A page crinkled as Twilight pushed onward to the next section of the book. She sighed and looked out the window of her home. Clouds completely eclipsed the sun, the world’s bright and vibrant colors now graying from this darker lighting. She exhaled once more and returned her attention to the book in front of her hooves. “The first signs of winter… yet I don’t feel excited for it.”

It was far from exciting, which Twilight would have hoped for today. She stared down at the book below her, her gaze unmoving while she fell into a daze. Yesterday had been “difficult” to say the least. Rarity, a friend she had relied on and did enjoy being around, had feelings for her, feelings that possibly extended beyond friendship. How and why her friend would feel this way towards her was, at the moment, completely unknown to her. ‘And it’s… I don’t know, weird?’

Everything Twilight knew about it was not right. She had never even considered Rarity in that type of way. Was it so wrong not to? Her vision blurred for a moment. She blinked her eyes and saw the book below her again. She let out a sigh and pushed it away. Not even the books she so cared about brought comfort to Twilight. The moment from last night was just too important not to think about, yet she needed more information. More reasons as to why Rarity felt this way to her, this whole new “love” that Twilight did not feel for her.

“It… can’t be simple… can it…” Twilight murmured to herself. All her life so far, she had only had interest in mares, at least as much as she could remember. There was no direction in that way of other stallions, nor did she ever recall a slight interest for the opposite sex. Of course she should have felt glad that there was a mare who liked her, but it was her best friend, Rarity. “Why… why out of all ponies must she like me? I mean… I don’t see why she likes me in that way. What’s so interesting about me?”

The answers seemed to be out of reach. Why was Rarity attracted to her? Twilight wanted to know and to get to the bottom of this predicament. She turned her head slightly to the left at the sound of footsteps and smiled at the sight of Spike. “Hey there, Spike.” She tilted her head after she spoke. His head was down, and he walked in this droopy posture, his shoulders hunched up and his gaze kept a constant focus to the floor. That was not normal for him. She could not remember a time when he had looked so down before. ‘I-is he alright?’ She sat upright and asked, “Spike… are you alright?”

Spike lifted his head up slightly to meet her own gaze. “Y-yeah… I’m fine, Twilight.” He looked away and continued to mosy onward, like he intended to just wander around the room.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Spike. There’s obviously something wrong. Maybe I can help?”

He stopped and didn’t look back. “Look… I don’t feel good at the moment. I’m fine, really. Just… can we not talk at the moment?”

“Spike…” Twilight stood up and approached him. “Obviously everything's not alright. Please, just tell me.”

“Just leave me alone.” She flinched at the more aggressive tone in his voice. He stood up straight and glanced behind his shoulder. “I don’t want to talk, alright?”

“Wh-what’s going on, Spike?” Twilight frowned. “Why are you sounding so… so irritated? What are you mad about?”

“Oh, what are you mad about?” Spike mimicked and turned around to face her. “So you are actually going to care this time instead of blowing me off like all those other times.”

“What is wrong with you?” Twilight held her ground. “What is your deal? Why are you so angry?”

“Well you wouldn’t know, since you’re so obsessed with that book you hide from me all the time.” Spike crossed his arms.

“W-what?” Twilight took a step back. “H-h-how do you--”

“It’s obvious enough when I hear you talking to it like it was alive every other night.” He snorted. “Why didn’t you tell me you were practicing dark magic? Heck, I’m surprised that you’d even look into that type of magic.”

“I want to know what it is capable of, Spike.” Twilight reasoned. “To know its effects, what it can do and why it’s so powerful.” She folded her ears onto her head. “And why are you angry? What are you mad at?”

Spike glared at Twilight. “You still don’t get it, do you?” He chuckled. “Why do you think I’m mad? I’m mad at you.”

“What? Why?” Twilight took a step back, her eyes widening at the revelation. ‘What did I do? Surely I didn’t do anything wrong, right?’

“Why? Why!?” He clenched his hands into fists and stomped his right foot. “It’s because of what you took. You stole Rarity’s heart! You st--”

“How dare you accuse me of something like that!” Twilight took a step forward and returned the glare he had gave her. “It’s so childish of you to assume that I wanted this in the first place, when I wasn’t interested in Rarity to begin with.” She watched him step back, the glare he once had in his eyes faltered. “And you just thought that I wanted her, what with your own petty and foalish dreams about you and her together. Yet you're a dragon and she’s a pony. It is never going to happen, Spike. You hear me? Never!” Twilight breathed in and out, catching her breath.

Twilight’s eyes widened when she saw Spike. Tears trickled down his face. He hiccupped and wiped his eyes with his hands until he turned his back to her. “Spike… I…” Twilight reached a hoof out to him. “I didn’t mean to… say any--” He quickly ran into his room and shut the door, Twilight stared at where he went. She closed her eyes and ground her teeth together. Tears gathered up in her eyes, threatening to burst at the mere thought of what she had said. ‘I’m so sorry… I-I’m so sorry Spike…’

She had never yelled like that at Spike before. Yet she had. It was like a mother scolding her son, which in the odd sense was that she sort of was a mother to him. But she was also a sister to him as well, a mare who had always treated Spike with kindness. And now she had yelled at him because of her own anger. “I-I-I’m so sorry… Spike… I… I…” She closed her eyes and ran down the stairs and out her door.

Twilight took off down the sidewalk, heading for anywhere she could go. This was too much. She couldn’t handle what she had just done; all she thought to do was run and to get away from her home. She turned right down another path and ended up in a courtyard. She glanced around, only to find that nopony was around her. Her breathing began to increase, and she closed her eyes. The dam that held her tears back finally broke down, little rivers forming down her cheeks as she lost the will to fight back against them. Her horn lit up with a dark purple and green aura; she screamed as shot a beam out into the distant plains far away from Canterlot. She fell down onto her side and watched it explode, only visible for a few moments until the light was no more.

She slowly sat up and felt the energy she had leave her, taking deep breathes while she blinked her eyes. More tears traveled down her muzzle, and she whimpered. She shook slightly, resting her eyes into her right foreleg. “Why… is this happening? Why now… why…” Twilight felt like she did not need this amount of stress; too much, and she knew that this dark magic would get control over her. But that was not the only reason why. Because of her practice with this new magic, she had noticed that she would get angry more easily than before. Of course, she knew she was always easy to annoy, but not so effortlessly like this.

She just needed to calm down. That was the main goal for now. Twilight looked back at the path she had come through and slowly, if not shakily, got up. She began her walk back to her house, but with each step she took, the effort to move forward felt more and more difficult. Twilight didn’t know how to confront Spike after what happened, and she just had no idea at the moment how she could fix this mess. ‘First Rarity… and my rejection of her feelings, which could have gone so much better. Now I yell at Spike. This is just the worst…’ She just hoped Spike would still be there, for she had to do something. ‘I… I just hope he can forgive me… for what I said to him.’ But she did not have the strength to say anything. As Twilight continued forward, however, she was at least thankful that there was another home nearby, one where she could go for the time being.

~~~

Echoes of a train’s whistle bounced around in the tunnel. The locomotive sped out from the dark hole as its smoke rose up into the air. The rails shook violently as the train moved across the open land that surrounded it. The gray sky stretched out above. Small snowflakes descended towards the ground below, disappearing into drips of water when they hit the ground. Another whistle bellowed from the train; it continued onward towards its destination.

Ponies looked out the windows and smiled as they pointed at the now-beginning flurry of snow, the sign that winter had come. Yet out of all of the ponies in the train, one stayed where she was, hiding away in a dark dress with a hood that kept a veil to avoid the looks of other ponies. Rarity leaned against the window, resting her head on the glass wall that separated her from the outside. She sniffled quietly, dry tear marks ran down her cheeks, her eyes hidden under the hood.

There was no joy to be had: no momentous occasion to celebrate, no holiday worth enjoying, and no happiness to be felt. The gray world became bleak, a emotion Rarity could only feel besides sadness and hurt. A tiny whimper escaped her breath; Rarity pressed against the glass a little more. What fun was there to be had when all you could feel was the sting of a scorpion's tail? Or in this case, the rejection of a friend’s feelings, ones she thought were true.

‘H-how… could I be so naive? I should have realized from the start… that this was never going to work.’ A thought that had become more and more apparent in her mind. She had been goaded into this trap that life happily sprung for her; like a model to the fashion designer, her devilish contract had been signed. The reward: a broken heart from a mare she knew as friend and felt even closer to. Yet the feelings she held were not ones to share, and in the end she felt ashamed and broken, even embarrassed that it was a live act in front of the public audience.

Why and how she thought that this would work had now risen beyond her comprehension. The relationship had felt tantalizingly close, but it seemed that Cupid had other plans besides destroying the friendship she once had with Twilight. ‘A-and now… I don’t know if I can face her anymore. Not a-after yesterday…’ If her friends found out about what she tried to do with Twilight, she would be dealing with more than a distraught heart.

But how could she ever hope to confront Twilight again? After what happened last night, she was assured that her friend would want nothing to do with her ever again. If she was in Twilight’s place, of course she too would not want anything to do with herself. “Love… I… I t-thought you promised me happiness… where’s the j-joy to be had?” Rarity brought a hoof to the glass window and stared out into the world separated by the glass. She closed her eyes, and the train suddenly went quiet.

Quickly she opened her eyes, yet the world had changed. Instead of the bleak and gray world she was in, the light had returned in the form of evening twilight. She turned to her right, and her mouth hung agape slightly. There was the image of herself, sitting amongst her friends. She could see their mouths moving, but not a single word came out from any of them. Rarity gazed from pony to pony until her eyes fell on Twilight. The mare of her dreams sat by her other image. Her eyes widened as the memory hit her. ‘T-this was the day we accompanied Twilight back to Canterlot…’

But Rarity did not take her gaze away from the sight before her, the lookalike and Twilight sat right next to each other. And while Rarity continued to stare, her heart began to ache while she teared up. “This… this was the day we had to say goodbye… but why is it so important?” Rarity thought. A moment later, and she still had no clue as to why. The door opened, and she watched as Twilight hugged her friends goodbye. Her mouth moved as she spoke non-vocal words until she exited the door, disappearing into the light.

When she left, it finally hit her. ‘This… was the day that I first felt those odd feelings.’ Rarity could feel the ache in her chest that bugged her the day Twilight returned to Canterlot after Nightmare Moon’s defeat. Now she could explain where those emotions began: all the way at the beginning. No, it was not love at first sight, but a love that at first was small, but grew more and more with all that Twilight had done for them. She had united them all in friendship and helped save Equestria from not only from the Mare in the Moon, but even from the god of chaos himself, Discord.

But now… all of that was lost. The world around Rarity began to gray once more; the light from the sun outside faded away to the bleak lighting from the clouds. The train echoed underneath Rarity, her head still rested against the window. She shook slightly, and a fresh wave of tears trickled down her muzzle. ‘All of it… gone… my love… ruined… so completely torn apart.’ And this was all that had remained: an emotion she once thought was so great, she felt like she could sing it out to the world. Now there was no warmth left, for only the cold feeling of emptiness had replaced the fire in her heart. Broken and torn, this was all she had to look forward to from now on. A broken diamond, a fading star of her existence.

Author's Note

Another chapter... another broken heart.

But in any case, hopefully you'll enjoy this one as well. And do please help point out any errors, just in case I might have skipped one or two while in revision? That would be greatly appreciated.