They arrived at Twilight's house, which now had what appeared to be metal bars on the windows. The door looked like solid wood, and had ten different locks on it, along with one of those rectangle holes that has a sliding door, for looking outside.
Using the knocker, Scootaloo reluctantly knocked on the door. The little rectangele opened, and all three ponies were greeted by a pair of baggy, bloodshot eyes.
"Oh, hi girls!' Twilight said in a slightly demented voice. "What would you like with me this evening?"
"Well.. Scootaloo was in town.. and wanted to see you.." Sweetie Belle stammered.
'I hand't noticed! I'll let you right in!"
With that, the rectangle closed, the three ponies heard several clicks as each lock was undone, and a few seconds later the door opened.
"Come on in!" Twilight smiled awkwardly at them.
Scootaloo could now see Twilight's hair was a mess, as was her house. There were food wrappers and soft drink cans littering the area near a large chair, where a pile of thirtysomething books lay beside. There were what appeared to be boards in front of the windows, and hardly any light was getting in. The only real light was a small lamp right next to the chair.
"Would you girls like some coffee?" Twilight's eye twitched.
"Er.. no.. no thank you, ma'am." Apple Bloom managed to get out, clearly intimidated.
But how she was feeling was nothing compared to Scootaloo, who had no idea Twilight was like this. She seemed to have not talked to a soul in months.
Spike walked in at that moment, only his eyes were wide, glossy, and unblinking. In a completely emotionless voice he announced "Twilight, your meatloaf is ready. I will bring it to you." He then exited back into the kitchen, not even acknowledging the girls. A few seconds later he reemerged with the meatloaf. He handed it to Twilight, then went in the corner and closed his eyes. He appeared to be sleeping, except he was standing up. That was the first time Scootaloo noticed what appeared to be stitches going from above his right eye to just behind his right ear. If it could be called an ear. Scootaloo didn't know a lot about dragons.
"Well, uh.. we better get going." Scootaloo commented. "Come on, guys."
"Thank you for your visit, girls!" Twilight said in a creepy, slightly cheerful way.
As soon as they left, and Twilight's door was locked, Scootaloo asked "Now what was that?!"
Sweeite Belle, again, offered an explanation. "Well, after what happened with Rarity, Spike jumped off the library. Broke his skull. Twilight used a spell to bring him back to life.. but too much of his brain was damaged. She chose to keep him.. well, you saw how he was.. but still considered him dead. That basically destroyed her, and now she never talks to anypony."
"Wow.. I never realized how much could happen in a few years.." Scootaloo shed a few tears at how unhappy everypony seemed to be.
"Er.. it gets worse" Sweetie Belle said unhappily. She was clearly just as upset about this as Scootaloo, just more used to it. "Wait until you get to Fluttershy's"