When Twilight saw Marjoram she knew he was having a bad day. He moved carefully, with slow hesitant steps like he was scared his body would give out any moment. His breathing was audible from across the room, though Twilight had yet to see him cough blood. He had curled up on the couch with a book and his tea, and was currently lost in the pages of a thick, history book.
Spike was exploring their temporary residence: peering inside cupboards, inside closets, and beginning to examine the library's bookshelves at his own pace. It was amusing, watching the dragon get from shelf to shelf. Soon enough, he had a small pile of books he wanted to read for himself, and Spike sat himself down on one of the cushy loveseats near Marjoram before starting on the first book.
Twilight cleaned for the majority of her morning, wanting something to do that took little effort intellectually, but required a bit of focus when it came to manipulating the magic. When Twilight could no longer find anything to clean, she found a book herself, and sat with a steaming cup of warm milk, enjoying the peace and quiet.
This had been relatively common in Canterlot: that the trio would come together and read their own books for hours in each others company without speaking a word. When Twilight and Spike were younger, it had been rare to see the three together without Marjoram giving them some sort of lecture or bringing education into everyday discussions, but as the three had become closer, and the more Marjoram's health failed, they had come together often to read. This gave silent support for everypony, and if they wanted to talk, it was understood they could.
It was mid-afternoon when an excited sounding knock jolted everypony out of their reading. Marjoram set the book down, and went to the door, his brows furrowed in confusion. When the door opened the confusion only grew as the pink earth pony they'd seen the first day came bustling in, a parade of ponies following her.
“Hi!” The pony began, “I'm Pinkie Pie! I'm here to throw you three a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party!”
“Why?” Marjoram asked.
“Because when I saw you, I realized I never saw you before. And since I've never seen you before, I knew you've never been to Ponyville before, and because you've never been to Ponyville before, that means you don't know anypony. If you don't know anypony, that means you don't have any friends, and that can make you lonely, and I didn't want you to be lonely!”-
“Breathe,” Marjoram's own head was spinning at the pitch and speed of the young mare's voice. Hopefully a breath would slow her down-
Pinkie Pie inhaled deeply, then began anew, in the same way as before, “I decided to throw you a party so you can make new friends! I wanted to throw it the first night, but Mrs. Cake said I should give you time to settle, so I planned really hard, and I brought cake and punch and snacks-”
“That's very kind,” Marjoram interrupted again, “but I'm sorry to tell you that we're not staying here after the Sun Celebration-”
Pinkie's bright smile dimmed a little then, but came back, “That's okay! You can have some friends to write to when you go back!”
Marjoram opened his mouth to protest, and to yell at the ponies that now seemed to be making themselves at home, but Twilight cleared her throat. Marjoram took a breath, “Yes, friends. Life's greatest joy,” his voice was dry and dripping with sarcasm.
Pinkie didn't seem to notice. She beamed up at Marjoram, “So, you know who I am! Who are you!?”
“I'm Marjoram, that's Twilight Sparkle, and that's Spike.”
“Hi!” Pinkie dashed off to meet the others, and Marjoram sighed through his nose. Celestia give me strength.
Soon, the library was packed full of unfamiliar ponies, and Marjoram found himself squished onto the couch with Spike and Twilight; both of whom looked uncomfortable, Twilight much more so than Spike.
The ponies that were crowding around the food and drink tables were chatting amicably with each other, music was blaring from a system of speakers Marjoram didn't remember seeing anypony set up. He scanned the crowd, noting that the ponies they'd met already were here: Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy.
Marjoram used his magic to hold his book out of the way, and edged around the crowd to get to the kitchen. It's just like the Grand Galloping Gala. All I have to do is stay out of everypony's way, get my tea, and disappear downstairs-
“Marjoram!”
Marjoram froze, and turned to look at Rarity, who wore an elegant hat and an easy smile. Marjoram lowered the book a little so it looked like he wouldn't purposefully hit somepony.
“How are you?” Rarity asked, “Did I do a good job on your cloak?”
“You did a very good job,” Marjoram replied, wincing at how quiet his voice was in comparison to the volume of the room.
Rarity did manage to hear him, though. She brightened, smiling widely, “Good! I figured I'd done a good enough job, but-”
Marjoram stifled a cough, “Sorry, Rarity. Got to go-”
“But you live here!”
“Kitchen,” Marjoram glowered. Damn manners. I can forgo the rules once.
“I'll accompany you!”
Marjoram had to bite his tongue to stop from groaning. He said nothing, and made his way to the kitchen. Rarity followed. Either the ponies here can't take a hint, or she's being purposefully ignorant to my wishes.
Marjoram boiled water with his magic, making his special tea with a quickness he rarely did unless it was an emergency. Usually, he took his time with the tea. He needed it, but there was no point making his breathing worse in the meantime by rushing around or using magic.
“What kind of tea is that?” Rarity asked, “I don't recognize the smell.”
“It's medicinal,” Marjoram replied shortly, levitating the cup of tea near the book, “For me.”
Rarity nodded slowly, craning to see what Marjoram was trying to get to in one of the cupboards. A muffled cry of victory, and Marjoram reappeared, holding a bottle of some type of alcohol in his mouth.
“There are children here-”
“I'm going downstairs,” Marjoram's magic kept the bottle close to his body, “Goodnight.”
Rarity sputtered, “But the party-”
“That neither Twilight or I wanted.”
“But everypony-”
“Not everypony,” Marjoram glared, “can handle being around big groups of ponies. My health is fragile, and I have little need to surround myself by unfamiliar ponies who will undoubtedly make me ill within an hour.”
Rarity stared, her blue eyes wide, her jaw slack.
“It's nothing personal,” Marjoram said flatly, “If there were less than ten people, I'd stay up here.”
Rarity's face morphed into one of cautious understanding. She nodded, then disappeared back into the crowd. Marjoram sighed in relief, and went downstairs, firmly shutting the door behind him. He set the book on the bed, and the bottle on the beside table. The tea he would drink first, as he'd always been a lightweight-
“Hi!”
Marjoram spun around, his horn flaring with defensive magic.
Pinkie Pie looked nonplussed, smiling widely, “Did you like the party?”
Marjoram had to stop himself from rolling his eyes, “Very much. Please leave,”
“Seriously, did my party make you happy?”
“It made a lot of ponies happy,” Marjoram sat on the edge of his bed, trying to calm himself and drink his tea.
Pinkie approached cautiously, “Are you okay? I didn't notice it earlier, but you're awful skinny-”
“I'm not alright!” Marjoram snapped, “I'm chronically ill! What is so hard to figure out?”
“Sorry, I just-”
“I know,” Marjoram replied harshly, “I haven't been having a good health day. Please, just go,” he was clearly trying to keep the anger out of his voice, but was failing miserably.
Pinkie Pie nodded vigorously, trotting out the door, and shutting it quietly behind her. Marjoram's head hung, and he felt an odd stab of shame raise up. Downing the rest of the tea, Marjoram opened the bottle, sniffing delicately. It smelled of fruit, and alcohol. Lovely. Let's hope I didn't just ruin those mares' night. Carnation was right; I'm an ass.
Taking a tentative sip, Marjoram could appreciate the fruity flavour of the drink, though it burned its way down his throat. It pooled warmly in his stomach. Marjoram cleaned out his teacup magically and poured the alcohol into it. Marjoram tended to drink sparingly, as it made him incredibly drowsy when combined with his tea. However, that was exactly what he wanted: to sleep through the party upstairs.
Marjoram's body ached, and his lungs threatened to act out with little provocation. If I can sleep, I might feel better tomorrow. Drinking the rich liquid slowly, Marjoram listened to the party above him, grimacing at the thought of all the noise and socialization he would have to do if he'd stayed.
Poor Twilight. Marjoram admitted to himself. She's going to be pissed tomorrow. At least Spike will have fun.
Downing the last of the liquid in his cup, Marjoram corked the bottle, and set the cup on the bedside table. The book joined them, as Marjoram tucked himself into bed, and waited for the heady warmth to spread all over his body-
His door crashed open, and Marjoram raised his head, annoyance filling him. He was sleepy, and warm, and peaceful. This never happened to him, and Marjoram didn't want anypony ruining it.
“Oh! Sorry Marjoram,” Spike said quietly, “I didn't realize you were going to bed.”
“What is it?” Marjoram asked, laying his head down again. I swear to Celestia
“Twilight ran upstairs, I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“'M good, Spike,” Marjoram slurred, feeling the warmth beginning to seep into his head, “Jus' tired.”
“Okay. Good night,” with that, Spike shut the door, and Marjoram turned the light off with his magic.
Marjoram knew nothing else after that, sinking into a deeper slumber than he could remember having in months.
(LINE BREAK)
Twilight finished her breakfast blearily, noting the mess that she had to clean in the main room of the library. She'd hoped Pinkie Pie would stick around long enough to clean up, and while she did take the food and drinks back home with her after the party broke up, she'd neglected to return everything to its rightful position. Spike was shoveling his food into his mouth with a gusto that reminded Twilight of Shining Armour.
Marjoram was nowhere to be seen, and Twilight was unwilling to go downstairs and risk waking her sleeping mentor right away: if Marjoram actually slept you left him alone, as getting more than an hour or two of true, restful sleep, was rare.
Leaving Spike, Twilight began to clean, using both her magic and her own two hooves. She put furniture back into its proper place, and made sure nopony had messed with the books, before washing the used breakfast dishes and returning to the book she'd abandoned the night before. Spike soon joined her on the couch, snuggling into her side, and reading the second book he'd picked out the previous morning.
Spike preferred comics, he was a child after all, but after growing up around scholars and the Princess of the Sun herself and being a dragon, he could read well past his 'age group'. He may be nine pony years, and only a few years in comparison to dragons, but he was much smarter than many would ever give him credit.
This made it rather interesting when somepony who didn't know him tried to leave Spike out of 'adult' discussions, such as history, politics, current events, and other subjects he was interested in. He could also write rather well for someone his age, evidenced by why Twilight almost always got Spike to write her letters for her. A part of his job, it gave him something to do, and helped him with his literacy skills, something he'd struggled with when he was young, though many wouldn't guess it now.
It was up to Twilight and Marjoram to look after Spike's education, and they were more than happy to ensure Spike got the best education they could provide him, even letting Spike choose from a list of possible subjects every four months. Math and English were mandatory, as well as some basic history, geography, and science. Anything else was up to Spike to pick.
Twilight looked up from her book when Spike tapped her shoulder, annoyed that he'd pulled her away from the interesting book of pony tales, “What?”
“It's almost noon. Should we get Marjoram? It's almost lunch, and we need to get him to eat more.”
“If you want to figure out what you want for lunch, I'll go get him. Meet us in the kitchen. Don't touch anything more than a cookbook!”
Spike nodded, hopping down from the couch, and scampered into the kitchen. Twilight marked her page with a bookmark, and made her way into the basement. Twilight found herself amazed at what she saw.
Marjoram was still fast asleep, snoring lightly. He was buried under a thick comforter, some of his mane had escaped its ponytail, and was spread out across the pillow. The only visible body part that Twilight could see was an ear that poked out from the blankets.
Then Twilight spotted the alcohol. Fear and anger bloomed in her chest, and she wrenched the blankets off of him ruthlessly with her magic, earning a groan and a shiver from the other unicorn.
“What?” Marjoram mumbled, nestling himself further into the mattress, “leave me alone-”
“I'm checking you out, you idiot! You can't be mixing alcohol with your tea-”
“Done it before,” Marjoram grumbled, “Doesn't take much to knock me out,” Marjoram let out a sigh, and sat up, staring at Twilight through bleary, crusty eyes, “Honestly, I'm fine-”
“It's noon!” Twilight thundered, “and you look like you could sleep more-”
“'Get more sleep, Marjoram,'” Marjoram was good at mimicking, and was purposefully doing a bad impression of Twilight to make her angry, “'try to sleep as much as you can, rest is good for you,'”
Twilight rolled her eyes, “Yes, because drugging yourself with a potentially fatal side effect is the way to go about doing that-”
Marjoram shrugged, struggling to get to his feet, “Could be worse. I didn't drink much, barely a full teacup full.”
“Doesn't matter. I'm checking you out before we make lunch.”
“Great,” Marjoram muttered, trudging his way up the stairs, feeling like sompony had shoved cotton into his brain and had made his body feel twice as heavy as it should be. His head felt a little off kilter as well, like he wasn't quite centered on the ground, like it could toss him over if it wanted to.
A familiar feeling sadly, as Marjoram had done this many times before, without Twilight's knowledge or discovery. Marjoram went into the kitchen, and sat at the table, noticing that Spike had picked out a cookbook and was flipping through it idly.
“What are you th'nking 'bout, Spike?” Oh Celestia, maybe the alcohol was stronger than I thought. Why is it so hard to pronounce words?
Twilight sat beside him, a medical kit on the table, and she began to check his vitals with a mix of magic and machine.
“I was hoping for pasta,” Spike replied, “I thought maybe we could all make it together for dinner.”
“What pasta?” Marjoram tried not to jerk away from Twilight. His tongue burned to tell her what he'd discovered years ago: that as long as Marjoram drank more than a few mouthfuls, but less than a small bottle of cider, he would just sleep for a long time.
Spike flipped to a page, pointed at the recipe, and slid it over to Marjoram, “This one, if it's okay.”
Squinting through blurry eyes, Marjoram saw the picture and found himself agreeing with Spike, “Mac and cheese, huh? Haven' had that in a while. What do you th'nk, Twilight? Make two small pans, one for us, and one with some gems for Spike?”
“You have gems?” Spike looked absolutely excited now, “really? Can we, Twilight, please?”
Twilight pulled away from Marjoram, her eyes briefly scanning the recipe, “Sounds pretty simple. Why not?”
Marjoram nodded, “Sounds good...are we eating lunch then?”
“You probably won't,” Twilight responded harshly, “Spike and I will.”
Marjoram offered a small smile, “Done yet?”
“No! I'm making sure your lungs or heart won't stop-”
“Twilight, I'm conscious, talking, and breathing well. I'm fine.”
Twilight glared, but nodded, pulling away, and discontinuing the spells, “I suppose so. Now, what do we need to get to make dinner?”
Marjoram shrugged, “No idea.”
“Wow, you're a lot of help,” Twilight muttered sarcastically, packing everything back into the medical kit.
Marjoram offered a sly smile, “I know,”
Twilight huffed, “C'mon, grab the cookbook. We'll buy everything we need at the store. You too, Spike!”
(LINE BREAK)
Marjoram lay spread out on the couch, a pillow under his head, and a blanket draped over him. The shopping had gone well, but coupled with the effects of the alcohol/tea and the bad day he'd had the day before, it had exhausted him.
Twilight and Spike were playing a card game, using the coffee table to hold the deck, their drinks, and the book Marjoram had tried to read before giving up and going back to sleep. Twilight, while worried about potential long term consequences of the alcohol, couldn't suppress the feeling of relief that came with the knowledge Marjoram was actually sleeping.
“I win!” Spike exclaimed, throwing down the two pairs of matching cards on the table, “You shouldn't have given me that three, Twilight!”
Twilight shook her head, “How are you so good at these? Do you have a strategy or something?”
Spike shrugged, “Maybe I just have better luck than you do.”
Twilight shook her head, “Do you want to go figure out what gems you want in your pasta? It's going to be a few hours before dinner, so you can have a couple if you want.”
Spike beamed at Twilight, showing off his sparkling, sharp white teeth, “Okay! Thanks, Twilight!”
“Don't eat too many! Remember, you want to have lots of them in your pasta!”
Spike scampered into the kitchen, leaving Twilight alone with her sleeping mentor, who hadn't stirred at all. Twilight sighed, packed up the cards, and sat back, watching as Marjoram shifted a little in his sleep, nestling into the soft pillow further.
We'll make dinner, maybe play one of the board games Spike found earlier, probably read. Then, we have one more day of rest, then we have to check the weather and food. That night, we'll stay up, and go home with Celestia when she goes back to Canterlot
Twilight smiled at the idea of returning to Canterlot: she missed her books, she missed her parents, and she missed Celestia. She didn't mind Ponyville, but the constant barrage of strangers trying to become her friend was starting to wear thin. I wonder if Celestia put them up to it.
It wouldn't surprise Twilight very much if that were the case.