Scattered Thoughts

by Coyote Mustang

The Morning After

Rarity didn’t even knock as the door to the library nearly came off its hinges in anger.

“Twilight, how could you?” Rarity yelled the tears flowed from her eyes, as she made her way into the library. “Of all the things...” she began as she scanned the room, only to be stopped by the sight in front of her. Twilight lay in a proper circle of books that towered up from the floor. Each stack had one more than the last and by the end; it had almost touched the ceiling in the home. However more startling than this was the way Twilight lay in the circle. Her hair lay splayed over her head in the shape of a halo. Her legs lay folded on top of each other and he mouth was closed so hard, Rarity could hear the grinding of them as loud as her voice was.

Rarity made her way to the circle and stared at the peculiar arrangement Twilight had taken. She scanned her body for any signs of why, but was startled as Twilight’s eyes opened.

Twilight sat up quickly, her eyes scanning the book arrangement in bewilderment.

“Rarity, why is there a circle of book on my floor?” Twilight asked as she stood up. Twilight touched her hoof to her throat as she talked, her voice scratchy, and it hurt for her to both talk and in some cases breathe. Her throat burned as if she had something hot to drink and she hadn’t remembered to cool it first. This lead Twilight to believe that her night on the floor had caused her to begin to fall ill.

“I might need to make some of that tea that Fluttershy gave me for my last cold” Twilight said to herself, soft enough for Rarity to miss it. Agreeing to look into her throat pain later, she looked at her friend and noticed the tear stains in her coat. “Rarity is something wrong?”

Rarity regarded Twilight with a blank stare, and an open mouth. Her mind was still trying to wrap itself around what she had just seen. Rarity tried to reason with Twilight’s confusion; maybe she had a late night and forgot to place her books away. But that doesn’t explain why they were in the position they were in. Now the circle she could understand, Twilight sometimes would work off a few books on a subject at a time, but the stacking showed that she really wasn’t studying. The towers of books made their way to the ceiling, Rarity thought; wouldn’t that make it impossible to read?

“Rarity, why were you crying” Twilight’s voice called to her, moving her thought back to their original purpose. Rarity came out of her thoughts with a visible jolt, her mouth closing quickly and Rarity gritted her teeth as her anger returned.

“Twilight, how could you hurt Spike like that, to be so cruel to your supposed ‘Number One Assistant’?” Rarity questioned, her anger driving her teeth to begin to grind.

Twilight’s eyes grew large and her teeth also gritted at Rarity’s anger. Rarity knew she would never do anything to Spike. And to have Rarity accuse her of such a thing drove Twilight to do something she hadn’t done since she first met Rarity, she yelled at her.

“How dare you come into my house and yell at me for something I didn’t do. You know full well that I would never harm Spike, both physically and emotionally. Why would you tell me such lies; I thought you were a friend.” Twilight yelled her voice stained in the tears she began to shed. Rarity was about to argue with her more, but the door to the library swung open again as Spike walked through the door.

“Twilight, I’m sorry for what I did yesterday, I shouldn’t have questioned you last night.” Spike said as he ran from the door and embraced Twilight with tears in his eyes, “Please don’t yell at Rarity, I just told her what I did yesterday night and she left in a huff quicker than I could stop her.”

Twilight’s expression changed from one of anger to one of pure confusion. She didn’t remember even talking to Spike last night, let alone do anything to him. Her expression caused Rarity to stop grinding her teeth as well, her face more towards one of mild annoyance.

“Twilight, I know you can be demanding sometimes, but Spike did everything you asked and all you did was yell at him.” Rarity said to her, her eyes falling on Spike’s tears. Rarity pulled out a handkerchief and slowly rubbed the tears away. She gave him a soft smile, and soon brought herself back to Twilight.

Twilight’s confusion followed over into Rarity’s conversation, her mind racing to recover what she could from her memories. Twilight remembered the headache she had in the square, and that was it. She couldn’t remember anything after that.

“Rarity, what exactly did Spike tell you about last night?” Twilight asked, her questioning tone unwelcome by Rarity’s ears.

“Twilight, You were yelling at me all last night, Do you not remember?” Spike said before rarity had the chance to verbally assault her again.Twilight’s cheeks began to burn with embarrassment, but she knew she couldn’t hide it.

“No, I don’t remember anything after I left Applejack’s last night.” Twilight replied. She gave Spike a small smile, her mind telling her that it was only a small consolation to what she may have done last night, and received a small one in return.

Rarity looked at the two of them and slowly her annoyance left. It was soon replaced with one of wonder. She had seen the books left around Twilight when she came in, but when she looked closer her curiosity grew with her wonder. Her eyes drew her to the book she found at the start of the circle, a book on animals, and she looked the cover over. A manticore stood prominently on the cover and behind it laid two coiled snakes. Rarity wondered why this book would be Twilight’s first book to read that night. Animals weren’t really Twilight’s interest:; that was Fluttershy’s job. Rarity was about to ask when Twilight walked over to her and gave her a soft nuzzle.

“Thanks Rarity for housing Spike last night, I know how hard it must have been to take him in and calm him. I really apologize for doing that to him and I hope you can forgive me.” Twilight said as she looked at Rarity, a soft smile on her face.

Rarity wanted to scold Twilight, to yell at her to make her understand what she truly did to Spike yesterday. However, she would hold her tongue until she could get Twilight alone, simply for Spike’s sake. Rarity accepted the friendly gesture and reciprocated it for Spike to see. She told Twilight she would be around later that day with Fluttershy to go to the spa if she still wanted to. Twilight accepted if only to talk to her and set things straight. Twilight gave a small wave as Rarity disappeared out the door and from her sight.

Twilight turned around and faced Spike, a smile forced to sit there, the tears she started to shed slowly forming. She walked up to Spike pulled him into a hug, her tears in full production, and she held him tightly for a while. When she let go, her eyes were stained with the emotion she had held out of the conversation. Although she couldn’t remember anything about the night before, for Rarity to come in without knocking and flip out on her it must have been horrid.

Twilight gave Spike the day off from chores as something of a weak apology to her number one assistant. Spike gratefully accepted it and went up to his room to unpack his things. Twilight toiled around the library for a few hours, placing her books back on the shelves, and cleaning the mess she had left in the bathroom. Twilight was so busy in fact that she neglected to hear the bell for the front door ring a couple of times.

Rarity and Fluttershy made their way through the door to the library, announcing as they did for Twilight's attention. Twilight placed the last book on her shelf as she heard Rarity’s cries for her. She met the two of them on the ground floor and greeted them kindly. Fluttershy had smiled and answered softly back. Rarity only nodded, not even a small hello escaped her lips. With Fluttershy confused and Twilight deeply worried, they swiftly made their way to the spa.

“So Twilight how is your day?” Fluttershy asked as they both sat down in the mud baths the spa had. Twilight told her of her morning, down to Rarity’s leaving on somewhat strained circumstances. Fluttershy listened to her friends problems, offering some support and ‘there there’s’ for her to feel better. As they approached the end of the story Rarity finally made her entrance causing the two of them to cease talking so Rarity wouldn’t get angry at Twilight any further.

Rarity slid into her mud bath with an elongated sigh, her muscles relaxing as the warmth overtook her. Rarity sat silently in the bath, causing Twilight’s nerves to get the better of her.

“Look Rarity, I’m sorry about last night, but I really don’t remember anything from it.” Twilight said to her, causing Rarity to tense in the mud. Rarity slid her mask off, and slowly turned in Twilight's direction.

“Twilight, what you did to that poor dragon nearly kill him. He had been walking through the rain all of last night, without a coat and crying as well. He looked like a lost puppy when I awoke and went downstairs to the bell to my shop. Twilight, I know this whole accident thing has you worried, but you have no reason to treat him like that!” Rarity spoke, her words dripping in venom.

Twilight sank lower into the mud bath, her eyes and snout the only things above the mid line. She knew it was bad, but she had never guessed it to be that bad. Her tears began as she swiftly stood up from the bath and ran to the shower room.

Fluttershy watched Twilight run, her tears washing away the mud near her face. She glared at Rarity and her lack of tact with that talk, and she stood from the bath and ran after her. Fluttershy searched the spa’s locker room to no avail; Twilight wasn’t at her locker crying. She was about to check the front desk when the sounds of running water brought her to the showers the spa had. She found Twilight on the floor, her face tucked into her hooves and the sound of sniffing coming from her. Fluttershy moved towards Twilight, talking calmly to her as she approached. She lifted Twilights muzzle out of her hooves, and looked her into the eyes.

Twilight’s eyes were bare of emotion, the tears she had shed leaving trails down her face. She looked off into the room behind Fluttershy, seeming to focus on nothing in particular, or anything at all for that matter. Fluttershy was shocked to notice that her eyes weren’t out of tears or even out of focus, it was like they were out of Twilight herself. Her eyes lay pitch black as she looked forward in a thousand yard stare. Fluttershy shook Twilight, yelling for her to snap out of it. Twilight’s head only seemed to sway with the movement as the blank stare remained. Fluttershy ran to Rarity and apprised her of Twilight's situation.

They both returned in a panic, Rarity’s anger lost in the ensuing rush. She made her way to Twilight’s side and, with almost super pony strength, heaved her onto her back and set off for the local hospital.