//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Day 2 Part 2 // Story: CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS PERSONA USERS! YAY! // by HeartfireFirebrand //------------------------------// Spike frowned as Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom finished off their breakfast “Twilight still won’t be up for a while.” Scootaloo frowned “Are you kidding me, it’s already nine in the morning. She should be up running the library by now.” Spike shrugged “Nopony comes in until ten anyway, speaking of which I have to open up the Library.” The three fillies followed him, they all frowned as he walked around the Library putting books where they were supposed to be. He then began checking what books needed to be returned that day. Apple Bloom frowned “You do this all by yourself, shouldn’t this be Twilight’s job?” Spike frowned “It is but she often stay up late with projects. She can’t function without me by her side, Twilight can be incredibly dangerous when she starts to panic. Her natural talent for magic is immense.” Sweetie Belle grimaced “Does that make her dangerous?” Spike shrugged “I keep her sane, picking up the pieces that could cause her a massive mental breakdown later. She can about as a dangerous an any other gifted magic user if they have a breakdown, I have kept her away from alcohol at parties for that reason.” Scootaloo frowned “I hope she doesn’t cause a ruckus when she wakes.” Spike sighed “It’s not her fault, she is just a neurotic mess. If anything the Princess is to blame for not attempting to correct such behaviour. She really should have corrected this when Twilight was younger but now it’s to late.” Apple Bloom frowned “The Princess had her reasons, surely?” Spike’s eyes narrowed “Celestia is not perfect, I have done my own digging on her previous students. Her previous student Sunset Shimmer ran away because the Princess was too cryptic and not direct enough, had Nightmare Moon not returned Twilight was heading down the same path. He then took a deep breath “With her neurotic tendencies she could have become much worse than an arrogant unicorn with delusions of grandeur. I am just so angry that the Princess has done nothing to correct those issues.” Sweetie Belle had a hoof resting on her forehead “Well I think all three of us can agree that this is definitely shaken my world view. Celestia has been taught to us as being the most important pony in Equestria and that she will never fail us.” Apple Bloom sighed “Well that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. We need to take everything she has to say with a grain of salt from now on.” Scootaloo frowned “The fact is even the Princesses know very little about our powers but we have advantage of speaking to one who does. Celestia doesn’t know any more than us so we shouldn’t follow every order she gives.” Spike smiled “It is rather refreshing to speak with someone so freely about this. I must admit I enjoy these conversations.” The four of them hear the sound of movement from upstairs, “Well I better get Twilight’s breakfast ready.” As Spike walked away, they saw the Social Link appear again. Emperor Social Link, Talented Chef has ranked up. Apple Bloom frowned “Now to spend time with Twilight.” Before another word could be said, Twilight tiredly stumbled down the stairs and landed flat on her muzzle at the bottom of the stairs. Sweetie Belle’s horn glowed and she lifted the sleepy unicorn to the table. She then pulled out a chair and placed Twilight on it who proceeded to flop on the table. Sweetie Belle smiled “Well one thing having a Persona helps with is my magic, I can now feel it and direct it better.” Twilight groaned as her eyes opened and looked at them, she perked up immediately “Your here, excellent! We should get started right away!” Apple Bloom frowned “You should at least eat first. You were barely functional until you noticed we were here.” Twilight frowned as she “No, I need to get my notes sorted out.” She then stood up and began to gallop toward the stairs. Scootaloo's eyes glowed orange and she dragged Twilight back to the table in an orange light “You will eat. We are not budging on this.” Twilight looked hopefully at the other two only to see stern glares from the other two persona users in the room. Spike walked in with some pancakes and salad sandwiches “Thank you for keeping her, she needs to eat breakfast.” He put the pancakes in front of Twilight and the sandwiches in front of the CMC “Twilight, you don’t eat if I don’t remind you.” Twilight frowned “But I have so many projects to do, if I don’t eat then I have less time to spend on them. I have to help the three of them too.” Sweetie Belle sighed “You can’t help others if you don’t help yourself sometimes. You can’t help anyone if you don’t eat and sleep, for the sake of everypony take care of yourself.” Twilight silently began eating. Apple Bloom smashed her face into the table “Is it really that painful to take care of yourself! I mean seriously, it is not selfish to do the basic things to keep yourself functioning! You are just going to hurt everypony around you if you don’t!” Twilight turned to her “But then I am wasting time that could be used for other more important things.” Spike’s eyes narrowed “What about the time of everypony else, I spend hours tirelessly toiling to keep you on track. I would like if you could at least pretend to take some interest in caring for yourself.” Twilight whimpered “You don’t mean that do you, Spike?” Spike sighed “I don’t want to hurt your feelings but you do tend to be single minded. Focus on more than just what is in front of you for the sake of everypony. You don’t listen to me about this but maybe you should listen to them.” Twilight slumped “I’ll try but I’m not sure if I can.” Spike walked over and gave her a hug “That’s what I’m here for, to help you when you stumble. Not just me, all of your friends are there as well.”