Avisus Gaiuni Psychuarere

Avisus Gaiuni Psychuarere

Twilight didn't want to deal with it. That's it, end of story. She didn't want a headache, she didn't want to worry about anything, she didn't even want to study for once. All she wanted was a nice, relaxing mid-morning nap to push the recent events out of her mind.

She couldn't help but be relieved that nopony followed her up to her room, trying to talk to her to sort things out. Twilight didn't want to talk things out, she wanted to sleep on it. Dreams always helped, sometimes. No reason for them to stop being so helpful. With that completely flawless logic lodged in her brain, Twilight slid herself beneath her blanket and shut her eyes.

Only to stay there, unable to fall asleep. Try as she might, she couldn't. She tossed and she turned to no effect; she read a short story that did nothing to aid her endeavor; she even tried to just lay there for a while, hoping the lack of movement would cause her to sleep. Nothing worked; her brain seemed to be most active the one time she wanted it to just shut up.

She groaned. She moaned, and she groaned, then she forced herself up out of her bed. Warm milk had been said to help one sleep, so Twilight decided to get some. Perhaps the whole psychological effect of warm milk would prove successful, even if she knew it really did nothing. Which pretty much eliminated the entire effect it had, but still. She could hope.

A few minutes later, she discovered that warm milk wasn't the best-tasting thing in the world. She gagged while drinking it; not because of the particularly not-very-good-but-not-very-bad-either taste, but the texture. Not really the texture, per se, but the something else. She couldn’t really place why she gagged, actually. Her body was weird.

Upon leaving the kitchen for another attempt at sleep, she heard a faint noise. Not really anything distinguishable, but a noise nonetheless. It was fairly consistent, too.

Turning to where it seemed to be coming from, Twilight entered her living room. Carrot Top was huddled in a ball on the couch and the sound, now a noticeable sobbing and sniffling, reached the librarian's ears.

She instantly knew that she was the cause of it. Why else would Carrot Top be crying, other than the mare she liked running away when her feelings were thrown out in the open? Twilight knew that she was the only pony who could truly help, so she slowly approached the crying pony.

"Carrot Top?" she asked, tentatively walking closer. The sobbing stopped and Carrot Top turned to face Twilight. She sniffled once and wiped a tear from her eye as she gazed upon the face of the unicorn she so desired. Then, she jumped off the couch and ran out the front door.

The sounds of hooves impacting soil thundered through the streets as Twilight chased after the mare, hoping to fix what she had done. "Carrot Top, wait!"

Carrot Top halted in her path, eyes locked straight ahead, unblinking. Her unicorn pursuer took the opportunity to slow to a stop beside her. She took a moment to catch her breath, sweat dripping from her forehead.

"Car... ahh... Phew! Okay, Carrot Top. Look, can we just relax and talk things-"

"Talk?!?" The sheer magnitude of Carrot Top's voice caused Twilight to fall to the ground, instinctively raising a hoof in front of herself for protection.

"You wanna talk?!? Well, I've got news for you, buddy! I'm done talking!" She pushed Twilight to the ground, denting the earth beneath her. "Ohohoh, I am way passed talking, Twilight."

Twilight shut her eyes when the hoof came down. She waited frightfully for the impact, but it never came.

"Twilight."

She knew that voice, but it didn't make any sense for her to be hearing it. Twilight opened her eyes to look up at the smiling visage of Princess Luna.

"P-Princess? What are you doing here?"

Luna laughed. Not an overly hearty one; more of a subdued affair. "Now why is that what everypony asks me when I come to visit?" Her smile faded, replaced by a concerned frown a moment later. "You are having troubled dreams, Twilight. Tell me, what is the matter?"

"Oh, it's just that- Wait." Something Luna had said just caught up to her. "Dream? This is a dream?" Luna's mouth opened, but Twilight raised a hoof to silence her preemptively. "Wait, don't answer that. Of course this is a dream. Carrot Top would never do anything like that. But why are you here and not doing something… I dunno, royal?"

"I am the Princess of the Night, Twilight. Dreams- and romance, to a degree- are a part of my jurisdiction. As few ponies have nightmares during these peaceful times, it gives me a bit of free time to directly involve myself with the few who do."

That made sense. Ponies slept at night, so dreams came with the whole nighttime princess package. And romance? No way she just happened to coincidentally bring that up. "Well, it's just that Carrot Top kinda... y'know..." she let her sentence die there, waving one of her hooves around in a circle as an indication.

"Yes, I do know. But if you cannot bring yourself to say it, you will not be able to do anything for her."

"Okay, Carrot Top..." She took a deep breath. "...Likes me." There. She said it. Easy enough. It was pretty obvious that saying it out loud was supposed to make it easier to deal with everything else and think clearly and solve everything once some sudden inspiration smacked her in the face, but Twilight just felt silly for repeating what she already knew.

Luna was obviously unhappy with the pathetic excuse for a revelation, but did not push the matter further. "Now then, Twilight," the alicorn said. "Do you like Carrot Top as well?"

Good question. She didn't really know if she did, nor did she think about it. The whole 'sleeping on it' thing pretty much gave her an excuse not to.

"Well yeah, but not like that, I think. I mean... She's really nice and everything, but I don't think-"

The subtle lowering of Luna's head caused Twilight to break off mid-sentence. She looked up at the princess inquisitively, knowing something was up.

"I am afraid I must go now, Twilight. A word of advice: if you are unsure of what you feel for her, give her a chance. It may come to pass that you will develop feelings of your own."

With that, the princess vanished into the now-present full moon in the distance. Twilight woke a few moments later, sunlight striking her eyes. She knew what she had to do.

The front door did little to impede Twilight’s rush, easily opening and slamming shut behind her as she went out into the streets. She was in a hurry, but did not go much faster than a brisk walk. Ponies giving her weird looks or asking her questions weren’t things she wanted to deal with.

Three knocks on the door and a few impatient seconds of waiting flew by in a matter of seconds. Twilight decided Carrot Top didn’t want to talk to her. Which meant she had to knock a few times and call her name to make sure. When no response came and the answer was clear, Twilight did the best thing she possibly could and walked in uninvited.

“Carrot Top?” she called out, walking from room to room. It seemed as though nopony had been there the entire day, and after a quick search of each room she left the building. “Now where could she be…” she thought aloud, raising a hoof to rub at her chin as she pondered.

She wasn’t at the library, she wasn’t at her house, she wasn’t tending to her stall- it was tucked away in the storage closet in the house-, which only left one place Twilight could hope to find her at.

“Couldja get that, Dinky?” Spike called. He already had a good idea of who was at the door, but still. Dinky was starting to get on his nerves, trying to help all the time.

The door opened and Twilight walked in, an obviously forced polite smile on her face. “Hi there, Dinky! How’s your mother?”

She hugged Twilight, for whatever reason. “She’s getting better, thanks to you!” Dinky finished with a smile, breaking off the hug to run off somewhere. That filly had way too much energy.

Twilight turned the corner and entered the living room, fully expecting Carrot Top to be crying her eyes out and Derpy to be holding her close, promising her that everything would be alright. She wasn’t very far off. Carrot Top was there, only she wasn’t crying, and instead of Derpy holding her, it was Spike.

The little dragon turned his head and nodded at Twilight, removed Carrot Top from his arms, and hopped off the couch. He raised a claw to his lips and flicked his head at the apparently sleeping mare before walking off into the kitchen.

Great. All the nerve and determination she’d gotten from Luna was all for nothing. Waking Carrot Top was out of the question; she deserved to rest for a while. Twilight would just have to wait for her to wake, then. As there wasn’t enough room on the couch for two ponies, she settled on the floor and wrapped her tail around herself, closing her eyes as she fell asleep.

Twilight was abruptly woken up. Somepony hit her side and collapsed on top of her, promptly flailing about wildly and rolling around in a frenzied attempt to get off. It took a few seconds, but Derpy managed to pick herself up. As the mare couldn’t exactly see anything, Twilight was then treated with a hoof rubbing her face. Said hoof retreated a moment later, and the temporarily-blind pegasus turned to face her.

“Sorry, Carrot Top. What were you doing on the floor?” she asked, completely oblivious to the fact that she wasn’t actually addressing Carrot Top.

Twilight wasn’t sure if she should just walk away like she was never even there or if she should speak up. She was still half asleep though, so she chose to do both. “Hey Derpy, no problem. I’m not here, bye.”

Derpy wasn’t buying it, if her face told anything. “Twilight? What are you doing here?” came her half-rhetorical question.

“Oh, I just came by to-“

The pegasus began gently pushing Twilight to one of the walls, most likely thinking she was headed for the door. “No, sorry, but you need to leave for a while. I don’t think Carrot Top wants to see you right now.” Perfectly reasonable request, if she weren’t talking to one of the more stubborn mares in Ponyville.

“No, I can’t. Sorry Derpy, but I have to wait for her to wake up so we can talk.”

Derpy stopped. “Talk about what though? Neither of them told me when Carrot Top ran in.”

Ahh, great. No way to wiggle out of that one. Of course, Twilight had to answer the question as positively as possible so Derpy wouldn’t get mad and kick her out. But then again, getting another pony involved before anything really happened didn’t seem like the best idea.

But then again, Derpy was already starting to get impatient. How Twilight could tell, she would never know. Given that impatience turns to frustration turns to anger she would have to answer as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

“Okay, Carrot Top kinda likes me and then Rainbow Dash pushed us together and then all my other friends showed up and started pressuring me even though they probably weren’t trying to and then I ran and hid in my room so they’d go away and I never got to answer so I went to her house but she wasn’t there so I came here so I could answer her but she was sleeping so I decided to wait for her to wake up and then I fell asleep and then you woke me up and-“ She gasped for breath, having said all that with no pauses whatsoever.

“So…” Derpy started, trying to get the gist of what she’d just heard. “She likes you and you rejected her so she went here?”

“What? Rejected her? I didn’t reject her, I just kinda…” Ran away when she was completely nervous and embarrassed and was waiting for me to answer, she thought. Hmm. Kinda makes sense that Derpy would come to that conclusion. “ Okay, I can see why you think I rejected her, but I didn’t.”

“So, you…” she paused, doubting whether or not she was right, “…accepted her?”

“No, I didn’t accept her! I mean, I didn’t back at the library, so I came over here so I could, but-“

“You do?!?”

Twilight’s scream got stuck in her throat, so she ended up coughing as she jumped back and spun to where the voice was coming from. There was Carrot Top, wide awake, standing just a few inches away. As Twilight coughed, a few droplets of spit flew out and hit the mare in the eye. She then squeezed her eyes shut and began furiously rubbing to clear them up.

The first thing Twilight did was apologize and offer a helping hoof despite not knowing how she could possibly help. A few seconds of rubbing passed and Carrot Top reopened her eyes.

“Ahh, no problem Twilight. Thanks Derpy!” Said pegasus smiled, hummed an acknowledgement, and pranced off to where Spike and Dinky were watching attentively.

“Wait, what?” Why did she thank Derpy? And how long have they been watching? It’s like she… No… She didn’t… “Carrot Top? Did you plan this?”

A semi-agitating smirk answered her and along with it, a nod. As if that wasn’t enough, Carrot Top decided to answer directly. “Yep! When you got here I pretended I was sleeping so you’d wait for me to wake up, then once you fell asleep I got Derpy to pretend to trip on you and ask you everything. Pretty good, right?”

Yes, it was a pretty good plan. Cruel and convoluted, but good all the same. No way she was going to let Carrot Top in on that, though.

“No, it wasn’t! You can’t just mess with somepony like that! If you wanted to know my answer you should’ve just talked with me about it, not get somepony else to wring it out of me!”

“Yeah, you know it was good. Else you wouldn’t be getting so defensive.”

Defensive, huh? Twilight decided to switch to offensive, putting on her best angry grouch face possible. “Oh, yeah? Well, what about when… What about when…” She couldn’t think of anything. She wasn’t very good at pretending to be angry, apparently.

Carrot Top raised her hooves in mock surrender. “Alright, alright. I’m sorry. But hey! You said yes, kinda, so that makes us a couple! Yay!”

Twilight soon found herself wrapped in pony. And then a dragon and filly came over to join in on the fun. She did say yes, and it wouldn’t be right to turn around and reject her just from the surprise of everything. After a few moments of careful consideration, she hugged back.

“Alright, see ya tomorrow guys!”

“Bye, Spike! Don’t forget to-“

“Yeah, yeah. I know. Sheesh.”

Yep, Twilight would definitely need to teach that dragon some manners. Given his poorly-kept secret, she would probably have to enlist Rarity’s help in that most noble of missions. No way he would object to a course on etiquette then. Carrot Top’s scheming was already starting to rub off on her.

Speaking of Carrot Top… Twilight was beginning to get annoyed by her touchy-feely-ness. It wasn’t unwanted, but it wasn’t wanted either. It was just… It was like going to the spa with Rarity that one time Fluttershy went to watch the butterfly migration. She didn’t really want to go to the spa, per se, but she also wanted to go at the same time. Sort of.

Twilight pushed against the constant contact known as Carrot Top a little bit, hoping she’d get the hint to give her a little personal space, but her agitator apparently took the act as a sign to move even closer.

The door arrived to save the day; Twilight was finally able to break away from the crazy mare. She climbed up the stairs and hopped in bed, lying on her side and snuggling under the covers.

The sound of conspicuous throat-clearing reached her ears. She opened her eyes and flipped herself around, facing Carrot Top.

“What?”

Carrot Top looked at the ground, unable to meet Twilight’s eyes. “I was just wondering if I could… sleep with you, tonight?”

As much as Twilight wanted to decline, Carrot Top’s awkward shuffling and complete lack of conviction made it so she just couldn’t. Until she did.

“Look, Carrot Top. I know we’re together now, but could you hold off on the lovey-dovey stuff for a while?” Carrot Top’s ears flopped lifelessly down and she began turning to leave. “Just… Just give me a bit to get used to all this, okay?”

A pair of sparkling eyes rose to look up at Twilight as she descended the stairs. Then they disappeared.

It was quiet. Carrot Top and Twilight, alone in the library, silently ate their breakfast. They’d both glance up every once in a while and look straight back at their food if they happened to catch the other looking.

Twilight wanted to bring up something. She would do just about anything to break up the awkward air hanging around them, and conversation seemed the best choice. The weather wouldn’t do; that was too plain and boring. Her research would probably be a good topic, but Carrot Top didn’t understand it past the basics. Everything she thought of, she shot down. There was no middle ground; it was either definite salvation or on to the next one.

Carrot Top, on the other hand, was too nervous to speak up. She’d gotten what she wanted, but now she was too hesitant to do anything. Especially after the previous night. She didn’t know just how much space or how much time Twilight would need, so Carrot Top was just waiting for Twilight to make the first move.

Of course, Twilight was too unsure of everything to make that first move. The near-silent munches and nibbles continued for a while before they finished their food. They both tried to get to the kitchen at the same time and consequently bumped into each other, having been watching their dishes instead of where they were going.

The crashing of ceramic against wood flooded the library, and silence followed. Both mares stared at the broken bowls in surprise, too startled to do anything. Twilight was first to regain her composure and she floated the pieces into the trash can. It was the perfect opportunity to break the silence, so Carrot Top seized it.

“Sorry.” Yep. Perfect silence-breaker.

Twilight was surprised by the sudden apology, moreso because Carrot Top actually spoke to her than anything else. She turned her head just enough so she could see the mare out of the corner of her eye. “No problem.”

It was quiet once again. Neither could push the conversation any further. Twilight was completely certain it was her fault everything was so weird now. If only she’d worded things better the previous night.

“Look, Carrot Top, about last night…” she started, unsure of how exactly she should word things to lighten the mood.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to push things so fast, I just-“ Purple hoof met yellow mouth, and Carrot Top was silent.

“No, it’s fine. Really. I just need a little bit of space, y’know? Just… Less huggy, touchy-feely stuff for a while, okay?”

Twilight removed her hoof from Carrot Top’s face after she received a nod in reply.

“So… ‘less’ as in what?” was the first thing that was asked.

Twilight facehoofed and sighed. “’Less’ as in ‘none at all’, for a while. Okay?”

“Okay,” Carrot Top said, thinking a bit before deciding to continue the conversation in a totally logical direction. “So what’s next for the research?”

“Hmmmmm…” the now perked-up unicorn hummed, trying to recall exactly what she was going to do next. She couldn’t remember, which was completely fine. She had her checklists for a reason, after all.

It was one such paper that she subconsciously floated over to herself, skimming through all the checked items.

“Right. Derpy and Pinkie convinced Thunderlane to let me cast my spell, so I should probably head on over to his place before he gets any second thoughts.” Twilight started to head out the door before remembering something she read in a book once, so she turned back to address Carrot Top. “Wanna come?”

Carrot Top dismissed the thought with a wave of her hoof. “Nah, I’m good.”

And with that, Twilight went on her way.