“Well, here’s the room Twilight designated for you, Trixie.” Spike opened the door.
I jumped to the side to avoid getting hit by various brooms that fell in the hallway. “This room looks to be taken.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll relocate my cleaning equipment.”
“You don’t have to move the stuff on my account. I can adjust.”
“Half of the rooms in this castle are completely empty, anyway.”
“Can I at least help you out?”
“Wow, you’re really taking this new role of yours seriously, aren’t you?” He lifted an eyebrow. “Here, you take the brooms, and I’ll grab the buckets.”
I picked up one in my mouth and tried to grab the rest with a foreleg.
“What’s this now? Did The Great and Powerful Trixie forget how to use magic?”
I puckered my forehead and focused on the horn, but nothing happened. The broom fell down when I opened my mouth to speak, “Apparently, I did. Along with everything else...”
“That spell you, supposedly, used in the morning must have really done a number on your mind.” He picked up a broom in his free claw and dragged it on the floor along with the buckets.
“Stop the ruckus!” A voice came from Twilight’s room. “Some of us are trying to gloat here!”
“Maybe I should take the buckets.” I leaned down and grabbed the handle of the bottom one to lift all of them.
He grabbed the brooms with both claws. “I don’t know what’s with Twilight. Do you think your spell might have affected her, as well?”
My mouth was full of bucket handle, so I just shrugged my shoulders.
Spike dragged the brooms on the floor behind him. “I’ve seen her in her crazy state, but this is a whole new level. It’s like she isn’t even herself anymore.” Across the corridor, he opened the door to a small, empty cabinet. “Just throw them anywhere. Twilight never looks at these rooms. They are the only safe havens from her Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.”
I put the buckets down and slid them in the corner with a hoof then shuffled the items so that the round handles would face the entrance for easy access.
“I guess that ends today...” Spike commented.
“Hm?” I turned to him.
“I didn’t take you for the orderly type, Trixie.”
“I just want to make things right, that’s all.”
Spike threw the brooms in the middle of the room. “Let’s go get the rest.” He turned around.
I was already done with the buckets, so there was no reason to delay. Still, the placement of brooms seemed wrong. They were just asking for somepony to trip over them. The vacant perpendicular layers remained unused and the horizontal component unviable for trafficking because it was hindered by material clogs. I quickly grabbed them and placed them vertically beside the buckets. That way they would take very little space while being readily available for anypony in a hurry to clean. When I turned around I noticed that Spike watched me from behind my plot. “What?”
“That’s OCD if I ever saw it,” he said.
I bowed my head and shuffled a hoof on the floor.
He put a claw on my shoulder. “Don’t worry. If anything, Twilight will appreciate you more for it.”
“I really hope she comes around in time. She forbade me from going to the library, but maybe she’ll let me borrow some books if I pick up my act and become more friendly. I want to read as much on the subject of memory loss as possible and get to the bottom of my induced amnesia.”
Spike whispered to himself, “And you also love books… Trixie, what happened to you? You seem even more Twilightish than Twilight today.” He snickered.
“Um, Spike...” I whispered as I slung my useless hat on the top shelf. I wasn’t sure why I even wore it. It looked silly and served no function.
“Yeah?”
“If Twilight really throws her things away, and if there are some left that you won’t want to take... Well, um, could I, perhaps, take the rest?” I bit my lip.
“Why do you care about Twilight’s stuff? I knew you were obsessed with her, but I had no idea you were an actual stalker.”
“No, no!” I shook my head. “It’s not like that! I just… I don’t want the things to get thrown away for no reason. It’s not right. Maybe in the future, she’ll regret throwing them out, and I’ll be able to return the items back to her. From then on, she might take good care of them. I don’t know who the ponies in the pictures are, but they look really happy together. What they represent is special. Friendships shouldn’t be taken for granted, and the items she has are a reminder of that.”
“Tell that to the Princess of Friendship. It’s as if she forgot her own calling.”
“I’m not sure she’d listen to me.”
“Don’t worry, Trixie. I’ll take whatever she decides to throw away. She still asks me now and then if I found her Smarty Pants toy doll she had since her childhood.” He walked along the hallway.
I followed behind him. “He-he, Smarty Pants...” Hearing that name made me giggle.
“She gave it away once, and she’ll regret that for the rest of her life. I won’t let the same happen with the other things in her possession.”
“That’s a funny name, Smarty Pants. I love it.”
He stopped in his tracks and turned around. “Trixie, do you remember when I followed the migrating dragons?” His eyebrows rose as he looked up at me.
I shook my head. “Was I there?”
He sighed and bowed his head. “Well, no, you weren’t...”
“How could I remember it then?” I leaned my head to the side.
“Yes, you’re right…” He awkwardly rose a claw behind his head. “Never mind! Forget I asked.” He walked on.
“I would very much like to hear about it, Spike. It sounds like an eventful adventure. Also... I really like talking to you, in general. Just being around you makes me feel less alone. Can you tell me about your journey?”
He sighed. “Maybe later... Let’s get the rest of the cleaning equipment moved from your ‘room’” Spike said.
A moment later, my ears shot up as something shattered. I wiggled them around and pinpointed the sound to Twilight’s room. We looked at each other.
“Or better yet”—Spike pointed a claw in the direction of the kerfuffle—“let’s take away Twilight’s stuff before she breaks it all.”
I nodded and we both ran toward her room.