p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "I knew this kind of thing would happen. I knew it would."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" All morning, the majority of Twilight's dialogue had been variations on that sentence. The hectic rush of the previous evening, from the initial panic to the repressing dourness of the medical wing's waiting room to their eventual unwilling retirement, had died slowly, leaving nothing but... em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"that/em./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Now, they'd regrouped in the medical wing. She'd gotten there first, of course. If anypony in the room could argue that they were Applejack's best friend, it was her. She'd been standing around the bright white bed for a while by then, always glancing over. She seemed very, very dead, and it was only the heart monitor nearby that kept her from believing it./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Each of them had left sometime earlier to discuss with the Princesses the matter of returning to Ponyville. The only two left were her and Twilight, who was sitting nearby on a bench on the wall./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" The medical clipboard was levitating silently in a pink glow while Twilight muttered to it. "Conditional aethyric aperturism. I figured it would happen. It's a different kind of magic. It's touchy. Of course it is."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Twilight!" Dash said finally, whipping her head around. "Just stop for a few minutes! A few minutes."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Twilight looked over at her, and dropped the clipboard. "Alright. Fine."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Finally, silence. She looked over at Applejack one more time, and then out the window. Through the bottom of the three panes, there was a great view of the inner city. Through the middle, the great violet mountain range. And through the top, sky. It calmed her down./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "... Is it the Princess' fault?" she asked quietly. The question came out of nowhere - she didn't really mean to ask it. That was the second time in 24 hours that had happened. Strange./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" There was a pause. Perhaps she really shouldn't have asked that. Twilight and Princess Celestia really had a strong bond. Maybe she shouldn't push her, in this state especially./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "It is."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" She turned back towards her, this time on the receiving end of the shock. "Huh?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "It is, definitely. The Elements aren't the safest artifacts we have in Equestria. Plus, friendship-centered magic and stuff gets really unstable. That was never a good combination." She was staring down at the floor, a thick scowl on her face. "Why did she do it?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "They."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "What?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Princess Luna was involved, too."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Twilight sighed heavily, appearing ready to respond, but never did. She simply opened her mouth, decided against it, and sighed, leaning back against the wall./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Dash knew she really had no idea what was going on in her friend's head. Some huge, conflicting mess of thoughts smarter than her own. Perhaps she was right, and it really was the fault of the Princesses. Princess Celestia certainly did have a way of letting Twilight figure things out herself, but this seemed a little off./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "I have to go," she heard, muffled against her own thoughts, as Twilight slipped out of the room./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" She should go, too. One final glance to her friend, the errant, false cutie mark seeming to throb on her flank viciously, and she took her leave./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" It was only a few steps down the hallway before her heard her name behind her, and turned. She was standing there, her head low, her mane partially covering her face. Ever since they'd figured each other out, the stance had taken on an entirely new meaning./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Dash," she repeated, a little bit of a question mark showing up at the end./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Shy, I'm going to leave the Elements."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Fluttershy said nothing, but looked away./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Look, I can't stand for this. If the Princesses are going to use us like they have, I'm not staying."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Alright."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Dash turned fully, and walked up to her. "What's up?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "We're going back to Ponyville."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Cool."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "They're going to send Applejack to the hospital there."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Okay..." She paused. "Why are you nervous?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Nervous?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Dash smiled. "Nice try," she replied, starting to walk to her room. "I can read you pretty okay by now."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Fluttershy sighed. "Twilight told me earlier that she did research, and... sometimes ponies who get an overdose of magic, like AJ did, don't come out of unconsciousness."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Dash's breath stopped short for a moment, her heart skipping a beat. "As in -"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "I mean, they just don't come out of it. They don't die."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Oh. Okay." She shook her head quickly, and grimaced. "Warn me."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Fluttershy dropped her head even more. "She said she doesn't think there's necessarily a cure, except fighting it."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Oh. We're good, then. AJ's a fighter."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Fluttershy looked up. "How are you so calm? Aren't you still worried that she'll be in a coma forever? Isn't she your friend?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Shy, please," she said, trying not to snap at her. "Of course she is. But I know AJ. As long as it's not going to kill her, she'll get out of it alright."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Fluttershy shook her head. "Okay."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Hey," Dash said as they reached Fluttershy's room./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Yeah?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Dash smiled. "Nothing. I'll see you in the main hall in a few hours."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Fluttershy opened her mouth for a moment, hanging back to think through her words once more. "One more thing."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Hm?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "About... the marriage."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Dash's ears perked up. "Yeah."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Are you leaving the Elements... for that?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Wh - no, it's - it's like I said it was -"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Don't lie to me, Dash," Fluttershy's interrupted, her eyes solid and intense, locked on to her own./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Dash faltered for a moment, the thought coming suddenly into her mind. em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"Did I want to? Really? Was that it?/em/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" But it wasn't. It really wasn't. It was for a mess of things, but that wasn't one of them. She looked straight up at her marefriend. "No."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Fluttershy looked at her for a moment. "... I trust you," she said finally, and kissed her before closing the door behind her. Dash was left alone in the wide, cold stone hall, with her thoughts. Sometimes, she felt like a little filly, like what she wanted didn't matter anyways. She kicked at the ground for a second, lost in nebulous thought, before taking off for the Princesses to inform them of her decision./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" /p
center style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: serif; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 31.68px;"•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••/center
p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" /p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" The door swung open with a bust of pink magic. Twilight shifted to let the saddlebags settle with the weight of the textbooks./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Hey, Twi," she heard from the bed./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Hi, Pinkie," she responded without looking./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "I'm having a bit of trouble."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" The sentence alone, and the quiet, wavering way she said it, ran a cold shock through her. Immediately, the saddlebags fell to the floor and she was at her bedside. "What do you mean? How do you feel? Where's the problem? Is there any stress in your back or head?" The questions tumbled out of her mouth one by one, a stream of anxiety and terror./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "I'm just - I'm just a little under the weather," she replied, interrupting her. "I'm just getting weird little thingies, uh, like little starbursts of happy and sad and stuff in my head."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Oh, no, no," she mumbled quickly, "I'm gonna go get a medic."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "No, Twi, it's fine, I was reading up a little," Pinkie replied, shifting Twilight's mood almost instantly. "It's just a bit of an effect of the thing we did the thing on. Can't talk, sorry. I was just telling you so you, you know, kept away until I feel better."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Twilight sighed out of relief with a hint of annoyance. "If you think it's fine, I'm sure it is. I feel like I should take you to the medical wing anyways, though..."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "No, really, it's okay," she replied, shifting her hooves under the covers. "I'm just gonna stay here, and you can... go to the library. Away."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Twilight looked at her, deeply, just for a moment. The bright blue eyes were telling the truth - em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"I don't want you to see me like this./em/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" She reached out and patted her gently, before thinking twice about it and kissing her lightly on the cheek. "Did your reading tell you when it was going to go away?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "No."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Okay. I'll be back soon, when we can get on the train to Ponyville. You packed?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Yup!" she replied, suddenly enthusiastic, her eyes brightening./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Twilight smiled and almost rolled her eyes. It felt more like Pinkie being Pinkie than anything having to do with the malentro, but she trusted her marefriend. "Bye."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Bye-bye!" she heard as she closed the door. Her face dropped from a smile to a determined scowl again as she thought about the research she had to do. There was so much of it and so little time./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" She was thinking about staying to work on it, and compare notes with the Princesses. But the thought rather made her feel sick, so she decided it would be best to head back to the library with the others. Hopefully she had books on magic and anatomy, magical creatures, magical afflictions, friendship-based magic, artefacts of m-/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"Stop. Rewind./em/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" She closed her eyes for a moment and stopped where she was to cross over to the windowsill for a place to lean. em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"You shouldn't feel like that about the Princesses. They're your friends. Your mentors. Your -/em/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"They almost killed your friend because they were being careless. What could get me out of thinking th- maybe I could cut them a break? How? They're immortal, sometimes it slips their m- no, that's not very strong. Everypony makes mistakes, but not that big, so no. How do I defend against myself?/em/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"It's really cute how Pinkie was "reading up"./em/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"Okay, brain, if we're gonna decide on anything, we have to focus./em/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Her mind was on overdrive. There was so much to think about. Applejack, the Princesses, the Elements./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" She opened her eyes for a moment and stared out of the window, down at the castle grounds, where a small, familiar-looking carriage had pulled up./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"No way./em/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Out of the carriage, one at a time, stepped a light blue stallion and a light gray mare./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" She pressed the side of her head against the window and groaned. Loudly./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" All morning, the majority of Twilight's dialogue had been variations on that sentence. The hectic rush of the previous evening, from the initial panic to the repressing dourness of the medical wing's waiting room to their eventual unwilling retirement, had died slowly, leaving nothing but... em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"that/em./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Now, they'd regrouped in the medical wing. She'd gotten there first, of course. If anypony in the room could argue that they were Applejack's best friend, it was her. She'd been standing around the bright white bed for a while by then, always glancing over. She seemed very, very dead, and it was only the heart monitor nearby that kept her from believing it./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Each of them had left sometime earlier to discuss with the Princesses the matter of returning to Ponyville. The only two left were her and Twilight, who was sitting nearby on a bench on the wall./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" The medical clipboard was levitating silently in a pink glow while Twilight muttered to it. "Conditional aethyric aperturism. I figured it would happen. It's a different kind of magic. It's touchy. Of course it is."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Twilight!" Dash said finally, whipping her head around. "Just stop for a few minutes! A few minutes."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Twilight looked over at her, and dropped the clipboard. "Alright. Fine."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Finally, silence. She looked over at Applejack one more time, and then out the window. Through the bottom of the three panes, there was a great view of the inner city. Through the middle, the great violet mountain range. And through the top, sky. It calmed her down./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "... Is it the Princess' fault?" she asked quietly. The question came out of nowhere - she didn't really mean to ask it. That was the second time in 24 hours that had happened. Strange./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" There was a pause. Perhaps she really shouldn't have asked that. Twilight and Princess Celestia really had a strong bond. Maybe she shouldn't push her, in this state especially./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "It is."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" She turned back towards her, this time on the receiving end of the shock. "Huh?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "It is, definitely. The Elements aren't the safest artifacts we have in Equestria. Plus, friendship-centered magic and stuff gets really unstable. That was never a good combination." She was staring down at the floor, a thick scowl on her face. "Why did she do it?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "They."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "What?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Princess Luna was involved, too."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Twilight sighed heavily, appearing ready to respond, but never did. She simply opened her mouth, decided against it, and sighed, leaning back against the wall./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Dash knew she really had no idea what was going on in her friend's head. Some huge, conflicting mess of thoughts smarter than her own. Perhaps she was right, and it really was the fault of the Princesses. Princess Celestia certainly did have a way of letting Twilight figure things out herself, but this seemed a little off./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "I have to go," she heard, muffled against her own thoughts, as Twilight slipped out of the room./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" She should go, too. One final glance to her friend, the errant, false cutie mark seeming to throb on her flank viciously, and she took her leave./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" It was only a few steps down the hallway before her heard her name behind her, and turned. She was standing there, her head low, her mane partially covering her face. Ever since they'd figured each other out, the stance had taken on an entirely new meaning./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Dash," she repeated, a little bit of a question mark showing up at the end./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Shy, I'm going to leave the Elements."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Fluttershy said nothing, but looked away./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Look, I can't stand for this. If the Princesses are going to use us like they have, I'm not staying."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Alright."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Dash turned fully, and walked up to her. "What's up?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "We're going back to Ponyville."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Cool."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "They're going to send Applejack to the hospital there."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Okay..." She paused. "Why are you nervous?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Nervous?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Dash smiled. "Nice try," she replied, starting to walk to her room. "I can read you pretty okay by now."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Fluttershy sighed. "Twilight told me earlier that she did research, and... sometimes ponies who get an overdose of magic, like AJ did, don't come out of unconsciousness."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Dash's breath stopped short for a moment, her heart skipping a beat. "As in -"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "I mean, they just don't come out of it. They don't die."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Oh. Okay." She shook her head quickly, and grimaced. "Warn me."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Fluttershy dropped her head even more. "She said she doesn't think there's necessarily a cure, except fighting it."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Oh. We're good, then. AJ's a fighter."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Fluttershy looked up. "How are you so calm? Aren't you still worried that she'll be in a coma forever? Isn't she your friend?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Shy, please," she said, trying not to snap at her. "Of course she is. But I know AJ. As long as it's not going to kill her, she'll get out of it alright."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Fluttershy shook her head. "Okay."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Hey," Dash said as they reached Fluttershy's room./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Yeah?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Dash smiled. "Nothing. I'll see you in the main hall in a few hours."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Fluttershy opened her mouth for a moment, hanging back to think through her words once more. "One more thing."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Hm?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "About... the marriage."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Dash's ears perked up. "Yeah."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Are you leaving the Elements... for that?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Wh - no, it's - it's like I said it was -"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Don't lie to me, Dash," Fluttershy's interrupted, her eyes solid and intense, locked on to her own./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Dash faltered for a moment, the thought coming suddenly into her mind. em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"Did I want to? Really? Was that it?/em/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" But it wasn't. It really wasn't. It was for a mess of things, but that wasn't one of them. She looked straight up at her marefriend. "No."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Fluttershy looked at her for a moment. "... I trust you," she said finally, and kissed her before closing the door behind her. Dash was left alone in the wide, cold stone hall, with her thoughts. Sometimes, she felt like a little filly, like what she wanted didn't matter anyways. She kicked at the ground for a second, lost in nebulous thought, before taking off for the Princesses to inform them of her decision./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" /p
center style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: serif; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 31.68px;"•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••/center
p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" /p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" The door swung open with a bust of pink magic. Twilight shifted to let the saddlebags settle with the weight of the textbooks./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Hey, Twi," she heard from the bed./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Hi, Pinkie," she responded without looking./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "I'm having a bit of trouble."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" The sentence alone, and the quiet, wavering way she said it, ran a cold shock through her. Immediately, the saddlebags fell to the floor and she was at her bedside. "What do you mean? How do you feel? Where's the problem? Is there any stress in your back or head?" The questions tumbled out of her mouth one by one, a stream of anxiety and terror./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "I'm just - I'm just a little under the weather," she replied, interrupting her. "I'm just getting weird little thingies, uh, like little starbursts of happy and sad and stuff in my head."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Oh, no, no," she mumbled quickly, "I'm gonna go get a medic."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "No, Twi, it's fine, I was reading up a little," Pinkie replied, shifting Twilight's mood almost instantly. "It's just a bit of an effect of the thing we did the thing on. Can't talk, sorry. I was just telling you so you, you know, kept away until I feel better."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Twilight sighed out of relief with a hint of annoyance. "If you think it's fine, I'm sure it is. I feel like I should take you to the medical wing anyways, though..."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "No, really, it's okay," she replied, shifting her hooves under the covers. "I'm just gonna stay here, and you can... go to the library. Away."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Twilight looked at her, deeply, just for a moment. The bright blue eyes were telling the truth - em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"I don't want you to see me like this./em/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" She reached out and patted her gently, before thinking twice about it and kissing her lightly on the cheek. "Did your reading tell you when it was going to go away?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "No."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Okay. I'll be back soon, when we can get on the train to Ponyville. You packed?"/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Yup!" she replied, suddenly enthusiastic, her eyes brightening./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Twilight smiled and almost rolled her eyes. It felt more like Pinkie being Pinkie than anything having to do with the malentro, but she trusted her marefriend. "Bye."/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" "Bye-bye!" she heard as she closed the door. Her face dropped from a smile to a determined scowl again as she thought about the research she had to do. There was so much of it and so little time./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" She was thinking about staying to work on it, and compare notes with the Princesses. But the thought rather made her feel sick, so she decided it would be best to head back to the library with the others. Hopefully she had books on magic and anatomy, magical creatures, magical afflictions, friendship-based magic, artefacts of m-/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"Stop. Rewind./em/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" She closed her eyes for a moment and stopped where she was to cross over to the windowsill for a place to lean. em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"You shouldn't feel like that about the Princesses. They're your friends. Your mentors. Your -/em/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"They almost killed your friend because they were being careless. What could get me out of thinking th- maybe I could cut them a break? How? They're immortal, sometimes it slips their m- no, that's not very strong. Everypony makes mistakes, but not that big, so no. How do I defend against myself?/em/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"It's really cute how Pinkie was "reading up"./em/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"Okay, brain, if we're gonna decide on anything, we have to focus./em/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Her mind was on overdrive. There was so much to think about. Applejack, the Princesses, the Elements./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" She opened her eyes for a moment and stared out of the window, down at the castle grounds, where a small, familiar-looking carriage had pulled up./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"No way./em/p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Out of the carriage, one at a time, stepped a light blue stallion and a light gray mare./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle./p
p class="double" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-size: 17.6px; font-family: serif; color: #333333; line-height: 31.68px; text-align: justify;" She pressed the side of her head against the window and groaned. Loudly./p