//------------------------------//
// Morning after... 
// Story: That's what friends are for. 
// by Discordantnoise 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 2
Morning After...


When Hikaru woke up,Twilight was already down in the library,which made sense,seeing as how she always got up at the crack of dawn...Yawning,she walked to the bathroom and splashed some water on her face.Wiping off her wet face,she inhaled deeply,sensing pancake smell in the air.Mmm...pancakes!,Hikaru thought happily.Practically floating down the stairs towards the delicious breakfast-food,she was more than a little bit surprised upon seeing that it was Twilight who appeared to have made breakfast.Seeing the odd look on Hikaru's face,Twilight said,"You look like I grew a second head or something." 
Snickering at the thought of her with two heads,Hikaru answered,"No,I'm just surprised you cooked,after what happened with the water..."
With an annoyed look,she snapped,"I thought we agreed never to speak of that again."
And after a moments pause,she deadpanned,"And Pinkie brought them over."
Hikaru,however,was busy laughing about the last time Twilight had tried to cook,and said,"You burned water!How do you burn water!" 
In retaliation,Twilight quickly and quietly floated a glass of ice water over Hikaru's head and tipped it slightly,eliciting a yelp and some teeth chattering from the latter.It was at that moment Spike had chosen to wake up and walk down the stairs,only to see Twilight grinning smugly and Hikaru soaked.Unperturbed,he was only startled upon seeing that his friend and boss had two black eyes.
"Um,Twilight?", he asked.

"Yes Spike?" she replied.

Still somewhat confused,he answered,"Why do have two black eyes?Did I miss something?" 

Looking at Twilight,Hikaru added,"Yeah,I was meaning to ask you about that." 

Utterly stunned that Hikaru didn't seem to remember the previous night,she said,"Hikaru,you don't remember?Last night?" 

Seeing she was getting nowhere,Twilight added,"When you punched me between the eyes."

At this Spike's expression turned into a mix between flat out shock and anger,whereas Hikaru fell off the chair laughing and said,"I gave you two shiners?What'd you do,wake me up or something?" 

Still confused,Twilight replied,"Well,yes." 

Suddenly,she had a thought...What if she doesn't remember,somehow.Hm,I suppose it could be psychological,as it would be a traumatic experience to recall such a memory.And not only because of that,it could also be because she was so tired that it appeared to be part of a dream.Huh.A dream within a dream...I should look into that,could be interesting.Maybe I'll ask Princess Luna sometime...Oh right,the problem at hand.Well,it could be any combination of those things and more,or it could be plain denial,or maybe-
"Twilight,you're doing that thing again." 
Suddenly the voice of Spike broke through her train of thought.

"Oh!Sorry about that,I was kind of lost in thought," Twilight replied with a sheepish grin.

"Obviously," Hikaru said,somewhat bemused.

"Well,anyways,are you sure you don't remember any of it?I hate to bring it up again,but you,ah, you kind of had a bad dream,that wasn't exactly a dream,because you were remembering something.Something bad..." she said,somewhat hesitantly.
Suddenly,a look of comprehension dawned on Hikaru's face,and she said,"Oh.The dream part I remember,but don't recall socking you in the nose.At least,that's what had to have happened to give you a double-shiner,that or I got you directly between the eyes...I did apologize,right?Cause if I didn't,then I'm really sor-mph" 
She didn't get to finish,because her mouth had been shut.Magically.Nodding her head,Twilight then shot a disapproving look at Spike,who was currently laughing at Hikaru's magical predicament.

Releasing her magical hold,Twilight said,"You did,indeed,apologise.Maybe you don't remember punching me because you were half asleep at the time,or maybe you didn't realize you had punched me and thought you had instead pushed me,and thus it didn't really stick in your memory...Anyways,it all right.Funny thing is,I didn't realize I had these,as you call them,'shiners',until I went to brush my teeth this morning." 

After thinking over what she'd said,Hikaru replied,"You might need to hide them..." 

"She has a point," Spike added.

Twilight was confused as to why this was necessary,and said as much."Um,why?" 

She was immediately bombarded with a flurry of explanations ranging from,'So people don't think you were attacked by ninjas',to 'Wouldn't it be a bit embarrassing to have to explain to everybody that you were beat up by someone who was asleep?'.

"Ok,ok,I get the point.But what am I supposed to do about it.You know healing magic isn't exactly my forte,and I can't exactly lie about-Guys?Why are you looking at me like that?"