It had been three days since Pinkie's party and everything seem normal enough. At least that was what everypony else thought. Spike was trying his best to keep his cool and to be honest he thought he was doing a good job of it. Though he had developed a few new things he would… obsess about. He really hoped no one would notice them. And no one did (at least he thought that no one noticed).
Twilight had been watching Spike closely after the party. When he came in that night he basically jumped at every little sound or movement. Twilight (her ever so knowing self) thought that he was sick from eating too much and sent him to bed. She remembered the night pretty well…
Spike walked in about twenty minutes after she got home. To her he looked like a zombie just hanging on to what little life (or lack of life) it had. She also noticed he didn't close the door. Instead of breaking what she concluded to be an intense thought process, she just closed the door with her magic. This turned out to be a bad idea.
Spike was so deep in thought that when he heard the door slam behind him he nearly had a heart attack. He let out a scream and turned around. When he realized that it was just the door he calmed down. He took a deep breath and turned around, just to be scared again when Twilight materialized in front of him. He jumped back only to hit his head on the door. Twilight looked at him curiously and stepped closer.
"Spike are you alright?" she asked when she got closer to him. She saw that he had hit his head and instantly began to worry more. "Oh Spike I'm sorry, here let me get you an ice pack." She said and went off into the kitchen. "Why had Spike been so scared when she closed the door?" she thought. Spike had always been a little crept out by her teleporting but not that bad. And he never jumped when she closed the door behind him before.
"I-it's alright Twilight, I'm fine." Spike said after Twilight came back from the kitchen. He just wanted to think, to find an answer. But he needed to be left alone to be able to think. He looked at Twilight with a reassuring smile.
She stood there for a brief second and then shook away any uncertainty she had. If he was fine he was fine. "But still…?" she thought "It is some strange behavior even for Spike."
"Okay Spike." She said and walked away slowly, returning to her work.
Spike let out a sigh of relief. He couldn't let Twilight worry (not yet at least) about what is happening, or isn't, or is going to, or…
"Okay, just stop!" Spike yelled in his mind and accidentally out loud.
This made Twilight turn around and look at him. "Umm, stop what Spike?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
Spike cursed under his breath for his outburst. He quickly tried to find a lie to cover up the whole thing.
"S-sorry Twilight y-you see… umm… well… the thing is…" Spike stammered trying to find something convincing.
Twilight walked over to him and put a hoof on his forehead. Spike liked the feeling of pony fur, he always had, and sometimes he wished he could be a pony so he could see how it felt to be enveloped in the stuff. He thought it felt like being in a big blanket that covered every part of your body.
"Spike I think you should turn in for the night." Twilight said as she moved her hoof away.
Spike almost whined, not at the fact that he had to go to bed (at least then he could think) but because Twilight moved her hoof. Spike realized this and cringed inwardly. "No, bad Spike" he thought trying to fend off his thoughts. Luckily he won when Twilight lifted him off the ground and onto her back. Spike stifled a moan when this happened.
Twilight had put Spike in her bed and after making sure he was okay she left him to fall asleep. As much as he wanted to stay up and think Spike was no match for the comfort of Twilight's bed and was soon fast asleep.
And ever since then Spike had been acting strangely. He started to become extra particular with how he did things and how clean something was. He would triple check to see if things were there and in the right place. He wouldn't even sleep unless Twilight checked to see if every lock in the house was locked.
At first Twilight just believed it was nothing more than a little extra initiative for work, but then began to worry that there was something worse going on and she planned to get to the bottom of it.
The next day she sent Spike out on errands around town. She didn't need any of it really but she wanted some time to think over some things before she put her plan into action. She was truly worried and didn't know any other way to deal with this problem. "If there is one." She said to herself.
She walked over to a book she had placed on the table. It was already open to the page she needed. She had already memorized every word on the pages but just had to be sure that she was doing this as well as possible. She sighed inwardly and looked over the pages of the book one last time.
How To Have Personal Conversations With Other Ponies
Everypony has something that they feel they must keep to themselves. But there are sometimes when keeping things to yourself can be harmful to yourself and other ponies around you. These things are best dealt with by relieving stress in any form that the pony sees fit. One of the best and most effective ways is by talking to another pony that you truly feel comfortable around. These steps can help insure that you have a very effective conversation with said pony and that any issue will be resolved.
Set aside a reasonable amount of time for the conversation. No issue can be resolved in 5 minutes.
Make sure that said conversation will not be interrupted.
Take into consideration the other ponies feelings about the topic.
Be as open-minded as possible with the topic. Going in bias will not lead to anything getting solved.
Try and keep the conversation as positive as possible.
Always say the truth. It may hurt at first and can cause problems, but in the long run the truth will help more than what the pony wants to hear.
Twilight skimmed through the rest of the pages, knowing that there was not much of importance in them.
After about another minute or so of skimming Twilight heard the door open. She nearly jumped, not at the door opening but at the fact she wasn't fully prepared for what was going to happen. She let out a long sigh "better late than never" she thought.
"Spike… We need to talk." Twilight said.
Spike had been having an odd day. (Though, most days after the party have been rather odd.) This day felt slightly different. For starters when he woke up in the morning Twilight was already awake. (Though, recently he had been sleeping in.) He also noticed that he had the weirdest ache in his chest almost all the time. Not to mention that he was hearing voices in his head that weren't his own.
He was relieved when Twilight asked him to run errands for the day. It would give him more time to think and hopefully the pain in his chest would go away as well.
While walking Spike would occasionally hear one of the voices in his head. They were becoming clearer and easier to differentiate. Spike was straining to hear what they were saying until he bumped into somepony while walking, falling onto the ground.
"Sorry." Spike said while dusting himself off.
"It's alright." The mare said as she smiled down at him.
"Stupid kid should watch where he's going."
"Hey I'm not stupid!" Spike protested.
"What?" The mare said shocked.
"How did he know I thought that?"
Spike walked off too scared and confused about what he heard. But, faith was not with Spike that day, for he yet again bumped into another pony. This time he had brown fur and a darker brown mane.
Spike ran off before anything weird could happen.
He finished the errands without any more accidents but was still hearing the voices. "What is going on with me?" He thought as he walked into the library.
He immediately saw Twilight reading a book at her table. He couldn't help but admire the way she sat looked when she was concentrating. She looked so focused and… kind of cute.
"No Spike we can't –"he thought until the pain in his chest went into hyper drive.
He barely heard what Twilight had said before he fell on the floor in pain.
Twilight was a little surprised at what Spike had done. At first she thought he was just be dramatic and was messing with her. But when he wasn't answering her she instantly knew something was wrong.
She basically jumped from where she was and ran over to Spike. She put a hoof on him and turned him over. She couldn't risk magic at a time like this. She quickly put an ear against his chest.
"Good he's still breathing, but his heart is racing." She thought as she frantically thought of something to do.
Then she remembered the medical spells she learned when Spike was sick as a baby. She remembered one calmed the body down for short periods of time, but that was meant for actual patients who were going into shock or for ponies giving birth.
"I hope this works…" Twilight thought as her horn lit up.
She quickly placed her horn over Spikes chest and soon his whole body was glowing. After the spell was finished Twilight grabbed Spike and put him into a firm hug. She wasn't going to let go until Spike woke up. That was a promise.
Spike felt as though he had just awakened from a nightmare. (Well most of that was true anyway.) He remembered coming in and seeing Twilight and then… His whole body felt cold for a short period of time. But slowly he felt as if he was wrapped in the world's warmest blanket.
He loved the feeling. It kind of reminded him of… pony fur!
Spikes eyes shot open to see Twilight's purple fur around him. He was about to scream until he was calmed by the feel of Twilight so close to him. He let out a little sigh as she calmed himself down.
He also heard something that sounded a lot like… crying?
Twilight couldn't help but cry at the fact that not only could she have been too late to save Spike, but that she didn't do anything sooner.
"Spike I'm so sorry… I just… I didn't know what to do… I could have helped you but… b-but I was scared." She sobbed.
She couldn't live with herself if anything happened to Spike. She didn't know what she would do without him. She felt so helpless. If only…
"Umm Twilight why are you crying?"