A Perfect Student

by ThatHandsomeDevil

3

“You may have to run that by me again, Twilight.” Spike said, struggling to keep up with the borderline-frantic unicorn as she disembarked from her trademark hot-air balloon and made her way in the direction of the castle. All along the path to the Archives were prissy ponies going about their daily routine, the sun resting high in the sky, shining a light that couldn’t penetrate the barrier of grey that seemed to overtake Twilight.

She’d been like this for a few weeks now. Spike could not figure out what was causing it. He could hear her sometimes as he tried to sleep, clamoring around on the first floor, frantically searching for this or that, books hitting the floor, taunting him with the fact that he’d be the one to pick them up the next morning.

“Spike, I’m coming to the Canterlot Archives because I need to research into these nightmares more. I’m being haunted, and any information pertaining as to why could be helpful.” Twilight said, no traces of any emotion in her voice. She was dead on her feet; no longer the happy, nearly-carefree pony that Spike had watched grow since her coming to Ponyville.

“I wish you could tell me more about these nightmares, Twilight. I’m worried about you. I hear you, you know, pacing around in the dead of night. Why are you doing this to yourself?”

“I wish I knew, Spike.”

The rest of their trip to the Canterlot Archives was spent locked in a painful silence. Twilight walked ahead, albeit slowly, trudging forward with her head down. Looking at her, you’d think Discord had returned and thrown her home into disarray all over again. And, in a way, discord had taken control of her life. Not the Discord that stood as a monument to the power of the Elements of Harmony, but the natural aspect of chaos itself. Slowly, it was worming its way, like a true parasite, into her brain. Twisting her, changing her...

Twilight and Spike gained entrance to the Archives easily enough. The guard, recognizing Twilight, tried to greet her with a friendly “Hi there, Twilight. Fancying yourself some research, I suppose?”

Twilight let out something between a grunt and a sigh, moving past him in a business-like manner so cold that the guard instantly became worried.

“Something wrong with Twilight?” The guard asked her companion as he followed her inside.

“She’s having nightmares, and she needs to find a way to stop them.” Spike said to him, his voice lowered so as to not agitate his caretaker.

“Oh, I see... Well, good luck to her, I suppose.” The guard said, resuming his post.