No one was showing up to find out where Rainbow Dash was anymore, thanks to me. That didn’t make me feel any better about lying to my friends. To make matters worse, now there was the occasional pony asking if I’d seen Pinkie Pie anywhere.
Since Pinkie Pie came over, Twilight had started doing all her studying in the basement to minimize interruptions. A few times I heard her casting spells, and occasionally I heard her talking to herself. As long as she didn’t start laughing maniacally, I hoped that I wouldn’t have to worry too much. She didn’t take Rainbow or Pinkie downstairs with her except when she had an idea how to turn them back to ponies. I had expressed my concerns to Twilight about keeping Rainbow and Pinkie on the shelves in the main room, but as she pointed out, virtually no one ever came to the library for the books, so it wasn’t likely they’d be noticed. It was safer for them not to be in the basement while she was practicing spells down there, anyway.
I checked on Twilight a few times a day, bringing her more books and taking the ones she was finished with back upstairs. Three days after the picnic, on one of my trips to the basement, I found her staring at the wall, deep in thought.
“Twilight?”
She didn’t answer me. I had to wave my arm in front of her face before she noticed I was there. She flinched and looked around guiltily.
“Spike! Uh... what are you doing?”
“Do you need to take a break? When was the last time you slept? You look terrible.”
“No, no, I’m fine. Would you bring me my copy of Magic of Legend? I thought of something else that might help.”
“Twilight, are you sure you’re okay?”
She looked annoyed. “Of course I am! I already said I am, so I am! Why do you keep asking?”
“Well, it’s just that I brought that one to you an hour ago,” I said, gesturing to the book which lay closed on the desk in front of her, exactly where I had put it the last time I was in the basement.
“Oh, right. Thank you. I need to study.” She used her magic to open the book and waved me off with a hoof. Every other time I checked on her that day was normal, but the next day, I found her staring at the wall again.
“Twilight? Have you made any progress yet?” I braced myself and asked the other question that needed to be asked. “Do you think it’s time to ask Princess Celestia for help yet?”
To my surprise, she didn’t get upset with me for asking. She didn’t even blink. She spoke, softly enough I had to strain to hear what she was saying.
“...safe here. Safer than out there...”
“Say what, now?” I asked her.
She blinked and turned to look at me. “Oh, Spike. Um,” she bit her lip. “Nothing, I was just thinking. Well, thanks for checking on me, but I’ve got lots of studying to do, so...”
For some reason, I didn’t want to leave her alone. I tried to think of an excuse to stay a little longer. “Do you need any of these books put away? Do you need any more books?”
“Nope.” She started reading again and was hardly paying me any attention at all.
“Are you hungry? You haven’t eaten in a few hours.”
“No.”
I shifted my weight nervously. “Do you need a break? We could go outside and do something. We could go for a walk. Some fresh air might give you a new perspective, you know?”
She turned to face me, her brow furrowed in annoyance. She opened her mouth to say something, and I put on my best puppy dog eyes.
“Please?” I asked. “You spend all your time down here.”
And I miss you.
“Okay,” she said, sighing. “We can go for a walk.”
We left the library and walked around town for a while. I tried to get her to talk, but she didn’t say much. Ponies would greet us, and more often than not, Twilight would give them a thoughtful look rather than say hello. We didn’t have any particular destination in mind, but we steered clear of Sugarcube Corner; a conversation with the Cakes about Pinkie Pie was something we wanted to avoid. Eventually, we found ourselves on the path to Sweet Apple Acres.
“I wonder how Applejack’s doing without- I mean, with her job that she’s doing.”
“I guess since we’re here, we can find out,” Twilight said with a smile.
Getting her outside was such a good idea. Way to go, me.
We followed the road to the barn. When we got close, we saw Big McIntosh pulling a cart loaded with dead branches.
“Hey, Big Mac, how are ya?” I asked cheerfully.
He nodded once in greeting.
“Have you seen Applejack?”
“Eeyup.” He gestured out into the orchard.
“Thanks.”
“Eeyup.”
Following Big Mac’s direction, Twilight and I walked out into the orchard. It wasn’t long before we could hear the familiar sound of hooves impacting on tree trunks. The loud cracking and crashing noise that followed was less familiar, but still, we’d found Applejack.
“Howdy, Twi, Spike! What brings y’all out here?”
“Spike insisted that I take a break from studying, so we were taking a walk around town,” Twilight said. “We thought while we were out we’d check to see how your work was going.”
“He insisted, did he?” Applejack asked Twilight. “Always looking out for ya, that one,” she added with a smile at me.
“We saw your brother pulling a load of branches on our way over here; it looks like I’m not the only one who could use a break,” Twilight said.
Applejack took her hat off and wiped sweat off her forehead. “Maybe so,” she said, “But with R.D. leavin’ me to do all this work on mah own, I don’t have time to take a break. Speakin’ of which, I’ve rested enough for now; I need to get back to it.” With a shout, Applejack ran toward a nearby tree, spun around and swiftly planted Bucky McGillicuddy and Kicks McGee against its trunk. The tree shuddered with the impact, but no branches fell. She looked it over and nodded to herself, then moved on to the next one.
“We’ll see you later, Applejack, I have to get back to work too,” Twilight said, clearly uncomfortable after the mention of Rainbow Dash. We left Applejack to her work and walked back the way we came. The sound of Applejack bucking trees echoed throughout the orchard, followed occasionally by the crash of branches falling to the ground. After a few minutes, there was an exceptionally loud crash and a yell.
“Twilight, did you hear that? I think Applejack’s hurt!”
Twilight stopped to listen. Sure enough, we could hear Applejack calling for help. Twilight picked me up onto her back and ran to Applejack. We found her laying awkwardly under a large limb. One of her legs was obviously broken.
“Thank Celestia y’all are here,” she said through gritted teeth. “I need help.”
Twilight set me down and stepped forward. Her horn glowed and her magic enveloped the branch. As soon as she shifted it slightly, Applejack cried out in pain. Twilight stopped and thought for a second. Suddenly a look of complete calm spread across Twilight’s face. She smiled and released the branch. Applejack cried out in pain again.
“Consarnit, Twilight, what are you doing? Get this branch off me!”
“Don’t worry, Applejack, I’ll make sure you’re safe.”
Applejack looked confused. “What in tarnation are ya talkin’ about?”
Twilight’s horn glowed again.
At that moment I realized what was about to happen. “Twilight, no!” I yelled, but it was too late. There was a flash of magic, and instead of Applejack, there was only a book and Applejack’s hat.
Twilight picked up the book with her magic and gave it to me. I was speechless, staring slack-jawed at the book I had just been given. I looked back up at Twilight, my mind trying desperately to make sense of what had just happened.
Twilight smiled brightly at me. “Let’s go home, Spike.”
I regretted convincing her to go outside. My earlier thoughts echoed in my head. Getting her outside was such a good idea. Way to go, me.
Yeah. Way to go, me.
I numbly followed Twilight as she walked back toward town. We came out of the orchard near the path to Fluttershy’s cottage. I just hoped we wouldn’t see-
“Oh, hello, Twilight. Hello, Spike.”
-Fluttershy. I winced and turned toward the voice. Sure enough, Fluttershy was approaching us on the path from town. She was wearing saddlebags that were bulging from how much they were holding.
“Hi, Fluttershy, what are you up to today?” Twilight asked cheerfully.
“There’s a family of bears that have gotten sick, so I got some medicine and now I’m going to go make sure they feel all better.”
“A family of sick bears? That sounds awfully dangerous,” Twilight said.
“Oh, no,” Fluttershy said, smiling. “They-”
“...And I wouldn’t want you doing anything unsafe.” Twilight continued, ignoring Fluttershy. Her horn glowed. My eyes widened. I couldn't believe what was happening.
“What are you-”
There was a flash of magic and Fluttershy disappeared. Her saddlebags fell on top of the book on the road.
The world started spinning.
“Spike? Are you okay?” Twilight sounded concerned. I opened my mouth to answer, but I couldn’t seem to say anything.
“Spike?”
Everything went dark.