FINDING TIME
<Chapter 1 - Part 2>
Look Closer
"Hoo."
..who
Day time. About 6 hours after Twilight Sparkle succumbed to sleep, and about 7 hours after she realized that she'd reached a dead-end in her search. She stirred amongst her work with her head rested on the desk.
"Hoohoo,"
who.....who?
She opened her eyes to the face of her loyal avian friend, Owlowiscious, who was just about to go to sleep but noticed that the mare of the house was still sleeping herself. And already into the afternoon no less.
"Good morning.."
Or so she thought
A yawn escaped her while she looked around to see the progress of her work. Mounted on her desk were stacks upon stacks upon stacks of books and tattered paper. The like of which not uncommon to see the unicorn with, given her nature. But this time, it was a little bit different. Usually, she'd acquire more answers than questions after a long study. Not the other way around. And Twilight had to (begrudgingly) accept it.
"Hoo."
Satisfied that his keeper was awake, Owlowiscious flew off and went to retire for some much needed rest. Twilight however, could use one, even after just waking up. She looked around the room for a bit and noticed Spike wasn't there, and figured he must have already gone downstairs to do his chores. It happened sometimes, especially during these times when she had to catch up on the sleep she missed during all-nighters. But it was somewhat unlike Spike, to not open the windows or even covering her with a blanket. She didn't mind of course, just something that passed her mind. Twilight knew that her number one assistant had more important things to do than pick up after her every single moment. Which was the case at most times, but nothing that Twilight can't live without, she considered.
Her head felt heavy, and this made her groan. The light stung her eyes as they seeped through the curtains of her window. It also came to highlight parts of multiple notes and scribbles marked on the various pages that lay open atop her desk. Upon seeing them, it made her groan again.
I don't get it.
She always knew that the old stallion was meticulous in his ways. After all, they had the 'pleasure' of each other's company for weeks. It was only now that Twilight came to appreciate it in it's written entirety. With each page she turned there were personal inscriptions almost everywhere. Whoever this pony was, Twilight realized, was more precise than she had initially realized. Almost ridiculously so. Judging from the wordings of each inscription, it was painfully clear that this pony was looking for something. A puzzle that needed to be solved, a question that needed to be answered. Twilight turned to look at the quicknotes she made to sum up her findings so far.
The books she found were divided into three groups: Magic, Scientific, and Historic.
The magic books dealt heavily on the subject of living forces. Meaning, how to manipulate or change something about that something into something else. Like turning an apple into an orange, or making somepony fall in love with somepony else. It was these books, Twilight noticed, were the most numerous and the more scribbled. Noting various instances where inscriptions were noted here and there, regarding their application, amount of energy needed, and so on. She argued it before, but the same query came back to her like a chorus.
What could an earth pony possibly do with these kinds of high-level spells? Even if he had a horn, he'd need to be an exceptionally powerful unicorn to perform any of these. Let alone know how to use them.
One spell in particular seemed to have interested him. After all, the pages explaining it were missing, torn off. This agitated Twilight greatly when she discovered it. Thankfully, she had another copy of the book. And upon checking what the missing pages were, discovered that they explained the theory of invisibility.
"You'd better hope you're invisible when I find you. This book was limited edition!" Twilight said with a distinct irritation in her voice.
Moving onwards, the second pile were scientific in nature and mostly fiction. Like something out of a dystopian future. But there were also publications that covered practical sciences and engineering. Modern equestrian engineering was pretty impressive, the way Twilight looked at it. After all, they had trains, blimps, and even computers! But the books that were laid in-front of her were the ones with very little to no inscriptions whatsoever. Twilight observed that whatever the stallion was looking for, it didn't look like it was here. Or at least none of it interested him at all. In fact, it even looked like the novels were read more than the dissertations.
"What in the wide wide world of Equestria were you trying to make?"
It would seem like with every clue that she found only gave her more questions than answers. The last pile of books didn't give her any hope at all. The history books, she knew, were simply there for his leisure. That was painfully clear due to the many lectures she got over the past few weeks. She had hoped to set them for later, but since it's been hours after she even last considered the idea, she figured that she might as well look at them now. They tackled various eras within the last thousand years. There were inscriptions here as well, but surprisingly, not as much as she would have expected. In fact, the books only had a couple of phrases written in to some units. And she recognized one of them.
"...I remember this. You told me... that..."
You can't rewrite history. Not one line. But if you can, get a closer look.
It played on her mind, that line. It didn't before. So why now? Twilight Sparkle thought hard on it, and realized it now. Just now. That it was the last thing he said to her before he disappeared.
"....a closer look. A closer look. A. Closer... look? Look. Look."
Again and again, she repeated it in her head. And the more times she did, it made it just a little bit more confusing.
"WHAT AM I EVEN LOOKING FOR?!"
She let out a tired sigh at her efforts, but wasn't about ready to give up yet. Twilight knew of course that this wasn't going to be easy. After all, she knew next to nothing about who she's after and barely even enough of why she's even bothering with any of this in the first place. Pride perhaps? She never did take groundless criticism very well. Especially coming from an entire populace. One, which, she has grown too fond of to lose even a smidgen of credibility. Even her friends, aren't backing her up on this. And after the whole 'Smarty Pants' fiasco, a small part of Twilight feels compelled to make a stand and prove to everypony that when she takes things seriously, it IS serious. But even still, Twilight had to face the fact of now that her clues are running out and so is her confidence.
Just then, something happened. Something that would've happened eventually after waking up. Something she knew she had to address immediately. Something very important. Something... loud.
*GRUMBLE*
She let out another sigh before saying, "Maybe all of this will make more sense after breakfast." And with that, she left the complete holocaust that was her study desk and headed downstairs for some refreshment.
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The library had looked a lot better now than it did yesterday, Twilight noticed after she passed the main hall. Going down from her room, she eventually realized that morning was already over, and Spike had to close the Library. Both she and Spike agreed that it be best to close the place if there weren't at least two around. This happened sometimes, the pony wasn't a stranger to these circumstances. There were simply some days (or rather nights) when Twilight simply had to pull an extra effort to hit the books. And although their establishment wasn't the busiest place in town, they knew better than to leave things to chance.
Now she was infront of a fresh hot bowl of oat cereal, taking regular bites while trying to clear her mind for a moment. In most days, Twilight found solace in simply enjoying a meal, especially with her friends. And in some mornings, found it very relaxing to share a breakfast with Spike as they talk about their respective interests and happenings. But now though, he wasn't much in a talkative mood as he passed her stilently in the hallway before entering the kitchen a moment ago.
I hope he's not too upset about yesterday.
The purple unicorn wasn't so insensitive that she didn't consider how inappropriate her behavior was during the previous day. Twilight always did have trouble handling every stressful situation thrown her way, she knew. But also knew that she was a lot better off now than she was when she first came to Ponyville.
After taking a spoonful of oats, she went back to her current issue. Minute after minute, she played back her research in her head, trying to make sense of things. But minute after minute, always ended up reaching the same redundant dead-ends. This continued on a good long while until she finished her meal, and then Spike walked in from the hall. He was whistling a familiar tune, and Twilight recognized it from the small number she and her friends sang during the Grand Galloping Gala.
"Hey Spike," greeted Twilight.
Twilight reviewed the situation, and figured it would be a good time to open up her problems to the only one who hasn't completely dismissed her about her little problem.
"Y'know Spike.. I've been thinking a lot about this whole 'Old Pony' business. And maybe I am just taking things too seriously." she said while looking down on her empty bowl. Spike was going through the cupboards now, and judging from the utensils he took out, looked like he was preparing to bake something.
"What do I care if somepony just went up and left without so much as a "Thank you, Miss 'I can't remember your name so I'll just make one up that sounds the same." she continued doing the best impersonation of the elder as she could.
"I mean, I only had to listen to his nagging about every single detail about every little thing! And now I've been left with this enormous burden of having to shoulder his current well-being just to prove his existence! Which, If I can't do then everypony in town might hardly believe anything I say in the future and will probably just think 'Oh, that's just Twilight Crazy-Pants being her usual crazy self..' After all, it's not like it's the end of the world, right?" Twilight laughed somewhat artificially then.
"Everpony thinks I'm just studying too much, which is, by the way, so not true! I haven't even finished Curriculum's Complete Compendium yet! And you can never study enough about sociology. Especially, when I have a royal duty to learn the magic of friendship! The last thing I want is for the Princess to think I'm shirking my studies." Twilight said as Spike was now mixing his chosen ingredients into the baker bowl, but now humming the jingle from last year's Winter Wrap-Up.
"I'm trying to find out more about him through those books he borrowed, and so far I can't make heads or tails with any of it. He definitely knows magic, he has to if he knows exactly how to cast all the spells I've learned in Canterlot. Which doesn't make sense, since he can't, do, Magic! He's an earth pony. I didn't see a horn. Did you see a horn? No, you didn't and I didn't. But then again, everypony else can't see one either, since they can't see him at all! URGH!"
"I don't know, Spike. It's just that everything I've found out about him, is just so.... useless! I don't know what he's studying, and I don't even know if he does either. I'd ask somepony else, but I'm the only one who's ever seen him. How is that even possible? He was here for, like... a month! Even I can't last a week without someone bothering me about something. Not in this town. And especially not with Pinkie Pie. What do you think, Spike?"
"Mmhmm... looks like it's gonna be Topaz Truffle Cake tonight!" Spike said to himself as he was tasting the batter.
Twilight looked at her friend with an expression of hurt and confusion. Is he that upset that he's not even trying to listen? she wondered to herself.
"Uhh hello.. Equestria to Spike.." Twilight said as she leaned her head closer to the dragon. "I'm kind of in a deep personal turmoil now and would need my number one assistant's consolation. I'm sorry about yesterday, but you don't need to actively pretend I'm not here! Helloooooo."
"I wonder how Twilight's doing," Spike said looking upwards. "She really needs to give it a rest. That book she's studying about Curry Computers hasn't been touched for days."
And now it was it this point that Twilight was not only utterly confused, but offended at the fact that Spike doesn't even know the nature of her quarterly long study. And she also thought the idea of curry computers was just plain stupid.
"It's Curriculum's Complete Compendium! And I'm right here, Spike! Right! Here!"
Whether it was the lack of audience or the notion of long-term pointless research, even Twilight didn't know, but before she realized it, couldn't help herself but tackle Spike in a desperate attempt to receive his total attention. And before he realized it, was now facing the seething eyes of Twilight Sparkle, as she pinned him to the ground, helpless and with a look of shock. Baking equipment were scattered along the floor. The room lit in a color of purple from Twilight's horn, ready to cast in blind rage.
"WOAH! Where'd you come from?!" yelped Spike in complete surprise.
"I WAS RIGHT HERE! The whole time! And it's Curriculum's Complete Compendium! Not Curry Computers! That doesn't even make sense! What in the name of Celestia's Magic Shampoo is a Curry Computer?!! How did you not even know I was here?!"
"I....I-I didn't. I swear! When I walked in, there wasn't anyone here! And I wasn't humming something silly, was I?"
"Just the one about getting the best pet. I didn't even know you were around for that. That's just weird. The rest were fine though, I actually liked th.... DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT, MISTER!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.", he apologized hastily. "If it helps, I think that necklace you're wearing looks really good on you." Spike was closing his eyes now, bracing himself for the upcoming torrents of pain. Twilight could only look at him again questioningly.
"What? What necklace?" She looked down her neck to realize that she was still wearing the key she found from last night, and realized that she had forgotten to take it off before dozing off. "Oh! You mean this? This was that key we found in the bag, remember? I didn't know what else to do with it. And it kinda looked wearable, so I put it on like so."
"Huh.. I guess it does." Spike agreed. "If you look closely, the chain is long so whoever made it must've meant to wear it."
"Yeah sure, but it still doesn't explain why you thought I wasn't here. And If I look closer, it just looks like an ordinary...",
And just like that, something hit the purple unicorn like a falling piano.
"......key."
"You can't rewrite history. Not one line. But if you can, get a closer look."
"You'd better hope you're invisible when I find you!"
"But if you can, get a closer look."
"But I'm the only one who's ever seen him. How is that even possible?"
"...get a closer look."
"I swear! When I walked in, there wasn't anyone here!"
"..a closer look."
"Uhhh, Twilight... are you okay? Could you, uhm... get off me now? I'm getting cramps on my scales."
"....look closer."
"What?"
Twilight quickly got off her friend and was now already halfway out the door and into the main hall, leaving Spike dumbfounded in the kitchen on his back. He sighed deeply as his plans to make his Truffle Cake was shattered. Reluctantly, he got up, went out into the study, and decided to assist Twilight on her apparent revelation. Only to, his surprise, for Twilight to tear the whole library apart in the search of whatever she was searching. Spike sighed again this time, and even more deeply. He wanted to pretend he wasn't used to this by now, but decided against it.
"Spike!" Twilight turned back to him. "Where did we put that book on charms and enchantments? The limited edition omnibus I ordered from Baltimare last year."
"Didn't the old pony borrow it?" Spike asked in reply.
"Yes, he did. But I ordered two copies. I have one copy in my room, and I think I kept the other one here."
In the next couple of minutes, the duo started rummaging through the shelves in search of the book. They would've found it a lot more quickly, had Twilight not wrenched the holdings apart with her magic while hunting for the book in question.
"Found it! Is it this one?" Spike held a familiar hardcover in his claw that Twilight beamed at the sight of.
"Yes! That's the one!" Twilight galloped back to her room after she grabbed the book with her magic and Spike along with it. As he held on in the hope of unbruised scales, couldn't help but wonder what got Twilight excited all of a sudden, and simply hoped it wouldn't end up with the library being a mess again. At that point, he actively tried to forget about the wasted morning spent cleaning the study, and now the added chore of cleaning the kitchen of scattered baking utensils.
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By the time the two reached the bedroom, Twilight immediately started browsing through the spellbook. Spike, however, couldn't help but finally ask, "Did you find something about the old pony? Please tell me you did. I just want this to be over already.". All she got in reply was a shushing from the unicorn. Twilight was now, in a manner of speaking, in her own zone.
Spike looked around the room, and wasn't particularly surprised with how it was. Near the window was the desk Twilight uses to study. It was chaotically decorated with all the books he brought up for her to read. It never ceases to amaze him how dedicated she can be when she applies herself, even to the point of obssession. He knew well enough how his friend can be when it comes to these situations, and empathized how this whole 'Old Pony' business must be really bothering her.
Mumbling to herself, Twilight continued to study the book she brought. There was an utter solemnity within the room, until suddenly..
"So wait, that means that..... look closer..... look..... THE BAG!". In a split second, Twilight teleported in a flash of light.
Silence returned for a few minutes, only to again be broken by Twilight's triumphant exclamation. "AHA!" She finally said, and no sooner than that, burst through the door and back into the room. Whatever Twilight discovered, must have been something, Spike noted. Because for the first time in a long while as far as anyone who knew Twilight was concerned, had a genuine smile on her face. One that might be misunderstood with a mad gleam during a normal day. She trotted closer to her assistant, practically glowing with pride, while levetating the key necklace she wore a moment ago.
"Spike, you can see me can't you?" She asked him.
"Uhh.... yeah?"
"What about now?" She asked again, after putting on the necklace.
"Yup."
In the blink of an eye, the pony cast a spell, and then vanished from sight. The room was silent for something close to a minute before her voice came out again. But from where, Spike couldn't tell.
"And now?" Twilight asked for the third time.
Spike looked all over the room, and saw nothing but that. What he did see was the mound of books on the desk, the unused bed, the usual scenery after Twilight spent an entire night of studying. All except Twilight. Spike wasn't exactly certain where she was going with this, but decided to play along.
"No, I can't. Where'd you go?"
"Right here, Spike." the dragon felt a hoof nudge the back of his head, but any sign of a certain purple unicorn, there wasn't one.
"Aww come on, Twilight. Quit fooling around. I was having hard time keeping up with you when I could still see you." said Spike. This elicited a friendly giggle from Twilight, who was clearly having fun with this. Finally, Spike felt a hoof firmly placed on his shoulder, and just like that, there she was, still grinning likes she's winning. "See me now?"
"How'd you do that? I've never seen you cast an invisibility spell before."
"I can't. And I didn't. I just teleported behind you. Invisibility spells are very difficult to perform even for a short period of time. Even I couldn't cast one that long. If I did, we wouldn't be sneaking around in Canterlot in the middle of the night, looking for a time-traveling spell, remember?"
"Oh yeah. So the old pony was wearing that necklace to make himself invisible? But how come you could see him, and I couldn't?"
"That's just it, Spike. This necklace doesn't make you invisible. Just really really hard to see. I don't how he did it, but he enchanted this necklace to mask his presence by lowering everone's perception, like a filter. Now I understand why nopony in town could see him. He was wearing this to keep himself hidden, except to those who he wants to know he was there, or at least the ones who he had to interact with on a daily basis."
"Like borrowing books and stuff?"
"Exactly!", It was at that brief second however that Twilight realized the elder could have just as easily taken the books instead of borrowing them. And just as briefly, found herself gaining a small amount of respect for him.
"But yknow... it's still not gonna help find out where he is." Spike said matter-of-factly.
"Think so?" She said with a smug look on her face. Twilight walked over to the bed, turned around and asked, "What do you see here?"
"Your.... bed?"
"And?"
"That you need to use it and not your desk?"
She could only grumble in response, but quickly followed it and told him, "Look closer."
He did as he was told, even squinting his eyes in the attempt. At first, there wasn't really much to see. But the closer Spike looked, he started to notice an image starting to take shape on the bed. And realized that it was the satchel of great concern only yesterday. Twilight could see from his reaction, that they were now on the same page.
"You see, Spike.." she started to explain. "When it came to me that the necklace was enchanted and that anypony or anyone who wears it becomes hidden, I remembered you saying that you saw the bag only yesterday when I showed it to you. So I made a guess that it may have also been enchanted as well." Twilight continued to explain until she began levetating a small black box into view. "Aaaaand after closer inspection, I found this in the back of the bag."
She set it on the floor and Spike took note of it. Like the satchel, it wasn't much to look at, but it did have a lock on the front. Curious to see what's inside, he tried to open it, but as the lock would suggest, it is indeed locked.
"So lemme guess", Spike said. "Thats the key that opens it?" he pointed at the necklace Twilight was wearing.
"Only one way to find out." Using her magic, Twilight inserted the key in the lock and unsurprisingly, was a perfect fit.
Twilight was very excited, both of them could tell. She thought that she was at a standstill with her search but after the recent revelation, is now brimming with confidence. Whatever was in this box, Twilight knew must have been very important, and would hopefully help her in figuring out who the old pony was. After all, who in Equestria would go to the trouble of hiding something in something hidden which can only be opened by something that was also hidden unless it was something gravely important? Her blood raced as the key slowly turned. The sound of the lock clicking, the tell-tale sign that the box was now open, made Twilight's eyes wide. The lid opened, and there it was, as clear as day...
.....a sandwich, a bottle of water, and an apple.
For a few seconds, there was no sound but the insidiously quiet sound of rustling jimmies.
"Great, you found his lunch." Spike said flatly.
"AAAARGHHHHH!" Twilight exclaimed with the intensity of a hundred menstruations. "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!", The box found itself in Spike's torso after Twilight sent it flying with her magic.
"All that for a lunchbox?! You know what? I give up! I don't even care anymore! I'd rather study Curry Computers than go any further than this! There is no old pony! I'm crazy, okay?!! I'm going crazy! Let me just go out and tell everypony that, so I can study in peace!"
"Still, for a figment of your imagination, he sure has good taste in food." Spike said trying to diffuse the situation. "You don't usually find panini in Ponyville. And this apple looks fresh-picked. Can I have it?" The fuming unicorn, unfortunately, could no longer hear anything besides her raging thoughts.
"Who does that?! Who hides their lunch like that?"
"I'll take that as a yes." Spike wasted no time in helping himself to the lunch. Usually he'd feel a bit guilty with taking, much less eating something that isn't his. But the dragon felt it would be a waste since the food might go bad if they just leave it. Plus a little post-drama snack wouldn't be too bad, he knew.
Twilight was now pacing around the room, still agitated at how things went. "Look closer? Look closer MY TAIL! You know what I see when I look closer? No name, no address, no clues! Just a half-full bottle of water, an expensive sandwich, and a fresh red ap-"
Her eyes found themselves fixed on the handsome fruit that Spike was now slowly eating. And once again, something hit her hard. Something she might have missed if not for that one little mantra she kept repeating over and over in her head, like a broken record.
".....wait."
Spike was almost finished with the apple, before Twilight caught him midway. Snatching the fruit away from him, she looked closer and realized something very important about it.
"Spike.... do you realize what this is?"
"Bad manners?" he huffed.
"No! I mean, sorry... But this is a fresh apple! And not just any apple. I recognize this anywhere. This is one of Sweet Apple Acres' Red Delicious Apples!"
"So?"
"Sooooo, it means I'm not the only pony who's seen him!" And with that Twilight bolted to the door leaving Spike with all the mess and the feeling that this is going to be a lot more complicated than either one of them wanted it to be.