“Gone!” said Twilight Sparkle in a flustered and panicky tone that she was best at. “What do you mean he’s gone!?!”
“Gone” repeated Commodore indifferently as Jam elbowed him in the stomach.
“What we mean,” added Jam, “is what we told you is all we know. The only thing that was left along the road was the drag marks and the piece of his shirt.”
“Are you sure?!” she said as her mane began to dishevel. “Nothing else, not even a hint of where he went?”
Jam shook his head.
Twilight bit the tip of her hoof and began to pace around the library’s ground floor, her hooves already rubbing indentations into the woodwork.
“Alistair’s never done something like this,” she moaned, “He’d always listen to the established schedule we made, only once deviating from his normal routine.”
“When was that one time?” asked Commodore.
Twilight Sparkle turned to him, her eyes slightly watered and accusatory. “Last week, when he first hung out with you two.”
“Oh,” he said uncomfortably, looking down at his hooves.
“But that doesn’t mean I’m blaming you!” reiterated Twilight quickly. “I just…it’s a coincidence that’s all. I know that something bad happened, in no way would he willingly do this.”
“Is there anything we can do, Ms. Sparkle?” said Jam. “Should we contact the Guards, tell the mayor, put up posters?”
Twilight shook her head. “That won’t be necessary, I can find him…I just need the cloth.”
Holding the small bloody piece of fabric towards Twilight, her levitation magic lifted it from the top of Jam’s hoof and hovered it over to her eyes. Dropping it in her own hoof, she winced as the small item fluttered into her grasp.
Looking down at the horrid clue, she sighed. “It’s all my fault…I promised to protect him, to look after him, right after we first saw each other…and look where he is now…” She sniffled.
“I feel so responsible, so guilty. I’d like to think this situation is out of my control…but some how I know it’s not…I could have been more protective, I could have monitored him closer. And yet, I didn’t…”
She bit her lip as a small tear rolled down her cheek. “Useless…so useless, that’s what I am. And the longer this stupid thing takes, the more danger he’ll be in.”
Jam swallowed heavily, just as worried as Twilight. “What exactly are you doing?”
Taking in a deep breath, Twilight’s horn began to shimmer with a pinkish aura as light began to reflect of it in a circular pattern. Lifting the fabric towards her horn, it too became enveloped in pink energy and fizzled slightly with a light hum.
“I’m using the blood on the fabric to establish a tracking bond,” she said quietly. “Wherever his body has been, my magic will make a trail right to him. How long this might take, however, is still determinant. I never counted on having to track down lost friends.”
“Stop,” said Commodore as he stepped forward indignantly. “There’s no way you could have predicted this would happen, no pony could. You don’t need to beat yourself up over something you can’t change.”
Twilight shook her head. “Can I really believe that? I definitely could’ve cast some spell, some power to ensure him protection…and I didn’t.”
“Look, you can’t just--”
Twilight put her hoof up to stop him. “Please, just leave me to the spell. I need to concentrate on this.”
She turned away from the two and stared up blankly at the fabric, her eyes glassy with emptiness. Taking her wishes to heart, Jam and Commodore moved to the other side of the library and took a seat on a reading bench, letting her alone.
They remained quiet for the duration, uncomfortable with speaking to each other. The fact that they’d just met Twilight Sparkle less than an hour ago and already saw her go through legitimate emotional turmoil gave them a sense of intrusion that they’d much prefer not to have. Needless to say, Alistair was their friend and they would do everything in their power to save him from whoever had kidnapped him.
They were friends after all.