A week had passed with two ponies in the hospital. Each rested comfortably in bed, drifting off throughout Celestia's days into peaceful slumber... waking usually to find a sterile, empty room. One felt content with the good and the warmth, knowing that other ponies had been there for her... while the other drifted further into dream. Loneliness was not uncommon, nor was longing for better times. Despite their friends being tied up with growing problems, nopony was too busy to stop in and say hello...

Everypony visited Scootaloo. The fillies came again twice with Apple Jack, relaxing a little more each time. Twilight and Pinkie stopped by a few times as well, sometimes together with AJ and the fillies. After an approving nod from her friends, Pinkie finally got a chance to use her Portable Party Pack... with a single tug on the rip chord, she burst through the doorway with pocket-sized games and a shower of confetti, finally feeling as though she'd done something to make things better. Rainbow Dash had gone almost every day, mostly alone, but a few times with Fluttershy trailing behind her. The young filly's face always lit up, especially when she saw her idol coming in just to see her... and Rainbow Dash was always cool and collected.

Scootaloo's health had drastically improved in a short amount of time. Many of her scrapes and bruises had healed over, leaving just a few band-aids and the abdominal bandage protecting her stitches. Her nose was still in a brace and breathing made her sore, but that would heal with time. She was breathing freely now, no longer requiring the oxygen mask... but without it, it became quite apparent to her friends that she was missing some teeth. Except for a few scars and the missing teeth, she would remain the same... perhaps even leave in a few weeks if somepony was able to set enough time aside to properly care for her. If not, she would have to remain until her legs healed (costing the Apples a mint), but... once the casts could come off, she would walk again. With no metal rods or wires binding bones... she would someday learn to fly. Perhaps her next destination would be the orphanage in Fillydelphia, only time would tell...

One week earlier, Rarity had been admitted to the hospital after being brought in by Fluttershy. She had only seen her friends twice since that time, and Twilight came in once on her own. Despite being the prima donna of the group, Rarity was by no means weak, and was in for something that her friends hoped would pass. It didn't help matters that over the past few months she had become increasingly hard to talk to, but her friends hoped her time spent resting would fix that. Everypony was optimistic... after all, the Doctors were able to get her infections under control, yet... they kept her for a different reason.

One week earlier...

Fluttershy had one place she wanted to be, but with a sedative in her system she was going to have a lot of trouble getting there. Dr. Stable recommended she rest for an hour. They could easily send another pony for her... a Pony Scout in the lobby volunteered overhearing them, but she wasn't about to do that:

"No, no, no..." she said, shaking her head. "This is my friend. I have to share the news myself."

"Okay, Fluttershy," Dr. Stable replied. "I can respect that, but if you feel you can't make it please come back. The nurse will help you out."

He motioned towards nurse Cold Heart, who outstretched a foreleg to her and smiled. Fluttershy walked past the nurse and just left. She stumbled down the streets of Ponyville, looking forward in the direction of the library... the world swayed and wiggled around her. The mare shook her head and carried on.

The ponies in the street noticed Fluttershy's newly impaired coordination and made way, staring as her legs wobbled and knees buckled. She said nothing to the gawkers and simply trudged on... not one pony stopped the Pegasus and she never once rested or crashed into anything.

When she finally got there, Fluttershy just about collapsed in front of the tree. No pony inside knew she was coming, or else they would have lifted her up and brought her in. She fell against the door, causing it to swing open, gaining her friends' undivided attentions. She slowly rose to her hooves and looked up... Apple Jack and Twilight were there, a look of concern in their eye. They said nothing at first, waiting to hear what their friend had to say. When Fluttershy tried to speak, only slurred sounds came out. Both ponies noticed the bandage on her foreleg, and knew right away why their friend was acting like this.

"Fluttershy, it's okay..." Twilight said, gently. "You're with friends now. Take a deep breath... can you tell us what happened?"

The yellow mare responded slowly, balancing herself against the door frame:

"Oh, Twilight... it's awful. Just terrible."

Apple Jack, being closer, helped her friend to a chair:

"What's going on, Sugarcube?"

"Rarity wasn't making much sense while Dr. Stable was looking at her, so they gave her a few tests. While I was waiting with her for the results, I tried to comfort her and tell her everything was going to be okay when she fell right into me. She started gurgling and shaking, and snapping her teeth... I couldn't help it, Twilight. I screamed so loud."

"It's okay, Fluttershy. I would have, too."

"Seconded. Then what happened?"

"Well, Nurse Redheart came in and pulled Rarity to the ground. She said she was having a seizure. When she finally stopped shaking the nurse went to get Dr. Stable... while I was waiting for him Rarity got up before I knew it and started talking to me about Sweetie Belle like she was just in the next room... oh, it was so scary. I tried to tell her to stay laying down, but she didn't seem to hear me. She looked right into my eyes and didn't look like Rarity or any pony I know. The doctor looked her over again and later told me she's suffering from exhaustion, malnourishment, and neurological problems due to what he thinks might be heavy metal poisoning. Rarity had told him he could tell me what was going on... she wanted to prove me wrong so she could come back and gloat, but now she's getting a MRI to rule other things out... oh, Twilight, I'm so scared for her. I know mercury can do awful things to a pony..."

Twilight's eyes had gone wide:

"What? Why in the wide, wide world of Equestria would they even think... oh..." Twilight suddenly got it. "Oh no..."

Apple Jack turned to her:

"What is it, Twilight?"

"The tattoo.... Rarity must've poisoned herself."

Fluttershy nodded:

"That's what Dr. Stable thought, too, when she told him about it. He was able to talk to her after about an hour... she started looking like Rarity again and I thought everything was going to be okay. He had me wait in another room while they talked... when he came out he told me he's concerned because he's never heard of the ink she used. He told me she says she got it from a pony selling discount dyes on a cart near Canterlot a few weeks ago. Even though they took a sample from her, Dr. Stable wants to test the bottles to be sure. Rarity gave me her key so I can feed Opal... oh, I'm going to go try to find it and give it to them tonight. Hopefully they can help her... but that's only if she was telling the truth and not just still out of it."

Twilight smiled reassuringly:

"Well, Fluttershy... I can assure you you're not looking for it alone. Right now you need to rest." The Unicorn turned to her assistant and smiled. "Spike?"

"Already on on it, Twilight," he responded, faking a smile despite the news of his crush's health. "How's a cup of tea and a daffodil sandwich sound, Fluttershy?"

"Just wonderful..." the yellow Pegasus replied, finally sitting back and spacing out.

Apple Jack took a few steps towards the door:

"Much as I wanna stay and help, Ah just can't... I have to go back to the Acres and talk all this over with the family. I'm sorry, girls."

"I understand..." Fluttershy said, weakly. "And Apple Jack? ...I'm so sorry this happened."

"Oh, it's not your fault." The farm pony grimaced. "It's what they're paid to do... gettin' information any which-way they can."

Fluttershy stared off into the distance and smiled:

"They started out so nice..."

Apple Jack was already halfway out the door:

"It's just how it is."

Tipping her hat to her sedate friend and purple pal, AJ left the building. The library was silent yet again.

Spike dropped a metal tray on the table in front of Fluttershy. It clanged loudly, the tea spilled... yet she sat without looking at him or the food.

"Here ya go, Fluttershy..."

The mare nodded faintly in response. As the dragon walked off, he glanced over his shoulder to see if she'd started eating yet... and let out a deep sigh. Something told him she was going to be there for a while...

Fluttershy sat in the chair for half an hour without even touching her food. She had no more thoughts about Rarity or anypony else... even her animal friends were absent from her mind.

Owlicious, exhausted from his errand earlier that day, flew in close and perched upon a nearby bookcase:

"Hoo! Hoo!" He cried, directly at the sedate Pegasus.

Despite his best effort to gain her attention, Fluttershy barely had the presence to even look up at him. He sat there for a while, staring at her... understanding that, but not entirely grasping why, it would be a good idea for her to leave as soon as possible. Owlicious fell asleep on the book case after about ten minutes... he hooted at her a second time in his dreams well after she was gone.

As the sun set the yellow mare started to drift back into reality. Her eyes began to focus and she felt pangs in her gut which she knew were caused by skipping lunch. Knowing that the food would be fuel for later on, Fluttershy scarfed down her sandwich with newly found resolve... she still felt spacey, but that feeling was leaving her body pretty fast. The tea would help with that... at least, what wasn't spilled.

Upstairs Twilight and Spike had been arguing during that half hour. Spike, naturally, wanted Twilight to leave right away, but she insisted on waiting for Fluttershy. Their yellow friend had been in Rarity's shop the most, after all... particularly where Rarity kept her supplies. Spike stamped his foot, mad with frustration. Twilight felt a surge of frustration as well, and found herself shouting in his face before she even realized it:

"Well, you are welcome to go alone, Spike!"

The purple mare put both hooves to her mouth... but it was too late. She looked over at her dragon assistant, who already had tears welling up in his eyes. She put a hoof around him, sighing:

"Spike... so many horrible things have been happening to my friends lately. I didn't mean to take it out on you. I'm sor-"

"It's okay, Twilight," The dragon replied, faintly returning the hug. "Just... go see if Fluttershy's ready."

"Alright Spike."

Twilight slowly broke away from the weak hug and headed towards the stairs. She glanced back to see if Spike was really okay and saw him staring dejectedly at the floor. The Unicorn kicked herself as she headed downstairs. She knew better than that. He was just a baby dragon, and needed her to be strong... not yelling at him. Shouting at him for his frustrations about Rarity was not all that different from Apple Jack shouting at Apple Bloom for asking hard questions about Scootaloo... sure, it made her feel better, but it made him feel helpless.

Before Twilight could get carried away with beating herself up, she saw that Fluttershy was just getting out of the chair and stretching. The once sedate mare looked her way with a warm, focused look in her eye. Twilight then knew they'd be leaving soon...

Spike stayed upstairs. He could hear the two mares voices on the floor below and while they talked he crept silently into bed. The drake pulled the covers up over his head and thought about what Twilight had said... he couldn't go alone. Rarity's shop was just a mess of girly things to him and he knew it. Thinking about how useless he would be in all this made him feel worse than ever.

Twilight shouted up before the door closed:

"Bye Spike! Don't wait up!"

He did not respond.

Once the door shut securely and the voices faded... Spike knew he didn't have to hold it in anymore. The baby dragon held himself tightly in his arms, and began to rock and cry. He knew there was nothing to do except wait, which was torture. He fell asleep crying that night, skipping dinner... but he didn't care. All he could think about was Rarity and how he hadn't really talked to her in so long...

The dimly lit streets of Ponyville were vacant that evening. The two ponies walked up to Rarity's shop and unlocked the entrance. As the door creaked open, Twilight used her magic to turn on the lights. They were greeted by Opalescence... who groused indignantly as they ventured inside.

"I know that type of cry," said Fluttershy, sympathetically. "The poor thing is starving!"

As Fluttershy took off for Opal's food, Twilight looked around.

The ground level still looked pretty much the same. She went into Rarity's Inspiration Room, expecting to find a mess, yet... it was surprisingly pristine and had very few supplies out.

"Everything's on the second story now," Fluttershy said from the doorway, meekly adding, "w-would you be okay leading, Twilight? It's really dark up there!"

The purple Unicorn rolled her eyes, but proceeded all the same to climb the stairs and use her magic to flick on yet another set of lights once she got close enough. Fluttershy immediately joined her.

Fluttershy had only been on the second floor a handful of time since Sweetie Belle's death, so they both explored it curiously. It was composed of only two bedrooms and a bath, but it was apparent from the start that everything had changed. They started in Rarity's room, and except for one teddy bear they found on her bed (which very well could have been her own), there was no sign of a filly ever having been there.

"It's so barren..." said Twilight, looking at the white walls of Rarity's room.

They distinctly remembered at one time seeing toys and filly's clothes even when Sweetie wasn't staying in the shop... now they couldn't even find a picture on the wall. At one time Rarity would have been yelling at Sweetie Belle for leaving her CMC cape in her room. The place felt so much more quiet and vacant than it used to...

The bathroom, except for a few opened jars of make-up and containers of pink and purple clothing dye on the vanity, proved to be pristine as expected... so they went to the guest bedroom, which was Sweetie Belle's at one time.

Twilight flicked on the light and found the bedroom to be almost full to the brim with supplies. Except for a few sections designated to orders, the area was a disorganized disaster. Items were stacked every which way, but it wasn't even close to Rarity's system of Organized Chaos. Even though there was plenty of art in the room, all of Sweetie's pictures and music were nowhere to be found.

Fluttershy sighed:

"Rarity said, if it's not in the bathroom, it's in here..."

Twilight levitated a box and brought it towards the two:

"Well, we checked the bathroom... this is the only place it can be. Let's start looking."

The two spent nearly five hours going through all of Rarity's supplies. Gems, dyes, threads, clothes, designs, prints, commissions, machines, prototypes... it was hard to tell where one pile ended and the other started. The mares knew the name on the bottle, however -- "Faux Magnifique" -- and they looked intently for it. Eventually Twilight's keen eye found it laying atop a table with some industrial dyes organized by color, hidden by a portable closet near the door.

Though exhausted by their long search, the two mares were very much ecstatic. Though it was two in the morning, together they hoofed it to the hospital. Out of breath they burst through the doors and gave the bottle to the staff at the desk.

At first the receptionist didn't know what she was looking at... Were these mares trying to sell her something? All Twilight had to do was get out three words between her hyperventilations:

"Rarity... poison... tattoo..."

She then knew where to send it.

Now all they had to do was wait... weeks maybe. Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other, smiled, then sighed... they'd done all they could. The receptionist was telling them how long it would take, but both already knew that. She was also praising them for their help... but neither listened, nor heard. They just looked at each other, out of breath, and smiled. Not surprisingly, both ponies wanted to be alone. They didn't have to say anything... rather, they parted at the door and went their separate ways. Wrought with worry over their friend's health, neither pony slept a wink that night, and each handled it in her own way.