Twilight opened her eyes slowly. All around her was a blur of mixed colors and confusing voices. As time passed, her focus came back and she could see herself surrounded by her friends while lying on a bed in the castle, but only vaguely, as she felt very heavy and found herself unable to move. She could feel a pression in her left hoof and slowly turned her head to find Spike's small hand clutching her foreleg. The dimmest shadow of a smile touched her lips but she was too weak to say anything. She did however see the relief on her friends' faces as they saw her opening her eyes. Try as she might, she couldn't hold it, and soon returned to the realm of unconsciousness.
Her eyes opened again, when the colors of dusk were visible through the windows behind her bed. This time she was able to focus rather quickly. Spike slept, still holding her hoof. Rarity, Fluttershy and Bon Bon surrounded her bed; the white unicorn smiled softly to her as she noticed her gaze wandering around.
"Hello, Twilight," whispered Rarity just loud enough so that she would hear it. Fluttershy and Bon Bon looked over to her and a wave of relief crossed over their faces. "How are you feeling?" asked Rarity as she bent over to look at Twilight, extending her hoof to sway away locks of hair that fell in front of the librarian's eyes.
"I'd like a cup of water," asked Twilight, her voice soft. Rarity nodded and filled a cup from the water jug at Twilight's night table, floating it to her lips. Twilight drank the water slowly. After finishing, Rarity put the glass away and Twilight slowly stood up, getting into a sitting position on the bed. Spike opened his eyes and looked at her.
"Twilight, you're finally awake!" screamed the young dragon, his voice dripping with emotion and his eyes shining. A light smile appeared on Twilight's lips.
"You've been here with me all the time, haven't you? Thanks, Spike, you're the best."
He smiled widely, letting go of her hoof. She looked to the other side and saw the other two ponies that had remained silent.
"Hello, Fluttershy, Bon Bon, it's good to see you."
Fluttershy smiled as wide as Spike and approached to give a small hug to her friend, while Bon Bon just addressed her with a small smile. The pegasus looked at her.
"It's so good to see you, Twilight. So many days have gone past..."
Twilight's ears perked up at this and she tensed. She looked at her surrounding friends, her brow furrowed.
"How much time have I been out for?" Spike, Rarity and Fluttershy shuddered; Twilight had abruptly changed the tone of her voice, becoming all serious.
"Well, um, you've been here for four days already...," said Fluttershy, while avoiding her eyes. The lavender mare's eyes opened wide and she put her sheets away while trying to get out of bed, but her sudden dizziness caused her to fall back violently.
Rarity, Spike and Bon Bon were quick to hold her down.
"Twilight, you mustn't leave your bed yet!" cried the baby dragon.
"Darling, you're exhausted by the effort of transporting so many of us over such a large distance. You must still recover. We're alright, Twilight. Well, mostly..." Twilight looked at her friend.
"'Mostly' What does that mean, Rarity?"
"Well... We haven't seen Albert for the last few days, but the Princesses have said they'll have a reunion with us when you're feeling better." Rarity talked with a slow, quiet voice, seeking to soothe her excited unicorn friend.
"Princess Cadence, Shining Armor and your parents have been here as well everyday. They'll come soon, I think, it's almost night."
Twilight sunk back into the bed, feeling the comfortable pillows under her head. She bit her lip.
"But why haven't you seen Albert?"
Spike and Rarity shook their heads. The small dragon answered to her.
"The Princess called out for him some days ago, saying they needed to talk and since then we haven't seen him, and the Princesses haven't said anything since then, claiming you need to be in top shape for us to speak."
"But why would that be- " Twilight was now full awake, even if she still felt the heaviness weighing down on her. "What about Ponyville? The library, and them all!" She made the effort to stand up again, but Rarity pressed her against the bed, shushing her softly.
"It's ok, Twilight. Everything's fine. The town was placated a day after we came here. Sweetie Belle is staying with the Apples and Lyra returned from Las Pegasus. Apparently she has the aid of Derpy Hooves and they're looking after the library and the Boutique."
Rarity's expression was far from relieved with this information, but she said nothing, instead working on calming down her friend.
"I'm sure everything's going to be ok, Twilight." Spike smiled at her, and all the others followed suit. At that moment, the door was opened wildly and Pinkie Pie bounced inside. When she saw Twilight awake, she pulled from her mane somehow a trumpet and blew it strongly, her cheeks going red. Not even Bon Bon batted an eye.
"Yippee, Twilight! I thought you'd be a sleepy mare some more, but it's good to see you as a wakey mare, because you miss so many things when you are a sleepy mare for so much and mhmhmm..."
Pinkie's rant was interrupted by Bon Bon's hoof pressing into her mouth. The calmer earth pony was already used to dealing with her hyperactive friend. Once Pinkie had shut down, she removed her hoof. The pink mare approached Twilight with a quieter bounce. She lowered her head until their noses were almost touching, and whispered wiith a very theatrical voice.
"I'll set up the best "You've gotten better" par-tay once you're off that bed, Twi! Do you know how much time has gone past without a single party? Too much, and that's no good! So get well soon, ok?!" Pinkie bopped Twilight's nose with her pink hoof and made the unicorn laugh heartily, until the point of cleaning away tears of laughter. She nodded to her friend.
"I'll wait eagerly for that, Pinkie."
"Okie dokie lokie!"
Pinkie sat down next to Bon Bon. After that, Twilight's stomach growled wildly. After they all laughed, Spike reached for a bowl of fruit and peeled an orange for Twilight, who began eating slowly. When she was eating her third orange, the door opened once again and Applejack and Rainbow Dash entered the room. Their faces shone alight when they saw Twilight.
"It was about time, egghead!" teased Rainbow, smirking.
"Howdy, Twi! Feelin' better now?"
"Yes, I'm feeling quite a lot better now, though my magic still seems to be quite far from returning. It's good to see you too, Rainbow Dash," said Twilight in a half sarcastic tone.
The minutes passed amicably, as the sun lowered in the distance and candles were alight. New steps were heard coming closer and the door opened again, letting in the three princesses, Shining Armor and Twilight's parents. Twilight briefly wondered about the dimensions of the room to hold so many ponies and Spike. It didn't last very much, as her friends left the room, excusing themselves, leaving only her family inside. Her parents approached her.
"Good night, Twily." Her mother nuzzled her. "Too bad we have to get to see you like this."
"How are you feeling?" asked her father, with the concern clearly written in his voice.
"I'm fine, dad, I'm sure I'll be up soon." He smiled and stepped aside to let Shining come through. The younger stallion hugged his sister warmly.
"Always one to outdo yourself, aren't you, little sis?"
"Like you're one to talk, B.B.B. F.F." They both burst into joyful laughter. After it receded Twilight waved to Cadence, who smiled to her and hugged her, but didn't say anything, which Twilight wondered about for a second. Then Celestia and Luna came forward.
"It's good to see you up again, Twilight Sparkle."
"Thanks, Princess. I'm sorry for having made you worry."
"'Tis' nothing. Recover soon, I want to speak more with you." Twilight was accustomed to see Luna as a less cheerful figure than her sister, but her tone of voice seemed to be even more distant than before. The Princess of the Night retreated and excused herself, leaving the room.
She then looked towards Celestia, who returned her look.
"Hello, Twilight. I'm very relieved to see you up again. We've been all too worried for you. It's nice to see you surrounded by so many concerned ponies, don't you think?" Her gaze turned to her family. Twilight's mother smiled.
"That's true, Princess. I was starting to think my little Light would never get some true company outside of the family, or you."
The mare looked dreamily towards her daughter. "Now all that's remains is for you to find a nice significant other. I'd be so thrilled."
Twilight smiled sheepishly, as the image of a certain green unicorn flashed through her mind briefly. She blushed and looked away from her mother. She could see the shadow of a sinister smirk in her mentor's face and the look they exchanged contained everything that needed to be said.
"I, um, I'll have to think about it, mother... I'm still young, and..."
"Nonsense, Twilight! Look at your brother. He's already happily married and in a very good standing. Wouldn't you like that?"
The blush on her face grew stronger, and she could feel Celestia's and Cadence's looks upon her, though while the former was a mischievous one, the second one was one of a raised eyebrow at her. She still kept her silence, though.
"I suppose, mother."
Twilight had never even considered the idea of telling her family about her relationship up until now, tangled in so many things as she was. But it struck her now just how important would that thing be now.
The older unicorn smiled. "Well, dear, your father and I must go back home now. We're glad to see you well. Take care of yourself, won't you?"
"Yes, I promise." She hugged her parents, Shining and Cadence, who left the room, leaving her alone with Celestia. Night had fallen completely; the light of the candles illuminated them both. Celestia wore her royal mask as well as always, but for her nearest pupil, it was useless.
"What's the matter, Princess?"
No answer came from the mare in front of her. Twilight rose from the bed, walking slowly towards Celestia.
"Is something happening?"
After some more silence, Celestia looked down at her. "Rest up and recover, Twilight. Then we'll talk. Is that good?"
"But Princess, why not now? Why have you, Luna and Cadence been acting so weird? Where's Albert?"
"We'll talk soon, Twilight. For now, I think it's better if you go back to resting"
"But I can't! What about..." But Twilight couldn't continue. All around her became blurry. The heaviness she had been feeling grew up and she couldn't feel herself. She was however, sure that her mentor hadn't used any type of magic. She felt very confused before falling again into a veil of darkness.
Dinky was asleep, her chest rising and falling with a certain beat. She suddenly thrusted a hoof forwards as if trying to push away somepony.
"No, Pipsqueak, stop! That's not fair! Hahahaha!" The filly began tossing around, only her mother's hooves stopped her from falling out of the chair. Nonetheless, she had a big smile on her face as she kept trying to keep Pipsqueak at bay, Lyra and Derpy smiled at the sight. Sparkler sat by Lyra's side and watched out of the window as the landscape presented itself before her.
Lyra looked at the pegasus in front of her. She looked at Derpy watching her daughter with a blissful expression on her face, so different from the one she had had that night, pained and tired. Lyra looked at her golden eyes and she recalled how she had looked into them at that time and realized how they were so similar to their own, barring the mailmare's unfortunate accident. She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind for the time being. The presentation in the glamorous city hadn't been as chaotic as she had presumed them to be, given the cosmopolitan city's reputation, and she made a mental note to talk to Stage about future presentations. She decided to tune out for the remainder of the journey, eager to see Ponyville as soon as she could.
"Wake up, Lyra," called a voice from far away, as she was shaken by a hoof. She turned around, protesting with a sleepy voice.
"Not yet, Bon,.."
"I'm not Bon Bon, silly."
"Wake up. We're about to..."
"...arrive to Ponyville."
A jab in her side finally made her jump, falling to the floor. She blinked; she rarely fell to the floor in her sleep, and opened her eyes seeing the bottom of the train compartments. Rising up, she looked behind her and she found the laughing family behind her.
"Oh, right, the train. How are you, girls?"
After parting ways with the Hooves family, promising to meet with Derpy soon, Lyra set course for the apartment. While she made her way through the town, she found something strange about the ponies she met, despite them acting as friendly as ever. She didn't pay any attention to it, Ponyville being the weird town that it was, and reached her home soon.
But when she reached home and found it closed, she felt something pulling at her mind. She opened the door and saw no lights on. She called loudly, her voice echoing through the building.
"Bon Bon?!" She received no answer. She examined the first floor, and then trotted upstairs. The usual order and cleanliness that her friend kept around the house wasn't present, as small layers of dust covered the furniture and other places. She could not wrap around in her mind such a state of things; everything was so clean and neat when Bon Bon was around. Lyra dropped her luggage on top of her bed and walked outside, running to the Library. But when she arrived there, she found the curtains drawn and the building almost empty. Only Peewee's hoots called out to her, and she trotted over to see the two birds perched on top of a couple of bookshelves. The small phoenix came down and greeted her with a loud chirp.
"Peewee! What's happening around here, buddy? Are you hungry? ...What's that smell... Oh."
Lyra fed Peewee, cleaned the birds' droppings from the shelves, and checked around for somepony's presence, but once again found nothing. She bid goodbye to the little bird, while the owl slept on, and went over to the nearest building, Carousel Boutique, which was just as empty.
"Just what the hay is going on here? Where's everypony?"
She then hurried to Sugarcube Corner and opened its door frantically, shocking everyone inside. Not minding one bit, she ran to the counter and confronted a surprised Mr. Cake.
"Mr. Cake, is Pinkie here? Bon Bon? Twilight? Somepony?"
He looked uneasy towards her. He then turned to his wife. "Honey, can you stay here for a couple of minutes?" Mrs. Cake nodded and the stallion led Lyra to the back room, where he relayed the whole story to her. By the end of it, she had her mouth and eyes quite open in horror.
"I can't believe that... I just can't believe..." She didn't cry, but she could barely hold herself up. Mr. Cake looked at her with sympathy.
"We've received word from Canterlot. They are safe in the castle, but the princess said they wouldn't be back just yet. We've got to wait."
She stood there, simply looking at him, and then shook her head. "No, I can't do that. I've got to leave, Mr. Cake. Thanks!"
And she sped off before the earth pony had any saying on it, leaving confused clients in her wake. She made it to her house, but halfway up the stairs, she stopped. She looked behind her, to the first floor and then up to the second. She thought of the lonely library and its inhabitants. She thought of her pegasus friend. Her tail flicked and she sighed.
"I'll wait. I suppose I can get through a letter..."
She descended again and entered the kitchen to start organizing it.