'am?"  The cart driver kneeled down next to her and looked her over to try and determine her injuries.

"Yes,  I'm fine, actually.  Just knocked the wind out of me is all."  Twilight rotated her shoulders and stood up, easily placing her normal weight on the appendage and not feeling out of touch at all.

"Are you sure?  It felt like we..."

"Relax, bud.  I'm fine.  Twilight walked around him without a limp or any other kind of obvious injury as she spoke, trying to put his very obvious worries at rest.  "See?  Everything's alright.  It was my fault for not looking before I crossed.  Why don't you and your friends there just take it easy and get where you need to be, I won't keep you any longer and we won't have to deal with any more problems, hm?"  

"U-uhm...  Are you sure you don't want to go see a doctor or something?  I mean, just to make sure."  One of the stallions from the front of the cart spoke up in concern.  Little did Twilight know, he had actually heard her leg snap.  

"Nah, I think I know my own body.  I'm feeling just fine, if not a little dusty."

"Well either way, please accept my sincerest apologies, and that of my comrades, we honestly just didn't see you and we're very late."

"Nonsense, sir.  Go on and try to make your appointment, and I'll make it to mine, deal?"  Twilight looked the grey-maned cart driver in the eyes and tried her best to beckon him to leave.  A crowd had started to gather around the accident site and Twilight didn't want too much attention to her almost miraculous healing ability.  Somepony was bound to have seen what happened to her, and she simply wanted everything to blow over quietly.

The lavender pony crossed the street again, this time avoiding any unnecessary attention, and trotted up to Applejack's humble farm home.  Applejack had set herself up in the rocking chair on their porch with her hat covering her eyes, and so didn't see Twilight's approach (or, hopefully, the grisly accident earlier).  

"Hey, AJ.  What's goin' on?"  Twilight asked cheerfully as she stepped up onto the porch.

"Hm?  Oh, Twilight!"  Applejack was brought out of her light nap and immediately recognized Twilight's voice.  The earth pony moved the hat away from her eyes and sat up a little to seem more polite, but wasn't quite prepared for what she saw.  "W-woah...  I take it you're feeling better."

"I've been getting that a lot today.  But yes, yes I am.  As a matter of fact I've never felt better!  Everything I did worked out better than I expected."

"Wull I'm just glad you're doin' alright there, Twi.  From the way you looked I figured y'had one hoof in the grave."

"Oh I don't think I could have looked that bad...  I appreciate the concern though, and I just stopped by to let you know everything was alright and to apologize for acting kinda weird yesterday."  Twilight shifted around on her hooves, waiting for a response.  Although she tried to, she couldn't zero in on an echo behind Applejack's voice, and so figured that everything she was saying was truth.

"Wull that's mighty nice of you Twilight.  But you don't need to apologize, I know that bein' sick doesn't always leave you in the right state o' mind, so don't you go a-stressin' about it too much.  Like I said, I'm just glad you're alright."

"I'll be just fine, Applejack.  Oh!  Do you know what Big Macintosh is up to?  I've got something I'd like to talk to him about."

"What's that you'd like to talk to him about?"

"Oh it's nothing, just needed to ask him something."

"C'mon, Twilight, I know you better than that.  It ain't nothin'."

"Okay fine, I just want to know if he's single or not."

"You ain't thinkin' of datin' my big brother are you?"

"No!  Not me, anyway.  I just have a friend who wants to know, that's all."

"What friend?"

"Oh c'mon, AJ.  Can't she have a little confidentiality?"

Applejack gave a sigh and rolled her eyes a little, looking back to Twilight and trying futilely to make a guess of whom Twilight was referring to.  "Fine.  You can talk to him if you want, but he's a little shy on the subject.  

"Oh don't you worry, Applejack, I won't push anything that's obviously not welcome."

"I trust you.  I reckon he'll be either in the house or out by the barn, depends on where he is with his work."  With this final statement, Applejack nodded quickly to bring her hat back down over her eyes and continue her nap.  Twilight walked away from the porch and glanced around the side of the humble farm home.  She spotted the barn and looked at the doorway, spying that it was slightly ajar and figuring that Big Macintosh must be still inside.  Twilight made a bee line for the barn in hopes of catching the stallion privately.

On reaching the structure, Twilight poked her head in the open door and scanned around the dimly lit barn.  Big Macintosh wasn't exactly being stealthy as he packed away dry food stories, but Twilight needed to make sure they were alone for embarrassment's sake.  

"Hey, Mac!"  Twilight hailed to the stallion, stepping inside and telekinetically nudging the door shut.

"Wull howdy there, Twilight.  You're lookin' lovely this evenin'."  Big Macintosh turned around and wiped his brow during his response.  He'd clearly had a long day and was just looking to go sit down for a while.

"Why thank you.  I do have a few questions for you, though.  If you've got the time.'

"I suppose I could spare a few minutes.  Just about finished up in here as a matter o' fact."

"Well then I'll just cut to the chase.  I don't imagine a big, strong, polite guy like yourself has any trouble with the ladies around town..."

"Just what're you gettin' at, Twilight?"  Macintosh eyed the unicorn curiously, retaining his calm demeanor and trying to figure out Twilight's motive.

"Two things.  One: are you single?"

"Yes, I ain't really got the time for datin'.  Nor the interest."  Twilight applied her ability to listen in but couldn't quite pick out any kind of change from Big Macintosh's response.  As a matter of fact, where anyone else's voices had an echo of some kind, Mac's was absolutely silent.  It was as if he was just speaking exactly what came to mind with no filter.

"Two: how is it you feel about Rarity?"

"About Rarity?  Twilight, of all the ponies in town you coulda' asked me about, you sure picked the strangest one."

"Oh c'mon, she's not that bad."

"Now now, I never said she was 'bad'.  Just an odd match for me.  She's so worried about the silliest things...  I'm frankly not even sure she's got her head on right half the time."

"Afraid you wouldn't get along?"

"Wull I dunno.  Do we even have anything in common?"

"You ever hear the phrase, 'opposites attract'?  Sometimes relationship chemistry doesn't have to come with shared interests.  You're quiet, a good listener, big and strong and very thoughtful.  Rarity can get into periods of time where she just won't shut the hay up."

"Is that right?"  The big red earth pony couldn't help but chuckle at the way Twilight put it.

"Yeah, and a little birdie tells me that she's got a thing for you anyhow."

"Oh?  So why hasn't she said anything?"

"No offense to you, but you're not exactly the easiest guy to get a hold of.  No offense to her, but she's a little old fashioned in the way of having a guy express interest in her first."

"Alright, bear with me for just a minute, Twilight.  I've got a few things t'ask you."

"Fair enough, fire away."

"Just how would you expect that kind of a relationship to work?  You came all this way out here to talk to me about it, I imagine you've got some kind of plan."

"Uhm...  I certainly wasn't expecting that.  I was honestly kinda hoping that old cliche about 'love blossoming out of the oddest places' would prove to be true."

"How's this: Rarity's obsessively clean and touchy about all of her things.  I'm content to work around in the dirt all day and then just drop down for a rest wherever I can.  I feel like that little detail would be a thorn in her side more than once in an odd occasion."

"Alright, but if you could look past that..."

"As you said, she's a little chatterbox and I'm a stallion of very few words."

"Well 'as I said', I don't think that little detail will be much of a problem.  You're a good listener and she needs a good listener."

"I also don't know a thing about what she'd be talkin' about."

Twilight started to read into his meaning, though she still couldn't pull an echo from his speech.  "You certainly seem to have thought this through."  

"Oh... well I'd be lyin' if I said I hadn't."  This did seem to make the stallion nervous, but his voice didn't change any.

"So she does interest you!  Why don't you just take the chance, huh?"

"I've got a lot of work to do every day, Twilight.  I ain't got the time for that sort of filly-chasin'.  Plus she's runnin' a business of her own and I don't imagine she's got much time, either."

"Trust me, Mac.  If you knew how much free time she had to spend thinking about the strangest and most useless junk, you'd be surprised."

"Listen, Twilight.  I appreciate what you're tryin' to do but I just don't see what the point is."

"Not everything's gotta have a point, big guy.  Every time I see you I feel like you're a little tiny bit more stressed out.  And every time I see Rarity I feel like her neurosis is slowly eating away at her facade until one day she's going to explode.  She's got a thing for you, you just kinda admitted to having a thing for her, and the both of you seem to need to blow off a little steam.  Seems like a match made in heaven from my point of view."

Big Macintosh shook his head and started on a slow trot toward the door.  "Tell ya what, Twilight.  The weekend's comin' up and I'm pretty sure I can come up with some reason to head into town.  If I have a talk with her will you drop the subject?"

"Sure thing, bud."  Twilight smirked and followed Big Macintosh toward the door, pulling it open absentmindedly for him with her new Telekinesis.  The stallion noticed that the usual aura didn't form around the door where it should have, but chose to keep his mouth shut.  

"Thank you.  If the ice breaks and we get together, then that's great.  If not, I'll at least be able to say I tried, ain't that right?"

"That's all I ask."

"Wull good, now if you don't mind I really need to sit down.  My back's killin' me."

"I'll leave you alone, then.  Nice talking with you!"  Twilight stepped out the door and closed it behind her, keeping a few paces behind the earth pony in front of her.

"It was nice talkin' with you too, Twilight.  Don't be such a stranger, though.  I know AJ'd love to have you over for dinner every so often, she's been hung up on the subject a lot lately."

"Oh?  Well I'm sure I can make it by sometime next week...  We'll keep in touch."

"Walk home safe, Twilight."

Twilight gave a little nod and split away from the stallion.  She didn't bother stopping by the house to say goodbye to Applejack; her mind was a little preoccupied.

That was quite the interesting piece of conversation, Twilight.  Iago's voice crawled out of her mind as the unicorn walked home.

I thought so too.  I'm coming to realize that I can't really 'read' the Apple family, though.  Know anything about that?

That's actually a pretty simple problem.  Obviously one of two things must be true: either they're telling the pure truth, or (and this is far more likely) they're able to block you out mentally.

How would they be able to do that?

It could be their down-to-earth, stoic nature presenting itself as a mental wall, or they could be secretly trained to hunt down psychics...  I'm guessing it's the former, but every possible scenario is worth consideration.

So they're unreadable?

No.  Anything that has thought can be read.  Actually, anything that's alive can be read.  If you wish to read the thoughts of a tree, you could.  With the right kind of training, of course.

Trees think?

They live, don't they?  Mind you, their thoughts are very basic and very simple.  Very suppressed even.  Often times just something along the lines of, "Need" or "Content" or "Sunlight".  They don't contemplate existence because they don't need to.  They simply exist.  Their lives are actually quite peaceful, and I've given many years to envy.

Alright, that notwithstanding, could you read them?

I admit I've been rather...  Disengaged with your thought processes these past few hours.  Speaking of which, why in the world did you just spend nearly an hour of your time trying to hook your friends up?  What's the point?

Macintosh is very big, very strong, and very strong-willed.  Rarity is very passionate, and a lot more intelligent than she lets on.  When emotions run high, wills start to degrade and manipulation starts to get a little easier, and I feel like the two of them could come in handy in the future should I ever need... test subjects.  It'd be nice to have them around and easily accessible.

Interesting proposition.  You're considering controlling them?

Possibly.  If progress warrants it, anyway.  As I said, Big Macintosh is very big, and Rarity is pretty and smart...  They could prove useful if we need them.

I'm proud, Twilight.  Great forethought, good choices...  Something I'd do.  You're learning quickly.

Thank you, Iago.  I thought you might appreciate them.  Twilight rounded the corner of a nameless little building in the center of town, turning onto the road that led to the library.  Hmm...  Still going through my mind?

Of course I am.  To me, it's like you going through and reading every single book in your library.

I only wish I could do that all in one day.

By now you probably could, but unlike myself digging through your mind I don't think your library could house any information that you'd find truly useful.  Either way, you've still got quite a bit of time left to kill, so finish your personal errands.

Twilight acknowledged her mentor and continued home.  The library had become a simple hub for her travels, as well as a storage space for her various collections of useful objects.  She had effectively begun to separate herself from the world, considering everything around her simply a "thing"; an ephemeral entity that would eventually fade, unlike her.  Her friends would die, her home would crumble, her town would expand and possibly even recede back into a tiny plot of worthless land.  She was the only thing in her life that would be guaranteed to stand the test of time.  Celestia slipped her mind, however, and Twilight refused to acknowledge her existence.  This wasn't out of spite, but out of defiance; Celestia wouldn't rule forever.  Twilight would make sure of that.