Applejack walked through the foyer of the castle, looking around at the place. The atmosphere was gloomy, and the crystals looked faded. She sighed, increasing her pace to trot into the throne room, seeing the open book, and the letter still sitting on the edge. The farm pony turned around, making for the one room she knew her sulking friend might be.
“Twilight?” she called out, poking her head into the library. “How’re ya holdin’ up?”
The books in the room were all in the air, each flying in front of the Alicorn in question. With each book that she looked at, the shelves slowly filled. The Princess ears perked up, leaning her head past the wall of literature to see her friend.
“Me? I’m fine.” She replied, returning to her books. “It’s been a whole week since he left! I couldn’t be happier!” She picked up the pace of her sorting, a wide smile with dark circles under her eyes showing on her face as her image showed between the tomes. It was bigger than any Applejack had ever seen on the mare, reminding her of the smiles of the ponies from Starlight’s old village upon their first visit. Too wide to be genuine.
“You sure about that, hun?” she ducked under the torrent of books, standing next to Twilight. “‘Cause ya sure as hay ain’t actin’ like it.”
“What are you talking about? I’m sorting books!” The Princess declared, the books all taking their places on the shelves. “You know how much I like to sort books!” She laughed nervously, shrunken pupils darting between the spines of every book that crossed her vision, the library quickly filling back up.
“You do like organizin’ stuff.” Applejack admitted. “How long’ve y’all been at this, anyway?”
“A week, with small breaks for food!” Twilight informed her, her eyes unblinking.
Applejack blinked in amazement. “And ya haven’t slept that whole time?”
Twilight finished her sorting. “Nope! I’ve re-sorted this whole library from top to bottom twenty-seven times already!” She lit up her horn again, ready to begin again as Applejack put her hoof on the tip, snuffing out the spell.
“And I think the twenty-seventh time’s the charm.” She suggested, putting her foreleg around her. “Now, why don’t we go get some good food in ya, then getcha some rest?”
Twilight shook her head. “But I’m not tired! I can keep going for a lot lon--” the Alicorn stumbled, her eyes closing as she passed out. Applejack reached down and caught her falling friend, hoisting her up onto her back.
“How ‘bout we getcha in bed fer now and see where that goes?” she suggested, starting her walk to the master bedroom.
Twilight woke up with a massive headache, looking groggily into the mirror above her dresser. Her mane and tail were a disheveled mess, completely concealing her horn. She looked at the photos lining the mirror with a faint smile, putting on the pendant shaped like her Cutie Mark. Her smile widened more as her eyes fell upon each picture, finally coming upon a familiar pendant that hung from the corner, wiping the happy off of her face. She quickly brushed her hair, snorting and moving to leave.
Starlight waited outside the door, smiling warmly at her mentor. “Good morning!” She greeted. Closing the door behind Twilight. “How are you feeling?”
Twilight groaned in pain, rubbing her temples with her wingtips. “My head is killing me…”
“You were asleep for a pretty long time.” The Unicorn mentioned. “Everypony was starting to worry about you.”
“How long was I out?” Twilight wondered.
“Three days.” Starlight stated. “You passed out when Applejack came over. Bolt leaving seems to have really gotten to you, huh?”
Twilight’s head recoiled from the suggestion. “What?! No… He only just took off without telling me after Princess Luna and I risked everything to save him from some evil thing that a horrible witch put into his mind to torture him every time he even had an idea about being happy, all because he didn’t even try to talk to me about what bothered him about me disliking the pony who caused him no end of pain!” She stomped her right foreleg, flaring her wings angrily. “How could that have possibly gotten to me?”
Starlight winced, the words stinging her with every little emphasis. “Oooookay… How about we go get some breakfast and… not talk about this again?”
Twilight let out a deep breath, standing up straight again. “That sounds good.”
Starlight continued ahead. “Okay, I’m gonna go tell Spike you’re awake. He’s making breakfast right now.” She went into a canter, finding her way to the kitchen, where Spike was working over a hot stove. “Spike! Twilight’s awake!”
“Really? That’s great!” he shouted, throwing up his arms as hot oats flew everywhere. “How is she feeling?”
“I… may have mentioned Boltsinger, and she may have gone into an angry rant…” she explained with a sheepish expression.
Spike winced at the mere idea of Twilight’s response. “Ooh… You shouldn’t have done that…” He turned back to the oatmeal, resuming his work. “She’s been really out of it since he left. I dunno what he was thinking, leaving like that!”
Starlight raised her foreleg and puzzled for a moment. “If I know Bolt, he probably thought that he was a burden on everypony and dragged them down just to be on his level, then suffered a total mental relapse and flew away, convinced that it would go just like it did every other time he left somepony without saying it and not realizing that having been in our lives for such a long time and being so close to Twilight’s heart would make his sudden departure heartbreaking and do more harm than good.” Spike dropped his ladle into the oatmeal, turning back to look at Starlight in shock. “Well, I’m gonna go tell the girls that Twilight woke up. They’re wanting to talk to her soon.” She waved a hoof at the dragon, galloping out of the kitchen and into town.
That afternoon, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash accompanied Starlight into the castle, heading for the throne room. They had a lot to say, but weren’t entirely sure if the one they wanted to see would even listen. They swung open the doors, seeing the faded crystals lighting up at their presence. They each sat in their respective thrones, Starlight pulling up a seat between Applejack and Twilight’s empty one.
Spike came into the room, looking at everypony there. “You all ready?” he asked. They all nodded, looking determined. “Okay. But she’s been difficult today. She’s been distracting herself with research and all that. First she spent a week sorting the library, now she’s obsessed with messing it up. I’ll… I’ll go get her.” He turned back towards the hall. “Good luck, everypony.”
Moments later, Twilight came into the throne room. She looked grumpy, and was casting her gaze every which way. “What do you need?” she inquired, taking a seat in her throne.
“We need to talk, dear.” Rarity stated, looking worriedly at the lilac mare. “You’ve been running yourself ragged trying to occupy your mind! It’s almost like you’re… Like you’re grieving!”
“Yeah! You’ve been so off lately, the whole castle’s lost its luster!” Rainbow added. “I couldn’t get rid of those dark clouds looming over the place with a Sonic Rainboom!”
“Please, there aren’t any dark clouds over the castle!” Twilight said, resting her head on her forelegs.
Fluttershy looked down at her forelegs. “I think she just means metaphorical dark clouds.”
“No, there’s really dark clouds above the castle.” Rainbow corrected. “And I’ve tried everything I could to bust ‘em! They aren’t going anywhere!”
“So, what do you need to talk about?” Twilight repeated, growing ever-grumpier.
Applejack placed her forelegs on the map, standing in her seat and facing her friend with a sigh. “That’s where I come in, sugarcube.” She got out of her throne, closing the gap between herself and her friend. “I know what yer goin’ through.”
“Really?” the Princess snapped, glaring daggers at the farm pony. “And what can you possibly tell me about what I’m going through?”
Applejack stepped up to Twilight, looking her dead in the eye with a gentle gaze. “I know better than anypony what it’s like to...“ she took a reverent breath. “To suddenly lose somepony you love… No warnin’, no goodbye, and no say in the matter. Yer just left behind, livin’ on without ‘em, and ya don’t have any idea whatcha gotta do.” Twilight’s glare died down, realization hitting her like Bulk Biceps on a wall as she lowered her head. “I know how much it hurts. Bolt’s leavin’ definitely hit you the hardest, but that don’t mean we weren’t hurt by it, too. But none of us are spendin’ all our time tryin’ to run from how we feel about it!” She put her hoof on Twilight’s chin, raising her head to look her in the eye. “Ya need to stop lyin’ to yerself, ‘cause neither you nor Bolt are in yer right minds right now. I know ya let it out when it happened, but you’ve been spittin’ out curses the moment his name comes up for a week, now, and then ya went ‘n passed out from a lack o’ sleep! An’ despite all them curses, ya still wear that necklace he gave ya!” She pointed at Twilight’s pendant, which sparkled in the light. “So tell us… How do ya really feel?”
Twilight closed her eyes, hints of water threatening to come out. “I feel… greedy.” she admitted, turning her head back towards the map and looking at her reflection in it.
“Greedy?” Pinkie repeated, raising an eyebrow.
“What do you mean… greedy, darling?” Rarity asked.
Twilight slumped over, the tears falling freely as she put her head on the map while still looking forward. “I want him back, okay! I want him to come to his senses, come home, and have everything back the way it’s supposed to be!” Her breaths began heaving, Applejack putting a hoof on her back. “I wanted to hate him for leaving… I thought maybe if I just forgot about him like he said in his letter, then maybe he might have been right, and that everything would be fine again! But I can’t… I can’t forget him!” She brought her forelegs forward, burying her face in them.
“It’s a simple fact.” Starlight started, joining Applejack in the supportive gesture. “You’ve gotten to the point where… you need him in your life, haven’t you?”
Twilight softly nodded, refusing to lift her head as the rest of the mares came over to offer their support. “I do. I really do need him…” Feeling the support coming from the six mares who reached out to her, she rose, looking at all of them. “Just as much as I need all of you.” She smiled genuinely at her friends, who all beamed right back. They quickly came into a big group hug, lingering there for several seconds until…
CRASH!
A loud boom struck the doors to the castle, sending them flying off of their hinges. Applejack and Rainbow Dash ran to the door, opening it wide to see an orange Pegasus stallion skidding across the floor of the foyer, his wings charged with a massive electrical discharge that kept him moving even after he’d landed. His eyes were wide with shock as he spun around, moving backwards now. He skidded straight through the door and slammed, wings first, into the map with a loud ‘snap’ that sent him flying into the air with a backwards flip, rotating several times before he landed rather unceremoniously directly in the middle of the table, his rump raised into the air and his wings bent in strange ways as his crackling Cutie Mark calmed back down. He was in a daze, but still looking directly ahead. Directly into Twilight’s eyes as she leaned in close.
Twilight looked, wide-eyed, at the sudden arrival. “Boltsinger?!” she wondered, reaching out to touch him.
The stallion raised a foreleg as though giving a dramatic proclamation. “Hello, Twi-star Finkle! I am the Solt-binger and I am here to… to…” his eyes closed as his foreleg dropped to the table, his rump following suit as he fell to his side, passing out with a pained groan.