Upon departing the study, Twilight ran downstairs straight to the bathroom (the only other room in the tree that could be locked). Her racing pulse, labored breathing, ringing ears, and crawling skin made it almost impossible to sit still though. So she did the only productive thing she could think to do in a bathroom and began taking a hot shower to relax her tense nerves.

The warm water pounding against her body didn’t seem to help stave off the uncontrolled and undesired thoughts. So she turned up the heat to near scalding levels, quickly filling the bathroom with steam. She always liked the steam sauna at the spa for clearing the mind and calming the nerves. Only now the warm smell of wet warm fur brought Rainbow Dash to mind after being splashed, dripping wet wearing that adorable sheepi-.

“NO!” Twilight refused to finish that thought and instantly switched off the hot water. The result of this being that the shower water was now practically sleet. Twilight shrieked at this and leapt from the tub. Slipping on the wet tile, the unicorn fell in a heap on the floor; a shivering, wet, miserable heap.

All her life Twilight prided her analytical steel trap of a mind. It was always taking in every detail, examining outcomes and reasons for them. She’d spent her entire life honing her ability to remember and now she cursed every moment of that life as random jumbles of thoughts swirled haphazardly about the proverbial TOILET BOWL that was apparently now her brain.

“Ohh… what is wrong with me?” she groaned. She wanted nothing more than to purge the last hour from her mind, the last DAY even. She just couldn’t comprehend how a simple joke with a friend had turned out so … so … confusing.

After what felt like hours (but was more probably a minute or two) of trying to suppress, repress, eliminate, purge, and expunge the memory from her mind, Twilight eventually gave up and allowed herself to slowly give her mind a chance to think about what exactly had just happened. Twilight sighed as she gathered herself into a more comfortable position, but remained where she lay on the floor. She used the water dripping off her nose to help her focus and concentrate her thoughts.

It made a fair amount of sense, really. Although very similar on a basic structural level, Pegasi physiology was vastly different to, and innately much more delicate than, their flightless equine counterparts. Their bones were porous to allow for a lighter (though still surprisingly durable) frame which was much more suited for flight. Also, ponies such as Rainbow Dash who were almost constantly flying would tend to have much softer fur and more tender skin. This was a direct contrast to the labor intensive Earth ponies, like Applejack or Big Macintosh, who couldn’t help but have coarser fur and tougher skin to stand up to the work they performed. That meant that it was perfectly natural for Rainbow Dash to be more easily aroused by an act that any of the rest of their friends would merely find to be enticing and pleasurable.

And the kicker was … Twilight had already known all of that when she was gathering her hoof care tools. In fact, in the back of her mind she’d down right counted on it. But that wasn’t the worst of it. No, the worst part of it was that Rainbow Dash’s … crescendo hadn’t really bothered her at all. What had really bothered her … (she swallowed hard at this internal realization) … was her own reaction to that … that “peak” in her friend’s pleasure.

But why? Why did she react that way initially? What did it mean? Why did that reaction bother her so much? Did the answer to that question somehow change the meaning of her initial reaction?

Her introspective line of questioning was halted when she heard the front door to the library open and close, followed by the voice of her number one assistant. “Hey, Twilight?” he called out. “Most of the market carts closed up early today. So I wasn’t able to get hardly any of the things on your list.”

“I’m in here Spike,” she called back as she levitated a towel to herself and shut off the shower water. “It’s alright about the list,” she added, quickly toweling herself dry and mopping up most of the water on the floor. “That’s all stuff we’re going to get tomorrow. I just wanted a chance to talk to Rainbow is all.”

“Yeah, I figured,” he responded. “You seemed pretty upset with her. Is everything alright between you two?”

‘Oh Luna-be-damned, how am I supposed to answer THAT?!’ “Uhmm … it’s,” she hesitated, trying to find something neutral to say that wouldn’t be a lie but wouldn’t beg more questions, “complicated.” She immediately wished she could take that word back.

Spike, who’d only been taking cursory interest in how the two friends had mended their relationship, was now quizzically attentive. “Complicated? How is it complicated?” he demanded, walking up to the bathroom door so their conversation could continue more easily. He knew better than to enter though. Even though he and Twilight almost never wore clothes outside of special occasions it was an unspoken rule that neither would ever enter the bathroom whilst it was occupied by the other.

“She … I … We …” Twilight stammered for a moment, wracking her brain to come up with a viable explanation that would get him to drop the subject. The only problem was that none came to mind. “I don’t know,” she said weakly.

Spike sighed at this. “Well, she seemed pretty sorry about what happened to me,” he said.

“I know.”

“And that desk was practically as old as I was.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and held them up toward the ceiling, wishing nothing more than for that baby dragon to just stop let her think. “I know, Spike.”

“I’m sure she’d do almost anything to make it up t-”

“I GET IT SPIKE! Okay?!”

Twilight winced at herself for attacking him like that, and judging from the tense silence coming through the door she knew she’d probably hurt his feelings. It wasn’t his fault. He was just trying to help. Twilight sighed and draped the towel over her shoulders as she opened the door to stick her head out.

“I’m sorry,” she said gently, “I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’m going to be talking with her again … soon. It’s just …” she paused a moment to try and find the half-decent explanation he deserved. “Things … aren’t really sorted between us yet? … I’d just like a chance to figure it out by myself first, is all.” She reached a hoof out to chin up the little dragon who was shuffling his feet. “Thank you for trying to help, though.”

Spike looked up as she explained the situation to him. Vague though it was, he nodded and smiled at her thanks. This in turn lifted her own spirits, seeing his closed mouth yet adorably toothy smile. “Now get cleaned up for bed,” she said, stepping out of the bathroom and ushering him in. It wasn’t particularly late, but it was justifiable for bedtime, and of course Spike was never one to argue with the chance for a little extra sleep.

As the door closed behind her a thought occurred to her. ‘I don’t really want to explain the mess in my study,’ she thought, figuring Rainbow Dash had already left. “Umm, Spike?”

“Yeah, Twi?”

“The study is pretty disorganized right now,” she said, “but just leave that for me tomorrow so I can arrange it properly for my new desk.”

“You got it.”

Turning away from once more she drew a breath for a sigh which turned unexpectedly into a lengthy yawn. “I guess I’ll just deal with that in the morning,” she said to nopony in particular and with that she decided to turn in.

Author's Note

Quick little chapter to sum up how Twilight ended the night. We'll see how things go between them in the morning

Comments, Critiques, Questions and Suggestions are always appreciated