//------------------------------// // Intolerable state of affairs // Story: Seven Hour Bubble Bath // by Hasty Revision //------------------------------// It was well into the evening before Twilight was allowed to rest. It'd taken only five minutes for the cleaning staff to arrive in the form of a trio of unicorn stallions, lead by the tall, immaculately white-clad Mr. Clean. When she explained the situation Mr. Clean assessed what they were up against and delegated. He personally handed the bathroom, being the quickest and quietest and thus least likely to wake up Spike in the adjacent bedroom. Twilight was left with the other two stallions, Neat and Tidy, to scrub the ink off the door, walls, and, most of all, the carpeting. Nothing made a unicorn filly appreciate basic levitation magic quite like spending two straight hours scrubbing with hoof and tooth. After the first fifteen minutes, Neat had taken pity and taught her how to hold and use the brushes without throwing out her neck on the first couple of stains. Even with his advice, her entire spine was sure to hate her forever after what she had put it through. How did earth ponies and pegasi do it? They always made doing everything physically look so easy. She'd once seen an earth pony mare pick up a scrap of paper with her hoof. She just… plucked it right off the floor like she had glue on her sole. Yes, she knew how they did it in the most literal sense. All ponies had the basic, innate magic to move their manes and tails, as well as to apply a gripping force through their hooves, it was just stronger in the other tribes. Especially earth ponies. She placed her forehooves on the edge of one of Celestia's sofas and hauled herself up off the floor with a pained groan. With her last ounce of strength she rolled onto her back and let her legs sprawl out in all directions. Earth ponies could keep their strength. She had no need for it because she was never going to move ever again. There were a number of spells that could make the couch move for her, and levitation could handle most day to day tasks. Not that she would actually be allowed to cast a spell to animate the couch enough for it to walk. Permission for that level of magic was years away. Still, it couldn't hurt to dream. Everything else hurt, but dreaming was just fine. The universe didn't give her leave to lay around for very long. A terrible sound rang out from the bedroom before she could even doze off fully. Half hollow thump, half cascading rocks, all too familiar. Twilight's eyes snapped open, her body snapped upright, and her mouth snapped out a name. “Spike!” Her hooves hit the carpet, her fatigue briefly forgotten in her haste to get to the bedroom. Raspberry magic seized the door handle and flung the door wide open. Spike sat, draped in a blanket, right at the base of the table upon which a heaping bowl of gems had once sat. The bowl had been relocated to Spike's head and the gems it once contained lay scattered all around him. Slowly, sheepishly, he raised the edge of the bowl up enough to peek out from under it. “Spike! What were you thinking?” She lifted the bowl off his head, set it on the floor in front of him and started gathering up the gems. “I look away for two seconds and--” She stuttered to a halt. Spike had curled in on himself, eyes wide and tail held tightly in his claws. It was just the way he'd looked before the Princess had-- Oh. She cleared her throat and tried again, softly this time. “Spike, you need to be more careful. You could have broken something or hurt yourself. Why didn't you ask for help?” Spike turned his eyes to the floor and shrugged. The last gem clinked into place atop the glittering mound. Without the light of Twilight's magic, the room was lit only by the light of a crescent moon and the street lamps far below the tower. It was later than she had thought. Spike might well have been awake for a while, hiding away in his basket to stay out from underhoof. Twilight's brow furrowed while she considered the implications of that possibility. It wasn't like Spike to stay out of the way when she was around. Usually she couldn't get away from him. He stuck to her like glue, like a-- Best friend. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat. Unfortunately that only turned it into a heavy weight in her stomach. She hadn't felt like this since that time she'd been practicing her magic, accidentally set a chair on fire, and had gotten Shining Armor in trouble for not watching her carefully enough. She'd felt so guilty, she'd avoided him for days because she couldn't look him in the eyes without feeling awful. It wasn't until Shining Armor had finally sat her down and talked to her that she finally got over it. Was this how her brother had felt? Had he felt guilty, too? Had he felt like it was all his fault for not watching her? For not being there to help? Had he been afraid of upsetting their parents like she was afraid of upsetting the Princess? So, what would Shining Armor do? What had he done when he'd been in her position? Step one: Extend the olive branch. “Are you cold? I was thinking I might make a fire. It's a little bit chilly in here.” Spike twisted his tail a little harder. “I'm not supposed to make fire without a grownup.” “I'll make the fire. We won't get in trouble that way. Come on.” She took a couple of steps towards the door and beckoned with a forehoof. “We can even heat up some of those gems if you like. I know you like hot topaz.” Twilight could almost see the gears turning in the intricate clockwork mechanism that linked Spike's brain to Spike's stomach. They spun faster when her magic took hold of the bowl and hefted it to her side. He got to his feet, unable to resist the siren's call of dinner and the promise of fire. He was a growing dragon, after all. She smiled as he toddled his way across the room and followed her, albeit still not meeting her eyes, into the sitting room. Check. Spike didn't know which he liked more, the heat coming from the fire, or the taste of the gems he was stuffing in his mouth one after another. Why ponies didn't want to eat gems he'd never understand. Sure, grass was okay, and so were potatoes and tomatoes and pretty much everything else, but nothing compared to gems. Nothing else gave him that feeling of really biting into something. Vegetables just weren't the same. Twilight had even put some in the fire for him just like she promised. Then she'd moved a little further back from the fire, flopped over onto her side, and started staring at the wall. He couldn't remember ever seeing her stare like that without a book being involved. It was like she was looking through the wall. Maybe she knew a spell for that? Or maybe she'd fallen asleep with her eyes open. Could ponies do that? Or maybe she wasn't feeling good. Spike crunched his last gem, a particularly tasty bit of citrine, and pushed his bowl away. He was tempted to take a few bites out of it, but that was yet another thing he wasn't supposed to do anymore. If Twilight wasn't feeling good then the last thing he wanted to do was make her upset again. But he couldn't just do nothing, could he? “Uh, Twilight?” She didn't move. “Twilight?” This time she moved but only because she was taking a breath. Breathing was a good sign, right? Spike's tail found its way back into his claws. Maybe she really was sick. What would Celestia do? He'd seen her pull a book from in front of Twilight's eyes when she didn't hear anyone trying to talk to her. He couldn't move the wall but maybe if he got in front of her she'd notice. Twilight was only a few uncertain steps away and a quick lean over to put his eyes in line with hers. He dragged his blanket with him, hooked on the end of his tail so he could prop himself up with one claw and wave the other in front of Twilight's face. She blinked. “Wha…?” She blinked again and lifted her head a little off the carpet. “Spike? Is something wrong?” “I was gonna ask you that. You're kinda staring at, uh, nothing.” Her head dropped back to the floor. “I'm fine. Why don't you go… read a book or something?” Spike straightened out of the awkward lean he was in before he could fall over. “Um… I can't really read yet.” “Oh.” “What!?” Spike stumbled back and lost his footing, landing seated on the carpet when Twilight's eyes suddenly filled his vision. Her forehooves were on his shoulders, her nose pressed against his, and those big, lavender eyes bored right into his emerald ones. “I can't read?” he said. Or, well, squeaked, really. “I know the letters but I can't--” “Y-you can't-- You can't!?” Her mouth worked soundlessly for a few moments until, and he wasn't quite sure how it happened, he'd been pulled into a fuzzy hug. “It's okay, Spike. It's not your fault. I can fix this. We're going to fix this for you.” Then he was out of the hug and sitting on the floor again when she galloped off to the bedroom. He shook off his daze, hopped to his feet and jogged after her. He leaned carefully around the door frame to get a look at the bookshelf in the corner of Celestia's bedroom. The bottom shelf was full of small, brightly colored books that Celestia and Cadance would read to him sometimes. He wasn't supposed to look at the ones on the higher shelves. Twilight hadn't pulled any of them out, though. She was just standing there, still as a statue, staring at the shelf like there was a huge canyon between her and the books just hooves away. “Except I'm not supposed to study,” she muttered. “I was expressly forbidden from studying. These aren't magic books but what if she doesn't want me to read books at all? After everything I've done wrong today how can I take that risk!? But Spike needs to learn to read! He can't not know how to read! I'll be helping him! I'm supposed to be helping him, right? See to his needs! But she didn't say to teach him to read.” Muttering was left behind when she started to pace back and forth. She wasn't shouting exactly, but she wasn't using an 'indoor voice' either. “What if she was going to teach him? What if I mess it up? But what if she wasn't going to teach him? No, no, that's silly. Of course the Princess was going to teach him. Except she's so busy she might not have time. She'd have Mom and Dad do it, wouldn't she? What if she's grateful that I did it instead? What if she's mad?” “Er, Twilight?” She stopped pacing. Slowly, very slowly, she turned her head to look at him, eyes wide and nervous. She stared at him for a good long minute before she blinked. Then it was like she... changed, somehow. Spike wasn't sure what it was, or what had happened to cause it, but he was sure that, from that moment on, she stood a little taller. That her eyes shone a little brighter, and that she smiled a little bit wider. A smile came to life on her face right then and there, fiercely determined and just as bright as the raspberry light that shone from her horn. “Go get comfortable, Spike,” she said, voice now clear and steady. Her magic reached out and books flew from the bottom shelf at her bidding to swirl in the air above her head. “You and I have some reading to do!”