Letting You Down

The sunlight streamed through the open window of the reading room. The fire crackled in the fireplace, and a tiny breeze swept by.

Inside the room, a pony sat on one of the reading chairs next to the fireplace. Her magical aquamarine-colored aura levitated the book as she read through the pages. She was casually humming a tune and drank some tea from a nearby table. She shivered a little from the wind, but didn't seem to be bothered from it.

She wasn't alone, however. Next to her was a dragon with a broom in his hands. With his eyes closed, swept the red, carpet floor with the broom. He also played himself a tune via whistling. Occasionally, he would stop to yawn. His hand would cover his mouth in order to avoid his breath stinking up the room. Afterwards, he went back to sweeping while he blinked his eyes in a slow, sleepy manner.

The unicorn looked up from her book. She frowned when she saw the empty reading chair in front of her. The tea next to the chair was starting to get cold, and the candle's wax started depleting greatly. Next to those was a book that was straight from the shelf. A book that was planned to be read today.

A little disappointed, the unicorn closed the book and turned her head to see the whistling dragon, to which he didn't seem to notice her gaze. "Spike, do you know where Twilight is?" she asked him.

Spike stopped whistling and looked at his friend. He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I haven't heard her today. She probably didn't leave her room yet."

"Really?" She said in a shocking manner as her eyes grew wide. She looked at the clock that was up on the wall, above the fireplace. "It's 2 o'clock!"

However, Spike didn't seem to be bothered by Twilight's absence. "Don't sweat on it too much, Starlight. The battle with Sombra happened like three days ago. After what she had been through during that time, I think she needs more rest."

Starlight's pupils dilated with pity.

Spike waved one of his claws. "She'll be fine. This isn't the first time that she saved Equestria."

Starlight scoffed playfully. "Oh yeah, I know this isn't the first time."

As if ignoring the jab towards her past, Spike looked to see the empty chair. He saw that the candle's light had extinguished and all of the wax nearly the bottom.

"Were you waiting for Twilight?" Spike asked as he grabbed the candle holder.

She nodded as she sipped her tea. "I wanted us to read a book together about discussing about the future of the school and—"

Slam!

She and Spike jumped from the sound of a door slamming upstairs. They were also followed by the sounds of hoofsteps going down the stairs.

Starlight and Spike got out of the room to greet Twilight. Twilight went around the corner, but when she saw Starlight and Spike waiting for her with a smile, Twilight stopped dead. She started gasping in short breathes the longer she looked at the two, her pupils turning smaller by the second.

Starlight and Spike's smiles immediately turned into concerned frowns. Starlight noticed that Twilight's mane looked unkempt and unbrushed. Starlight eyes directed downward to see her legs were shaking a little.

"Twilight, what's wrong?" Starlight asked her worriedly.

"What happened?" Spike asked, sharing the same amount of worriedness.

Twilight blinked quickly and looked like she was trying to calm herself down. She took in deep breathes as her legs started getting still. Meanwhile, Starlight and Spike looked at each other in concerned and confused stares.

"I'm fine." Twilight spoke finally. "I thought I saw something, that's all."

Skeptical, Starlight squinted one of her eyes and tilted her head. Meanwhile, Spike only looked concerned. Twilight chuckled nervously as she shuffled one of her hooves, clearly looking uncomfortable.

"Are you sure?" Spike asked her gently.

"You don't look nor sound like yourself. Are you sure you're alright?" Starlight continued afterwards, adding some firmness at the end.

Twilight gasped and looked at Starlight in fear. She violently shaked her head. "I told you, I'm fine!"

Without even waiting for them to respond, Twilight walked by the two, her head raised high and her eyes closed. She grabbed one of the yogurts from the fridge. Starlight and Spike followed her in the kitchen.

Spike cleared his throat. "Twilight, we're not playing around. We're deeply concerned about your mental state and we want to see—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Twilight disappeared with a bright, purple flash, and not long afterwards they heard a door slam shut. Starlight and Spike were alone again.

Spike scratched his scaly head with one of his sharp claws. "What was that about?" he asked in a puzzled expression.

Starlight looked up at the roof in a disturbed expression. "She's freaking out again." she answered grimly.

"Yeah, there's no denying that. But about what?" Spike put his claw on his chin. "Maybe a nightmare?"

"Well, whatever it is, we'll find out right now." Starlight told him as she marched out of the room, and headed towards Twilight's room. Spike scurried after her.

"Wait!" Spike got in front of her and put both of his claws onto her chest.

"What?"

"Should we let Twilight handle this on her own?" Spike suggested as he pointed his claw at the door. "She could've been processing a nightmare."

"Spike, I've had nightmares about my past sometimes, yet I never acted like that." Starlight told him with half-closed eyes.

"Everyone is different, Starlight." Spike told her.

"Well, if she's processing something, then it's our job as her friends to comfort her about it..." Starlight used her magic to open the door, but the door wouldn't move.

"What happened?" Spike asked as he rushed up to her.

"It's locked."