Twilight rushes back into the library just as Starlight and Spike are searching through the magic section. Twilight's eye twitches a little as she observes the fairly haphazard way Starlight is putting books back- She would have to have words with her student about proper organizational methods, later on.
"What about this one? There's some spells listed in it. Though, I don't think any of them would cause this..." Starlight is asking Spike, flipping through a recent edition of "Encyclopedia of Starswirl's Magic, Volume VIII" which includes some of the most recent archaeological discoveries. But as soon as she sees Twilight striding in looking triumphant, Starlight closes the book and hops off the pile of books she was laying on. "Oh, hey, Twilight. Any luck?"
Twilight delicately unfurls the scroll and places it on the table. "I believe I have found our candidate!" Twilight announces, prompting both Spike and Starlight to come over and look at it.
"Why is it so burnt?" Spike asks, before covering his mouth in concern. "You don't think... I did that, do you?" He asks in a hushed tone, looking preemptively embarrassed. But Twilight shakes her head.
"I don't think so. This scroll is ancient and not in the best shape." Twilight states. "And the damage doesn't look recent to me."
Spike looks relieved as he looks over the scroll, trying to find parts he can read. "Two brought apart by circumstance... United... Something..." Spike starts mumbling, before Twilight hastily put a hoof over his mouth.
"Woah there, remember, you have magic now! Remember what happened last time I read a spell aloud without thinking?" Twilight cautions. Spike nods, and goes silent as he scans the rest of the document. Twilight steps back to give Spike and Starlight time to look over the scroll.
Eventually, Starlight looks back at Twilight. "So what do you make of it? The instructions seem pretty badly damaged, and whatever it said about what the magic was supposed to do is lost. But most of all, I don't see what we'd be supposed to do with the reagents to cast the spell... Could you have messed it up somehow?" Starlight asks.
Twilight looks over at Spike, doubtfully. "I dunno, it seems hard to imagine a faulty spell could have an effect like this. I feel like we must have cast it correctly... if only we could figure out how that was done." Twilight huffs. "But if I reconstruct the spell, I may be able to devise a suitable counterspell... But this is powerful magic, clearly, given both the unusual requirements and its effect. It may prove difficult."
Spike coughs. "Um... I mean, it's not urgent. Why don't we call it there for today?" Spike asks, with an oddly hopeful tinge in his voice.
But Twilight seems too caught up on the excitement of having to create a counterspell from scratch to recognize Spike's tone. "Not yet, Spike, I haven't even had a chance to reconstruct the original spell yet! The first step in dealing with any kind of magical problem is figuring out what we are dealing with. So lets see here, based on these reagents and what I can read, I think I can probably fill in some of these blanks..."
Twilight summons a quill and note-taking pad. "Spike, could you-" Twilight glances up at the alicorn and pauses. Right, of course he can't, he hasn't gotten a feel for writing like this yet. I'll have to. With that in mind, Twilight begins translating the spell to a fresh piece of parchment and filling in the blanks with her best guesses, based on the typical patterns and cadences of Starswirl's spells- Something she is quite well versed in.
"Twilight." Spike says her name louder and with more presence this time, causing Twilight's attention to be broken and look up at him with curiosity. "Is it... Really necessary to make a counterspell?" Spike asks, and Twilight furrows her brow.
"Well, I... I mean, I guess the spell might just be temporary and wear off on its own. But with such convoluted requirements, I imagine it was probably more powerful than that. I'll only know once I get a better feel for what exactly the spell is actually doing." Twilight explains.
Spike sighs in exasperation, and shakes his head. "That's not what I meant. I just... Ah, nevermind. It was a dumb thought anyways." Spike wilts, and Twilight frowns. She didn't understand what he was concerned about, but, surely the sooner she could devise a cure the sooner he would feel better.
"If you need a break, I understand." Twilight states, her face mellowing somewhat. "I understand you've had a stressful day, what with having to relearn how to walk and all. Why don't you go try and relax while I work on this?" Twilight asks.
Spike frowns, but doesn't seem to see fit to disagree, as he strolls out of the library. Starlight glances after him, a bit quizzically, as if wondering if she should follow. Twilight looks up, seeming uncertain herself. She could use her students help with this- Starlight was quite skilled with magic after all. But she could probably handle it, and if she was dismissing her number one assistant she wasn't going to rely on her new student instead. So she nods to Starlight. "Why don't you go along with him? I'll join you two when I make a breakthrough." Twilight suggests, matter of factly; There isn't a question of whether she would make a breakthrough, only how long it would take.
Starlight shrugs and trots along after Spike, glancing back at Twilight who is already focused on her research. Her mentor was usually far more sociable than she was, yet all of that seemed to go out the window the moment she started on a research project. Even Starlight could tell something was on Spike's mind, as she canters after him to catch up. He doesn't look upset, simply... pensive, maybe a tad wistful.
"She'll probably be in there for a while. Do you want to go fly kites while we wait?" Starlight suggests, falling in lockstep beside Spike.
The draconic alicorn shrugs. "Sure. Seems like a good way to pass the time."
It is a fairly windy day outside, which is rather convenient for the activity the two ponies are now engaging in, a pair of kites drifting high in the breeze. It feels relaxing, which is good, since just about everything that day so far has been rather exhausting. The two of them are sitting out behind the castle away from public view, since the sight of a new, unknown Alicorn might cause a bit of an incident.
"So... Whats going on in that brain of yours?" Starlight asks, after watching Spike gazing thoughtfully up at his kite in silence for a long moment. Spike jumps a little, as though surprised, even though Starlight had been present the entire time.
"Huh? Oh, um, nothing, its fine." Spike states, unconvincingly. Starlight's brow decides to climb up her face, as she gives Spike an unimpressed look.
"I think my, ahem, experiences have given me more than enough experience to know when a pony has something on their mind that they don't want anypony to know." Starlight retorts, dryly. "So, am I going to have to drag it out of you, or are you just going to tell me what's up?" She asks sardonically.
Spike looks at her surprised, then suddenly laughs. "Ha... I guess I have to get used to ponies being able to read my expressions better. Usually, most ponies don't understand dragon body language enough to tell what I'm thinking." Spike explains, then looks back up at the clouds. "I dunno. I'm just thinking about this whole situation. Twilight seems to have already made up her mind on 'fixing' this spell, but..." Spike pauses. "I don't know if that's really what I want. I mean, I've always identified more as a pony than dragon anyways, especially after I went to the dragon lands and saw what they were all like." Spike explains.
"So, you're wondering if you even want to go back to being a dragon?" Starlight asks, prodding.
Spike shrugs. "I mean, I'm still sort of a dragon. Kind of." He replies, pointing his head downwind from the two of them and huffing out a puff of green fire to demonstrate the point. "It just feels like maybe I could... Understand my friends better. And maybe..." he pauses, frowning for a moment. "Maybe they'd understand me better. Sometimes I feel like an outsider in my own home."
Starlight pauses, feeling a twinge of empathy. She can certainly understand that feeling. Still, was changing something so drastic about himself really warranted? "I felt like an outsider too. But it turned out that I was just scared to let anypony in. I know your friends all care deeply about you, Spike, I don't think you need to do something so drastic to make them understand you. They all accept and cherish you as you were." Starlight states, slowly, thinking out each word carefully.
Spike grunts and turns away. "Yeah, I know... But it's not like I'm trying to change something, it already happened. I'm just thinking about... Leaving it be." Spike elaborates. "I know they care about me, but I still can't help but feel like there's something between us that gets in the way. The fact is, it's hard for them to treat a dragon the same as anypony else, even though I've lived here all my life." Spike sighs.
Starlight frowns. It's clear this wasn't a new thought, something had been eating at Spike for a long time before current events, it was just brought to light now. "Why don't you talk to Twilight about it?" Starlight asks. "One way or another, I'm sure it would be better if she knew how you were feeling."
Spike tugs on the leash of his kite, dismally. "What's the point? She'd say basically the same thing you did. It's not like any of them would ever admit to treating me differently. Besides... I don't want to seem ungrateful. Twilight means the world to me, and I know she's trying hard for my sake right now, too." Spike explains.
Starlight frowns. Perhaps she shouldn't be giving advice on something like this, anyways; She was still a friend in training, after all, and she didn't think she trusted her own opinions any more than Spike's. So, she just tries to think of what Twilight would probably say in her horseshoes. Yet try as she might, she wasn't sure; It didn't seem like her place to butt in anyways.
Maybe giving advice wasn't the best idea, then. She could always just talk about things without actually advising a course of action, right? "I'm surprised you think that way." Starlight eventually says. "I mean..." She pauses, frowning and steeling herself a bit for what she would mention next. "Everypony made a pretty big deal about how differences don't get in the way of your friendships, and in fact only made them stronger, when they visited my village. Why would this be any different?"
Spike rolls his eyes. "Yeah, that sounds like Twilight alright. But between you and me, I'm not so sure about that." Spike admits. "I mean sure everypony has certain differences, but they have similarities too. Don't they usually use those similarities to bond over?" Spike asks, sounding unsure himself. "I mean... Its not to say that differences are bad, but you can be different from somepony while still having other things in common, right?"
Starlight looks back over the kites, as a fresh gust of wind sent the kites, which had been dawdling lower and lower on the lines, back up into the air such that she had to reel it in a bit to keep it from blowing away. She supposes Spike has a point; Maybe everypony just focused too much on differences. Only... "I don't know if your end conclusion matches up with what you're saying there, Spike." Starlight offers. "Even as a dragon you have plenty in common with everypony, don't you?"
Spike ponders for a moment, before nodding slowly. "Yeah, I guess so. I mean, Twilight raised me, it would be hard for her to not have rubbed off on me." Spike frowns and hesitates. "Maybe there's more to it than that... I've always been her 'Number One Assistant'. Maybe I just thought that, if I was a pony, she'd see me as more of an equal. See me as... Family." Spike confesses reluctantly, shivering.
Starlight gives Spike a worried, sympathetic look. "Spike, I'm sure she sees you as family. I mean, you've lived together ever since you were born, right? How couldn't she?" Starlight asks.
Spike grimaces, lowering his head towards the ground. "I don't know about that." He starts, a surprisingly hard edge to his voice. "I mean, whenever they go off to solve problems, I'm usually just left at home to take care of things. Like, I wasn't called on to go to your village like they all were." Spike states, using the one example Starlight would be familiar with. "Sometimes it feels like there's them, and then there's me. Like I'm just around because I'm convenient."
Starlight frowns. She could tell Spike how much she was sure his friends cared about him, but honestly, it wasn't her place to say. Spike needed to hear it from the ponies mouth. "One way or another, I'm sure Twilight would want to know how you feel. Even if she just ends up reassuring you, she'd still want to know. I mean, if she was willing to give even me a second chance, I'm sure she would want to make sure her lifelong companion felt appreciated." Starlight affirms. "Regardless of what happens, or what you decide on in the end, you should talk to her." For once, Starlight felt confident in her advice.
Spike gazes up at the kite for a while, before finally cracking a smile. "Yeah, I guess you're right, Starlight. Thanks for the talk." The alicorn stands up, shivering a little, and begins reeling in his kite. "I think I'll do that."