/x/x/x/

“Egghead
Of course you would have :P but what about if you, for example, saw someone you had a crush on naked in the locker room or something? And it's nobody in particular, I’m just curious is all.”

‘Oh yeah, sure Twilight, because you ask me so many random questions about this stuff, huh?’ Rainbow thought to herself, leaning back on Applejack’s couch. She silently tapped out her response before taking a swig of cider. The hard stuff.

‘Idk I mean I've seen lots and lots of girls I've been sorta attracted to in the showers after like every single game for the past several years and it hasn't really been much of a deal. It would be different if it was a nude pic tho because those are usually sexy, ya know? But yeah, I've never seen one on accident. Like I said, I always asked for them. I probably can't help on that but I can ask who it was and where I can find it ;)’

“Woohoo! Get wrecked AJ!” Pinkie cried from by the TV as Meta Knight smashed Yoshi out of the stage.

“Consarnit Pinkie! I knew I shoulda picked Marth instead of goin’ random!”

Pinkie’s phone buzzed.

“Hey Dashie, what did Twilight say?”

Rainbow leaned over to glance at her new messages. “She says that’d be cool and she’d love to and that your parties are always fun. Should I say something back to her?”

“Nah,” Pinkie replied, beating the crap out of Applejack’s avatar again as she spoke. “I'll just wait until after you beat me next round.”

“If y'all even make it there!” Applejack cried before she lost her second to last life. “I could make a comeback!”

Pinkie giggled. “No you can't.” The doorbell rang. “Oohh, pizza’s here!”

“I'll get it,” Rainbow supplied, standing up and cracking her knuckles. “My turn to pay anyway,” she continued as she reached for her messenger bag and dug out her wallet. On her way to the door she pulled out two twenties before sticking the leatherbound Daring Do-marked piece of leather in the waistband of her underwear beneath her sweatpants.

Opening it revealed a familiar face.

“One large meat lovers and one large mushroom with half pineapple,” he said. “Hey Rainbow.”

“‘Sup Flash,” she greeted, handing over the cash and taking the two boxes. “Busy night?”

“Yeah actually. Just came from Twilight’s house. The, uh. Other Twilight. This one.” He opened his fanny pack and began to pull out the proper change. “You know what I don't get is why she’ll answer the door in a bathrobe and you'll answer in a tank top when it's almost freezing outside.”

“Wait, Twilight’s house?” she asked. “And she was there? Thought she was at Rarity’s. Oh well. You can keep the change, by the way; I owe you big for the wah pedal. How’s June?”

“Oh sweet, thanks Rain! Appreciate that,” he exclaimed, putting the coins back away and sticking the bills in before zipping it back up. “And she’s fine, her leg’s getting better. Right now she's waiting on the heating pad for me to get my rounds done and come home to give her a shoulder rub.”

“Yeah, not good to keep a girlfriend waiting... You can quit staring at my boobs any time now.”

“What? I- uh, um, I... what?” He stammered, blushing and looking everywhere but at the girl.

Rainbow burst out laughing. “I'm just messin’ with ya, man! If I saw me in this I'd steal a glance or two too, especially how cold it is. But yeah, get home safe, don't get in another accident.”

He breathed out a huge sigh of relief. “Okay good. For a second there I was worried you were actually mad at me. Twi seemed like she was mad at me too... but yeah, I... yeah, thanks. Have a good night, and tell the others I said hey!” And with that he walked back to his car.

“...probably too rough with him, but eh, he's a tough kid...” Rainbow muttered to herself as she brought the food into the living room to Applejack leaning in on her knees, excitedly cheering at her little green egg layer.

“I told you I could make a comeback! Do it, do it, do it! Who’s gettin’ wrecked now, huh Pink- wait a second... you're just messin’ with me, aren't ya?”

“Heehee, yup!” Pinkie laughed, as she pressed one button and sent Applejack flying.

“Game!” the television cried as AJ slumped her shoulders in defeat.

“Food’s here,” Rainbow interjected, setting the boxes down on the coffee table. “AJ, your meat, and Pinkie, your disgusting abomination that stands in direct defiance against all that is good and holy.”

“Mm-mm, delicious heresy!” Pinkie cried before taking a slice with plenty of pineapple. “I jusht hope they sherve pitsha in tartarush!” She mumbled through a mouthful of food.

“Also Flash says hi.”

A brief smile crossed over Applejack’s face as Rainbow said this, before she filled her mouth with a slice of her own. Rainbow noticed but didn't say anything. She hated just standing by and watching her friends deal with unrequited feelings and not being able to do anything about it or say anything to help.

Her phone buzzed. She reached over to grab it and her eyes widened.

“Hey, uh...” she looked between her friends. “You guys have a rematch, I gotta take care of something.”

/x/x/x/

‘it was sunset and I did something really bad and really stupid and I hurt myself again and I didn't want to but I did it anyway and now it hurts and I hate myself-’

clear message

“I told you, it was nobody. Send.”

‘okay I lied it was sunset and she’s really super hot which I mean I already kinda thought anyway but now I know it because I saw her nudes on a blog and I did something I'm not proud of and then I hurt myself again-’

clear message

“Just a random little curiosity, haha. Send.”

‘I saw sunset’s nudes and didn't really expect it at all and it affected me a lot more than it should have because midnight is here and she made me do it and I didn't want to do it but I did it and then I felt bad so I cut myself again-’

clear message

“I really liked the song, by the way. Colon capital D. Send.”

Twilight set her phone outside of the blanket she had pulled over her head, bathing herself again in darkness. Her knees were in her chest and she was crying again.

After her second orgasm of the night, which was slower (and drier) than the first, Midnight had of course taunted her more even though it was technically her actions that put Twilight in the position she was in. She didn’t tell that to the demon, though. She didn’t want Midnight to hurt her for backtalking again. Instead, she hid under the blankets like she did when she was a little girl.

It was there she stayed as Rainbow texted her response. Twilight wanted to tell her what had happened so badly, to share her struggles with the one friend who would probably understand more than any of the others, but at the last second changed her mind. She didn’t want to burden Rainbow with the negatives. That was part of the reason they had broken up, after all; Twilight had emotionally relied on Rainbow entirely too much, and hadn’t been able to be as supportive in return to help Rainbow with her own insecurities.

She then scanned through the rest of the list of her friends. Sunset was out as she was the root of the problem, or at least Twilight’s feelings for her were. Rarity was out as well since she’d find out that Twilight had been snooping through her blog and found that other one. Applejack wouldn’t really focus on the right part of the problem, Fluttershy might have a panic attack, and Pinkie Pie would probably spill the beans on accident in some kind of ‘Cheer Twilight up from feeling bad about masturbating to Sunset’ party. Granted that was probably her own mind just being pessimistic as always, but still.

Timber would no longer speak to her. She wasn’t close enough to Sour, Sugarcoat, Sunny, Lemon, or Indigo as she wanted to be. Flash was most CERTAINLY out (she didn't even have his number anyways), and Juniper was not in a state to talk about other people’s problems. Starlight wasn’t here right now. Princess Twilight was no doubt busy with... Princess-y stuff. She couldn’t talk to Spike about it because his canine brain literally couldn’t process it as fully as she’d need him to. Her parents were out because that would be too awkward. Shining was, well, her brother, and that would be super awkward.

Although...

Twilight peeked out of the blankets to see that Midnight was indeed gone, at least for now, so she reached for her phone again and scrolled through her contacts for her sister-in-law.

“Hey, are you awake? Send.”

Surely Cadance would be down with giving advice, right? She was the first person Twilight had ever come out to as gay, after all, even before she was effectively her guidance counselor at school. There were so many days that Twilight would talk to her for her entire free period about her various fears and insecurities and troubles, and Cadance always had time to offer an ear.

Blip!

‘Cadey
Unfortunately, haha! Your brother sure isn’t. I’ve been looking through applications making sure all the information is correct, which is more up your alley than mine :P but yeah, I needed a break anyhow. What’s up?’

“I think I did something bad, and then I did something that I know is bad, and I don’t really know if I want consoling or guidance. I don’t know what I need either.”

‘Oh no! Are you okay?’

“That’s... kind of a loaded question.
I mean.
I’m not in immediate danger.”

‘That’s good to hear. But... what about eventually?’

“I don’t know.”

‘Well, walk me through the problem from the beginning. You always do things best when you put it in chronological order first.’

“Okay, well... you know about my crush on Sunset Shimmer, right?”

‘I do now.
(Cute<3)’

“Well, I was just helping Rarity with web design today. Sort of. I helped her make a blog. But when she was gone I was clicking around and I found another blog with a lot of pictures of really pretty girls in lingerie and naked and kissing other girls and stuff.”

‘And... is this a problem, exactly? Seems like something that’d be right up your alley ;)’

“Omg >.<
Well, one of the pictures on there was Sunset. And... she was naked too.”

‘...ah.’

“Rarity walked in the room right as I saw that picture but she didn’t know I saw it. After she took me home, I kinda... went to find it again. And then I... you know.”

‘So you’re feeling guilty about pleasuring yourself to a nude picture of somebody you have a lot of very strong feelings for? Twilight, honey, you don’t need to feel bad about yourself over that. Lots of people do this; men and women, straight and gay, and everybody in between!’

“Well I did it twice. But... it feels like a violation of privacy. If I didn’t click around on Rarity’s blog, I wouldn’t have found that one, if I hadn’t clicked exit as soon as I saw it was a sexy blog then I wouldn’t have seen the picture, and then... I looked at all the other pictures of Sunset that were on there, and I just feel so gross and dirty, like I raped her or something, because that’s kind of what I did!”

‘Twilight Sparkle, you didn’t do anything wrong >:( you’re an intelligent, blossoming young teenager satiating your sexual curiosity in a way that doesn’t cause anybody else distress. The only thing I really have a problem with is that nude pictures of Sunset exist on the internet. I know she’s like a magic pony wizard from another dimension but she’s still technically just a teenager. But she did consent to taking and posting those pictures, right? And besides all that, you're still going to respect her the same way you always have. And rape is a lot, LOT different from looking at a picture.’

“But there are plenty of pictures of other girls elsewhere on the internet! And just because she doesn’t know doesn’t automatically make it okay! What if she does eventually find out and she has a problem with it? Isn’t it a violation of privacy to do this behind her back? And I guess you’re right about all that, but I still feel gross.”

‘Well, if that’s how you feel, then what were your reasons behind doing it?’

“Well... I didn’t really have any reasons besides regular old teenage horniness... I wasn’t really in control of myself when I did it either time. It just sort of... happened.”

‘It sounds to me like you were emotionally compromised by seeing her naked and then it all just fell into place, does that sound right?’

“...yeah.”

‘The first time I ever saw my crush naked, I broke down crying. He sat there and hugged me and rubbed my back until I was calmed back down again. A girl’s first anything is always going to be a big emotional deal, gay straight or bi, and just because I ended up marrying that guy doesn’t mean anything. You don’t need to feel bad about something that’s a) out of your control or b) hurting anybody. And if the not telling Sunset about this feels like lying, or going behind her back or anything, just think about the alternative and how much it could potentially make things weird if you did tell her. There’s a rule that your brother told me about that might help you out here, that you can look if you don’t make it obvious that you’re looking, unless you want them to know that you're looking. I’ve seen pictures of you guys at the beach and all of you except for Fluttershy were in some really revealing bikinis; surely you took brief sidelong glances but didn’t make it obvious that you were doing so and make anybody uncomfortable, right?’

“First of all, gross, I don’t wanna hear about my naked brother :P second of all, that’s adorable. Third of all, I guess you do have a point because it’s just a surge of hormones... and the whole not-hurting-anybody thing makes sense... but isn’t it a problem if telling the truth is the bad thing to do? And I mean... yeah, I did... and it felt really nice to hug them because all the skin on skin contact triggered a huge release of oxytocin which felt wonderful... and also because other girls’ boobs just feel nice in general, haha... especially Pinkie’s. I could talk to Rainbow Dash about that, it might make me feel a little bit better. But I just... I don’t know. Maybe I should sleep on this and think about it again in the morning?”

‘Sorry, but now I know how to get under your skin, muahahaha!!!
And thanks :3
I always have a point, silly filly. But think about Christmas, when we tell kids about Santa. That’s not bad even though it’s a lie, because telling them that magic isn’t real is really upsetting. (Even though I know that magic is real, especially considering the magic pony wizard dimension, but you know what I mean.)
AWWW<3<3<3
That definitely sounds like a good idea. It sounds like you had a long, stressful day and should get some shuteye. Is there anything else you want to talk about?’

“...no, I think that’s it. Thanks for listening to me Cadey.”

‘It’s no problem sweetie, I always have time for you :) but alas, these papers are calling my name. Sweet dreams, Twilight!’

“Good night!”

Click!

“How charming and sentimental.”

“I have to go to sleep.”

“Don’t you have to ask Rainbow Dash something?”

“...fine. But then I need to go immediately to sleep so I can do my homework in the morning because somebody kept me from doing it tonight.”

“You watch your tone with me. You’re lucky I don’t drive you to make a cut that won’t stop bleeding... and that I want to watch you suffer for a long, long time. I’ll forgive you this time because you’re tired. Nighty night...” And with that, Midnight went into the closet, and shut the door behind her.

Twilight threw her still not being worn pajamas at the door, but she missed. She returned her attention to her phone and tapped out a question to Rainbow.

“I actually have another question about when we went on our trip to the beach house. Did you, you know... out of the corner of your eye kinda glance around at our bikinis and stuff? Send.”

She answered almost immediately.

‘Rainbow
cant talk right now. am on phone with fluttershy. panic attack. can talk later. maybe tomorrow.’

Twilight sighed before reaching over, plugging her phone into its charger, setting her glasses on her nightstand, and nestling deeper into her bed. She laid awake for about an hour that seemed like two minutes before eventually drifting off. She didn’t have any dreams, sweet or otherwise.

RING!

RING!

RING!

RING!

After not nearly enough sleep, Twilight woke up to her alarm clock going off. She snaked her arm over and clicked the snooze button before groggily contemplating just going back to sleep again for another eight minutes and fifty or so seconds. Fortunately, logic prevailed, as she would just wake up a little more bitter later than now, and she picked up her phone.

No new messages.

She set it back down before turning to face the ceiling and wiping the corners of her eyes of grit. She smelled bacon; dad’s home. Gently folding back the violet comforter, Twilight reached into her side table drawer for her geode. Once it was in her grasp she reached towards her discarded pajamas and levitated them to her bed. She dropped the gem and began quickly putting the clothes on, excited to greet her parents for the first time in a few days.

Too quickly, unfortunately, as she accidentally bumped her wrist and hissed in pain. Slowly now, she put them on the rest of the way, actually being careful this time, as the memories of the previous night flooded in. Rarity, Sunset, Midnight, Flash, Rainbow, Cadance. A part of her regretted not telling her sister-in-law that she was getting bad again, but at the same time things had never been this bad before and she didn’t want to worry anybody. Especially not her family.

Twilight was careful to slip on a hoodie, Rainbow’s old one actually, that she’d given her back when they were dating. She hadn’t asked for it to be returned so it had stayed with Twilight. It was dark blue, closer to cobalt than navy, fleece-lined, and best of all... pockets! It wasn’t exactly baggy at the sleeves, so she did have to pull it a bit so she didn’t push off the gauze. Luckily this meant it would probably stay covering the evidence of her self mutilation a lot more easily than her jumper. Sunset almost saw yesterday; that was too close.

Plus, now her parents were back in the house. It wasn't too much of a problem the past few days, being alone. But now Twilight had to be extra careful hiding it. Nobody knew, or at least she hoped that nobody knew. Not her friends, not her family, not Cadance. They couldn't know. She could take care of this herself, and they didn't need to worry about her. Creator knew she overloaded them with her problems often enough these days.

Casting aside these thoughts, Twilight made her way downstairs. She briefly had a thought that she was forgetting something, but shrugged it off. She didn't eat last night and thus was feeling absolutely ravenous. If this were some piece of young adults fictional literature her stomach would be growling, but everybody knows that that sound is caused by peristalsis, which occurs after eating.

Twilight of course knew that her short term memory wasn't the best when she was hungry, yet she frequently went long periods without food. It was pathetic, really; pretty much every single one of her problems could easily be solved by simply changing just one small thing somewhere else in her life. Alas, there were more important things to do, like keeping up on studies and making sure not to just stop responding to her friends’ texts... and keeping up on hygiene, she added, as she felt her dry tongue against the roof of her mouth.

“Good morning...”

Twilight ignored Midnight as she made her way into the kitchen. There awaiting her was her father at the stove with a sizzling skillet chatting amicably with her mother, standing against the sink with a coffee mug. They seemed more jovial than usual, but something seemed slightly off. Perhaps they were groggy from jet lag?

“Hi mom,” she greeted. “Hi dad.”

“Hey!” boomed Night Light. “If it's not our favorite little girl!”

“Oh, Twilight,” Velvet cooed. “How are you this morning?”

Twilight’s eyes flashed between them for a moment. Something was up.

“A little tired,” she replied. It wasn't untruthful. “But I'm glad to see that you guys are home safe! How was the flight?”

“Oh, it was just fine,” he answered. “They got us here, with flying colors!”

“Dad.”

“It was certainly late,” Velvet continued, “But it was no different than the rest were. We’re almost at our frequent flyers goal, so that's exciting!”

Twilight nodded. “I can imagine.” Her mom’s hands were shaking slightly. One of the bacon strips was twisted over on itself. This wasn't jet lag. “How many days are you staying this time?”

“Trying to get rid of us, eh?” He asked, winking. His eyes briefly glanced slightly down. “Planning any wild parties this weekend?”

“If you are then you should absolutely invite us along,” she continued. “Because we’ll be here for almost a full week if you can believe that. Until Sunday!” She took a sip of coffee and almost missed.

“I don't know how wild it is,” Twilight said. “But there is one later today. Pinkie’s celebrating my coming to school here for two and a half years.” Their smiles weren’t reaching their eyes. “And it's not really a party but we’re getting together on Saturday. We should do something Friday night, if that works?”

“Of course!” Night Light cried. “It's been so long since the three of us did something together.” He turned to poke at the meat with a spatula. Weird, as you're supposed to use tongs.

“We’ll have to come up with something by then, but we’d love to spend some time with our favorite daughter!” Velvet bit her lip, as she stared at the stove. “No offense to Cadey, of course.”

“...right.”

An uncomfortable silence settled in as if nobody knew what else to say. Nervous, fake smiles all around, Twilight noticed the mess in the sink. There were a dozen wooden spoons, whisks, tongs, and other assorted utensils tossed in haphazardly.

‘Oh yeah,’ she remembered. ‘I made a mess and didn't clean it up. Well, too late now...’

“Well, I have to get ready for school now, and I probably won't be back until late evening.”

“At least eat some breakfast with us,” Night Light said, halting her in mid-awkward-step. “Please. We don't get to see you that often.”

“Well...” she defended, before figuring there was no harm in doing so. The damage had already been done. “All right.”

The family sat and ate; bacon and eggs for the adults, and reheated pizza for the teenager. She wasn't exactly what one would call vegan, not like Fluttershy, but Twilight wasn't a huge fan of a lot of meats, or eggs, or dairy products (though that last bit is more because she’s lactose intolerant than anything else).

They made small talk; how is school, how is work, what zany antics are crazy old Pinkie up to. Twilight couldn't shake the general sense of unease pervading the atmosphere, despite the apparent positive mood her parents were in. Surely they weren't that upset about the mess; they didn't even bring it up. Maybe they just assumed that gravity did it? But that didn't explain the mood.

It was palpable, but Twilight couldn't quite put her finger on what exactly was up. Midnight was being suspiciously quiet too. They couldn't have known her activities the previous night, right? No, this had to be something else. She continued to rack her brains for the remainder of the meal before it got to be the time that she absolutely had to leave without being late.

The family bid farewell to each other as Twilight headed upstairs quickly, but not too quickly. On the lowest step sat Midnight, grinning smugly for some reason or another. Twilight ignored her. She was just trying to get in her head, psyche her out. Well it wasn't going to work. Today was going to be a good day.

She entered her room, closing and instinctually locking the door behind her. She carefully took the hoodie off before removing her outer clothes. For only a brief moment her eyes went to the computer screen. She bit her lip. It would be prudent to get rid of the browser window in case her parents randomly decided to snoop. Which they wouldn't. But...

Twilight wiggled the mouse, brought up the window, and only hesitated for a few seconds before closing the window. There, now it was gone forever. She shut it down before striding over to her dresser and pulling out her outfit for the day. Jeans and a white t-shirt, nothing too special.

After dressing and reapplying the hoodie, she glanced briefly at the full length mirror in the corner between her bed and closet, not giving it any attention other than a once-over of her body. Eh. She shrugged and then put on a pair of shoes before walking back to her bed and rifling through her purse to make sure she had everything she needed for the day. Satisfied, she slung it over her shoulder before heading into the bathroom.

She stopped dead in her tracks as soon as she saw her reflection.

“Forget something?” Midnight taunted.

Twilight brought her fingers up to her neck, under the crimson scratch that had been left there. She didn't cover it up before talking to her parents! And it looked worse. There were a few thin rivulets of dried blood leaking out the sides as well.

“...damn it...” Twilight cursed as she dug in the sink for the peroxide and cotton swabs. She had to use the last of the chemical to clean off, and then she turned to see the concealer. Well, at least Midnight was slow and methodical enough to be polite like that.

After plunking the bottle into the trash can between the sink and toilet, she began applying the purple makeup the way Rarity had showed her to. After a minute, it was sufficiently blended and looked good as new. There was of course a little bump, but you could only really see it if you were looking for it and were close enough to do so.

After that was eyeliner and mascara, then she brushed her teeth and hair, and then came the application of antiperspirant and body fragrance. After a once-over, everything seemed to be in working order, so she turned to head downstairs. She ignored Midnight and headed straight out the front door.

Today was going to be a good day. It better be.

/x/x/x/

Today was going to be an absolutely awful day!

Sunset and Fluttershy had overslept through their alarm, and frantically crammed an hour’s worth of getting ready into about ten minutes. They were both groggy from the lack of sleep as well as the stress of dealing with what had happened last night.

Fluttershy had stayed the night over at Sunset’s apartment because her brother was staying at her parents, and she absolutely hated being around Zephyr (though she would never admit it). Everything had been totally fine: they had a nice dinner, watched a movie, and headed to bed at a reasonable hour. Then the night terrors happened, which triggered a panic attack that including the comedown lasted for nearly two hours.

Sunset had immediately called Rainbow Dash, who was luckily still awake, and she had taken care of what she needed to, and when everything was calm again, Fluttershy had needed consoling (which Sunset was more than willing to offer). This lead to them falling asleep a lot later than usual, which lead to them waking slightly later than usual, which now had them on Sunset’s bike breaking the speed limit on the way to school.

Luckily no police officers or idiot pedestrians were in the area, and the pair made it in record time.

Rarity’s car was at the very back of the lot, as always. Applejack’s truck was at the very front, also as always. Fluttershy and Pinkie’s cars were at their respective houses, and the last remaining members of their group didn't drive. Sunset parked next to the scarlet rustbucket before tossing her helmet in the back of the pickup. Fluttershy gently set her own down on top of it.

The moment the bell rang, they had made it in, and began the day.

The morning classes passed uneventfully; Sunset and Rainbow Dash chatted in machine shop, she copied off of Pinkie’s notes in history much to Rarity's disapproval, and she let Applejack copy off of her own notes in biology. But when she was in psychology with Twilight...

“Hey.”

She jumped, and turned around. For just a brief moment, Twilight had looked panicked and fearful, but it went away immediately. “Hey Sunset,” she intoned, adjusting her glasses. “Ice to see you.”

Sunset’s eyes narrowed. “Har dee har,” she muttered darkly before grinning at the pun. “Don't be mean, I was actually freaking out a little bit.”

“I'm sorry,” she replied. “I'm just having a little bit of fun.”

“You've got too much Rainbow Dash in you now.”

Twilight smiled at this, but the teacher began speaking.

“Good morning class, today we’ll be turning to page one seventy six and begin reading the section out loud. Be sure to pay attention, as it will be very important, and will most certainly be on the exam. Miss Shimmer, why don't you start us off?”

“Alright, might as well,” she began before clearing her throat. “Schizophrenia is a disabling, chronic, and severe mental illness that affects more than 21 million people around the world. Symptoms include hearing internal voices, having false beliefs, disorganized thoughts and behavior, being emotionally flat, and having hallucinations...”

Thus was another day in psychology class. Sunset didn't mind the droning too particularly. There really wasn't much talk of psychology in Equestria, as they just used magic to make everything better. Here though, it was a lot more complicated, and it cost a lot of money to take care of things like this. It seemed unfair, but that was culture shock for you.

She really learned a lot of interesting things here. She knew enough about “hard sciences” as they were simply the foundation to magic back home, but these “soft sciences” were an entirely new field, and she loved hearing about things like it.

Take this one, for example, schizophrenia. There were hallucinations and delusions, monotoned speech, executive dysfunction, problems with attention and memory, paranoia, all sorts of things that could be symptoms of other things as well, like severe clinical depression and attention deficit disorder. That was incredibly interesting to Sunset, but she noticed that Twilight didn't seem to care as much.

Twilight wasn't one for ‘soft science’. She believed in ‘empirical evidence over unprovable theory after theory after theory’. That probably explained why she went after researching magic the way that she did before they had ever met. Still, Sunset couldn't change Twilight’s opinions and beliefs, merely disagree with them. Which was fine! That was the beauty of fluid academic fields. Magic, however, that was different...

Sunset tried not to think about how she behaved back in Equestria. She knew she’d have to go back one day, and fix her mistakes. But for now, she’d continue learning about the magic of friendship under guidance of Twilight. The, uh. The other one. The pony. Yeah, that was still confusing.

Sunset continued to read. Indifference in intense situations, worsening academic performance, change in appearance and personality, social isolation, insomnia, an obsession with the occult, and irrational behaviors of anger and fear directed towards loved ones. Fascinating.

“Very good, Sunset,” the teacher finally said after she had plowed through nearly the full section. “But perhaps let's let another student have a turn?”

“Uh... sure,” she nervously giggled. “Sorry.”

“It's nothing to apologize about,” he replied. “But be careful or you'll end up surpassing Twilight.”

“I doubt that, sir,” Sunset joked, causing a few of the other students laughed. She glanced at Twilight but she was gazing out the window, absentmindedly doodling what seemed to be... wait, was that Midni-

“That reminds me, Miss Sparkle,” the teacher said, interrupting Sunset’s thought. I’d like to speak to you after class.”

Twilight shrugged in response.

“I'll... take that as a yes then. Would you like to continue where we left off?”

She sighed. “Not particularly...” she muttered just loudly enough for Sunset to overhear. “Sure. Where was that again?”

Sunset bit her lip. Twilight seemed upset about something... she’d have to talk to her after class on the way to lunch.

The rest of the class passed fairly uneventfully. They read through the chapter, then did some fill in the blank worksheet that was apparently supposed to teach them something. Sunset plowed through it in record time but noticed that Twilight had completely ignored it, and was instead scrolling through her phone.

“Hey, Twi-”

“Please put your electronic devices away!” The teacher mutedly exclaimed. “You can use them on your time, not on my time.”

Twilight sighed again and dropped it into her purse before she set her forehead down on the desk and wrapped her arms around it. Although she placed them in a weird position, where instead of crossing her wrists it was further up her arm. It looked painful.

“Twilight,” Sunset said again.

“Hm?”

“Are you feeling all right?”

Shrug.

“Are you sick?”

“...cramps.”

Oh. That explained the somewhat uncharacteristic outfit.

“I hate when that happens,” Sunset sympathized. “But at least class is almost over. And, worst comes to worst, we could just postpone the party again, Pinkie would understand.”

“I'll be fine.” She quickly responded. “I'm just... not feeling it right now.”

Sunset placed a comforting hand on Twilight’s back, but she shirked away from the contact and sat straight up, with that same look of panic and fear. It passed in a moment again, and she turned to face Sunset.

“Sorry,” she murmured. “I... I’m a little emotional from yesterday. Rarity and I talked about some stuff that I needed to talk about. It's nothing to do with you, I just...”

Sunset nodded. “I get it. Just tell me what I can do when I can do it and I'll help you, okay?”

“...okay.”

“Miss Sparkle,” the teacher intoned. “Since you have enough time to chat now, do you mind too terribly having that conversation with me now?”

She shrugged, pulled herself up by her elbows, and strode up. Sunset tried not to eavesdrop but she couldn't help but hear, senses sharpened by the remnants of magic in her blood. She reminded herself to buy some earplugs before the next band practice because that was almost painful.

Apparently Twilight’s grades were slipping slightly. She was still making As, but they were 94s and 95s rather than 100s. He was concerned for her. She indicated that there was a personal issue going on, and he returned that as long as she was taking care of herself it would be okay.

Sunset remembered a while back, when the girls had all shared their grades at a party. Twilight went first, and had nearly broken down crying because she had a B+. She bit her lip again. Hopefully she was doing okay. Twilight had been acting really weird for a few weeks now, and slightly weird for a few months.

Sunset glanced at the still open notebook on Twilight’s desk. Yeah, that was most certainly Midnight Sparkle. Which was strange: Midnight had been gone since Camp Everfree. Was Twilight having an episode of dwelling on what she had perceived as mistakes of the past? If that was it, then it would at least be a little easier to start with since Sunset herself had needed a little help at first too.

Twilight sat back down. Her face was impassively neutral. It was either guilt, or whatever it was that she talked to Rarity about.

Sunset slipped her phone out and was going to ask Rarity about it.

“No devices!”

...at lunch.

/x/x/x/

Author's Note

Heyyy guys. Sorry the update took so long. The holidays were just THBBBPT and I was distracted by some plot bunnies but now I'm back in the swing of things and am ready to get back into this fic. I gotta say it has wandered a bit from what I originally intended but hot damn if I don't know exactly what I'm gonna do with the rest of it. I think I know what tone I want from here on, and how to handle the plot arcs. So hold onto your hats, fellas.