Discolored

The atmosphere in the room made Twilight shift in her seat.

Fluttershy's cottage was not like it was when Twilight last visited. Three days ago: the floors were clean; the cabinet near the door was green and proud; the fireplace was clean, pots were settled just outside the flames stone haven; and the tables were filled with vases, bringing color to the room. Now, as Twilight saw it, the room was grey. Light fixtures around them were cracked; the fireplace was smoldering, but Twilight knew it was going to be gone soon; the pots were torn apart, laying against the stone haven--there wasn't a single thing in order: vases scattered and shattered on the floor, soot finding residency on once beautiful cabin-like walls, and local infestors took their time to eat away at the floors once great glow. Twilight couldn't bear to sit in her chair without imagining those bugs crawling on her, biting her, eating her. She... she wanted to leave as soon as she saw them, but rest assured, she told herself, she was here for Fluttershy. Twilight needed to talk to her.

So she sat there, shifting uncomfortably in her seat while Fluttershy, who she thought would be looking at her, was paying attention to Angel, whose appearance looked grim: red cheeks, runny nose, ears splayed against his skull, and his eyes--she knew something was wrong here--were bloodshot, but they were not red. No, Twilight thought, looking away to wonder how the lines in eyes were that color.

They were blue.

"So," Fluttershy began, knocking Twilight out her frightened phase. "What seems to be the problem?"

Twilight looked down for a moment and brought her hooves to the forefront. She twiddled with them, like a mare who is nervous at her first interview. "Have you seen Rarity?"

Twilight watched as Fluttershy rested the little demon--no, bunny, Twilight corrected herself, on the table. "She's... fine," Fluttershy said, looking over at her bunny again, before turning her attention to Twilight. "Why do you ask?"

Should she tell her? The question echoed in Twilight's mind. While she thought of what to say, Twilight watched Fluttershy's mane slowly move--perhaps a fan?--she did not know what to say. So, she threw out her cards and began to tell her story, "Well, Fluttershy, I have been seeing things differently and I don't know who else I could turn to at this hour..."

"Seeing things?" Fluttershy asked with a raised eyebrow. "Are you sick too, Twilight?"

Sick?, Twilight thought. There's no way she could be sick, could she? "I'm not sick, but thank you for asking." She saw Fluttershy's eyebrow lower in an instant. "It's just... You know where they have her?"

Fluttershy nodded. "In the clinic at the special patients hall, last one on the right?"

"Right..." Twilight couldn't believe what she heard. The exact room? She must've been in there with Rarity. "Were you in there with her?"

Once again, another nod, but one that looked unsure enough that the cocoa resting inside Twilight's body gurgled and raised slightly in her throat. "She was asleep when I came in, and when she hurt herself, she was completely unconscious," Fluttershy softly answered.

Twilight gulped, letting the acid leave behind that dreaded aftertaste. "So she never saw nor spoke with you?"

She shook her head. "She didn't speak directly to me, but when she was asleep... I heard her."

"What did she say?"

Twilight saw her friend's sudden twitch. It was... different, a rather possessive twitch, one that Twilight knew she saw in the movies, but she never would have guessed to see it in real time. Not to mention that her mentor had dealt with possession before because of Luna's once prevalent alter ego's possessive nature. But Fluttershy's was different. It was trying to break through her, not into her. "Did you hear me?"

Twilight was suddenly shocked out of her stupor again. "I'm sorry, Fluttershy, my head was in the clouds..."

"It's okay, Twilight," she said kindly. "Can you... please, pay attention?"

Twilight nodded meekly. She watched her friend put her hooves on the table. "She said--you know what? What she said was not important. Look, Twilight. Rarity... she can't remember how she got her cutie mark."

Twilight couldn't think. All she could do is stare with her eyes wide, tears feeling its way to her eyes. "W-Why?"

Fluttershy looked away. "I don't know, the doctors don't know why her condition is so bad." The bunny on the table shifted just slightly. "Her horn isn't as big as it used to be..."

"Did it shrink?!" Twilight blurted out, earning her a glare from Fluttershy. "Sorry..."

"To answer your question," Fluttershy began, her glare dissolving through the words she spoke. "No, it didn't. When I saw her on the ground, the other part--hold on, are you squeamish?"

Twilight shook her head. "What happened to her, Fluttershy?"

She stared blankly at Twilight, her eyes vacant of any kindness. "Her horn had snapped in two, Twilight. Snapped right in two..."

Twilight couldn't feel. All she knew was that when a horn was snapped, a unicorn would never be able to cast spells the same. It would be difficult, ten times harder than usual, and the relationships they had built in their family would be thrown into the ashes of their other half, while the remaining horn stayed on their head as an eyesore for other ponies to judge and curse her for. Poor Rarity, her career--no, don't think like that--her family--how would they react to her horn?--her life--it would not be easy for her, Twilight thought, wishing this nightmare never happened. She looked up, meeting that gaze again, and Twilight said, "It's still on her head?"

"You mean the horn?" Fluttershy asked. Seeing Twilight's reluctant nod, Fluttershy continued, "Yes. They were going to do surgery to try and save it..."

"Save it?" Twilight impulsively responded. "What do you mean?"

Twilight saw her. There was a tear, just one, gliding down her cheek. "The rest of her horn... It's... jagged."

"Jagged?" Twilight's thoughts returned to that image: an eyesore cursed by the ponies. "You mean...?"

"What do you think I mean!" Fluttershy shouted, her voice wavering and her tears coming out in an abundance that Twilight would not even imagine come from Fluttershy. Every tear made that kind body quake. "Her life as a fashionista that we all know and love is gone!"

"That isn't true--"

Fluttershy suddenly stood up, her chair moving back slightly. "How would you know? I--" Fluttershy's sudden aggressiveness slunk back in its seat. "I'm sorry, Twilight. This whole situation has got me a bit tense..." She cast her hoof to the rest of the room. "Just like the house... I'm--it hurts, Twilight. It hurts."

Twilight got up from her chair and stood beside Fluttershy. Looking into her eyes, Twilight saw that vacancy change to hurt, pain, a shattered, broken heart beating every so often before fading into the dark shadows of stress and anxiety. Without a moment to spare, Twilight wrapped her wings around Fluttershy and pulled her close. "Then let's make that hurt go away, Fluttershy."

And with one, pain-staking wail, Fluttershy wept.

And so did Twilight.

Nurse Redheart had walked into the room and watched as her patient, Miss Rarity, laid in her bed, resting calmly. However, what made her stay still wasn't the sleeping beauty, but rather what was on her head. Her horn, which was once fabricated to be smooth and pointed, now...

It wasn't pointed anymore.

It was jagged. Again, just like before the surgery.

Without a word or scream of surprise, Nurse Redheart bolted out of the room, heading to Doctor Stable's office once again.