“Hey, Twilight. You sleep okay?”
Twilight groaned loudly and slumped her head against the crystal table, leaning with most of her weight. “What do you think?”
Spike pursed his lips as he lifted up a plate from the counter and set breakfast in front of her. “I thought you said the nightmares were getting better. It’s been three months and all.”
“I did,” Twilight said, turning her head so her eyes were level with the table. The eggs on the plate rose in her vision like great mountains, and the smell was almost good enough to make her sit up and eat. But... a few more moments of languishing wouldn’t hurt. “Just because things are getting better doesn’t mean they’re solved entirely. It’s just less frequent.”
“Yeah, but…” Spike mumbled, drumming his claws on countertop. “Are you really sure it’s okay? That you’re not, y’know, being messed with again?”
Twilight nodded, finally pushing herself upright and levitating over a fork. “I trust that Princess Luna is keeping me safe, Spike. She’s confident that these nightmares are merely a product of what I went through and that I’ll get over them eventually.
Spike looked like he wanted to say more, but he kept his mouth shut and just looked on with a worried expression as Twilight proceeded to stuff her face. It was just as well.
As Twilight set down her fork and began to wipe at her mouth with a napkin, the door chime began to ring.
Spike perked up almost instantly. “I’ll get it!” he cried out, jumping down from the chair and dashing across the floor, almost losing his footing several times on the slick stone.
She heard the door open out in the hall and then heard Spike say a dull, “Oh. It’s you.”
Twilight rolled her eyes, standing up and walking over.
“H-hey Spike. Um, you look like you’ve gotten stronger since the last time I saw you. Have you, um, been working out?” Fluttershy asked. Her face lit up briefly when Twilight came into view, but her gaze soon shot nervously back down to Spike.
Spike raised an eyebrow, his face a tight mask. “Yeah, I have, actually. I do it because I’m interested in protecting the ponies I care about.”
Fluttershy flinched, shying back a step. “Oh, yes. Of course, that makes sense.”
“Spike!” Twilight snapped. She could practically feel her anger heating up the air around her. “That is enough. How many times do we have to have this discussion?”
Spike whipped his head around to meet Twilight’s gaze, his eyes burning with defiance. “I’m going out,” he growled, then stomped outside and slammed the door behind him, causing Fluttershy to jump with a quiet peep.
Twilight let herself simmer for a few more moments before she let out a long sigh, allowing the tension to drain away. “I’m sorry about that, Fluttershy,” she said, walking over to give her a quick peck on the cheek. “He’s been getting better, but I had another nightmare last night and that tends to get him riled up again.”
Fluttershy blushed, looking away. “Um, It’s okay. And I’m sorry, it’s my fault anyway.”
“Fluttershy, we’ve been over this one already too. How many times am I going to have to repeat myself today?”
“No,” Fluttershy said, shaking her head. “It’s a miracle that everypony else forgave me at all, especially you. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy, but I can’t go around expecting that from everypony.”
Twilight rubbed at her eyes and then forced herself to smile. She’d just gotten off to a bad start today. “Enough of that, I guess. What brings you over today?”
Fluttershy brightened immediately and began digging through her saddlebags until she finally pulled out a loose stack of papers. “I know we lost a lot of what we were working on when, um, you lost the library, but here’s all the notes and some of the early drafts we did that were scattered around my place.”
“Fluttershy, that’s wonderful!” Twilight cried out, her lethargy truly forgotten this time. “I was so worried that we’d have to start all over, and, oh I could just kiss you!”
Fluttershy blushed a deep scarlet. “Um…”
Twilight blinked, back tracked on her words, and grinned. “Right. And, in fact, I will.” She leaned forward, locking lips with her marefriend and throwing her forelegs around her neck, pulling her in close.
“Eep,” Fluttershy squeaked when Twilight pulled back for air, somehow even redder than before.
Twilight released the embrace, giggling. “You are so easily flustered. Come on, let’s go sort through what we have.”
It was a short walk through her new palace to get to the study which, in a strong contrast to the sharp angles and unyielding crystal that made up most of the decor, was lavishly furnished with plush pillows and blankets and the scattered remains of what books she had been able to salvage from the library’s destruction.
“Let’s see here,” Twilight said as she began pulling out various papers, quills, and inks. “Honestly, losing what we did is probably a good thing; it allows us to start over from a fresh perspective. I wasn’t really buying the garden of paradise angle anyway.”
Fluttershy frowned as she pulled out the blackboard, setting it up near the fireplace. “Writing doesn’t have to be so analytical, Twilight. Sometimes it’s best to just put the pen to the page and let everything flow out.”
Twilight shook her head. “It might work like that for you, Fluttershy, but I’m not so lucky. Besides, I want to do this right.”
With a contented sigh, Fluttershy snuggled into the cushions. “It’s okay, Twilight, we can do this your way.”
“Good,” Twilight said with a grin. She snuggled into the cushions herself, pulling herself close to Fluttershy and draping a wing across her. Once she was comfortable she levitated a piece of chalk into the air and began writing on the board in front of them. “Let’s go back to some basics, shall we?”
Twilight finished her writing, turned and gave Fluttershy a quick peck on the cheek, and read what she had written out loud.
“How to: Give Golden Wish an unrealistically happy ending. Any ideas?"