//------------------------------// // Please, Please, I Need You // Story: Looking on The Inside // by HenryAnthonyCourtler //------------------------------// Chapter 2: Please, Please, I need you. “AAAAAHHHHH!” Rainbow Dash screamed as loud as she could, eyes open wide in fear, her ears standing tall, trying desperately to pick the sound of the taunting laughs, the never ending whoosh of the darkness that swallowed her; even her wings were spread wide, her fight or flight senses on edge. She gasped as her lungs pumped oxygen into her body, working as if she had been running a marathon and trying to maintain a clean level of oxygen in her brain. Sweat trickled down her face, causing her rainbow mane to stick to her forehead, which almost obscured her vision in a multi-colored veil; almost protecting her from the darkness around her. Even her legs were sporadically twitching in fear; refusing to cooperate with her in the slightest, as if her body was still fooled by the nightmare she just had, still reliving the memories from months ago as though they had just happened. “Rainbow...” a gruff voice cut across through her panic. She took a few more moments to try to calm down before facing her partner, Ryan. “Yeah...” she whispered back to him, her breathing slow, deep, and steady, but her eyes still moved around rapidly, as though on the lookout for any imminent threat. “Go back to sleep Rainbow...” he told her, raising his head to look over her at the alarm clock, “It’s barely even four thirty in the morning. We both need our sleep... please, try to get some more...” he yawned deeply into his arm, “...sleep. I gotta go to work in a couple of hours and I need my rest just as much as you need yours, Okay?” The pale, ivory skinned man was very irritated about being woken up yet again by her nightmares and wanted nothing more than to get back to sleep and rest up. She was quiet for several moments as she let his statement sink in. With a sigh, Rainbow Dash rolled over to face the alarm clock and blankly stared ahead, “Okay, I understand,” she answered back with a defeated tone. The cyan pegasus simply laid there and blankly stared at her dresser, trying to tire herself out and possibly get more sleep. Her eyes gently fluttered closed and for a moment, sleep’s comforting and caressing embrace seeming to envelope her, until his voice resounded clearly in her mind, “It isn’t your fault in the slightest... I shouldn’t have gone after somepony who already had their eyes set on somepony else,” his voice was just as heartbroken, weak, and apologetic as the day he had last spoken to her so many months ago. Rainbow Dash tried her hardest to say something, but she couldn’t find the strength to say anything, anything that could make things alright. Something to comfort the breaking man in front of her and assure him things would be okay. Yet all she could do was stand silently and watch the events unfurl in front of her. She tossed and turned, trying with all her might to fight against the cruel nightmare that haunted her nearly every time she tried to sleep, but found it futile. The mare got fed up with trying to sleep so she groggily woke up, quietly flapped her wings, and carefully floated off the bed without waking up Ryan. While still being quiet so as not to disturb Ryan; Rainbow Dash slowly tiptoed towards the dresser and stood in front of it, staring at her reflection. She took a long look at her reflection, and grimaced at her appearance. What was once a beautiful pair of deep, violet pink eyes now looked dull and almost lifeless. Sure the competitive spark remained in them, but it seemed to be the only thing that kept them from looking completely lifeless. Dark rings rimmed the edges of her violet eyes and at first glance seemed as nothing more than exotic eye liner, but upon closer examination it was clear that the cyan pegasus had gone many a night without sleep. The expression on her face looked defeated, tired, and weak; a far cry from the strong mare many had come to know her as. With a shake of her head, Rainbow Dash passed a hoof through her messy and tangled mane, straightening out quickly and efficiently. After combing through it with her hoof for several minutes, her hair looked neater, though it was still too fluffy. She shook her head and gave a small smile of content as the rest of her mane fell into the usual messy style she was accustomed to. Quietly, Rainbow Dash walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs, past Ryan's study and into the well-stocked kitchen, grabbing a seat at the breakfast table. The mere thought of the nightmare kept her on edge to the point she just sat there. She sat there and didn't dare move an inch, nor bat an eyelash; anything that could keep her away from the cruel, merciless nightmare that haunted her dreams nearly every night. It was almost maddening. Time seemed to flow around her at such a speed that her mind made no attempt to comprehend as to why the ticking clock had so suddenly moved from four in the morning to nine in the morning. Rainbow Dash stared blankly ahead until the sound of loud footsteps on the stairs snapped her out of the trance she was in. The ivory skinned man walked in, adjusting a blood red tie around the silky black collar of his long sleeved dress shirt. He took a seat across from his lover and took a good look at her solemn expression. "Rainbow, you okay?" he asked her softly. "Yeah... why do you ask?" the same tired tone laced deeply in her usually edgy voice. "What do you define as okay? You woke up crying late last night and I'm pretty sure you sat down here for the rest of the night," Ryan stated in an even tone, wanting to figure out her problem. "I—It was nothing!" Rainbow Dash insisted, her eyes looking away from his, almost as if she were afraid that his eyes could see her inner turmoil. Thinking quickly on her feet, the Pegasus flashed him a seductive smile and asked, "How's the weather doing today?" Rainbow Dash hoped that would be enough to keep him from questioning her further on the topic. He gave her a small smirk in return and held a hand to his chin, pondering her question, "It’s somewhat cloudy out there, but at least it's sunny for the most part," he glanced over at the clock and stood up, “I gotta get going to work, Dash; I'll see you later." Ryan leaned in to give her a kiss on the lips, but she turned to the side and took it on the cheek. He hurried out of the house, a small tight frown on his face, as he grabbed his jacket and shut the door. The moment the door closed, she sighed in relief; her face lowering into her arms as she lay against the cool surface of the table top. She felt glad he had to leave to work, but at the same time she felt that she should have at least kissed him on the lips. The cyan pegasus might not be at her best, but that shouldn’t be an excuse to not even kiss her lover... or was it? Taking a look at the clock, she almost cursed when she realized she was about to be late to her best friend Fluttershy’s breakfast gathering she was having today at her place with the rest of their close friends. Without taking a second glance, she zoomed out of the kitchen, grabbing her key chain and securing it around her neck. She halted at the door and opened it, making sure to lock it behind her before she took off with a rocketing blast; sending snow in every direction. Taking to the skies, Rainbow Dash smirked as she flew out at a casually fast speed, the air seemingly molding about her thin figure. Her wings flapped in small but powerful bursts so strong that it seemed as though she was floating quickly through the skies. Ponyville came into view, its colorful roofs and homes shining brightly in the partially cloudy skies. She veered to the right and steered herself in the direction of the Everfree forest. Slowly, she descended from her preferred high altitude and steadily made her way to the ground, landing softly by Fluttershy’s cottage. Rainbow Dash walked up to the door, shaking her rainbow mane every which way in an effort to get the static out of it, and rapped on it once. Several moments passed before a yellow pegasus with a bubblegum- pink mane and deep cyan- green eyes opened. “Hey Rainbow Dash. I’m so happy you could make it!” she said excitedly in her quiet tone. “So am I. I’m sorry if I almost ran late, I kinda got held up at home and stuff,” Rainbow Dash apologized; a cheeky smile on her face as she rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. “Come in and join us Rainbow. Everypony else is here and we're just about to have breakfast,” Fluttershy insisted, glad her friend was able to make it just in time. Rainbow Dash walked in, and the small smirk she had on face just from the simple act of flying had bloomed into a friendly smile, although it still couldn’t quite reach her sleep deprived violet eyes. The other girls had been excitedly chatting up a storm until Applejack had taken notice of her. "Howdy there R.D., how ya doin'?" the orange colored farm mare greeted from her seat. Before the cyan mare could respond, a pink blur shot from the table and knocked Rainbow Dash clear off her hooves, "Oh my gosh Rainbow Dash, how are you!? It’s been forever since we've last seen each other and we haven't hung out in such a long time and it’s been FOREVER since we've last played we a prank and—" Pinkie was suddenly silenced mid-speech by Rainbow Dash's hoof being inserted into her mouth. "I'm happy to see ya too Pinks!" she giggled at her friends over enthusiasm. Applejack walked over to them, wanting to help them up when she saw Pinkie Pie wink at her. She just smirked and nodded her head in approval. Pinkie seductively smiled at Rainbow Dash and slowly sucked on her hoof as if it was a— "Pinkie! Cut it out, we’re supposed to be having breakfast, not watching you pretend to get it on with Rainbow Dash, darling!" Rarity chastised, bouncing her beautifully curled purple mane over her shoulder. Everyone laughed at Pinkie’s joke, even Rainbow couldn't help but laugh despite how weirded out she felt by Pinkie's dirty euphemism. After all the girls got the laughter of their system, they all sat down at the kitchen table and chatted away while Fluttershy delicately placed pancakes on everypony’s plate. Once they had all been served, everypony began to add small little touches to their plates like cherries, raisins, maple syrup, or strawberries. Fluttershy quietly ate and watched her friends interact amongst themselves. “So Rainbow Dash, how have you been these past few weeks?” Twilight spoke up, wiping some excess maple syrup off her face with a napkin. “I’ve been *munch* doing pretty good, just *munch* busy wiff *munch* work,” she answered in between bites of her pancakes. “Where ya’ been all this time R.D? I’ve barely seen ya’ anywhere and you’re always going off sum’where. Is everythin’ okay?” Applejack asked her, the concern clear on her face. “Like I said Applejack, I’ve just been busy with work. A lot of assignments, errands, and stuff,” Rainbow Dash insisted before stifling a deep yawn with her hoof. “If ya’ say so Rainbow. Ah’ hope them ponies at the weather factory take it a bit easier on you once all this extra work is finished,” the cowpony looked over at her friend and noticed just how tired she seemed, but knew better than to get on her case and try to question her about it. Until then, Pinkie Pie had also quietly sat there and looked on at her friend’s conversation and decided to speak up, “Rainbow Dash, I don’t think you’re okay,” “What makes you *yawn* think that?” she asked, her patience beginning to run out with all the personal question her friends kept asking. “Well you keep yawning and your hairs all over the place instead of in its cool, crazy manner. You look like you haven’t slept in months and you’re all gloomy and not smiling and your eyes look all—” “Will you get off my case Pinkie Pie!? For Celestia’s sake, why is everypony suddenly so interested in all my personal business!? Can you all just please, please just leave me alone!” Rainbow Dash yelled angrily before standing up in a huff and flying out a nearby open window. “Rainbow wai—” “Applejack, I think its best we leave her alone for now. I really think that some of us shouldn’t have pressed the issue,” Twilight pointed out, slightly upset with the way Applejack and a certain pink pony had treated Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie, for her part, looked sadly at her plate. (V) (;,,;) (V) ~Line Break~ Rainbow Dash angrily flew off through the high skies, refusing to stop even after the cowpony tried to reason with her. Pinkie Pie wasn’t in any position to be questioning her appearance, nor trying to butt into her personal affairs. To make matters worse, she was supposed to start clearing the skies over the town in preparation of the late afternoon rainstorm Ponyville would be going through, but the frustration and anger she felt was just too much for her. “Screw clearing the skies. Somepony else can get off their lazy haunches and do something around here for once,” she angrily scoffed at her remark and continued to fly onwards. Her anger just kept boiling to such an extent, that Rainbow Dash wasn’t quite paying attention to where she was going. “Look out below!” a voice shouted distantly above her. She didn’t really care and flew anyway until something smashed onto her on the head, sending her plummeting to the ground. The rainbow mane pegasus tried her best to gain control of her flight in the midst of her fall, but she was so distracted and unable to focus, that her wings refused cooperate with her. Luckily for her, the welcoming branches of a tree caught her shortly before snapping under her weight and sending her to the ground with a loud thud. Rainbow Dash looked up at the sky, her vision swimming violently from one side to another. Colors and shaped blended and blurred together as she dazedly tried to stand up, only to fall flat on her face. For several minutes she laid there, unaware of another fellow pegasus who stood there worriedly. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to drop the refrigerator on your head!” she heard a voice bounce around in her head. Shakily, Rainbow Dash turned her face in the direction of the voice and the first color she saw was grey. Looking up, she immediately knew who it was. The bubbles cutie mark, blonde mane and tail, and bright yellow eyes identified the pegasus as Derpy Hooves. “Derpy?” Rainbow Dash slurred, her head lolling from side to side. “Are you okay!?” Derpy shouted. She lent down and cradled the downed pegasus’ head in her hooves with delicacy. “Sure... just give me a few minutes,” the cyan blue mare answered back. She let her head rest for a couple of more minutes before she took another attempt at standing up on her own. This time she was successful. She took a few wobbling steps before Derpy ran in front of her. “I'm so sorry,” Derpy exclaimed, “but I have to make sure you are Ok.” Derpy pulled out a flashlight and shone it into Rainbow’s eyes to check for a concussion. Rainbow pulled away from the bright light. “I’m fine, Derpy. You don’t need to do that,” Dash said. She tried to walk away, but fell over into the dust. Derpy walked over to her, as she struggled to her feet. “See what I mean? Here, let me finish and you'll be right as rain in no time!” Derpy said, as she pulled Dash to her feet, “Now hold still,” several minutes passed as Derpy fixed Dash up. She finally finished and patted Dash on the head. “I'm so sorry about that again, have a muffin. It will make you feel better,” she said, as she brushed some dirt off of Rainbow. Derpy looked at her for a minute noting her disheveled appearance. “Are you feeling alright? You don't look so good. Is it something at home?” she asked the pegasus. “I’m bucking fine Derpy! Or at least I was until you dropped that damn package on my head!” Rainbow shouted at the gray pegasus in frustration. “Don’t you have somewhere to be or something for Celestia’s sake!?” Her patience was rapidly running out, especially with everypony questioning her mood purely on her appearance. Derpy craned at the sun for a secon,. “Oh no, you’re right!” she gasped, “I'm going to be late!” she flew up into the air, “Sorry Muffin, I have to go or I’m going to miss the mail call,” Derpy flew off towards Cloudsdale. Rainbow sat on the ground staring at the muffin in her hoof for a minute. “What was that?” she looked at the receding dot headed towards Cloudsdale that was Derpy. “Did she just... how? UGH can this day possibly get any worse now!?” She shouted angrily, her face flushing a deep red in anger. She sat there for many minutes, her rage and anger heating up more and more, as her mood declined faster and faster. Not even the delicious muffin she had eaten did anything to lighten her mood. Rainbow Dash was just so fed up with people being on her case and trying to inquire her about her business. It was aggravating, rude, and borderline obsessive in her opinion. The frustration she felt kept her distracted for so long, that when she cared enough to look up at the sky, she had noticed just how much later in the afternoon had gotten. Her eyes widened for a moment, as she realized that work at the weather station was about to start and she needed to get her butt in there as fast as possible. With an angry huff, Rainbow Dash took off as fast as she could to continue her valiant attempt to get to work. After flying up for a few minutes, she finally arrived at her destination, the Ponyville Weather Factory. The state of the art facility was built with the latest in pegasus technology, to provide easier assistance with weather tasking, scheduling, and efficiency. That also left the equipment as an easy task to upgrade to even newer technology. She landed with a loud thud on the workers bay and pushed her way past the workers that had been waiting on her. Many had noticed her foul mood whilst either flying through town, or in her anger towards the other workers. Nopony dared ask the pegasus about it for fear of having her anger unleashed upon them. “Alright everypony! You all better be ready to get this rainstorm rolling or so help me Celestia I will bite one of your heads off!” Rainbow Dash barked angrily at her workers in an unusually angry voice than what was expected of her as manager of the Ponyville weather department. Everypony saluted her and began to quickly set up for the nearly all day rainstorm and began to send out thick black thunder clouds into the air for a while until enough clouds covered almost all of Ponyville. Once the clouds had been evenly distributed, several pegasi flew out of the weather factory and hopped on some clouds to get the thunder rolling across the town and eventually came back to the station. Rainbow Dash knew it was her cue to finish it up and get the rain going and with an angry glare, she flew out of the station and went over to a massive cloud in the middle of town. She hopped on it, but no rainwater came out of it. Again, she hopped on it with just a bit more force, but only managed to send a few droplets, if any, to the ground. Rainbow Dash grit her teeth in anger and flew up before quickly slamming into the cloud with all the force she could muster, causing it to rain instantly from that cloud. She felt so frustrated with everything that had gone wrong that day that she began to angrily slam onto clouds, causing the rainstorm to become increasingly denser until a powerful torrential rainstorm had been formed. Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash was too frustrated, angry, and annoyed to notice or care and just angrily huffed back to the station to attend to other business. The thunder clouds continued to gush rain in sheets. They rumbled with thunder before beginning to grow in size and ferocity. They raged on without control and began flooding the low-lying areas of the poor town below. The nearby river burst its banks just to add to the whole mess. All the while, the clouds went on pouring down rain uncontrolled. (V) (;,,;) (V) ~Coffee Break~ Aramis slowly trudged down the street, not caring a single bit about the unforgivingly cold and pelting rain that had assaulted him out of the blue. His black trench coat was almost instantly soaked through by the pouring rain and his long brown hair became plastered to his head. Still, he walked calmly ahead, his dress shoes sinking somewhat into the muddy ground. He was on his way to the more seedy part of town, the underground life of Ponyville that was more or less kept out of sight. The human walked past the town square and stood in front of a nondescript apartment and quickly rapped twice on the big wooden door before knocking lightly a third time after a small pause. The door opened and two burly brown stallions stood at the door and looked him over for a moment. He gave them a curt nod, which they returned and ushered him inside, cautiously closing the door to prevent any prying eyes from getting a glimpse inside. Aramis went down the stairs and suddenly had his senses battered by all kinds of smells, sounds, and sights. However, he took a seat on a bar stool without a care in the world. The bartender took a single glance at him before sliding him a bottle across the counter. Aramis took the bottle and turned to survey the rest of the room. A darkly lit parlor greeted in his eyes; pool tables, dart ranges, card table, and regular tables were littered all over the large room. The smell of fried foods, alcohol, and sweat permeated the air. It was overwhelming at first, but deep and atmospheric after a couple of drinks with the bronies hanging around. Somewhat loud music syphoned across the entire room, the vibrations being felt through everything. The stench of harshly brewed alcoholic beverages was one Aramis had come to know quite well. Day after day he sat inside the dim interior of the Ponyville Pub, wasting his money, getting drunk, and vomiting outside. He was not as elegant as he once was. His dark brown hair had grown long and messy, dark bags had formed under his eyes, signifying the lack of sleep he put himself through. The murmur of voices drifted across the room like smoke from a campfire. Aramis sighed and turned around to face the bar again. His head dropped, staring at his feet and the filthy wooden floor; his hand curled around the bottle, containing a mix of chemicals that both intoxicated him and wore him down from the inside out. His clothing was still as pristine as it had always been; he hadn't let his laundry slip as much as he had his appearance but; when one considered appearance, clothing played a large part in defining who you were. Aramis raised his head and put his lips to the bottle, tilting it back and letting the bitter fluid drown his sorrows. He groaned and set the bottle back on the bar, ignoring the fact that it toppled over and rolled dangerously on the polished wooden surface. The bartender turned from his duties which consisted of running a filthy rag over the top of the bar. He sighed as he took in Aramis' disheveled appearance. The bartender had seen him many times in the spot he sat in now, drinking and drinking. With another sigh, the sympathetic pony approached the human, shaking his head at the absurdity of Aramis' condition. "Hello... hey, you still in that noggin' of yours," he waved his hoof in front him, still not getting any sort of reaction from him, "Alright, I’m giving you to the count of three or I'm giving you a wakeup call," he warned. "One," the bartender tapped the tanned man's cheek, his body still as a statue, eyes staring unfocused into the beyond. "Two," this time he tried to slap Aramis awake with more force, but it barely made him react. Aramis’ eyes blinked, but he still refused to acknowledge the barkeep. "Three!" the barkeep let loose a powerful left hoof that knocked Aramis clean off the stool and onto the hard unforgiving wooden floor. He pathetically moaned in pain, as the bartender went around the bar and helped him back onto the stool; returning to his position right after. "Did you really have to hit me so hard, ya’ git?" questioned the young man with a slightly lopsided grin. "Well, ya’ wouldn't react. Almost thought you were dead on yer feet or something,” the barkeep answered off-hoofedly while cleaning a shot glass before placing it below the counter. The two fell quiet for a while until Aramis decided to break the strike up a conversation with the bartender. “How’s business been here in the past couple of days?” Aramis asked the bartender, staring longingly into the latest in his countless beer bottle collection. “It’s been a bit slow with the recent lack of ‘em pegasus workers, but it ain’t too bad, as some new foals decided to join da’ Ponyville Pub and take a shot at da’ underground life,” he answered, as he cleaned another shot glass. The human chuckled at the thought of the new foals. “How have them new foals been holding up?” “Well they haven’t gotten too rowdy and I gotta say two of them— a stallion and a mare can hold their own. Give or take some five or six visits, and we’ll be havin’ new members to the roster.” he commented, a bit excited at the prospect of more new people to talk to. Aramis sat there quietly for a long while after the conversation trailed off, drinking beers and staring absentmindedly into the empty abyss in front of him. He suddenly sighed loudly and laid his head down on the bar, "Man, what am I doing here?" The barkeep shrugged, "Drinking, moaning. Forgetting," "What a waste! What a life!" Aramis cried out, but he didn't stop there, he continued on with his drunken speech, "I could have had a chance you know! She could have been mine, but I fucked it up. I... I didn't try hard enough I guess." Some bitter tears spilled forth from Aramis’ eyes and he angrily rubbed them away to hide his shame. The bartender repeated his shrugging motion and slid another bottle of beer down the bar towards Aramis who caught it in thankful hands. It didn't take long for the distraught man to finish his drink. From that point onwards, Aramis drank and drank and drank until he literally couldn't tell his right hand from his left. Hours had passed, but to Aramis it seemed like mere minutes. He laughed loudly, disrupting the bar’s once peaceful attitude and the bartender sighed at him. “You’re wasted Aramis. Ya’ need ta’ go home, alright?” he suggested. “I don’t wanna *hic* go home!” Aramis said as he drunkenly stood up. “Brutus, Cassius, can you please kick him out? He needs to go home and get some rest,” the bartender said with an air of finality. “Awww *hic* come on! This is *hic* bullshit and you *hic* it!” the human complained. Before the situation could escalate any further, the same two bouncers who had let him in "escorted" the man out of the bar. That consisted of Aramis being grabbed roughly and kicked out of the door. Rain and mud greeted the vision of the very drunk and distraught man. Aramis had landed face down in the muddy street and groaned as he attempted to get to his unsteady feet. His disoriented hands reached out for the wall but they failed to locate it and the intoxicated young man landed in the mud again. By this point he was drenched in mud and was absolutely filthy. He crawled along the slimy road, vomiting several times in the process. Aramis felt his eyelids grow heavy and he began to doze off despite being in the middle of the street and the fact that it was raining. (V) (;,,;) (V) ~Line Break~ A pony with midnight blue hair trotted down the street in a jacket that covered her purple coat and hid the sprinkled stars that formed her cutie mark on her flanks. A tightly sealed bundle bounced against her sides, just barely containing all the books she had received from Canterlot, courtesy of Princess Celestia herself. She wanted Twilight to study psychology for some reason. When she pressed for more information the Princess had simply said, “It will come in handy when the time calls for it,” and had left it at that. She had briefly read one of the books titled The Inner- workings of The Mind and Psyche. Although the idea of studying psychology seemed rather odd at first, Twilight was very excited to learn about it since it was the chance to learn something new. The excitement of reading something new motivated her to try to get home even faster. As she hurried through the plaza, she almost tripped over a form lying on the ground, covered in mud. She examined the prone figure and gasped, recognizing the downtrodden figure of her friend. "Aramis! Oh sweet Celestia, please be okay..." the purple unicorn muttered worriedly, as she strenuously lifted him onto her back. She adjusted his limp body to prevent him from falling and trotted quickly in the direction of his home, which was just nearby her place. He groaned in his semi-conscious state, as he slumped over Twilight's back. Buildings passed by his half open eyes, blending together in an array of muted colors and dark shades. He felt chilled to the core from the cold rain, and began to shiver. His long hair stuck to his face as he coughed brutally, causing his friend to increase the speed of her walking. Soon Aramis' house loomed up ahead and Twilight pushed open the door with her magic, carrying her very intoxicated friend inside. The house was warm and Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, as the house's temperature washed away the feeling of the cold; unforgiving rain. She struggled to reach the living room and soon Aramis was lying haphazardly on the couch. His eyelids opened slowly, revealing the bloodshot eyes of a man filled with regret. There might have a been a tear or two welling up in the corners of his eyes, but they vanished as soon as he blinked them. Twilight sighed and sat down nearby, preparing to lecture her human friend on the dangers of drinking, but he stopped her before she could speak. "Please...don't leave..." Aramis pleaded quietly, the melancholy and sadness he felt, was only intensified by the constant alcohol intake he had put himself through the entire day. "What's wrong Aramis?" the unicorn asked, ready to take action at a moment’s notice. "Everything!" he exclaimed as he burst out sobbing, his entire torso shaking from how hard he cried. Twilight was shocked at his behavior. In all the time she had known him, she had never seen him cry, but it hurt to watch the man break apart even more at the seams. Twilight approached him and nuzzled into him, her warmth radiating around him like a blanket of safety. He hugged her fiercely and refused to let go until he had calmed down, which was okay with her. Aramis needed somepony to help him, and if she didn't, then who would? Once he had calmed down enough, Twilight shifted herself in his embrace to face him,"I think you should talk about what's troubling you," she had a good feeling that it would be an uphill battle to get through to him, especially with him being drunk. "No..." "Why not?" "Because I'll just be a bother," "No you won't, just talk to m—" "I don't want to fucking talk about my problems! It’s no one’s business, but my own to reflect on how much of a failure I am," he trailed off bitterly into the couch so as to avoid her fierce purple orbs, that were determined to get to the bottom of the barrel and pull her friend out of the dark hole he had dug himself into. "What exactly makes you feel like a failure? What has you so deep into this depression you’re going through?" Twilight was beyond determined to help her depressed friend. "Do you really want to know why I'm so down?" Twilight nodded anxiously, "Of course I do!" Aramis bit his lower lip before continuing, fingers gripped in a tight fist. "I coulda’ tried harder Twilight! I could have fought! She slipped away from me and now... now HE has her." "Who has whom, Aramis?" The broken man drove his fist into the couch as he stared over Twilight's shoulders and at the wall behind her, "It's all dark now, all purged in black. Every day I stare into the bottoms of beer bottles, every day I drag myself home and wish that it was all just a bad dream, but it's fucking not!" Aramis stumbled to his feet this time, but only stood for a second upright before tripping over himself and falling through the glass table across from the couch. He smashed through the glass top and became entangled in the iron framework, cutting him quite badly. Twilight attempted to help him but he pushed her away and wearily pulled himself out from the broken table. He kicked over chairs and slammed his fist into the drywall before finally tripping on the edge of a rug and collapsing to the hardwood floor. It was a pitiful scene to be sure. A man who once had been the very pinnacle of etiquette and happiness was now crawling around on the floor of his home drunk, bleeding, and crying. Hot salty tears had started their way down his cheeks, as he laid face down on the floor, sobbing. Twilight sighed and knelt next to him, observing the very image of inner turmoil. Aramis was covered in cuts both superficial and serious that formed many blood stains on his shirt. The erudite pony dragged him to his bedroom and carefully deposited the human on the large bed before leaving for several minutes. Twilight returned with several bandages and a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide, most likely scavenged from Aramis' bathroom. She unbuttoned his shirt and exposed Aramis' damaged chest. Cuts decorated the smooth skin, pieces of sharp broken glass sticking out of many of them. One look at all the wounds made her wince at just how bad he managed to hurt himself just by tripping over his own feet. Quickly, Twilight used her magic to steadily pull out the glass shards embedded in his chest and for the most part it worked efficiently. Unfortunately, some of the deeper lacerations required more hands-on work in the form of her having to use her hooves to spread open the injury, pulling apart damaged and bleeding skin to use her telekinesis. She kept at it without even taking a break, stopping what she was doing long enough to pour some water on his chest to wash off the blood that covered his torso. Surprisingly, the man just blankly stared at the ceiling, his body unmoving. No matter how roughly she handled his bruised and sensitive body, it seemed to do nothing to him. He didn’t even flinch or bat an eye. Nothing seemed to bother or matter to him while he laid there like a broken doll. Still though, she worked diligently to remove all the imbued glass, and she had finally managed such a feat after almost an hour of intense, non-stop, medical treatment. However, this brought the hardest step in the process for her— closing the wounds with just her magic. The task itself sounded easy until the fact that she was exhausted and the fact that it would be her first time performing such an action on a non-pony added a certain level of stress to it. It took a lot more concentration than removing the glass, as she had to nearly envision the muscles, flesh, tendons, and skin melding back together. Twilight, however, was not going to allow her exhaustion from preventing her from doing the right thing and treating to her close friend’s wounds to the best of her abilities. After another forty five minutes of strenuous mental exertion, Twilight Sparkle had managed to successfully treat all the wounds he had just suffered at his own hands. She grabbed the gauze and used her magic to lift him up high enough from the bed to allow her to wrap the gauze around his torso. Gently she used her hooves and some magic to move the gauze around and begin to wrap it from his stomach to the base of his neck. Slowly, she wrapped it around his back and over his stomach, making sure that it partially covered the last roll to prepare it for tightening. After several minutes of carefully wrapping the gauze around his torso, she grabbed the end of it with her teeth and carefully pulled on it, until she had it wrapped tightly around him. She noticed that some blood had managed to slip down onto his neck and the bottom of his face and grabbed a towel. Wiping off the excess blood with a towel, Twilight looked at her friend thoughtfully before speaking, "Aramis, what are you doing to yourself?" The man took a moment to reply, still fixated on the slowly twirling fan, "I'm trying to forget... or maybe its forgiveness... but I'm not the one that needs to be forgiven," "You're speaking in riddles Aramis. How can I help you if you won't tell me the straight facts?" Twilight applied a stern, yet gentle tone, and it had an effect on him to some extent. Aramis slowly turned his head so that he was facing the purple unicorn, "You're smart Twilight. You'll figure it out." She shook her head and continued wiping the blood off of Aramis' chest. He mumbled under his breath but despite the close proximity to him, Twilight was unable to make out any distinctive words. Aramis was the first to break the silence, "Will you stay here tonight, Twilight? I don't want to be alone, I don't want to..." he trailed off with a sniffle. The bookworm nodded slowly, "Of course I will Aramis, of course," She helped arrange him into a comfortable position so as to not irritate his wounds or tear his bandages. Once she had gotten him wrapped in some blankets, Twilight levitated the blankets up to his chin and walked over to him. “Sleep well Aramis. I’ll sleep here on the floor, or maybe on the couch,” Twilight wasn’t too bothered by the idea as she usually slept on a variety of things whenever she carried out an all-night reading session. “Please... I don’t want to be alone Twi. Please sleep with me...” Aramis called out to her tiredly, unable to stifle a deep yawn that forced its way out. She stood there for several moments, contemplating whether or not it was a good idea. She had been attracted to him for some time now, but wasn't this pushing it? Sleeping in the same bed was a bit too far for her, but as she looked at his pitiful condition, she couldn't help herself and comfort her hurting friend. Twilight yawned quietly, covering her mouth with her hoof before carefully agreeing, “Sure Aramis, it’s not like we haven’t done this before,” slowly, she climbed in and smiled softly to herself. It was just like a sleepover... a more personal one than usual, but a sleepover all the same. “Thank you Twi—” he yawned loudly, his fatigue and exhaustion taking its toll on the drunken man. “It’s no problem Aramis. It’s what friends are for,” Twilight finished by nuzzling into his warm body, causing him to sigh comfortably. Sleep began to overtake- “Aramis?” “Yeah...” “I’ll always be here for you if you ever need me. Don’t ever hesitate to ask for my help,” “Thanks Twilight,” “You’re welcome,” he pulled her in close, her face nuzzling into his chest and shoulder blade. Sleep came quietly and unexpectedly, but when it came, they were submerged into a deep slumber, and as the hard rain gave way into a soft patter, the moonlight slipped through the clouds and into the room. Neither of them unaware of the waste and destruction that had run its course through their town.