There was an explosion.
Twilight jerked awake in bed as the noise smashed against her ears and made her cringe in pain as her ears pulled it all in. She could feel it as it manhandled her ears and rattled her brain, only to leave just as fast as it came. Only a ringing echo to tell that it had been there at all. The astonishing silence that followed was almost as bad, the absence of noise being deafening after such a sudden and powerful eruption. She bite her teeth together and waited for the pain to go away, her ears protesting every minute of exposure. Eventually she managed to hold onto her senses long enough that she could roll off her bed and look into what had happened. Books tumbled aside as she did so, old tomes of the crystal empire. She barely noticed as the fell to the ground.
It sounded like it had come from just below her and as the shock of the noise bled out she found it replaced by worry. A bubbling kind of worry that made her pace quicken with every second, turning from linear to exponential at the sight of Spike’s empty bed. She was moving as fast as she dared down the stairs as she headed for the basement. She was worried for Spike, foremost she wanted to make sure he was okay, secondary concern was for James. Worried that something might have happened to him.
She busted into the basement with vigor, and found immediate relief in the fact that both Spike and James were upright. Her relief and worry shifted into a sort of confused concern. James looked ready to be the source of his own explosion. Veins were bulging in his neck as he stared wide eyed and grimaced at Spike, who was looking back in fear.
“I- I- I-” Spike stuttered, his claws clattering around a small metal object near his chest. James leaned in and snatched the object away with a yank, leaving Spike to stare onwards in fear. “I didn’t- it looked- I’m-”
“SHUT. UP.” James said clearly, staring daggers into the reptilian. “Don’t. Even. Talk.” He said slowly, as if having to bite his tongue with every word to stem the tide. James was shaking with fury as he took the thing in his hand and began to head upstairs. Twilight, however, blocked his way.
“Don’t talk to my assistant like that.” She said determinedly, her mind already off kilter from her rude awakening and the abrasive nature that James had shown at every opportunity. “Need I remind you that you are a GUEST in this house? Now calm down, and let’s-”
“OR WHAT?” James roared, turning to face her. “Will you imprison me? Kill me? Torture me? Have the princess work her precious little magic? Huh? What will you do? The only reason I ever stayed here is because you seemed so dead set on ‘saving me’. And now, friggin’ now look at what you’ve done! You’re precious assistant just went and blew my only ticket out of this HELL!”
He threw the strange device on the ground but didn’t break Twilight’s gaze. “No no no, screw you. I’m done. I’m freakin’ done. You can have your precious little fun in utopia. I’m gone. Just like everyone wanted. Just like you wanted. I won’t bother you again.” Twilight tried to keep a nonchalant look on her face as James ranted, but she failed to hide her shock. She simply stood there. Staring.
“MOVE!” James shouted, and Twilight did so. Out of fear and surprise and inability to do much else besides forcing him to stay she let him go. It wasn’t long before she heard the door to the library close shut. She and Spike waited in the silence, almost scared to move. The tension was still chokingly thick in the room, and neither seemed to have the courage to break it.
Spike was the first to regain control of his speech and luckily for him Twilight was more than ready to listen. “I just… he was laying on top of it. Like he’d fallen asleep with it in his hand. And I mean… I couldn’t sleep. That was why I came down here in the first place. And then I went to move it so that he would be more comfortable and it just…. it… blew up. I don’t know how or why…” Spike blinked as tears began to gather in his eyes and he looked fully at Twilight. “And he woke up and he just looked at me and then he got madder and madder and I don’t know why and I just…" Spike stopped for a moment and stared at the discarded thing only a few steps away. "Did I screw up Twilight?”
“No Spike. No. You were just trying to help. He over reacted. It isn’t your fault.” Twilight was quick to console Spike, guiding him down the stairs and onto the open floor at the bottom. “It’s okay Spike. I’m sure it’ll turn out okay. It’ll work out.” Just as the pair of them were about to rest on the floor and calm their nerves they heard a rising noise building outside the library. It didn’t sound like James, not solely anyway. It sounded like a crowd. Spike and Twilight shared a look before they made their way back up the stairs and out the front way.
A crowd had begun to gather in the soft morning light that was only now lighting the area. They’d all come together in a half circle around the front door of the library, standing shoulder to shoulder. Their eyes were staring intently at the human that they’d corralled with their presence, but when the door to the library opened they all looked to Twilight in sudden surprise. They seemed caught between keeping their formation and checking on her, but their decision was made as Rainbow Dash took to the air suddenly and made her way to the door.
“Keep him in place, I’ll see what’s going on with Twilight.” She commanded, and there was a series of head nods from the crowd, a determined glare coming to every face as they renewed their stances of defense.
Rainbow Dash landed in front of Twilight and was about to talk when she was interrupted. “What’s going on Rainbow? Why is everyone here?”
“Well we heard that explosion and we all came to check up on you. We got here and were about to come in when that thing came out and made to leave. So we stopped him.”
“Why’d-” Twilight was stopped as she heard a crashing noise and saw James laying prone on the cobblestones a short ways away. He pushed himself to his feet again and turned angrily to the mob.
“Let me leave!” Rage bubbled with every word and his fists clenched together by his side.
“No!” came the reply from the crowd. And James ran towards the wall of ponies once again, only to get shoved back with enough force to take him clean off his feet. His head smacked the stones this time, but he fought back to his feet once more. This time Rainbow had turned to see what was going on as well.
He ran and got forced away again and again. Each run with less and less vigor until at last he remained still on the ground breathing heavily. “Good job guys!” Rainbow shouted to the crowd with a smile from ear to ear, the response was a cheer that sent another jolt through Twilight’s sensitive ears. And as they all congratulated themselves James remained against the ground and Twilight merely looked on agap, too stunned to move.
A silence slowly fell as the cheers died off, being replaced only by the soft sound of whimpers. The ponies all looked among themselves for the source, trying to spot who’d been wounded in the defense before they finally looked to James, who had one arm over his eyes as he lay alone on the stone. Still except for the stuttering shakes that shook his diaphragm with every inhale.
“Are you… crying?” Rainbow asked, taking a step closer to the human.
“Yea, go figure.” He said angrily from the stone. “Congratulations, you got me to show some emotions. Woopdedoo. Fantastic. I just wanted to leave, but noooo, nooooo. Let’s not do that even though we can see he’s telling the truth about Twilight being okay. Let’s knock him onto the stone, that sounds like fun.” He removed the arm from over his eyes and pulled himself to his feet again, stumbling slightly as he rose. He stared at the ponies with bloodshot eyes. “Happy day for you then! Good job everyone! You stopped the oh so menacing threat!”
A small rivulet of blood streamed out from under his hair and ran down his cheek and throat where it got absorbed by his shirt. He stumbled again and fell to his knees where he wrapped his arms around his head. He sat there, sobbing still. And all the ponies looked at each other, slightly uneasy. Slowly, Fluttershy found her way out of the crowd and approached the human. No one tried to stop her, if anyone could handle this emotionally unstable being it would be her.
“It’s okay.” She whispered as she approached, hoping to calm him. Instead he violently lashed out. Whipping his arms to his side and staring her in the eye.
“Don’t. Even.” He said through clenched teeth. “I saw you in that crowd. You didn’t do anything. You didn’t even whisper. I watched you. Now that you feel guilty you want to fix it? Well screw you. Screw all of you!” He shouted the last bit. Gazing into the crowd.
“Just wanted to die. But I can’t even have that.” He said slowly before he fell to his side. The fatigue and wounds and stress took their toll and he passed out in front of the library, tears and blood still both marking his skin. It was a while before anyone did anything. And when movement did happen, it was Twilight who took him to the hospital to be looked over. Everyone else shared looks of shame between themselves, not sure how to feel about what had just happened.