[}—–{ Don’t Want It, Don’t Need It! }–—{]

Light and Love(?)

The aged oak of the library door let out a deafening bang as it collided with the wall beside it.  Twilight Sparkle paid it no mind as she slammed it back into place with another burst of magic, the sound of splintering wood being lost on her as she turned back into the room.  Tears flowed down her face and onto the floor as she stood there, shaking with emotion.  Hours seemed to pass before she finally moved again, this time to tear off the dress that she had worn that evening.  After a moment of frantic struggling, she threw the heap of clothing into the corner with a strangled sob.  Even Rarity, who had given Twilight the dress as soon as she had heard of the date, wouldn't have uttered a sound upon seeing her creation on the ground lest the distraught unicorn throw her onto the ground as well.

Once her saddlebags had been added to the flank-high pile of fabric, Twilight's horn ignited as she sent yet another wall of magic to push the items that had been part of her awful time that night unceremoniously into the closet.  After the door was slammed shut by her back hooves furiously kicking into it, Twilight turned to see the usually comforting sight of her book-lined walls.  Of course, such a sight on a night like tonight only brought her further misery; the leather-bound tomes now serving as painful reminders of how her shut-in, egghead self wasn't remotely attractive to anypony else.

She had to tear her eyes away from the books before she could lash out with another of her spells and knock them from their peaceful shelves.  What she saw out of the window that she found herself looking out of was enough to bring a fresh wave of tears to her eyes.  Outside, away from her anger and pain, were pairs of partying ponies with lovestruck looks in their eyes.  It seems her friend hadn't been the only one to think of taking a mare out on the town for Hearts and Hooves Day, though it appeared that it was only her heart getting broken.

The curtains jerked close at the urging of her magic, nearly coming free with how hard she tugged to keep out the lighthearted laughter that continually snaked its way through the walls.  Now in silence, Twilight wiped away a few tears that were trying to snake their way down her face.  There wasn't going to be any more crying tonight, not over the biggest loser in Equestria that thought she'd like him being a slob in a fancy, high-end restaurant and have the audacity to ask her straight out if she wanted to go into the bathroom to "have a little fun."

Then, turning around and grabbing another curtain with her magic, Twilight revealed the oldest friend she had ever had:  a mirror.  Sure, talking to herself could seem quite crazy to others but, as a pony who had grown up without any friends to confide in and a brother who was busy with becoming a Royal Guard, Twilight found that telling her own reflection her woes was the best way to dispel the weights that often settled on her shoulders.

As she trotted closer to the purple form, she couldn't suppress a wince at how bad she looked.  Her mane was in disarray, there was a spot of spaghetti sauce still on her cheek from where her suitor had kissed her, and her eyes were red and puffy from the tears she had been shedding.  "You wouldn't believe the day I've been having!"  Of course, her reflection didn't say anything, so Twilight immediately launched into her story of a restaurant, a stallion, and bowls of spaghetti.

"And then I came home after dumping his sorry flank on the ground."  Twilight finished her story with gusto, a slight smile on her face at the memory of the dazed stallion sitting in a pile of mud.  A few seconds passed as she stared into her reflection's eyes, which stared back with the same pain that she felt.  As her facade fell, Twilight reached out with a hoof and touched the glass in a desperate attempt to feel like somepony else was there to support her.  Of course, it only met smooth glass.

"I just wish somepony, a nice and respectable stallion, would give me a chance..."  She slowly began to slide down as the true weight of life and love began to press onto her back.  "I want to have a boyfriend like all the other mares.  They all seem so happy!"  She choked out the words as the tears returned despite her attempts to suppress them.  "I just... need a chance."

After what seemed like forever and a half, Twilight found herself standing in a fury.  "It's not fair!"  Despite herself, she threw a hoof into the mirror's already cracked surface.  A wave of shattered glass cascaded down as she continued to shout at the wooden backboard.  "Why is it that everypony else is happy and I have to me miserable!?"

As she stared down into the thousands of glass shards, Twilight saw something that gave her heart a moment's pause.  On top of her head, poking out of her mane where her horn normally stood out, was a giant ball of pink light.  "What in the world is tha—“

She never got to finish her statement as the magical energy surged forward and blinded her.  Twilight felt herself flying backward into the wall, all sense of breathing and feeling leaving her body as her back slammed into the wood.  For the second time that night, she found herself lying dazed on the floor with tears streaming down her face, though this time it was from physical pain rather than emotional anguish.

An intense ringing was all she could hear as she blinked away the stars that swam across her vision.  "What in Equestria was that?"  After several awkward attempts to stand, she found herself on all four hooves, albeit shaky ones.  As she took in a deep breath, she winced in pain with the ache in her side that decided to make itself apparent.  "Well, it doesn't feel like anything's broken."  Despite her slightly believable at best assurance, she decided to check her body magically just to be sure.

After that was over with and she was sure nothing was out of order inside of her body, Twilight turned to take stock of the damage that her spell had caused, other than the bangs and bruises and the ringing in her ears that still persisted.  What she was nearly gave her a heart attack.  Igniting her still-smoking horn, she set out to reclaim her library from the chaos that it had fallen into.

One neat freak-induced cleanup later, Twilight found herself panting heavily as she threw herself down onto the bottom stair of the staircase.  Despite her panting, a yawn somehow managed to work its way out of her mouth.  "Count on Twilight Sparkle to forget what was wrong by blowing things up."  Her somewhat bitter laugh didn't last long as it was transformed into a jaw-cracking yawn.  "Well, I suppose I should get to bed."

After giving her newly cleaned room one last, searching glance, Twilight gave a satisfied nod at her work.  Despite her attempts to contain it, yet another yawn wracked her entire body in shudders as it left her mouth.  "Time for bed, Miss Sparkle."  She smiled as she imagined her father's stern yet playful voice saying it along with her.  She soon found herself curling underneath her covers with a much lighter heart, staring into the now-repaired mirror.  Her hoof waved to her reflection, which in turn waved back with a hoof of its own.  "Thanks, Twilight."

Smiling to herself one last time, Twilight rolled over and drew the blanket even closer to allow for sleep to come and visit her again.  She didn’t have to wait long for the world of dreams to descend upon her mind, a world filled with pink hearts and handsome stallions with roses in their mouths.

The innocent twittering of birds coaxed her into the world of reality with the help of the intruding fingers of sunglight that pried between the cracks in the curtians, which had been drawn back no doubt by a certian dragon she lived with.  "Why does Sp-Sp-Spiiike always have to open the blinds?  Ugh."  Groaning to herself, Twilight sat up from her position and rubbed her eyes to rid them of the vestiges of sleep.  "Where is he so I can teach him a lesson about interupting my sleep?"  She smiled at the many different prospects of practical pranks that popped up in her mind so fast that the green and purple dragon would have blanched if he could hear them all.

Suddenly the idea flow stopped, the flood of liquid thought shut off as if a dam had been constructed instantly before it.  The smell and sound of cooking food drifted up from below, teasing both Twilight's ears and her nose which in turn sent her stomach into a fierce round of growling with hunger.  "Wow... Sounds like I have a timberwolf in here or something."  She patted her stomach and giggled as its snarling grew fiercer.  "Okay, okay, I'll go get some food."

Naturally, after getting up to fix her bedmane and stretch out her tightened muscles with a strained groan, she followed the smell of food like a dog on the scent of some beast that it was tracking.  Once she set hoof in the kitchen, she stopped and looked at the table.  What she saw made her stomach roll over and beg.  Food, glorious heaps of sustaining and nourishing food.  After a few seconds though, her smile fell by a few inches.  The fluffy pancakes that were heaped onto a plate and stacked at least twenty high had the jagged edges of jewels sticking out of them.  Surprising the urge to sigh dejectedly, Twilight moved on to something else that looked quite appealing:  the haybacon.

When he didn’t try to mix it with gemstones or some other weird ingredients, Spike made some of the best haybacon in Equestria.  She looked over at the Spike, who was busy mixing another round of pancakes, this one also including his jeweled additions that would certainly make them an ideal item to put in a breakfast restaurant near a dragon’s residence, if anypony was dumb enough to set up shop near a dragon nest.

She winced at the loud squeak that the chair made when she tugged it back far enough for her to jump up onto it, looking fearfully at Spike just in case he saw her.  Of course, the engrossed dragon couldn't hear her over the tune that he was humming and the crunch of the occasional jewel that made its way into his mouth, rather than the pancake batter.  Smiling to herself, Twilight simply sat and watched the baby dragon dance about the kitchen in search of the perfect ingrediants to put into the mix.

However, the tantalizingly delicious smell of the haybacon was too much for the unicorn to bear and she found herself levitating a particularly crunchy looking piece towards her mouth.  The resulting crunch resounded throughout the room, producing a surprised shout from the baby dragon as he leapt into the air and off his chair.  Her cover blown, Twilight smiled at the prone form of her friend and giggled.  "Morning, Spike!  Excellent job with the haybacon today."

"T-T-Twilight!?"  The practically petrified Spike pushed himself off of the floor, sputtering franticly all the while.  "You scared me!"  His admonishing tone left off with an odd sort of lift to it, though Twilight didn't notice over the crunching of her haybacon.  After her piece was finished off, however, she noticed the silence that hung over the room.

"I didn't scare you that badly, did I?" She glanced up to see the dragon looking blankly at her with a vacant expression on his face, which she then tried to dispel with a flailing hoof.  "Is everything okay, Spike?"  Another few ticks from the clock hanging on the wall passed.  "Spike?"

Her friend's eyes blinked once before he shook himself violently.  "Yeah, everything is just... perfect."  She looked up at Spike in confusion, scooting back a few inches after she saw how close he was to her.  "Did you really like it?"  Twilight found herself scooting back more as the dragon moved slightly closer again.

"Um... Spike?  Are you okay?"

“Yeah…”  The dragon’s reply left his body in one breathy word, sending both his breath washing over her as well as a shiver running down her spine.  One full second passed, within which both pony and drake stared at each other with an intensity not quite matched by a roaring fire.  At least, that’s how Spike saw it.

Twilight Sparkle on the other hand felt a growing apprehension in her gut and a blush rising to her face as she tried to stare down the awkwardly leaning-over-the-table-to-be-closer-to-her dragon.  “Okaaaaay then.”  Twilight turned away and jumped off of the chair, tossing a look over her shoulder to make sure that the dragon was still there.  “I’m going to go to Applejack's.  I’m having her test this new invention of mine.”

“Yeah…”

Shivering again at the way Spike’s voice sounded, Twilight flashed him a nervous smile.  “I hear that Rarity is filling a big dress order today, maybe you can go down and help?”  Wincing at how painfully obvious it was that she wanted him to stop looking at her, the unicorn took hold of the dragon’s head with her magic and turned it to face the window, which was aimed directly at the Carousel Boutique.

Or rather, she tried to.  It was like trying to move an entire building with her magic alone.  “Um, Spike?”  Her strained voice was met with a flutter of said dragon’s eyelids.  “Yeah.  Um, perhaps you should go help out Rarity because she needs help and will probably like… you… mooooore…”  Each accented word was followed by another futile tug from her horn, “If you… help her…”  She panted out the last of her sentence, releasing the useless spell that was wrapped around Spike’s head.

A head that was now moving closer to her.  “Nah, that’s cool.  I’d rather help you.”  He stopped just a few miniscule inches away, his hot breath casting its spicy tang into the air for her to breathe in.  “I’d rather have you like me more.”

Despite her loving the dragon like the wonderful friend he was and despite her good manners when it came to leaving friends somewhere, Twilight Sparkle didn’t have any second thoughts about teleporting to the roof of the library, where she then sat in a dazed confusion.  After a few seconds of collecting herself, she was able to focus on the world around her rather than the confusing churning of emotions inside of her.  The first thing that she could hear, aside from the general bustle of a small town, was the voice of a young dragon screaming out her name in despair and confusion.  She found herself resisting the urge to go back down and comfort her distraught friend, until he shouted another phrase in place of her name including the words “my” and “love” along with many adjectives in-between.

Twilight shuddered again with how close her friend had been to doing… whatever to her, mentally changing her checklist of the day to include Get doctor to see Spike in the place of Test the Bucking Meter with Applejack.  With her checklist now in order, she charged her horn with magic and teleported in yet another flash of light, this time taking her towards the hospital.