Chronicles of an Unknown World - The Awakening

by Blue Blaze {COMET}

Chapter 5: Donations Due, Part 4

Rarity and Twilight sat in the dim candlelight of the Carousel Boutique’s living room. While Rarity cried her eyes out, Twilight kneeled right beside Rarity’s couch and held her in a hug of care and affection. Both were experiencing deep, tear-jerking events that ripped their souls inside out. Griffin laid down on a nearby couch, trying to give them as much privacy as possible. He found himself waiting for the sob-storm from the girls to pass for a minute. Then two minutes. Then five. Soon, fifteen minutes went by without word or acknowledgement between the unusual group of beings. Getting an idea, Griffin decided to break the partial silence.

“Hey, is there a washroom in this place around here?” Griffin suddenly asked aloud. Twilight shot him a dirty look, saying “This is not the right time for a question like that!” with her facial expression. Rarity looked up from her vision of purple fur and saw the tall human stand up, six feet and all. Abruptly reminded of his height, Rarity took a breath of fright before finally answering the inquiry.

“O-Of course! Um, excuse me, Twilight…” Rarity gently shoved Twilight backwards, letting go of the embrace. Sniffing, she promptly wiped her tears and makeup and daintily got off the couch.

“No need to get up Rarity, you can just tell me where it is and I’ll find it myself.” Griffin approached the distressed mare and attempted to settle her back onto her resting spot, but she back up from his reach.

“It would be rude of me to not personally show you where it is. So please, let me.” she simply stated, avoiding Griffin’s chestnut eyes.

“Rarity. Please.”

She looked up to meet her calling. Griffin had a determined, upright stare to his face. Rarity knew that his request had deeper meaning than she previously pondered.

“Help me, help you. Just tell me where the bathroom is and I can find it by myself.” Griffin affirmed, lifting his right palm in front of him and closing it in a tight grip.

Rarity had no idea what the gesture meant, but she guessed it was of somewhat importance. Defeated, she leaned backwards into the soft, plush pillows of her couch and gave a great, tiresome sigh. Taking another breath, her eyes met Griffin’s once more.

“Fine, if that is what you wish, then so be it.” Her right forehoof limply rose up, pointing to a nearby corridor leading to somewhere else in her boutique.

“Go down the hallway, then take a left at the end. Go down that route until you reach the second door. That will be the bathroom.” She let her foreleg rest back on her side. Griffin nodded his head in affirmation.

“Thank you, Rarity.”

Without another word, he left the room, leaving the two unicorns all by themselves. Rarity broke out another woeful sigh and leaned back onto a pillow. Twilight once again approached her seamstress, not sure what to think of that little interaction between the otherworldly human and one of her best friends. However, one think she knew was that Griffin’s behavior was mildly confusing.

(One moment he was grumpy to his soaked physical state, then was completely silent when she described her sights at Canterlot, and now he needed to go to the bathroom this very instant? What the heck is with this guy? And just there, he somehow convinced Rarity to let go of her polite hostess ways and let him do his thing even though Rarity doesn’t even know him! I don’t get it. I just can’t wrap my head around the reasons of his actions! Is it because he is a different species? It must be! Note to self, once I acquire my scientific field study notebook, observe human speech and body patterns.) Twilight reasoned. She stared at her fellow unicorn, planning out her next move.

(Now, to deal with matters that matter most…)

Before she could actually do anything, Rarity beat her to the punch.

“Twilight? Why did you bring Griffin along with you and not Spike?”

The purple pony stumbled both over her hooves and her words. She was not ready for Rarity to ask a question such like that. It just popped out of nowhere, catching her completely off guard. Of course, that didn’t mean that she had an answer prepared beforehoof.

“I-I-I-Well, you see…”

Twilight paused mid-sentence to take notice that Rarity was eyeing her with nothing but sorrow and emptiness. It was as if a major part of Rarity’s being was ripped right out of her existence. The Element of Magic wondered that if she didn’t listen to Princess Celestia at all and had not come to the Carousel Boutique, Rarity might have not been in this kind of state. It scared her, seeing her generous friend be so void of energy and hope.

“I actually didn’t plan for him to come along. My original plan was to go and gather you and all the others along in one single night. As I have explained before, I would get you, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack, return to the library to pick up Spike, Owlowiscious, Pee Wee and Griffin, and finally leave the next morning.”

Twilight turned towards the window. She scanned the outside, as if looking for something before continuing.

“That was the plan. I tried to sneak away while they were sleeping, but I accidentally knocked some things over while trying to gather supplies for the trip. Fortunately, I had my room underneath a sound-barrier spell, so Spike didn’t hear anything. Unfortunately, Griffin did. He found me trying to clean up the entire mess and confronted me on what I was doing in the middle of the night. I had to explain everything to him because he wanted answers. And to tell you the truth, I feel better now that I gave those answers to him. Not only did he deserve them, but I also needed to tell somepony about what I saw with Princess Celestia. I was holding all the emotion in, hoping that I could hold them off and lock them away forever."

She swung her head to face Rarity. With a slight smirk and a hint of happiness, she resumed her tale.

“But then he just appeared and I could let it all out. He was there when I needed somepony. Or, in his case, ‘someone’. He just sat and let me explain myself without having to counteract my thinking or my memories. I could rant all I wanted about my pain and he just sat there, thinking about it"

There was a certain spark in Twilight’s eyes.

“He was a true friend.”

Rarity had a second to conceive Twilight’s thoughts. The purple student wasn’t full of negative emotions after all. Instead, she was a tiny bit happy and joyful, and had room to spare. Rarity saw Twilight like her usual, cheerful self, not her stressed out, busy self that she had been acting as of late.

(At lease somepony in the room isn’t a crying, soppy mess…) she mused.

“So anyway, after I cried my heart out, I told him that I would be leaving. He stood up and said that he wouldn’t let me leave alone. He didn’t want me to be by myself in the cold storm, so he volunteered to be my travel buddy. I didn’t want him to go, but he wouldn’t let me say no, so I just left through the front door and he followed. We trekked through the rain, got here, and you know the rest.”

Twilight appeared to be very distant at this point. She was staring straight into the wall, thinking about something or other. Rarity couldn’t hold back her smile. It was such a nice change of pace to have a peaceful moment in the night. Then, a though occurred to her.

“But what about Spike? Did you leave him at the back at the library?”

Twilight snapped out of her brainstorm to address the question.

“Yeah. Since he didn’t wake up after the racket I caused, there was no need to bring him along. Don’t worry, I left a note saying that I went out to buy some bread and that I wouldn’t be too long, just in case that he would wake up. Since I planned to not take more than an evening, I didn’t worry about any long-term reassurances. But, now that I gave you a night to pack and stuff, I dunno anymore…”

Twilight’s smile faded off of her muzzle. Seeing this, it was Rarity’s time to shine.

“I promise Twilight that we’ll be on the road by tomorrow early morning in the least. And once we are, you can go back to visit Spike while I go gather the others. Then, if I wasn’t done yet and you wished it, you could go and help me get the rest of the gang.”

Twilight looked expectantly at Rarity. “Are you serious? I mean, you wouldn’t have to. I could just do it all myself.”

“Of course I am serious darling! It would be my pleasure to help as much as I can on this little journey of ours.”

Both mares began to smile. Rushing forward, Twilight yet again dropped into a hug, grasping Rarity in a friendship hold. Grinning widely, her newfound joy knew no bounds.

“Oh, thank you Rarity, thank you! This means so much to me! Thank you!”

“Nothing to worry about, darling.”