//------------------------------// // Obsessed // Story: Little Glimpses // by Skijarama //------------------------------//     Spike watched Twilight anxiously, the spines on the sides of his head having dropped to hanging positions, reflecting his uneasy, uncomfortable and deeply worried feelings. Another rolled up piece of parchment bounced off of the already enormous stack that had taken up ALL of Twilight’s personal trash bin. Agitated grunts, frustrated groans and restless snores had made up the majority of the sounds Spike heard coming from her.     He sat there, watching her pore over her notes, bury her nose in a book and scribble furiously on a new sheet of parchment for what felt like the trillionth time. She had been at this for four days, ever since she had been told by Princess Celestia that nothing was wrong with her. She had decided, as Spike remembered, to ‘do some light reading in the hopes of finding some clues about that weird vision she had had.’     The problem was that after she got back from the castle archives with a mountain of books in tow, she practically hadn’t stopped looking into any of this for even a minute. The only times Spike had seen her leave the books was when she was forced to leave for class and her private lessons with the Princess. Apparently, nopony else had noticed yet. Spike, for his part, had mostly remained in her room, helped her when asked and otherwise watched her anxiously. He could see that Twilight’s eyes were going bloodshot and had large dark rings under them. She was exhausting herself trying to figure this out and showed no signs of stopping. ‘Um… Twilight?” Spike timidly ventured, wilting even further when the filly barely acknowledged him outside of a small grunt. “You, uh… can you take a break? I’d like to play a board game or something...” “Not right now, Spike.” was Twilight’s short response. Spike’s claws tapped nervously against each other. “You sure?” “Yes.” Spike lifted a claw, then lowered it when he couldn’t think of anything to say. Silence fell over the room again, save for the sound of a quill tip scratching on paper. Then came a disruption to the monotony of the pattern. “Ack, shoot!” Twilight growled when the inkwell she had been using tipped over on her next dip. The black substance splattered across her notes, thoroughly ruining them. Thankfully she was able to save the book by levitating it away. One of her eyes began twitching, her face heating up. “Twilight… are you okay?” Spike asked carefully, immediately flinching back from the glare she suddenly shot his way. “Don’t just stand there! Get me some wash cloths or something!” she barked, her horn lighting up even more in an effort to keep the spilled ink contained to one part of the desk. More leaked past her efforts and even dripped onto the floor. “NOW!” “Uh, right!” Spike shot up and sprinted for the closet, in which some cleaning supplies, including absorbent wipes, were stored. He retrieved the wipes and returned to Twilight, who thanklessly took them and began cleaning up the mess of ink, grumbling all the while. “Grrr… four days of notes, gone! Just like that…” she growled to herself. Spike shrunk away, before softly clearing his throat and reaching out. “Twilight, you’re scaring me… I really think you should take a break-” Twilight turned her glare to Spike once more. For a moment, she trembled before opening her mouth. “Take a break? Spike, did you hear me the last time? Or the time before that?!” her voice rose from a cold growl to a harsh yell. “I don’t need to take a break! I’m fine and I just wish you’d stop bugging me so I can concentrate!” “But -” “BUT NOTHING!” Twilight all but screamed before turning her eyes back to her desk. “Just leave me alone!” Spike backed away fearfully, tears coming to his eyes before, without another word, he turned and fled from the room, leaving the door open behind him. Normally he wasn’t allowed to leave without Twilight, but right now she found herself to angry and frustrated to rightly care. With another frustrated groan, she grabbed the door in her magic and slammed it shut. It then locked with a soft click.     “Man, I can’t believe your extension is already almost over…” Rainbow grumbled in disappointment as she trotted down one of the public halls of Canterlot Castle with Fluttershy at her side. “We haven’t spent nearly enough time catching up.”     “Well, we can always visit again sometime,” she offered with a small smile. “Though, uh, I wouldn’t ask you to pay for it… we’ve already taken enough from you.”     “Nuh-uh. You want to visit again, just send the word. I’ll ask Celestia and hopefully we’ll get something sorted out.” Rainbow replied with a smirk and a shake of her head.     “But….”     “No buts, Flutters,” Rainbow shushed her with a wave of her wave. “But speaking of Canterlot, I’ve been meaning to ask what you think of it?”     Fluttershy thought for a moment while looking around. “It’s very… lovely. Everything is so pretty and bright, and, uh… what’s the word?”     “Artistic? Fancy?” Rainbow tried, to which Fluttershy nodded.     “Yes, artistic. This city is just beautiful to look at… and the ponies are, um, nice.”     “Well, most of them are, yeah. Some of the higher noble families are full of jerks and there are some pretty stuck up ponies in the city proper. It’s a city with high social standards. I don’t care much for that part,” Rainbow said with a shrug before glancing out a nearby window. “And… it’s still not Cloudsdale.”     “You miss home that much?” Fluttershy asked softly, resting a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder comfortingly.     “Yeah… I might pop in to visit you next, actually.” Rainbow suggested before smiling over at Fluttershy.     “Really?”     “Sure. As long as I have a trusted pony go with me, like Cadance or Celestia, and there’s a suitable opportunity to make a trip without compromising any of our ‘royal duties’, I could totally take a chariot over and spend some time with you.”     Fluttershy smiled and nodded timidly. “I’d like that a lot…”     It was at this point that the sounds of clawed feet clicking against the castle floor reached their ears. Rainbow and Fluttershy turned to face the noise and found Spike, head low and shoulders slumped, waddling through the hallway. Rainbow frowned and approached the little guy. “Uh, Spike? Where’s Twilight? Or an adult? You’re not supposed to move around unsupervised, you know.”     Spike looked up upon hearing her voice and then dove for her. Rainbow yelped in alarm when he pleadingly wrapped his claws around her foreleg. He looked up at her pleadingly. “R-rainbow… help.”     Before Rainbow could muster a response to the baby dragon’s distraught appearance, Fluttershy swooped over and gently pried him off of her while making soothing sounds. “It’s okay, Spike. Shh, shh, it’s okay. What’s wrong?”     Spike sniffled but gradually relaxed in Fluttershy’s hooves. After a few moments, he managed to collect himself enough to stutter out a response. “T-T-Twilight… She’s angry and won’t stop looking at her books. She… she yelled at me.”     “What?” Rainbow asked with her frown deepening. Fluttershy gently ran a hoof over Spike’s head to help him calm down more.     “What did she yell at you about?”     “She… she wanted me to leave her alone. She said she needed to concentrate. She really got upset when her ink spilled…” Spike explained sadly, snuggling into Fluttershy’s embrace. He gradually went into detail about how she had become completely focused on this one research project, to the point of ignoring him a lot of the time.     Rainbow tensed up. “I was wondering where she’s been… Fluttershy, mind looking after Spike while I take care of this?” she asked, anger flickering behind her eyes.     “Um… okay.” Fluttershy whispered softly before Rainbow shot off down the hall. She looked down to Spike, who was clinging to her tightly and then gave him a gentle squeeze in return.     “No, no, no!” Twilight fumed, slamming the last of the books shut loudly and then hurling it onto her bed. “None of these are related! How am I supposed to figure this out now?!” she let herself slump in her chair and gave a long sigh. For almost a minute she sat there, just thinking. Eventually, her mind shifted to Spike. A small shot of regret ran through her. I could have been a bit nicer with how I asked…     A harsh knock came to her door before it flew open. Rainbow stood on the other side, her eyes narrowed in a very displeased sneer. Twilight flailed back from the unannounced intrusion, scrambling from her seat and glaring at Rainbow. “Woah! Didn’t you ever hear about waiting for an answer?”     Rainbow snorted before trotting into the room straight at Twilight. “I have. Did you ever hear about being nice?”     Twilight flinched. “Hey, I’m under a lot of stress right now. I’ll apologize later.”     “Yeah, you will,” Rainbow said firmly, stopping right in front of Twilight. “What I want to know is why you screamed at Spike? The little guy’s rattled!”     “I’m doing some intense research and I needed to focus. Having a baby dragon pining for you to do things isn’t exactly good for focusing on your work.” Twilight shot back, the fur on her neck standing on end.     “How long have you been at this?” Rainbow asked, glancing to the heap of discarded notes and sheets of parchment, as well as the mound of read books on Twilight’s bed.     “Four days. What’s your point?”     Rainbow growled and turned back to Twilight angrily. “Spike’s been with you since he was born, right?”     “Yeah… why?” Twilight took a step back.     “You’re raising him, right?” Rainbow took a step forward, never breaking eye contact with the other filly.     “Uh… sort of. I get a lot of help from mom, dad, Cadance and Celestia but… yeah, I guess.” Twilight tried to look away but Rainbow shifted herself to keep a lock on her eyes.     “Okay, now tell me. How would you feel if suddenly Celestia stopped paying you any attention? If suddenly she were too wrapped up in some little thing on the side and, when you try to get her to stop, she lost her temper and shouted at you? Demanded you leave her alone?”     Twilight frowned and scrunched up her face. “The Princess would never do that!” she defended.     “Not the point, Twilight!” Rainbow shot back, flaring out her wings. “Answer the question!”     “I… I wouldn’t like it…” Twilight finally said, wilting under Rainbow’s harsh glare and the implications setting into her mind.     “And he’s just a baby,” a new voice added from the doorway. Twilight and Rainbow looked to see Fluttershy trotting in with a stern look on her face. She marched right up to Twilight and jabbed her in the chest with her hoof. “He’s so much more sensitive and vulnerable now then he will be at any other point in his life.”     “I… I didn’t…” Twilight looked between the two, stunned before falling to her haunches in defeat. “Where is he…?”     “Just outside,” Fluttershy said more softly. “I think you should go apologize to him.”     “Right now.” Rainbow added with a nod.     Twilight sighed and slowly stood up before shuffling out of the room. Rainbow and Fluttershy followed after her, falling silent to let her think.     Spike was indeed right outside the room, sitting with his back to the wall just a few paces to the left of the door. He glanced up and instantly shied away from Twilight when he saw her. The filly bit her lip before setting herself down before Spike. “Um… Spike?”     Spike didn’t answer beyond looking at her and listening.     “I…” Twilight reached a foreleg up to her eyes and wiped away some freshly formed tears. ‘I, um… I didn’t mean… I sh-shouldn’t h-have…” suddenly, the dam broke and she launched herself at Spike. She pulled him tightly against her in a bone-crushing hug. “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry, Spike! I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that and… I’m just so sorry! Can you please forgive me?”     Spike squirmed slightly under the force of her hug before returning it and nodded into her coat. Twilight held him tighter and slowly began to rock back and forth in an effort to calm both of them down.     Rainbow smiled slightly before glancing into Twilight’s room. “What were you studying, anyway? Y’know, while we’re here?”     Twilight slowly let Spike go, setting him down and then glancing at Rainbow. “Uh… I was trying to figure out what caused my hallucination a few days ago.”     Rainbow looked back at her with a worried frown. “Anything?”     “...No.”     “Then stop,” Rainbow said before reaching over and patting Twilight on the back. “Take it easy, give it a rest and…” she looked to Spike. “Make up some lost time, alright?”     “But… it might be important!” Twilight protested before Rainbow grabbed her by the shoulders and looked deeply into her eyes.     “Not nearly as important as my friend! You’re worrying Spike. You’re worrying me. Let it go, Twilight.” she said firmly. Twilight shrunk back from the intensity of Rainbow’s gaze before nodding slowly.     “I… alright… okay.” Twilight said solemnly before Rainbow let her go. Fluttershy smiled from where she had been watching and sat herself behind Spike while looking at Twilight.     “Um… Rainbow said she might be visiting me and my family in Cloudsdale at some point. Uh… I was wondering…” Fluttershy hesitated, hiding behind her mane a bit. “What I mean is, you and Rainbow seem to be good friends and, uh, any friend of Rainbow is a friend of mine, I guess. So… maybe you could come with her when she visits?”     “In the clouds, Fluttershy. She wouldn’t be able to do it, remember?” Rainbow reminded with a disappointed frown. “Though I’d like it if she could…”     “Well… maybe there is a way,” Twilight ventured with a thoughtful look on her face. “I could ask the Princess when I get the chance.”     “Sounds like a plan. Keep me posted,” Rainbow said with a grin before looking to Fluttershy. "That goes for you, too. You make sure you write me, okay?”     Fluttershy nodded. “Okay.”     All that said, Rainbow turned to take her leave with Fluttershy. “Well, I think we’ll leave you two to make up. Let me know if you need anything, ‘kay?” Rainbow called over her shoulder.     “Sure thing.” Twilight called after them with a wave. She then looked back to Spike, who was looking at her unsurely. Twilight’s smile faded a bit for several moments. Than an idea struck her. “Hey, uh, didn’t you mention wanting to play a board game or something while I was studying?”     Spike looked at her for several moments before smiling.