Let it all out
Time was ticking, and Twilight was book shelving, whilst a grumpy dragon sat to her side, waiting for his request to be for filled.
"When can I have my scale massage? You promised at 3PM, its now 7PM!"
Twilight sighed and slapped her face with her hoof. There was nothing more irritating, then a grumpy baby dragon who wants a scale massage. She couldn't keep ignoring him, so Twilight finally stopped her shelving and reorganizing, and pointed towards the couch. Spike hopped with joy as he realized he was finally going to feel less tense in his scales. He immediately lay on the couch, eagerly awaiting his massage.
Twilight was just about to give the dragon what he needed, until she heard an unexpected knock at the door. She raised a brow, and abandoned her colleague to answer the door. Spike had his head to the soft quilted cushion, still waiting for the moisture of the cream and Twilight's hooves on his scales, but it never came.
"Hey! What's taking so long?" he suspiciously asked, yet when his head rose and looked behind him, nopony was standing there. Spike grouched and facepalmed. I guess he'll have to wait a bit longer.
Twilight arrived at the castle doors, and opened them. And standing before her, was a pony she really cared about. Her brother. She smiled warmly and let her guess in, not realising the upset expression he wore on his face.
Shining Armour sighed and said to his sister, "I have to tell you something. It's not good news."
Twilight tilted her head in confusion, and followed her brother upstairs to the bedroom.
"What's wrong? You look like your depressed." Twilight asked, putting a hoof on her brother. Shining Armour nodded.
"I am feeling depressed right now, and you'll find out why and you'll feel the same." Shining Armour felt water in his eyes, and some came pouring out. Twilight gasped and hugged her brother.
"Oh my gosh your crying! Is it really that bad?!" she panicked, keeping hold of her brother until he pushed away. Shining Armour was dreading having to be the one to tell his little sister this awful news, and it took him a while to get the words out of his mouth.
"Twilight... it's just awful... our parents..." he stopped, and wiped the tears from his eyes and tried to fight off the lump in his throat. Twilight was immediately curious when she heard the word 'Parents'. She nodded as to ask her brother to continue.
"Our parents... died... in their sleep..." Shining Armour's eyes flooded with tears once he said those words, "I'm sorry, I didn't want to be the one to tell you." he whimpered, wiping a hoof across his face.
Twilight's fur colour faded, and her face to. Her ears flopped down, and the colour in her eyes turned from violet to grey. She felt her heart beat inside her chest. This couldn't be real... it just couldn't...
"But... I..." she started. Shining looked to his sister, noticing how grey she was turning. He put one of his hooves on his sister's hoof.
"I never got to... visit them... in hospital..." she whispered. Her parents had been unwell in hospital for a while, but Twilight had never gotten a chance to visit. She gulped and looked away from her brother. She just wanted to wake up, realizing this was all a nightmare, but as she gave herself a whack on the face, she knew it was all real.
"They said that they love you, Twilight. I'm sure that they still love you the same, even though you didn't visit them." Shining Armour assured, still teary eyed. Twilight stared down to the hard ground, seeing her salty tears drop down from her grey eyes and splash onto the ground. Shining Armour let out his arms, as if asking for a hug, but Twilight looked away. Shining Armour sighed and got up, seeing he had created a little puddle of tears.
"I should... really get going... if you need anything, I'm one scroll away..." he wistfully said, as he left the bedroom to go back to the Crystal Empire.
Once her brother had left, Twilight had been left emotionless, unsure of how she was going to cope for the week. Or the month. Or maybe even the year.
She sat there, feeling like her heart had been shattered to pieces, until she heard a small knock on the door.
"Twilight!" a frustrated voice said, banging on the door, "Still waiting for my massage! Everything okay in there? I saw Shining Armour leave and he didn't look too happy." Spike kept knocking, until his fist got sore and he stopped. Twilight stayed there, sat on her bad, just wishing for Spike to go away and leave her to her depression.
"Um... Spike, I um... I am doing... homework. Can you leave me to it?" she lied, surprisingly managing to get words out of her mouth. Spike was very confused, as Twilight doesn't GET homework, she GIVES it. But he noticed the tone of Twilight's voice, and knew something was wrong. He didn't dare ask though, as it could just upset her more. And so Spike decided to head into town, to see if Twilight's best friends were around. He knew they were better for the job of finding out what was wrong then he was.
"I'm going into town to um... find Rarity! She said she was making a dress for you! See ya!" he said, acting enthusiastic. Twilight sighed and didn't respond. Part of her was glad that Spike was gone, so she could have time to be alone. She had no emotions in her body, no way to communicate, after the dreadful news brought to her by her brother. And so Twilight just sat there, on her bed, thinking about how close she was to her parents.
All these thoughts brought a tear to her eye. Why was she so insensitive? Why didn't she visit them in hospital?
I'm such a bad daughter! I was too busy reorganizing my fact books on the Pillars, to visit my sick parents! And now their dead! I hate my life! Why is this happening to me! I just want to say sorry, but it's too late...
Twilight's eyes watered like crazy, and tears started to flood down, drenching her grey coat. All the colour had drained out of her, just like her parents' must have when they met death. She layed down on her soaked quilt, and cried into it. She knew she was going to be in a state for the week. Or the month. Or the year. Wait, I feel this has already been said.
• • ❖ • •
Meanwhile, Spike had already left the castle, and was running speedily down town, and straight into Rarity's boutique. When he arrived, he gave an elegant knock on the door, and sorted his wings, as his lifelong crush was about to open the door.
Instead of the sound of it opening, Spike heard the sound of Rarity's voice telling him to come in, and so he did. When he entered he immediately saw his crush, and was in love as always, but he also noticed Fluttershy next to her.
"Terribly sorry darling. I would have come and formally answered the door but I'm trying to measure Fluttershy. I am supposed to have made a dress for her a week ago but have been very busy." Rarity said, turning to smile at Spike, then she went back to measuring Fluttershy.
"That's ok Rarity. Well, your probably wondering why I'm here."
Rarity immediately turned back to Spike, dropping her measuring tape, "Yes. It is rather peculiar how you've payed me a visit at..." she paused, and turned to find a clock, yet Fluttershy helped her out.
"7:42 pm." Fluttershy said in a soft tone, smiling.
"Yes! 7:42 pm! Is everything alright?" she said, giving a concerned look thinking something was wrong. Spike didn't take into account Rarity's question though, as he was a bit distracted by how good her mane looked this evening. He pictured himself, and Rarity, at the spa together, getting s̶c̶a̶l̶e̶ back massages together. He kept thinking about this, until he was startled by Rarity.
"Spike! SPIKE! Snap out of it darling!" Rarity said loudly, Spike nervously chuckled.
"Ehehe... sorry. Zoned out there. So, what were you saying?"
"Is everything alright?" Rarity repeated. Spike shook his head, he wasn't sure whether to tell Rarity about his suspicions or not, he thought it would be better to tell all five friends at once. So instead of the question he was originally going to ask, he asked something completely different.
"I'd rather say when all our friends are here, excluding Twilight. Do you think we could round them up, like, now?" he asked. Rarity looked puzzled, then turned to look at Fluttershy. Fluttershy shrugged, then smiled, then nodded.
"It's ok Rarity, you can finish measuring me whenever you have time." she assured, jumping down from her position on Rarity's small stage. Rarity looked relieved, and then she immediately spoke.
"If that's what you want, darling! We can gather everyone up and meet at Sugarcube Corner. Meet us there, Spike. Fluttershy and I will look for them." and with that, they both left the boutique and headed into town to look for their friends. And Spike rushed behind them, and straight to Sugarcube Corner.
• • ❖ • •
Twilight Sparkle was in a state. She had messed up her mane from having her face planted on her quilt, and her eyes were still grey, but with red bags underneath from the crying stains. She wanted to do her 'Pillow Fort Pouting', but she decided the least she could do to calm herself was to go and get a green tea.
Part of her wished she didn't shoo of Spike, as she really needed him right now as she was far too upset to brew. But she tried, as she remembered when she was little, how her parents would always make her green tea when she had been crying. As she tried to make herself one, she thought about her parents. They were stuck in her mind, and Twilight knew they would be there all day. Half of her thought that was a good thing, because they would never leave her heart and she would never forget them, but the other half, the more sinister half, didn't think that was a good thing, because having them in her mind would keep her trapped in her depression. She tried to fight away that half, as she mixed up her tea.
Once she was done, she took it back into her comfort zone (her bedroom), and drunk it. She was expecting it to taste sweet like the ones her parents made did, but it tasted bitter. Just like Twilight was feeling.
It is also known that green tea was supposed to help you loose weight, but instead, it made Twilight loose the will to live. But she fought of these suicidal thoughts, as this isn't what her parents would want.
She couldn't stand tasting the horrible bitterness of the tea any longer, and so she tipped it in the sink.
Now she had two choices to make: either go for a walk through town to get some fresh air, or stay in her bedroom and cry some more. Twilight didn't want to do either, as a walk through town didn't seem as appealing as it usually does, and, well, nopony likes to cry. But Twilight had no choice, as memories of her loved ones were making their way into her mind, causing her to cry on her own.
I loved my parents. I wish their was a way to tell them that. But there's not!
Twilight thought, shedding tears. She decided she needed more alone time to think this out, and so she once again, planted her face into her quilt and sobbed some more.
• • ❖ • •
"Umm... do you know why we are here?" Applejack whispered to Rainbow Dash, who had her tank slippers on as she was just about to go to sleep before Fluttershy called her outside.
"No idea! Do you know?" she responded, with a bit of a louder whisper.
"No clue!" Applejack wasn't wearing her hat, as she to was about to get in bed.
Spike then exited the kitchen, looking as he had just helped himself into Pinkie Pie's marshmallow cream pie. "I'm assuming you wanna know why you are all here."
Rainbow Dash and Applejack both looked at eachother, and shrugged.
"It is raaaaather strange. But not stranger then the marshmallow filling on your cheek! SPIKE! Have you been eating my treats?" Pinkie giggled, wiping the marshmallow off Spike with her pink hoof. Spike blushed, and nervously chuckled.
"Perhaps... but that's not the point! So. The reason why you're all here... is..."
Rainbow Dash looked at the clock on the wall and scowled, "Get on with it! This Pegasus gets angry when she gets less than 8 hours sleep!"
"Okay, okay! Just let me finish! So, I think there is something wrong with Twilight." he admitted, scratching the back of his scaly head.
"Well why ether would you think that, darling! She seemed perfectly fine earlier today." Rarity said, tilting her head.
"Exactly. She was happy shelving books like an hour ago, but then Shining Armour payed her a visit, and when he left, poof, she seemed upset, as did Shining Armour. In fact, he looked like he was crying."
Fluttershy looked to the ground, while everyone else seemed curious as to what was wrong with there friend.
"Perhaps we should check on her, see what's up?" Rainbow suggested, ignoring the fact that it was now ten minutes past her bedtime. Each friend nodded in agreement, except for Fluttershy.
"I'm not sure girls, maybe we should, um... you know... leave her to it?" she asked, in a quiet tone, hiding half her face in her long pink mane. Pinkie Pie gaped, and immediately shook her head.
"I refuse to leave my best friend upset! For I am not Pinkamena Diane Pie for nothing! Come on girls, to the castle!" Pinkie squeaked loudly, and pointed towards the exit to the cake shop. She then sprinted through it, and the others followed, leaving Fluttershy sat in Sugarcube Corner, alone, shaking her head in disapproval, and speaking under her breath.
Haven't they learnt this before? When Rainbow didn't want to loose her tortoise for winter, when we were in a huddle on her- oh, nevermind. They'll soon learn, I hope.
• • ❖ • •
Meanwhile, back at the castle, Twilight STILL had her face planted in her quilt. Who knows how long she's been in that position for. The last thing she wanted right now was too get a knock on her door, but unfortunately for her, her friends were much to caring to NOT pay her a visit.
When she heard the knock on the door, she growled and got up. Why, oh why was this happening to her. Whoever was at the door obviously had no idea how depressed she was, if they knew, they wouldn't of came.
She was expecting it to be a mail pony, or late milk delivery, but was surprised to see four of her friends, and Spike standing there, with flowers and balloons. She sat there, staring at her friends, not feeling anything.
Rarity gasped in horror, as she looked at the mess infront of her, which apparently was Princess Twilight Sparkle.
"Oh my heavens! Darling, look at you!" she gasped, running over and looking close at her mane. Pinkie Pie to, gasped at horror of how unhappy Twilight looked, it was one of her worst nightmares to see her closest friends so unhappy.
"You look so... grey!" Rainbow added, flying closer, "And your eyes. It looks like you've been crying."
Maybe I have Rainbow... so doesn't that mean you now must LEAVE ME to my crying? Twilight thought, shamefully wishing her friends would just leave her alone.
"Here, Twilight! Smell these!" Spike said, standing in Twilight's personal space, shoving the flowers in her face. Twilight sneezed as the flowers brushing against her nuzzle tickled her nostrils. She then sighed and sniffed the flowers.
"They don't smell like anythi-AHHH!" she squealed, as she suddenly got squirted in the face.
Prank flowers?! Are you kidding me?! Wow, thanks a lot SPIKE! Twilight moaned in her head, as she was sad enough, upsetting her best friends would just make her more sad.
Rainbow Dash looked confused and questioned Twilight, "What? You didn't laugh, snort or even giggle?! But this is your favourite prank, you laugh all the time!" Rainbow yelled unknowingly, causing Twilight to get angry.
"Rainbow Dash please will you be QUIET!" she snapped, startling her. Rainbow flicked her mane in a sassy way, and followed Applejack, who had walked past and was heading into the castle.
"Where are you going AJ?" Rainbow asked, trying to avoid eye contact with her grumpy friend. Applejack made her way into the kitchen, and Rainbow scrunched up her nose.
"Whats that rank? It smells like rotten apples..." Applejack turned and glared at Rainbow.
"Nah Dash, it smells more bitter then rotten. It seems Twilight was tryna make her parents mint tea. Anyway, I thought I'd cook up a batch of my famous apple fritters. They're Twilight's favorites. Whatever is wrong, this is sure to cheer her up!" Applejack assured enthusiastically. Rainbow shrugged, and looked outside the room to see Pinkie Pie handing Twilight the balloons.
"Here Twily! Have a balloon, we know you love em! There is red, blue, pink yellow-" Pinkie chirped, before being cut off by Rarity.
"Now Pinkie, I'm sure we don't need to know all the colours." she said, covering Pinkie's nuzzled with a hoof. Twilight was starting to get frustrated that her friends weren't leaving, and so she turned around and went back into the castle, without taking a balloon. Pinkie Pie looked destroyed, as these balloons were blown just for her. Pinkie broke free of Rarity's grasp and yelled to her miserable friend.
"Wait! You didn't take a ballooooonnnn!!" she yelled, causing Rarity's hooves to shoot up to her ears and eyes shut tight. Pinkie was too loud sometimes, especially late at night when she's had her coffee. Pinkie looked at Rarity and asked, "You think she heard me?" Rarity sighed, nodded, and went with Spike to think of something else to cheer up her friend.
• • ❖ • •
It was now 9:06 pm, and Fluttershy was still sat in Sugarcube Corner. Mr and Mrs Cake were starting to worry, as they had already asked, yet Fluttershy politely said she didn't need anything, and they didn't want to be rude and say, "If you don't need anything then LEAVE!" but they needed to go to sleep, and so they said that in a more polite manner.
"Fluttershy dear, isn't it time you got home to put your animals to sleep?" they nervously asked, looking at the time.
Fluttershy gasped and realised she had been sitting there, in their way, thinking about Twilight for longer then an hour!
"Oh my! I'm so sorry Mr and Mrs Cake, how rude of me!" she exclaimed, grabbing her saddle bags, "I'll leave immediately!" but before she could exit the cake shop, the couple stopped her, letting their curiosity run wild.
"Is their something you need to talk about?" Mrs Cake asked, looking over to her husband for support.
"Like, anything bothering you we should know about?" Mr Cake added, scratching his chin. Fluttershy gently nodded and came back to sit and talk to them.
"Well, it's about my friend, Princess Twilight. My friends have found out from Spike that there is something that has upset her. I have actually already head about this, as I was babysitting Princess Celestia's pet bird Philomena. You see, I have a way to communicate with animals, and Philomena told me about a tragedy." she then paused, unsure whether she should tell the Cakes what happened. But they looked well into it, and nodded to get her to continue. Fluttershy took a breath and starting talking again, "The tragedy was that Twilight and her brothers' parents passed away in hospital, after being very unwell. The bird knew this from Celestia." Fluttershy looked down to the ground in disappointment.
The Cakes really seemed to care, and so the both put one of their hooves on Fluttershy's shoulders.
"Is that all? I feel like something else is also bothering you, do you agree Mr Cake?"
"Yes, we are here to listen."
Fluttershy was surprised at how kind they were being to her, and how they were really listening.
"Well, my friends decided between them that they were going to go and try to cheer her up. But, if MY parents died, that would be the last thing I'd want, cheering up... I tried to tell them that we should leave her to it, but they brushed me off." she sighed, looking up at the Cakes.
Mr Cake looked and Mrs Cake, and then they both nodded and looked back at Fluttershy.
"What we think is that you should think this through, and maybe go and talk to Twilight. But instead of trying to cheer her up maybe you should just simply comfort her, and let her express her feelings to you? Make her realise that she has a friend whose shoulder she can cry on." they said, smiling warmly and giving Fluttershy a caring hug. Fluttershy blushed, and then pushed away.
"Thank you... you're right! I'm going straight for the castle... thank you! Thank you, thank you! I could of never think straight before you checked on me! Thank you! ...Heheh... how many times have I said thank you?"
Mr and Mrs Cake giggled, and opened the door for the Pegasus to flutter through. Their job was done, now It was finally time to go to bed. They immediately rushed upstairs and turned the lights off.
Fluttershy then realised something and poked her head back through the door, "Um... do you think I should wait until morning?" she asked, before noticing that the lights were off and the Cakes had left to go to bed.
"Hehe" she giggled, quietly closing the door. "Oopsies."
• • ❖ • •
9:36 pm. It was now getting really late, and Rainbow Dash was starting to get grumpy.
"Ugh! It's hopeless! We've tried everything, dresses, balloons, cupcakes, daring do books... just NOTHING is cheering up Twilight right now. What are we going to do?" she complained, ending of with a yawn, "Might I add, it's almost 10 PM!! Am I gonna get ANY sleep tonight?" Rarity tutted and shushed her.
Pinkie suddenly hopped out of nowhere, classic Pinkie, and added to Rainbow's complaint. "Even my hilarious jokes didn't work on her! Applejack, tell me if this is funny: Knock Knock."
"Not now Pinkie, my apple fritters are ready!" she said, hearing a ding go off in the kitchen.
Rainbow then flapped down beside Pinkie, "Hey! I got a joke! Knock knock."
"Whose there?"
"Honeybee"
"Honeybee who?"
"Honeybee a dear and TAKE ME TO BED!" Rainbow yelled.
Applejack got some oven gloves, and carefully took out her tasty treats, while Spike got a plate from the cupboards.
"Wow, Applejack, they look DELICIOUS!" he said in awe, as he smelt the luscious steam float out from the sugary, warm, homemade treats. He was about to touch one with his long sharp claw, until his hand was slapped away by Applejack.
"Ah ah ah Spike! These are for Twilight!" she said, as she put the fritters onto the plate and left the kitchen, Spike followed like a dog following a human with a plate of steak.
As Applejack and Spike left and went to find Twilight in her bedroom, they got an unexpected knock at the door.
"Who could that be?! The mailman?" Pinkie asked, tilting her head and raising a brow. Rainbow tutted and face palmed.
"Pinkie, its 9:40 pm. The mailman doesn't even come on Sundays, anyway."
Rarity ignored the others comments, and went to go answer the door. Much to her surprise, Fluttershy was standing there.
"Oh. Hi darling. What brings you here? Have you decided you WERE going to help cheer up Twilight?" Rarity asked, looking through the guest.
Fluttershy immediately shook her head, and dashed past Rarity, leaving her very confused, "But where are you going?!" she yelled, before realising how late it was. She immediately shut up and followed Fluttershy.
• • ❖ • •
"Mind if we come in, Twi?" Applejack asked, dodging Spike's infinite plots to get ahold of an apple fritter. Twilight mumbled to herself, but then came to answer the door. Applejack stared in horror at how WORSE Twilight looked then earlier. She was even more grey, and her cheeks had lines of tears going down them.
"Ah, um... made you some apple fri- SPIKE!" Applejack gasped, noticing her plate of treats were now a plate of nothing, and also noticing the rather fat looking dragon with crumbs on this face, by her hooves.
"Ah can't believe you! Those were to cheer up Twilight!" Applejack scolded, Spike shrugged and lipped his lips.
Twilight sighed, and turned around, "It's fine. I'm not hungry. I'm not ANYTHING." she said, about to go and plant her face back into her quilt, until she heard a farmiliar soft voice.
"Um... mind if we have some privacy?" Fluttershy whispered to Applejack. She nodded with confusion, and left, dragging the b̶i̶g̶ ̶b̶a̶l̶l̶ Spike behind her.
Once Applejack and Spike were gone, Fluttershy closed the door, and turned to look at her friend.
"Mind if I join you? Don't worry, I'm not going to cheer you up." she said softly and kindly, going to sit beside Twilight on the bed. Twilight shrugged, and Fluttershy stroken her back.
"I know what happened, Twilight. And I understand depression, I can help you." she whispered, still stroking Twilight's back and mane. Twilight looked at Fluttershy.
"You can talk to me. I'm here to listen." she assured. Twilight finally gave in, and saw how Fluttershy REALLY cared, and knew what she wanted, "I know you need a shoulder to cry on."
This truly caught Twilight's attention. After hearing these words, Twilight sniffed, and then broke into tears. She flung her arms around Fluttershy and hugged her tight. Fluttershy opened her wings, and used them to caress Twilight's back. Twilight continued to sob, drenching Fluttershy with tears.
"I am so glad you understand... I feel like a TERRIBLE daughter Fluttershy. I am a terrible person!" she cried, crying even harder after those words. Fluttershy didn't respond. Instead she continued to caress Twilight's back, and let her cry.
"Let it all out, Twilight." she quietly said. Twilight cried for a while, it had just turned 10:01 pm when she stopped. When she stopped, she had calmed down a lot. She had got all her tears out her system, and she finally managed to break a smile. Fluttershy gave Twilight a promising smile, assuring her that she would always be there for her, will always be open when Twilight needs someone to talk to.
"I feel like we should go down to the others... but I'd rather stay here... having you by my side is making me better, and how you are the only one whose letting me cry it out makes you very special." Twilight said, pressed her face against Fluttershy's soft yellow chest.
Fluttershy stroked Twilight's mane, and said, "Want me to go downstairs and tell the girls that they can leave?"
Twilight smiled, and nodded. Her colour was finally coming back. Thanks to Fluttershy.
• • ❖ • •
When Fluttershy had arrived downstairs, she noticed how all her friends were getting really tired and grumpy. She giggled under her breath. It was kinda cute how grumpy her friends get when their tired.
"Girls, I'd just like to say that you are all welcome to leave now." she smiled. Rainbow Dash hopped up fast after hearing this news.
"Thank goodness! About time!" she was just going to dash through the door and back to cloudsdale, until Rarity grabbed hold of her tail in her mouth and pulled her back to the ground. "Hey! What gives?"
Rarity frowned at Rainbow Dash, and turned to Fluttershy, "But what about Twilight? Is she still miserable?" Fluttershy shook her head gingery as she spoke.
"She was miserable because of family issues, you can call it depression. All she needed was someone to let her cry it out. She never wanted actual cheering up. I hope you girls understand, it's all taken care of now."
Rarity looked at the others, and they all nodded and smiled at Fluttershy. And then they accepted the fact that they had to leave, and so they all charged to the door in a hurry, willing to get to bed. After her friends had left the door (apart from Spike who went to tidy up the kitchen) she went back to see Twilight in her room. When she arrived, she saw how much better her friend looked. Her eyes and fur were violet again, as was her mane. Looks like Mr and Mrs Cake are really good at giving advice.
"Is their anything you need, Twi?" Fluttershy warmly asked. Twilight thought, and then realised what she really wanted.
"I'd love some green tea. But, please... don't make it so bitter." she said ending with a small giggle.
When Fluttershy left to make her tea, Twilight lay on her back and stared at the ceiling, and thought to herself.
I am lucky to have five great friends, but EXTREMELY lucky to have one extra special and caring friend like Fluttershy. I now know for a fact that we will always be there for eachother whenever we need it.
Twilight smiled, and hoped that she and Fluttershy would spend much more time alone with eachother. For just having her company makes Twilight feel so much better.
She of course still dearly missed her parents, but she put a hoof to her chest and said, "They will always be in my heart. As will Fluttershy."
Twilight will never forget this day.
Ever.