//------------------------------// // Quality Time // Story: Twilight Sparkle's Worst Day Ever // by CapNTilfy //------------------------------// Twilight opened the front door to her house then closed the door. She walked into the living room. I guess everyone's already out doing their own thing. Oh well. She looked out the sliding-glass window to see Spike chasing squirrels. "Spike!" She called out as she opened the window. "I'm home!" "Welcome back!" Spike said, wagging his tail as he ran towards her. "How did it go?" "Wellll...it's a pretty long story." Twilight said, smiling. "But I'm pretty sure you wouldn't mind hearing the whole thing. I should warn you, though, there's going to be a lot to take in." "I'm all ears!" Spike said. --------------------------------------------- "Wow..." Spike said, his eyes wide. "You weren't kidding. That was a lot to take in." "Indeed." Twilight said, adjusting her glasses. "Here's the picture Sunset made." She said as she reached into her pocket and unfolded a piece of paper, then showed it to Spike. "Woah." Spike said in awe, his eyes even wider than before. "I've never seen anything like it! How does she do that?" Twilight smiled. "I know, right? But enough about that. How about you and I hang out like I promised yesterday?" She said, grinning. Spike grinned in return. "I thought you'd never ask!" He said. "What did you have in mind?" "How about a little bit of frisbee?" Twilight said, smiling. "Aw, yeah! I'm ready!" Spike said excitedly. Twilight ran over to the shed and grabbed a frisbee, then threw it. Spike ran and caught the frisbee, and the two went back and forth for about an hour, then Spike started to slow down. "Okay...Twilight." Spike said, trying to catch his breath. "I think I'm frisbeed out at the moment." Twilight giggled. "Okay, fair enough." She cupped her chin in thought. "So what now? Do you have any ideas?" "I wouldn't mind taking a rest for a few minutes. I think I might be out of shape." Spike said. Twilight shrugged. "Okay, I guess it's up to me to think of something then." She closed her eyes and concentrated, but ended up thinking back to her date with Timber from the previous night. Thinking about everything she had told him, and how it made her feel. She sighed contentedly. "Twilight?" Spike said, snapping her out of her daydreaming. "Are you okay? You look kinda funny." Twilight blushed. "Sorry about that, my mind just sorta drifted off there. Thanks for bringing me back." Spike smiled. "No problem. You can take your time, we've got plenty of it!" "Hmm..." Twilight went back to thinking of other things for her and Spike to do. There were so many options, so she whittled down the options on a mental list until she came to one choice. "Aha!" She said excitedly. "Spike, maybe you can help me with something that's been bothering me!" "Sounds good to me." Spike said. "What's been bothering you?" "Well, I spent pretty much all night working on an equation that drove me absolutely crazy! I could use an extra pair of eyes." Twilight said. Spike blinked. "Uh...Twilight? I may be a dog that can talk, but I'm nowhere near as smart as you are. How could I possibly help?" Twilight smiled. "I'm flattered, Spike, but sometimes even the smartest of us could use a Number One Assistant." Spike smiled. "Well now I'm flattered. I'll help you in any way that I can." "Excellent." Twilight said, "To the lab!" --------------------------------------------- Twilight brought Spike into her lab, and she took a deep breath then exhaled. "Ahh." She said contently, "I love the smell of science in the morning. It smells like victory!" She grinned widely as she donned goggles. Spike smiled and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, science is cool." He admitted. "You're damn right it is." Twilight said as she put goggles on Spike. "Now, we science!" She picked Spike up and directed his eyes to the board with the equation she wrote. "So, what do you make of this?" Spike stared at the board for a few moments, then sighed. "Just like I thought, Twilight." He said, defeated. "All of that is way over my head." "Eh." Twilight said with a shrug. "I figured it was at least worth a shot." "So what do we do now?" Asked Spike. "Well, I could just do some wet chemistry. That helps clear my head just a bit." Twilight said. Spike gave the dog equivalent of a shrug. "All right then. Whatever helps." He said. Twilight ran around her lab, grabbing test tubes and beakers of all sorts, then grabbed random liquids from her fume hood. She put the liquids in the test tubes and beakers and began her work. Spike backed up a bit. "Wait." He said, feeling nervous. "From what I remember you telling me before I could talk, didn't you say this sort of thing is dangerous?" Twilight looked at Spike and smiled. "Yes, but not if done correctly or by a professional." She said. "I may not be a professional, but I always take the necessary precautions and I wouldn't dare do this if I wasn't sure of my abilities." "If you say so..." Spike said, still feeling a bit uneasy. "Don't worry, Spike." Twilight said, walking over to him. "I assure you I know what I'm doing. Besides, these chemicals aren't life-threatening. I may be confident in myself, but there's no way I'm going to handle something hazardous this close to home." Spike sighed. "Just...please be careful, okay?" Twilight gave her dog a hug. "Don't worry. I promise I'll be careful." She said, then broke the hug and went back to her work. Moments had passed, and everything was in full swing. "Geez, Twilight, what's that smell?!" Spike said, covering his nose. "Sorry about that, Spike. Wet chemistry doesn't exactly smell like roses." Twilight said, smiling sheepishly. "You don't say." Spike said sarcastically. He continued to watch Twilight as she went about inspecting the liquids and making notes until she stopped mid-stride. Her jaw dropped along with the pen and clipboard in her hands. She gasped. "Is everything okay, Twilight?" Spike asked. "It's better than okay, Spike." Twilight said as she began to smile. "I know what I've been missing in my equation!" She ran over to the board and frantically wrote down numbers. Spike's ears perked up as he heard a slight rumble. He looked around the lab and noticed one of the beakers shaking violently. "Uh, Twilight..." He said, trying to get her attention. No such luck, she's really in the zone. He ran over to her get her attention when the beaker exploded. "Twilight!" He shouted, running as fast as he could, then jumped in front of her. The explosion startled Twilight, and she turned around to see Spike on the floor limping a little. "Ow. Ow. Ow." Spike said. Twilight gasped. "Oh my god! Spike, are you okay?" She channeled her geode powers to shut everything off and put everything back where they belonged. When she finished, she leaned down to Spike. "I...I think so. Ow." Spike said. Twilight gave Spike a quick once-over and noticed that his left paw was bleeding slightly. She gasped again as she began to fully understand the events that just transpired. "Oh, crap!" She said, putting a hand to her mouth. "We need to get you to the vet, now." Tears were forming in her eyes. "I'm sorry this happened, Spike...I should have listened to you!" "Twilight, calm down. It's just a scratch." Spike said, then winced. "No, it's not. I think your left paw has a shard of glass in it. We need to get going!" Twilight said as she picked him up and ran to the car.