Shut In

The shelves of the Golden Oaks Library were sparkling, pristine, shining in the morning sun. The books were perfectly organized and alphabetized, truly there was not a better sign of care and dedication in all of Equestria. The floors were immaculate, not a speck of dust stood out against the fine wood. The whole main room of the library shone with brilliance, the only spot to mar the beautiful setting was one lonely dragon, quietly dusting the same corner for the fortieth time.

This isn't like her. Even when she goes into one of those long "study sessions" she still eats! Spike looked down at his feet, noticing that his claws needed to be clipped. She wouldn't like if his claws weren't clipped.

A slight growl from Spike's stomach reminded the dragon that he had to eat his breakfast. So he slid into the kitchen, grabbed some necessary vegetables, and went about creating two wonderful salads. Only one of which would get eaten, again. With carrots chopped and lettuce peeled, Spike once again made his way up to the top-floor of the library.

Outside of a particular door at the end of the hall was Twilight's room. Only, what had once been a clean hallway was now an altar to six different days worth of meals. The first day meals were rotted, flies flew about the dead plants as all matters of larvae quietly destroyed what had once been food. Spike, dutiful as ever, set down another plate before her door, praying that she would take it.

But as he walked away the flies descended onto these new offerings, ready to devour them.

"Darling, you must stop worrying, all of this stress is making you positively depressed!" The white unicorn looked over at the dragon with concerned eyes and a small smile. She was just as worried about their mutual friend as he was, surely he could see that? It had been nine days know that Twilight hadn't come out. Rainbow Dash had checked around all of the windows to her room, but all of them were closed with blinds shut. Applejack had proposed simply crashing down the door, but Spike had made it clear that doing so was never going to happen. "Only Twilight allows ponies in," had been his final words on the subject.

Rarity was concerned that the poor dragon would worry himself to death, but Fluttershy had assured her that nothing like that was happening to Spike, if anything, he was just as healthy as ever. That assurance did nothing for her nerves, however. Rarity had really never seen the dragon like this, he had bags underneath his eyes, his body was turning frail, and his entire demeanor had shifted. The once happy dragon was a hollow shell of himself.

That damn Twilight, what is she doing up there? Rarity wanted to chastise herself for saying that about her friend, but she couldn't deny it was true. Some small part of her, hidden away underneath her generosity, selfishly wanted Spike to forgo his "dragon duty" and see Twilight.

If only to make the dragon, and in large part herself, at ease.

Sixteen days. It had been sixteen days since Twilight had locked herself away from the world. And Spike was furious. He stomped around the library, tearing books off the shelves and throwing them at the floor. He lit entire stacks on fire, trying to burn away the ache in his heart. Quills and parchment that had once been used to create letters of friendship were torn apart and used for more kindling. All of the plates in the cupboards were smashed against the ground. The table was crashed against the wall.

Tears formed small puddles wherever the dragon sat, his arms buried within his knees. The library was torn apart, destroyed, desecrated. All that had once held fun summer days and loving winter nights was stripped apart. Ponyville was closed out, the sign read "Shut Down Indefinitely", and only five mares were allowed to even enter the building.

Those five sat in a circle around their friend, trying desperately to comfort him. But it was to no avail, the dragon's heart had been ripped straight from his chest. To be betrayed by the one who had brought you to life, into a world you had never known, and had been your mentor and only family since birth; the pain was overwhelming. No amount of comfort could be given to the dragon who had lost all will to live.

On the night of the nineteenth day, some small amount of time before the dawn of the twentieth, Spike decided to break his own rule. He chose to cross the threshold of the hallway, to break all of his vows, to betray the trust of the friend who had betrayed him.

He walked across the piles of food, now half-gone and decayed, towards the door.

He walked past the pictures which held memories of his life before all of this.

Spike walked to the door, the only barrier between his darkness and her light, and turned the knob. The door slowly opened, revealing a part of the room they had once shared. Spike saw his bed, in perfect condition from lack of a dragon resting on it, and opened the door a little more. He saw her bed, still waiting for something to grace its covers.

Spike opened the door fully, to reveal a scene forever etched in his brain.

There she was, or rather, there some parts of her were. The stench given off by her body was overpowering, and stank like the earth and maggots. Where her eyes had been was no replaced with hollow sockets, in which lived some rats that fed off her brain. Her hooves were all that was left of her legs, which had been taken away by some sort of foul creatures. Her mane was gone, the hair had long ago fallen off and onto the floor around her.

In front of Twilight's corpse sat a few pieces of parchment, sullied by blood stains and coated with feces. Spike stepped over to her body, barely staying conscious as his senses were overloaded. He grabbed the parchment and ran out of the room as quickly as he could, tears streaming down his face, his hands coated with waste.

"Are you certain Rarity?"

"Without a doubt, we found him here this morning. Fluttershy checked his pulse, he's gone."

"And Twilight?"

"Her, um, body is still upstairs. I wouldn't recommend going near it without some sort of mental preparation."

"I'll be fine, but will you be?"

Rarity looked at Celestia, tears clouded her vision, she could barely keep herself calm.

"No Celestia, two of my friends just died. I don't think I will ever be fine. But we will carry on, all of us. We're strong, Celestia, despite what has occurred, we will still be the Elements. I'm just wondering one thing."

"What is that?"

"How she died. Twilight wouldn't just kill herself, she was in perfect health, and nopony killed her. So how did she die?"

Celestia looked away from Rarity into the sun. Her face was neutral, unreadable, serene. "I don't know, Ill see her body and try to go from there."

Celestia left the Elements to mourn in private and went into Twilight's room. To this day she will never know what killed her student, perhaps she never will, but Celestia will know that when Twilight died, she had a smile on her face.