CHAPTER 7
The Patient Makes Her Impatient
***The day before***
Twilight trotted out of the hospital room with a little bounce to her step. “Oh, I can’t wait to learn all about where Kyle is from. I get to learn from somepony that actually lived there and not just watch from afar. And to think that this was all possible because… because I messed up the spell and now he’s here, hurt and alone.” Twilight’s happy mood quickly evaporated after that revelation. Her mood didn’t stay low for long as her jaw set with determination. “I will help him get back no matter what!” Twilight said with confidence. “Spike, we’re going back to the library. I need to help Kyle get back home.”
“Sure thing, Twilight,” Spike said, walking up next to the purple mare. With a flash, they were standing in the middle of the library’s main room, which still sported the magic circle. Twilight paid it no mind as she set about gathering the material she would need to research Kyle’s return. The library was soon a frenzy of books and scrolls as Twilight looked for anything and everything even remotely relevant to her search. Soon enough, she had a stack of books that was easily taller than her.
“Okay, Spike, could you get my research on Starswirl’s Looking Glass for me?” she asked as she dove into the first book in the stack. Spike nodded and ran up to their shared room. A moment later, Spike returned with the requested notes, consisting of a box of scrolls and several bound journals, and set them next to the already large pile of literature.
“Here you go, Twilight. Every note you have about Starswirl’s Looking Glass. I’ll make some coffee. It looks like you’re in for a long night,” Spike said as he turned toward the kitchen.
“Thank you, Spike. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Twilight replied, not looking up from her book. Spike just chuckled at her response as he went about his task.
The hours passed and Twilight was no closer to finding a way to return Kyle to his home. Every lead she found met a dead end or ended up being a wild goose chase. “Grrah! I’m not finding anything at all in these books,” Twilight growled, “and I can’t replicate the results of the spell, either! Looks like I need to go to the Royal Archives. Spike, take a note.”
Spike, had fallen into a half sleep while resting on a stack of discarded books. He jumped at Twilight’s sudden exclamation.
“Right. One second.” It took him just a few seconds to find the required paper and quill. “Okay, ready when you are, Twi.” Spike began to transcribe as Twilight dictated
“‘Dear Princess Celestia, I am in the middle of researching a way to safely send Kyle back to his home. Unfortunately, I am coming up short with the books available here. With your permission, I would like to use the restricted archives and hopefully find a way to send Kyle back to his world. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.’ Okay, Spike, send it, please.”
“You know, technically, you aren’t her student any more,” Spike pointed out, and Twilight’s cheeks flushed a soft pink.
“It is a hard habit to break, sorry,” Twilight said, rubbing her neck with a hoof. Spike just chuckled and amended the letter with Your Friend, Twilight Sparkle, before sending it away in puff of smoke.
**********
“What is taking her so long to respond?” Twilight asked no one in particular. It had been over two hours since she sent the letter to Celestia. It wasn’t uncommon to take half an hour or so to respond to non-emergency letters from Twilight, but two hours and forty-five minutes never happened.
“She must have lost it in all of her paperwork!” Twilight mused. “Yeah that must be it. She just misplaced it, or she’s in the middle of a meeting with some dignitaries.” A few strands of her mane shot out as she began pace. The rest of her thoughts went unsaid, but not unheard.
“Twilight, it’s fine,” Spike tried to placate. “Like you said, she’s probably just busy and she hasn’t gotten around to reading it yet. It’s not like she’s disappointed that–” Spike covered his mouth before he finished the sentence but the damage was already done. More of Twilight’s mane stuck out and Twilight’s pacing increased. “Twilight, she is not disappointed. She’s just busy, like you said. You need to calm down. We do not need another Smarty Pants incident, so stop your pacing.” Spike waited until Twilight stopped before he continued. “Okay, good, now breathe like Cadence showed you.” She did as Spike ordered, and brought her hoof to her chest breathing in then letting it out as she extended her hoof out. “Good, how are you feeling?”
“Much better. Thank you, Spike. You really are the best assistant anypony could ask for,” she said as she walked up to him and gave him an affectionate nuzzle. Spike blushed at the praise and scratched the back of his neck bashfully as Twilight pulled away.
“It’s no big deal. It’s what anypony would do,” he said, trying to brush off the complement.
“Well, there’s no point just standing here. Let's get this place cleaned up!” Twilight declared and began to put the various tomes away when a loud gurgling sound filled the air. Twilight blushed when she heard Spike laugh.
“I’ll go make us something to eat.” He walked over to the kitchen door but paused before asking, “Is there anything that sounds particularly good to you at the moment?”
Twilight was already lost in her task and didn’t give it much thought. “No, there isn’t. Thanks, though.” Spike shrugged and disappeared into the kitchen to prepare the late dinner.
Twilight looked out the window towards Ponyville General and saw the moon high in the sky. She glanced at the clock to confirm the late hour and it read twelve thirty. “Wow, I didn’t realize how late it was.” Everything clicked into place and Twilight facehoofed. “Celestia is probably asleep. That’s why she didn’t respond to my letter.” With the mention of sleep, Twilight felt a wave of exhaustion crashed over her. Unfortunately, she still had several hours worth of cleaning to do. With a heavy sigh she went back to her task of sorting and shelving the books.
She found her task far more tedious than usual. Normally, Twilight didn’t see organizing and shelving books as a burden. In fact, she normally found the chore more relaxing, therapeutic even, but with the worries and guilt playing on her mind, she was unable to find the usual peace in the task. Her stress built as the minutes ticked by. She was unable to get the image of the creature that was hurt and in the hospital out of her mind. Twilight couldn’t help but feel responsible for the whole incident, even if there was no way to know that the spell would react in such a way with the mana reservoir. She even went through all of her notes and equations. Nowhere in any of it was she able to find anything that even hinted to it reacting in any way.
“I checked and triple checked everything! How could I have gotten everything so wrong? I went through all of my notes and double checked to make sure that there wasn’t something I had missed. but I found nothing. Yet, somehow, I failed. Somehow, I messed up, and I can’t find where. I’m I so useless as a student–” Twilight quickly forced that line of thought from her mind. “No, I can’t think like that and I won’t know for sure if there was anything I missed until I get the go-ahead to take my research to the Royal Archives. I just have to wait until the princess responds.”