Spike ran out into the street, his mind whirling. His best friend, the unicorn that had literally birthed him from his egg and cared for him ever since, was hurt, or worse. He did the only thing he could think of.

Carousel Boutique was a shining, sparkling example of elegance and lace. It was a bastion and a refuge of fashion. The owner, the mistress, the creative force of the white gabled spire of delightful chic, a unicorn of impeccable grooming, was the grey-coated, indigo and mulberry coiffed unicorn mare who was humming to herself as her lit horn moved fabrics and gems in a visionary whirlwind. Needle and thread, stitches and patterns, laces and tulle and velvets and silks floated, awaiting their turn.

"Rarity!" The shout was accompanied by a frenzied banging that cut right through her inspired trance, the various pieces falling to the ground.

"Ugh!" she huffed. "What sort of uncouth barbarian would assault my abode at such an hour?" she sniffed in supreme annoyance. "I'm positive I'd put up the 'closed' sign."

"Rarity! Please open the door!" At that moment, she realized who was causing such a ruckus. She went to the window and magicked it open.

"Spikey-wikey? Whatever is the matter?" Spike staggered from under the covered porch that surrounded her store.

"Twilight," he gasped, sweat streaming from his steaming scales. He bent over, trying to force the words out. "Hurt,... spell,... won't.... wake up..." Rarity gaped for a moment, then galloped out of her creative room, nearly stumbled down the stairs and threw open the door.

She stopped right in front of the panting dragon and put her forehooves on his shoulders.

"Come!" she cried turning him around. "Tell me on the way!" What Spike told her was eye opening.

She had always thought Twilight Sparkle was the most amazing mare she had known and was proud to be called her friend. Although she had her quirks- because, really, all genius did- she was one of the most intriguing ponies... well, ever! She was open and warm if a bit studious. Rarity knew the bookish mare had struggled with relationships and some things that were commonplace to many ponies were new experiences to the magical phenom. The unicorn had an allure that was hard to understand, a beauty of character that was honest and caring, and downright captivating. But to take such drastic measures just two weeks away from Hearts and Hooves day! Rarity had assumed that Twilight just wasn't really interested in those sorts of things. Now, she considered that perhaps if she hadn't been so wrapped up in her Canterlot orders for the upcoming Soiree, she might have noticed.

"Hey!" she heard another familiar voice from above. She looked up without pause to see the shaggy rainbow mane and tail and turquoise coat. "What's goin' on? I heard yelling. Somepony need some help?"

"Rainbow Dash! Yes! Go to the Hospital, it's an emergency! Tell them Twilight Sparkle may have suffered a magical mishap!"

"What? Egghead?" Dash wondered aloud in surprised concern, her bright cherise eyes widening. "Is she okay?"

"She won't wake up," Rarity replied as she continued to gallop.

"That can't be good."

"Dashie! The Hospital?"

"I'm there!" The pegasus disappeared in a multihued shot, her rainbow tail swirling behind her.

Spike had left the door to the Golden Oaks Library ajar in his near panic and she cantered in. He showed her the inconspicuous door to the archives, but before she entered, she performed a quick magic sensing spell. Every colt and filly were taught various practical spells, such as light, levitation and manipulation, but also were taught to sense for unexpected pockets of magic that might have imprinted during a backlash. If an unsuspecting pony even got near one such pocket, the results would be unexpected and potentially harmful. A quick scan showed nothing as she entered the stone stairwell. She had never been in the archives and the mere dampening presence of so much iron granite was oppressive, but she ignored her discomfort and made her way gingerly down the cold stone stairs. As she descended, she could feel the after-tingle of released magic. Her worry deepened as the tingling grew stronger with each step.

By the time she reached the bottom of the stairs her entire coat was shivering from the waves of intense magic. She would have to see the stylist just to get all the tangles out of her tail! She noticed several things, the first of which was the alicorn imprinted protection charm set in the middle of the wide stone floor. It was simple, marvelously and meticulously detailed. Etching iron granite flagstones with magic was practically unheard of, since iron granite had the natural property of absorbing pony magic, and the charm was obviously done by horn, and in Twilight's own delicate script. The sheer magical force of the protective spells emanating from the bookshelves was stupendous and intimidating. In the middle of all this was the crumpled form of one of her best friends.

"Twilight," she cried out, rushing to the unconscious mare's side, Spike right on her hooves.

"I tried everything," he said frantically, "but she just wouldn't wake up!"

Rarity ran her horn along her friend's coat without touching her and what she discovered was disturbing. Either she had lost her touch with the most basic unicorn skills, which was highly unlikely, or whatever magic Twilight Sparkle was trying to perform was so powerful that the pale grey unicorn just couldn't get a reading due to the massive amounts of magical interference.

"Spike," Rarity paused to consider her words, still shuddering against the sheer magnitude of the magical backwash, "Twilight... she must have been working on a very powerful and unusual spell, but whatever it was... I can't get past the backlash on her."

"Backlash?" Spike's eyes widened in panic. "Is that bad?"

"Well... yes and no. You see, unicorn magic- um, just how much do you know about it?"

"Other than living my entire life with Princess Celestia's most loyal student," he scoffed and paused for effect, "not much. Twilight said it was dangerous and didn't want me around whenever she was working out a spell. She'd talk about it while I did chores... but I, um," he ducked his head with a mixture of shame and guilt. "I should have paid more attention." Rarity nodded. While she didn't mind Twilight's dissertations, she suspected that her bookish friend's enthused ramblings were quite similar to her own gushing about fashion and the proper use of glitter, fabric, cut and gems. Rarity looked at the distraught dragon and sighed.

"Why don't you go upstairs and wait for Dash to come back with the doctor?" she said, trying to distract Spike. "I'll stay down here with Twilight."

"Yeah," he said, reluctant to leave his friend. "Okay."

When he disappeared around the corner of the stairs going up to the Library, Rarity let her own anxiety surface. She didn't dare touch Twilight; all unicorns were taught as weanlings not to physically assist victims of backlash unless absolutely necessary. The merest touch could cause magical contamination, which in turn could corrupt the hardened alicorn of their horns, causing it to become brittle and eventually disintegrate. She paced back and forth, her worried eyes on her prostrate friend. She couldn't understand the panic that had gripped her when Spike had appeared on her doorstep and told her his panting and desperate emergency.

"Oh, Twilight..." She wanted to brush away the mare's disheveled hair, to see her wonderful face. She paused, wanting to nuzzle her dear, dear friend; she had heard that even if a pony was unconscious, they could still sense another's presence or touch. She moved closer and noted Twilight's smell; it was some sort of intoxicating, mesmerizing scent. A new shampoo? Twilight didn't wear any kind of perfume. What was that smell? She inched closer, taking a deep breath. A clatter of hooves on the stairs woke her from her reverie. What had just happened? Rarity blushed as she backed away from her sprawled friend.

"Ah. Ms. Rarity," said Doctor MacHoovey as he arrived. His well-groomed brown mane was well matched with his light yellow coat. He was still wearing his lab coat and his saddlebags were thrown haphazardly over his back. Behind him appeared Nurse Redheart, a light grey mare with pink hair rolled into a bun at the nape of her neck and a little white cap with the Ponyville Hospital's symbol. Rarity recognized her from the time Rainbow Dash had injured her right wing. Spike emerged last. Rarity raised an eyebrow at him, wondering where the aspiring Wonderbolt had gone off to but Spike shrugged in reply.

Doctor MacHoovey frowned as he spied Twilight and trotted quickly to her side. "A little room if you please," he asked as he knelt down and ran his horn along Twilight's silent form in the same manner as Rarity had. The fashionista retreated a few steps, feeling a strange pang of emotion that spiked up, seeing MacHoovey so close to her librarian... wait, her librarian? She shook her head, trying to dislodge the thought. MacHoovey frowned as he ran his horn over her body again, his horn shining even brighter. He snorted with annoyance repeating the procedure on Twilight for a third time, his horn blazing so brightly that Redheart, Spike and Rarity had to look away or shield their eyes.

The light winked out. MacHoovey was still on his knees, his head bowed and sweat lathered flanks heaving. He staggered to his feet. Nurse Redheart walked to his side and put a hoof on his shoulder to steady him.

"She may be lifted safely, I believe," he gasped out. "Nurse, please take our patient to her own bed."

"No, I can-" Rarity began as Nurse Redheart trotted to Twilight's side and began the laborious process of rolling the mare onto her back.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Rarity, but it would not be wise to use magic on Twilight directly just yet, and if I may have a word with both of you," he nodded at her and Spike. They were interrupted by a small squeak as Redheart lifted Twilight on her back and walked the unconscious mare out of the room, gently and carefully climbing the stairs back to the main library hall. The doctor nodded at Spike.

"What do you know about unicorn magic?"

"Not a whole lot," Spike said, flushing with embarrassment.

"Then while this might be a refresher for you, Ms. Rarity, I want to be thorough. Unicorn magic is very powerful, but also very dangerous. It's extremely powerful because, as you know, it can change reality itself, ignoring all concepts of common sense." He could see Spike's eyes glazing and cleared his throat. "It means that the only limit you have is your power and your imagination."

"Okay, got it."

"Dangerous, because a spell gone wrong can produce unpredictable results. Now, when a spell backfires, the magic you put into the spell still needs to go somewhere. More often than not, it recoils on the unfortunate pony who cast the spell. That is what we call backlash. Backlash can stick to almost anything, like tree sap, and anything contaminated in such a way will remain so for a while. During that time, the contagion can interfere with other spells, or worse, can discharge. The complexity and power of the spell increases the danger of the occurrence of backlash proportionally. Simple spells like levitation and manipulation which unicorns learn at a very young age, some as young as weanlings, have very little chance of backlash or contamination. Higher-level spells, the kind that Ms. Sparkle deals in, require extreme methodical levels of control, exceptional attention to detail and a plethora of knowledge. You have to set limits to your magic or the results can be horrific and terrible because it can be, just about, anything." Spike paled as the doctor droned on, his scales grow lighter and lighter until it was a lavender hue.

"That's why Twilight is so studious, Spike," Rarity said gently, tears forming in her eyes with realization, "it was to protect you... to protect us all. From what she said about the exam that she'd gotten her cutie mark... it was to protect us from herself." Spike drew in a trembling breath, closed his eyes as he exhaled.

"So now what do we do?" He got straight to the point.

"Well," MacHoovey considered, "I was able to get past the magical interference. The magical backlash doesn't seem to have harmed her. In fact, I'm not even sure that it was backlash, although I hesitate to say that the spell succeeded. I'm hoping that the interference will eventually dissipate. The sheer raw power," he shook his head in disbelief, "I've never seen anything like it. But in case it was backlash, we need to minimize the possibility of magical contamination. She'll have to be observed here at the library and not in the Hospital because it might be backlash and we can’t risk an outbreak there; we’ll know for certain in a few days. At any rate, the library will have to close for the duration of her ailment."

"Okay," Spike said, "but will she wake up? What does she need?"

"It's difficult to say... but she will need to you," MacHoovey indicated Spike, "to leave."

"What!?" Spike's surprised shout echoed around the granite walls of the archives.

"You're a dragon, and dragons have a strange effect on magic. To ameliorate any unexpected and potentially dangerous effects, you need to stay away. You needn't go far," he added, seeing Spike's fallen face, "and it should be only temporary."

"But.... but who’ll take care of her?" Spike gesticulated, waving his arms to emphasize his point, "I'm, I'm her number one assistant!"

"We run a home observation program at Ponyville Community for just this sort of situation," MacHoovey said, trying to placate the irate dragon. "The Hearts are some of the most highly accredited nurses in all Equestria. They will take shifts to observe her, and in Ms. Sparkle's case, it will have to be a twenty-four hour watch."

"What about her friends?" Rarity asked, forcing down a sudden and inexplicable spike of jealousy. "Can we visit or help out? If she's unconscious, how will she eat?"

"The nurses will know what to do, and really, visitation should be limited to earth ponies. The nurses are well trained in handling magical contagion protocols, and being earth ponies are much less susceptible to magical contamination than unicorns or pegasi. If Ms. Sparkle has earth pony friends, they can visit with no danger of magical contamination. You'll have nothing to worry about. She should eventually awaken; her natural self-defense has likely shielded her mind from the backlash. As the backlash bleeds off, she should return to consciousness."

"But what if she doesn't?"

"Then we'll have to perform a siphon. It shouldn't get to that though."

"Wait," Spike just remembered, "I shook Twilight when I first found her. Will that be a problem?"

"Well, I'm no expert on dragon physiology," the chestnut maned doctor shrugged, "but if it was brief, I doubt you'd suffer from contagion. Dragon scales are magic proof. Now as for distance..." MacHoovey tapped his chin with a forehoof, "I think the Ponyville Clock Tower would be far enough."

"The Clock Tower? But-but-but that's at the edge of town! I might as well stay in the Everfree forest!" The young dragon threw up his hands in disgust.

"Perhaps you could stay at Applejack's?" Rarity suggested. Spike turned to the stallion.

"Yes, that should be fine," the doctor confirmed, "and now, if you'll excuse me, I will make the arrangements with Head Nurse Redheart."

Spike's slumped shoulders mirrored Rarity's own feelings. She put a foreleg around the saddened dragon's shoulders and gave him a squeeze.

"Come Spike. I know you want to help. As do I. But," she continued as Spike looked up, "if the only way we can help Twilight is by staying clear, then, as much as it pains me to say it-"

"That's what we should do?" Spike finished her sentence. The pale mare nodded. Even his green spines drooped. "I guess. I just hate not being able to do anything, you know?" Rarity began to steer Spike towards the stairs.

"I do," she replied, then muttered under her breath, "more than you know."

"What was that?" Spike asked as they mounted the stairs.

"Let's get you packed. Twilight wouldn't want you to forget your toothbrush."

~ MLP ~ MLP ~ MLP ~

A light pink-coated earth pony stepped in quickly, slamming the door shut behind her, a mutinous expression on her cute, freckled face. Of all the time for a backlash patient to come up! She had plans that evening with a very entertaining pegasus, but instead of dinner and dancing, she had to babysit an unconscious egghead who couldn't keep her magic to herself. Just thinking of it made Sweetheart growl with anger. She shifted her saddlebags before depositing them on a nearby table.

Of course, Coldheart was probably punishing her for stealing that Wonderbolt right from under her nose, so a little sibling revenge wasn't out of the question. Sweetheart sighed, closing her blue eyes. And she'd even gone to the spa and curled her mane! She ran a hoof through her long lavender and white locks. Her mean spirited older sister had sprung her assignment on her just when she was about to step out. It just wasn't fair! Sweetheart stowed her short frilly dress in her saddlebag and put on her nurse's cap. After all, she was on duty now, and even if her sparkly fun makeup and unbound hair was impractical, it wasn't quite against regulation in a simple observation shift. She took a deep breath. She needed to calm herself before checking on the patient. It wasn't the mare's fault that Coldheart was being vindictive by reviewing what she knew about Ponyville's latest librarian.

The mare had shown up mysteriously just before the one thousandth Summer Sun Celebration, and, along with five other local ponies, had saved Equestria from Nightmare Moon. Since that big splash, the petite unicorn had become a welcome addition to Ponyville.

Twilight Sparkle had always been willing to help wherever she could. She'd become the official Winter Wrap Up Organizer. The unicorn had always been a willing hand at the Hospital, even if her thirst for knowledge would sometimes get the better of her and she would follow the Hearts on their rounds with a constant stream of questions and suppositions. She smiled at the time the famous rainbow Dash had made a fool of herself trying to steal a book from the Hospital just because she couldn't admit to the little librarian that she'd suddenly taken to reading. Twilight, instead of gloating, had been enthusiastic and forgiving. Nice, if a little too saccharine. Sweetheart had always been drawn to the brash Dash; she admired Applejack, the down-to-earth bucking champion of Ponyville, but was a definite Dasher. Tenderheart, her younger sister, was a Jacker and they would argue incessantly about who was better, even if both mares had completely lost the Running of the Leaves. Come to think of it, Twilight Sparkle had come in an impressive fifth after wisely conserving her strength and sprinting to the finish line on the last leg of the race.

She looked about the silent bookshelves, as she locked the library door. There were worse places to be stranded she supposed, but there were plenty of better places she would rather be, like being at dinner with a Wonderbolt. She sighed again. She could imagine Redheart's disappointed look if she found out her the third sister of the Heart family had skipped out on a rotation. Well, time to check on the little librarian.

Before she could mount the stairs to the single bedroom for the resident Librarian, there came a knock on the door. Curious, she returned to open it.

"Redheart! Tenderheart? What are you doing here? Outside stood the pink maned, white-coated Redheart. Beside her was the pale blue-coated, light green maned younger sister. "What are you doing here?"

"Hi Sweetheart," bubbled Tenderheart. "I'm here to shadow you!"

"Tenderheart is going for her magical contamination certification," Redheart explained, "so she asked if she could shadow us. That way, she wouldn't have to go to Canterlot for her practicum."

"Oh, um, sure," Sweetheart smiled, "come on in little sis, I was just about to go check on our patient."

"Great! Let me do it!" The excited earth pony cantered in.

"Just up the stairs," Sweetheart called after the young mare who bounded up the steps, "but don't do anything until I get up there!"

"I also heard what Coldheart did to you," Redheart said in a soft voice as the younger sister went up the stairs to keep from being overheard, "it wasn't very nice, but she is the head of scheduling this week. I'll have to speak to her later about keeping things professional."

"That's okay, Red. We all know The Ice Cube usually lives up her name," Sweetheart nudged her oldest sister, who rolled her eyes at the nickname. "Still, I'm glad you're here."

"We'll help you with the rotation. I know you didn't prepare yourself for an overnight shift, so Tend and I can split with you so you can get some sleep."

"Really? That'd be great! Thanks."

"That's why I'm the big sister and not Coldheart," Redheart said smugly as Sweetheart closed the door behind her and locked up once again. The two sisters headed up to Twilight's room to find the light blue Tenderheart leaning closely over the unconscious unicorn. She jumped back and blushed when she noticed her older sisters watching. Sweetheart glanced at her older sister but was surprised to find the older nurse smiling in understanding rather than exchanging the glance with her.

"And just what were you doing?" Sweetheart teased.

"Oh, um, haha," Tenderheart laughed guiltily. "You never told me you were watching such a beautiful unicorn!" The young mare nickered nervously. Beautiful? What was that all about, Sweertheart wondered. Why would anypony think that of the studious Twilight Sparkle?

"I know, she is, isn't she?" Redheart gushed. Sweetheart nearly tripped over her hooves. What did her eldest sister just say? The white mare had her heart set on the robust and whinnysome MacHoovey, if the stallion would just pull his head out from his backside and notice. She looked on in shock as the eldest of the five Heart sisters joined her younger sister near the slumbering mare, the two mares just staring. Sweetheart tried to puzzle out what was going on, joining the others out of curiosity.

The mare was sprawled on her side, her young soft purple coloured cheeks a rather alluring plumpness. Sweetheart suddenly jerked; her two sisters were still leaning forward, watching the young mare with rapt admiring stares.

"A-hem," Sweetheart coughed loudly. Both her sisters jumped with identical blushes and uncertain eyes. Something weird was going on tonight. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. "Girls, actually, I think I'll be fine. Tenderheart, you were top of your quorum; I think you'll do marvelously even without a shadow, and being on rotation, that'll definitely give you an edge."

"Oh, no, I don't mind," Tenderheart burbled, her eyes darting to the softly breathing figure in the bed, "and I've, uh, always wanted to get the chance to work with you, sis. I'm usually with Red," she ducked her head, "no offense, Big Sis."

"No! No," Redheart smiled. "And you know, backlash rotations can be so boring, so let us sit in on the first night, okay Sweet?"

She never could say no to her big sister.

~ MLP ~ MLP ~ MLP ~

"Y'all okay in there?" The orange earth pony stood at the door. Spike sat dejectedly on the pony sized bed, his basket lying on the ground close to the footboard. Applejack smiled a little to herself. How did the offspring of one of the most dangerous and mean spirited creatures in Equestria become such a kind little softie that doted on his best friend unicorn? And really, to the apple bucking pony, it revealed a lot about the little librarian that made her so endearing.

"Yeah," Spike sighed. "Yeah. Thanks for letting me stay here, A.J." The little dragon was so depressed that Applejack walked into the room and put a foreleg around the little lavender reptile, her emerald eyes shining in the dark.

"It's okay, Spike," she said, squeezing him, "we're all worried. But I know th'Hearts. They're all real good at what they do. So don't you worry. An' besides," she continued, "there's the rest of us."

"I know," he said, then more forcefully, "I know. It's just... I hate not being able to be able to help, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it," Applejack said, when a sudden thought occurred to her. "Have you sent anythin' to Canterlot?"

"No," Spike's eyes suddenly widened, "wow, thanks, Applejack! I didn't even think of that. If anyone would help, it'd gotta be Princess Celestia! I mean, she's Twi's mentor and all!" He got up from his basket and rummaged in his pack, producing a quill and a roll of parchment.

"Alright then," the pony got up and headed to the door. She turned as Spike began to write.

"Dear... Princess... Celestia..." She smiled again, listening to the tiny dragon reading out loud as he wrote.

She closed the door and trotted down the hall to her own room. Unlike most of her friends, her room was rather spartan. Even Twilight had more decorative pieces in her room. Under a wide three-framed window, there was a small plain wood table, a small stool before it. To the left was a rack covered by a canvas cloth where Applejack hung all of Rarity's creations. She covered them to keep the dresses from getting dusty; Celestia knew how dusty it gets on a working farm! But on the desk, other than the sparklight, was a wide, oval shaped box.

Twilight had given it to her one day; she'd read that without proper care, hats could lose shape or stain. She had arrived as the sun was setting, knowing that most days Applejack worked until sunset. The earth pony had been resting by a bale of hay with her stetson tipped back, one arm perched on the bundled stalks, the other wiping her brow. She could remember clearly the rambling explanation delivered by a darling blush and stammer before she was presented with the plain box. Her offer for dinner was politely turned down, even though she could see how sorely tempted the librarian was, but she'd left Spike without anything to eat and Twilight had said she would have felt bad if her friend was left to his own devices. Applejack had felt a pang at that, but had let it go, identifying with the need to care for family. It just made her admire the tiny unicorn even more. She lifted the lid off and place her hat inside, upside down and turned down the sweatband inside to dry. Twilight had explained that hats could lose the curl of the rim and stetsons, with the way they were made, should be stored that way. Applejack looked down at her hat, inside the plain looking box and put a hoof on her chest.

It hurt; it really, really hurt to know that her friend was injured, and all because she had felt... unwanted. Rarity had explained the situation more clearly before she'd left Spike in her care, and the farmfilly could see how concerned the elegant fashion conscious mare was. Applejack knew little about Twilight and her family, aside from the time they had spent with the unicorn's brother and his now wife, but she could imagine how isolated the Canterlot mare probably felt. If she'd left all her family behind on a royal decree... well, being in Manehattan had taught her at least one thing, and that was without friends or family, anypony was vulnerable, anypony could fall apart. None of the pegasi or Rarity could see her. She resolved as one of Twilight's earth pony friends, and naturally immune to magical contagion, it was up to her to visit. She'd talk to Big Mac and Apple Bloom about covering her afternoon chores.

It was the least she could do.

Author's Note

Yes I know they aren't necessarily related.... but why not? Small town, family run... don't tell me I'm the only one who thought it! And yes, I apologize for no clop in this chapter, but it's just set-up for some filly freaking.