Discolored

She had searched every book in her library.

It was clear, Twilight thought, her mind drifting to the large book in her hooves that was open just as wide as her eyes, that there was no book in Equestria that could logically and empirically describe her situation. It was like a nightmare, safely put, her eyes now drifting to the outside world. It was normal, she thought, normal from that empty clinic. She knew something had to have happened there. No medical staff just suddenly decides to take a collective leave like that. Plus the mold, those flickering, damaged lights, those doors opening and closing randomly, and...

"...those three crystals. They were in a triangle, all diamonds." She remembered them. "In the grey of the sheets," she murmured, pacing back and forth between the large bookcase to her right, and the coffee table to her left, which still had her hot cocoa she had left resting on its wooden surface. She stopped her pacing and cracked a smile.  She levitated the cup to her mouth and took a sip of its contents.

It was cold, distant; just like Rarity, gone.

She stood still. Even in her own home, far away from the clinic, there was a haunting sense of distance from Twilight and her friend that she couldn't escape. Twilight couldn't do anything but embrace the harmful distance.

So she did. She hugged the cup tight before resting it on the table again. Bolting out of the library, Twilight ran to the town square. She had to visit somepony. A friend...

...who lives in a cottage just up the way.

The medicine had worn off again.

She gripped the bed sheets tightly with her hooves. Her head rested gently on the pillows, but her gaze looked frantic, eyes honed in on the end of her bed. Bars tall and thin stood there, taunting her. She could feel their stares upon her, their silent laughs echoing in her brain. They were laughing at her for moaning in a clinic. Uncontrollably moaning to something she couldn't see, taste, smell, touch--the sensations were something else, but they were all gone. Gone like the wind.

Just like her life, her dresses, her business--

Rarity groaned. "Focus!" she scolded herself. "You'll be out of here soon!"

She wished it was true, but the remaining horn on her head didn't tickle and Nurse Redheart and Doctor Stable still couldn't figure out what happened to her. She remembered their conversation while she laid helplessly in Nurse Redheart's grasp. She was unable to see due to the bandages covering her. Their words...

"Leave the gauze on, Red."

"Yes, Doctor."

The sounds of shuffling, ruffling, and scooting around her made Rarity want to rip the bandages off. She couldn't see a thing.

"So, Doctor..." A pause. "What do you think?"

A grumble and a shiver-inducing hum was all to be heard.

Then, he spoke, "She'll be fine. If she needs another gauze or--no, two gauze, then do so."

"Alright, Doctor." Rarity felt some pressure on her head as Nurse Redheart continued to talk, "Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"You didn't answer my question."

He gasped. "I thought I did? You had asked me what I thought, and so I gave you my--"

"Oh, quiet. That was not the only thing I had asked." A pause. "I wanted to know what you thought of Rarity, but in the sense of her full condition."

Rarity heard him gasp again. He had better, if it wasn't for her weak state, she would have slapped him. "We stallions are dense."

"Clearly." Rarity hoped that Nurse Redheart gave him an eyeroll. "So...?"

He sighed. "Her horn is never going to grow," he began, the words bouncing in Rarity's eardrums. "But the marks... well, they're a mystery."

"A mystery?" Rarity chimed in.

Nusre Redheart rubbed against Rarity's cheek with her hoof. "Don't worry, Rarity. He's just a bit too poetic for any normal doctor."

"That's why they call me the Unstable Stable! They wanted an oxymoron or something,"

She growled at him. "You're not a moron, Doctor."

"I know," he said lamely. "I know..."

Silence reigned for a few moments. They worked diligently. Nurse Redheart was smoothing out the gauze on Rarity's skin (Rarity assumed this) while the doctor prepared for her physical. "Did you see the hoofball game last night?" Nurse Redheart suddenly asked. She must be trying to raise his spirits, Rarity thought.

Rarity heard the doctor's gruff laugh. "Of course! Greatest game all season for the Ponyville Risers!" Shuffling of vials, glass clinking against each other. "I wish I got to see the first half! Apparently Slip Stream derailed the Flyers streak!"

Rarity thought of hoofball: the tense matches where the ball travels into the goal with such grace--she wanted to play that sport so she could say she scored a goal before the goalie could even react.

"So she did!" Nurse Redheart replied cheerfully. "Slid and knocked the ball right out of her possession!" She giggled.

"Although Slip Stream got injured right after..." Doctor Stable sounded hurt, his voice wavering slightly. "It might end her career..."

Rarity felt that pressure, and it hurt *a lot*. "She'll be all right, Doctor. Besides, her trainers and doctors are top notch, they'll fix her."

He sighed. "I guess you're right."

They were silent once again, both working vigilantly on Rarity, whose mind felt like Pinkie Pie was pouncing on it. "N-Nurse," Rarity said through a grimace. "May I ask you something?"

She felt hooves wrap around her neck; pressure there too. "Yes?"

A shock ran through Rarity's body as she spoke to Nurse Redheart. "When will I be gettin--ack!"

"Rarity!" the voice shouted. Rarity was unsure of who it was now, the voice caught between two mediums. "Doctor! Rarity's condition, she's go--I'll--find you!"

Suddenly, the world turned black.

That was all Rarity remembered.

The voice, it did sound different, but she couldn't think about it at the time, nor could she have remembered it. Instead, her mind was focused on everyone else before she thought of herself. Of that conversation.

Is she going insane?, she thought, giving her full attention to her hoof. It was round, a perfect circle edged on the inside. She brought her other hoof to meet, clopping the two together. It was perfect. Just like Rarity.

Or was she perfect? She didn't know anymore, her mind was playing tricks on her.

Maybe she should go see a friend--one on a hill. To the spa, maybe?

If only she was free from the constraints of her bandages, had her fully grown horn and a--

She gasped and flung the covers off her body. She checked her flanks.

Still blank.

It was still nearing night's last embrace. The moon was at its highest peak. Twilight hoped Fluttershy hadn't gone to bed yet. She needed somepony to talk to about Rarity, and Fluttershy was a very good listener. Not to mention that she was the one who found Rarity first. Fluttershy must know where Rarity is.

Twilight galloped to the top of the hill. From afar, Fluttershy's cottage looked normal: lit dimly by the sheer might of her three oil lamps. The lamps cast a yellow hue against the gentle peach exterior of the home. Around it though was dark. The grass of the hill seemed less green than usual. It still felt like the beginnings of Spring, but without the snow. Just cold, destructive winds that snap and break the blades of life.

She peered into the cottage. No lights were on, except a dim lamp in a corner. It was too dark to see what the interior looked like. The lamp disguised the rooms well, leaving Twilight no choice but to spare a knock. She knocked once, twice, thrice even. The reply staggered, echoing in the house. She knew so, a clip clop or two were her reply. She put her ear to the door. They grew louder those hoofsteps did, so Twilight stepped back and politely raised a smile that could not be denied.

In mere seconds, the door that blocked her path creaked open. An eye appeared from the inside of a dark cottage. She knew that eye. She knew it well.

"Fluttershy, did I wake you?" Twilight asked.

The door swung open freely, showing her dear friend. "Oh, no! I was just tending to the animals... sort of."

Weird, she doesn't break off like that, Twilight thought, eyeing her friend's shady appearance momentarily. She brought her gaze to those eyes again. She was glad to see them. "May I come in? I need to talk to you about our friend."

Fluttershy's demeanor shocked Twilight as Fluttershy gave her a gentle nod and wordlessly stepped away from the doorway, waiting for her to walk in. It wasn't like her to be so quiet, Twilight thought but then dismissed it just like the shady appearance, momentarily. A friend like her being quiet? That was normal in every reich, but for some reason, this view of her made Twilight a bit uncomfortable. She didn't like things to be unusual. Unexpected, yes, those moments were great; they brought about curiosity, a desire she needed to quench her thirst. But this was not her cup of cocoa. She didn't like it being so cold and distant.

So she walked into the cottage, letting the door smack against the door frame.