She took in a breath...and let it out with a sigh.
Every day was different.
Another breath
She'd wake up at a different time, the air had a warm, crisp and fresh feel to it when it entered her lungs. Everything around her would be new and unpredictable, without the constant feeling of déjà vu. The fur on her back would be ruffled, matted in different patterns from her previous nights often restless slumber.
But.. Nothings been the same since three days ago.
Everything has...changed. Changed without changing.
The alarm clock beside her blared its routinely annoying Mariachi trumpet.
Another sigh
Oh how much she regretted setting that as her alarm on Sundays...
A groan escaped her lips as she struggled to arch her back to get out of bed...
But not without quickly sending a fizzy bolt of lightning down her horn..
..and destroying the alarm in a hazy loom technicolor of plasma.
***
Twilight licked her dry lips as she stared at the cup getting filled from the water form the sink.
The water neared the brim of the cup and she cut the supply of water on tap.
Drip
A familiar sound, so soothing. So...hot.
The math behind the resounding cluck of water slamming into a body of itself from the point of origin is so astounding.
Drip
The ripples, the mini-tides of current that were reflected by the sides of the glass were art.
So smooth, yet so... Irrevocably defined. No two drips were exactly the same.
Twilight snapped herself of her own stupor upon realization that she was being watched.
"Spike."
No answer.
"Spiiiike."
Once again, silence met her ears.
"Spike, I know you're watching me from the stairs..."
A soft grown met her ears.
"Yes."
The drake adopted a look of confusion on his face as the messy-maned unicorn turned to face her baby brother. He thought out his words carefully, as if it were Twilight who would soon decide his fate.
"Huh?"
"You can go over to Rarity's."
The dragon ran the words in his head a few times as if they didn't make any sense.
Twilight was no religious fanatic, he knew this, but the odds of this exact response wasn't exactly in his favor.
"But.. What about the Assembly of Celestia?"
Twilight be damned if she weren't going to get some alone time today.
"Don't worry about it."
Spike smiled his brightest smile for a brief second before he disappeared through a cloud of dust.
After all... He didn't want his mother to change her mind. This day, was going to be all about Rarity.
Twilight sat her haunches on the floor below before all out falling into the submission position.
Legs trembling without weight, eyes darting to and fro without a necessary object to focus on.
She was this close to breaking down in front of Spike...she didn't like feeling so vulnerable.
"Calm down, Twilight...you don't haaaave to f-freak out."
Her breathing became more erratic, the convulsions became more noticeable, and her horn began to spark.
This all went unnoticed to Twilight.
Being the Math teacher she was, she knew that there were only two scientific probabilities that could only make such a thing happen. The day before it all she had spent the entirety of it drawing out the complex mathematical theorems on her chalk board, all while of course Spike was over visiting Rarity for the day.
When Twilight woke up this morning to find the lack of a chalkboard, the same song and date on her alarm, and the table in the kitchen back to where it always was, as if it had never moved, it had almost confirmed her suspicions...
Someone had taken a picture of her.
***
It all makes sense, right?
If a picture really captures the soul, it only makes sense that it would capture her in the moment right?
...right?
No, no... It can't be!
That only makes sense on specific properties of the universe -- if a picture actually captures the soul of a pony she'd be stuck in a single moment in time and... She doesn't remember a flash..
So, then...
Gulp
The only other possibility could be...no.. It can't be.
The glass she had in her telekinetic grasp had long since fallen, and smashed into the sink, shattering in a million little pieces.
Without moving a muscle to look in the direction of the cabinets, she slowly moved a bottle nearer to her body and took off the cap. Instantly downing a few swigs. The liquid warmly sliding down her throat and into her stomach. It settled nicely, and even calmed her nerves a little.
"I-if that's true, then, then..."
Another breath
"I'm..dead..."
Another sigh
Her head in her hooves, the purple unicorn lay on the center of the kitchen floor, un-moving. Her once racing mind was now quiet, and.. Slightly buzzed.
Knock knock knock
After a moments hesitation the door to the library seemed to open slowly, and with trepidation
"H-hello? Is anypony home?" Came a soft and timid voice from the opening. When she opened the door just far enough to see her friend laying on the floor, the door carelessly flung open and a rapid clop of hooves ran towards Twilight. Seeming to go unnoticed by the pony in question, Fluttershy continued searching her friend for any sign of life, but when she noticed her chest expanding and contracting she let out an exasperated sigh.
Twilight spoke under her breath. "Hey, Flutters..."
"Twilight... are you alright?"
The question itself seemed simple. Yet, at the same time, so complex. Three, no four different answers -- two answers simple, and two explanatory -- can answer this question with an ease of heart.
Why was she not feeling this ease then?
Her heart felt like molten lead, her lungs like they were weighed down with a million hot coals just cooling from a recent fire. But, why, oh why could she not bring herself to lie, to not give into the sorrowful pit of helplessness that was her letting go of most of the heavy weight of a self-induced-burden.
Instead of choosing one of the four easy answers, she went with the simplest one that came to mind. An answer so intricate, so finely detailed, so.. exasperatedly understood with ease. That it would take nothing else to answer her question.
"Eeeerrrrr..."
Fluttershy smiled at that.
"I'm glad to see you're still coherent. How about we get you into that chair and I'll make you something to ease the pain."
Surprisingly without waiting for an answer, Fluttershy walked over to the nearest table in the kitchen and pulled out a chair, waiting patiently for a hesitant Twilight to pick herself up so she could help her sit. When she was finally set in stone -- or, on a chair in this case -- Fluttershy quietly trotted over to the coffee maker.
"...Have I ever told you how much I hate hangovers?" Twilight groggily said in a pained voice.
"I can certainly imagine. When I was younger, I was a party animal. I wasn't the 'life of the party', mind, but I was more of a... crazed mare that would take on any dare."
Twilight stared at Fluttershy in disbelief.
"What." She smartly replied.
This got Fluttershy to airily giggle.
"It's true," she replied in her usual whisper tone.
"Then why are you so... quiet. Timid, almost like you're scared."
Fluttershy looked down.
"This, Twilight... is just a face I put on to not scare anybody away. I've never 'really' had any friends until I calmed down. Not since..." Her eyes closed.
Twilight almost began to speak, but Fluttershy beat her to it.
"Well.. That doesn't matter, now. The past is the past. We can't afford to wallow in sorrow for what 'could have been', instead we should settle for what is, what we have." A single tear streamed down the cheek of yellow timid, she reflexively sniffed and wiped it away.
Her physical pain forgotten for the moment, Twilight laid a hoof on Fluttershy's.
"I'll always be here for you if you need someone to talk to..."
Fluttershy smiled.
"Thank you."
As if on queue the timer buzzed for the coffee maker, signaling that the coffee's done. Much to the thanks of Twilight, as she received a fresh cup.
"I have a question, Twilight, if you wouldn't mind."
"Go ahead."
"Why were you lying on the floor?"
