//------------------------------// // A Spark // Story: Dreams of an Absolution // by VerseForty //------------------------------// It took Twilight a whole minute before she realized Spike had said something. She slowly moved herself away from him and started to examine him to see if everything was okay. She quickly scanned him over a few times. Doesn’t look like there's anything wrong with him. Everything seems to be in the right place… Spike was tired of sitting in silence with Twilight staring down at him. He also wanted to know why she was crying. “Umm Twi? Is everything alright?” Spike asked, just to have Twilight hug him again. This time though, Spike was able to squirm free from her. He dusted himself off and cleared his throat. “Listen Twilight, I lik- don’t mind all the hugging, but we at least need something to hug about.” Twilight was about to start crying again, but she managed to fight back the tears the best she could. She was just too happy, and scared she added, that Spike was okay and that he could’ve been hurt, or worse… She took a few deep breaths to steady her breathing. Spike was right, she did need to calm down. “S-S-Spike are y-you sure your feeling… okay. You don’t feel light-headed or anything, do you?” She asked taking a few steps closer to him. “I’m sure…Why?” Spike asked, backing away from Twilight. “Because, you passed out.” She exclaimed. This took Spike for surprise. He thought that happened in his dream he had, but he was too busy thinking to see Twilight moving closer. By the time he looked back at Twilight, she was right in front of him. Spike jumped a little at this sight and tried to move away, but she was to close. “We need to talk” she said, with a twinge of hurt in her eyes. “Okay, can we talk at the table?” He asked, still a little surprised that she was so upset. Twilight looked into Spike’s confused eyes and nodded with a light smile. With that she moved away from Spike, walked over to the table, and took a seat. Spike followed her and started to think of what to say. He knew that he had to do his best to avoid certain questions. Twilight sat staring at Spike waiting for him to begin explaining something. Spike noticed the waiting look on her face and decided to tell her everything. He took a deep breath and started to tell what happened since the party. Twilight kept a straight face through the whole conversation. She digested most of the information easily enough, but some things seemed odd even to her. “Spike, if you were worried about something, you should’ve told me… I would’ve helped.” Twilight said with more of a frown than a look of understanding. Spike noticed this and quickly apologized “I’m sorry Twilight, it’s just…” Spike sighed “I didn’t want you to worry about it.” Twilight shook her head, “No Spike, I’m your friend and you should know that you can trust me with anything, no matter how bothering and troublesome it may be.” She then proceeded to get up and walk over to where Spike was sitting. Spike braced himself for another hug that never came. Instead he looked up to see Twilight with one of her famous faces. It was the one she used when she wanted to remember where a certain book was in the library but couldn’t recall which shelf it was on. She looked down at Spike and asked, “Do you remember where I put the books I got last week from the Canterlot archives?” Spike, stood up and started to think, he knew that every two or so weeks Twilight got book from the Princess for her to read and add to her collection. Most of which had either been from her old room that she still had in Canterlot. It was rare that the Princess sent books from the archives, seeing as they are usually off-limits to most ponies. It was really annoying Spike that he couldn’t remember where the books were. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Then he saw a small almost unnoticeable green spark flash past his eyes. Before he could register what had happened, his eyes shot open. Then like an explosion images and words and sounds tried to register themselves in Spikes head. Twilight noticed the pained expression on Spike’s face and asked, “Hey Spike, are you okay.” She tried to stay as composed as possible but she was really nervous about the idea that he could be going through another ‘episode’. Spike barely heard Twilight’s question. His head felt like it was slowly splitting open. He tried to keep from doing anything that would alarm Twilight that something was wrong with him. He simply nodded hoping the question was that of a ‘yes-or-no’ format. His headache wouldn’t go away though. Then he saw a particular picture of him and Twilight putting up some books. The same books they were looking for. “Check the last shelf on the right.” Spike said, doing his best to keep his voice steady. Twilight took no time going to the shelf. She quickly scanned the spins of the books, looking for a particular one with grayish blue writing… Then she saw it. It was a relatively short book, by Twilight’s standards at least, with no more than about 400 pages. It was black with metallic grayish blue writing on the cover. It read The Tales of the Dragon: Dragon History, Myth, and Lore: Volume 12: Magic and all. Twilight went back over to Spike, who was now sitting with his head in his hands. Twilight paid no more attention to him, unaware to the fact that it was all he could do to keep himself from crying and passing out on the floor. She then began to read the book, that she believed, had the answers she needed in it.