Why is it so hard to say I Love You?: A Twipie Love Story

Chapter 14

Twilight woke up the next morning, with no more than an hour or so of sleep. She felt completely weak, but still forced herself to get up and take a shower.

As the water hit her mane, she thought of what she had planned for today. Luckily, she wasn't as busy as she usually was. She just had to take her turn at making breakfast for Starlight and Spike and host the game night with her friends in the evening. She was hoping she'd be able to sneak in a nap.

After drying off and combing her mane, she headed for the kitchen to start breakfast. Twilight and Spike had always taken turns making breakfast each morning, but ever since Starlight had moved in, they'd added her to the cycle. This made Starlight very happy since it made her feel more apart of the family, which she didn't have much of. They were all more than happy to do this ritual, which is why Twilight was excited to do it, even if she was exhausted. She decided on making Starlight's favorite thing she made- french toast. She felt it was only fair since Starlight had helped her out so much with all the Pinkie stuff.

"Breakfast is ready!" Twilight yelled, in a sweet tone. She listened as she heard both Spike and Starlight run to the dining room, excited to see what she'd made.

"Oh, I see it's my favorite this time, huh?" Starlight said, excited to dig in.

"I almost don't care what it is." Spike said as he took a big bite. "I think we can agree she's always beat both of us on breakfast duty."   

"Oh, I wouldn't go that far, Spike." Twilight said as she took a big sip of her tea, trying to speed up the process of the caffeine kicking in. "You and Starlight are both excellent cooks!"

Starlight was about to respond to the kind compliment, but paused when she got a good look at Twilight. She looked exhausted. The bags under her eyes made it look as if she hadn't slept in awhile. Her eyes looked like they were ready to close, but Twilight looked as if she was trying her best to keep herself up and alert as if nothing were wrong, as her magical aura held a cup of tea in the air for her to sip on. Starlight felt she should figure out what's up.

"Did you...sleep ok, Twilight? You seem a little tired."

Twilight jumped at the sound of her name. She didn't want anyone to worry about her. She could feel Spike and Starlight's eyes staring at her closely as they awaited her response. She answered the only way she knew how to tell others how she was feeling. She lied.

"Uhhh no! I slept pretty great! How did you guys sleep?"

"Awesome! My new mattress is really making a difference!" Spike said, clueless to Starlight's confused look toward Twilight.

Starlight could tell Twilight was trying to direct the attention off of her to avoid something. What was it? She didn't know. But she knew she better get to the bottom of whatever was going on.

When breakfast was over, Starlight headed for Twilight's room to do a quick check-in. Twilight yawned as she flipped through the next page of the book she was sleepily trying to read. When she heard the door open, she again jumped up as if she had done something wrong.

"Hey, Twi, you got a minute?"

"Uh, yeah. Today's a pretty empty schedule anyways. I was just trying to catch up on some reading."

Starlight giggled.

"Of course you were. But Twilight, I just feel like you're hiding something. Is everything ok?"

"Ok? Of course! But enough about me, how about you?"

"I'm fine, but Twilight-"

"You know, I was curious about that spell you did last night! Could you teach it to me?"

"Twilight!" Starlight shouted, which caught Twilight off guard. Starlight calmed herself and continued on with what she had to say.

"Sorry, but I had to get your attention. I don't know what it is you're avoiding talking about, but always trying to keep the topic about others and not yourself isn't gonna help anything. It's ok to talk about yourself, and it's ok to share your struggles. That's the only way anypony can ever help you."

Starlight put her hoof on Twilight's shoulder, and looked into her violet eyes.

"I'm always here for you, ok? Just please talk to me if you need to. I'll always do what I can."

Twilight gave a slight smile. "Thank you."

After Starlight had left the room, Twilight looked at herself in the mirror, and spoke out loud.

"You don't deserve pity. And you don't need it either. Starlight has her own things to worry about. You're fine."

Twilight started to tear up, as the last few words left her mouth. She knew she was lying to herself. She knew she wasn't fine. But the last thing she wanted was for others to feel sorry for her and worry about her. She wanted to believe she was fine so others would believe it too. But she didn't feel so strong anymore. She felt a dark weakness weighing her down. Her eyes filled with tears before she looked up again. She saw herself, crying, which she was angry at herself for. She knew she was stronger than this. Why was she so upset? "Stop being so weak!" she yelled, before looking down, back at the floor.