You focus as much energy as you can on the target, you are channeling so much energy that you need to use your other hand to control it. You try your best to bring both your hands to the targeting line you drew but your arms are too weak to bring them together. You concentrate on the energy and channel it from where your hands are right now, the blast goes off prematurely. You wind up creating a superheated ball of energy around the target, the blue ball disperses quickly, leaving only a warm wave of air and an incinerated target.
You collapse to your knees, it felt like someone had sucked out your breath and every bit of energy you had within you. You nearly black out, but you feel a hand on your shoulder, you look up to briefly see the Hooded Child placing his hand on your shoulder. When you try to talk to him, he is replaced by Twilight You feel a presence behind you and you hear Twilight's voice, but you can’t understand a word she is saying. You stand up to see Twilight is hurriedly trying to diagnose what happened to you, her hands are glowing and she is flailing around helplessly trying to find a solution.
“Celeste on a Bike.” you curse to yourself.
“Winter are you okay? What happened?”
“Mostly. No idea.” you answer honestly.
“Come sit down, I need to see if you are hurt.” Twilight places her hands on your back and leads to you to a nearby chair, you fall into the seat.
“Here, stay still and let me scan you.” You begin to feel a warm magical energy emanating from Twilight's hand.
“I’m pretty sure I just overexerted myself.”
“A mage overexerting himself would be similar to an athlete overexerting himself. Your vitals are unusual, but not life threatening, I have never seen anything like this.” she mumbles to herself before standing up and looking around the room.
Twilight had taken you to a guard training area, she can apparently rent on a moment's notice. Twilight has sat you down on the armorer's chair and behind you is an array of weapons, in front of you is a range of ranged magic and weapons.
A blinding purple light appears in front of you and you feel yourself floating in a void momentarily, you recognize the feeling as a teleportation spell. The room Twilight had teleported you into a dark basement like room with several large scientific machines inside it, although most noticeably you feel yourself sitting in a large comfy chair. It's amazing she can teleport you with such precision.
“Don’t worry we are back at the Library.” Wait, she can teleport you that accurately over such a long distance. “Stay here, I have to get something,” You pause for a moment in awe of what she had just done.
“Do I really look that bad?” Twilight was already up the stairs by the time you finish your question.
“That spell you attempted was something I taught you.” You don’t have to look up to know it is the Hooded child.
“I am not talking to you.” you sneer.
“But you already do, I taught the spell to the unconscious part of your mind. Listen to me and I can help you.” Before you can answer you feel the Hooded Child's presence disappear.
You stand up, but your body is significantly weaker than it normally is, however you still follow Twilight up the stairs. The stairs prove a difficult, but surmountable obstacle and you find yourself in the residential part of the library. You are in a well maintained kitchen, you move into the dining room and sit down at the table out of exhaustion.
You feel light headed so you lean farther back into your seat, you hear a bell ring in the distance. The bell is accompanied by the sound of Harvey barking and Spike's muffled voice exclaiming something. You hear excited scampering heading towards you accompanied by a pair of footsteps.
A door into the dining room is unlocked and a familiar black fur ball is soon at your side. Harvey is followed by Twilight and Spike, who are both smiling faintly when they enter the room. You look down to see Harvey looking up at you with concern in his eyes.
“Come on Harvey I am fine.” He responds by lying down with your feet.
“Your lips and fingernails are kinda blue Winter.” Spike states.
“Spike!”
“Winter, don’t freak out. I scanned you, you should be okay if you rest for a few days you have no obvious injuries or curses.”
“Curses? My parents are the only people who would want to kill me.” you are not sure if you are joking or not.
“Maybe.. You can stay for dinner. Spike is an amazing cook!” That came out of nowhere.
“Yeah, I’ll stay.”
You sat and chatted with Twilight while Spike went off into the kitchen to cook a meal with Harvey in tow. Your conversational skills proved lacking after spending so much time in near isolation, but the occasional interruption of Harvey running back to your seat keeps things from getting too awkward. You can tell just by they way Twilight is talking is that she has extensive knowledge in a variety of different subjects, she is surprisingly humble for what she has achieved. You are not able to contribute too much to the conversation because of your condition. Throughout the conversation you can clearly tell that Twilight is monitoring your condition, however you are happy she is concerned about you. It doesn't feel like too long before Spike had returned with a meal for both you and Twilight.
Spike had cooked macaroni and cheese with actual cheese, he mixed ground beef in with it. Twilight takes a seat at the table next to you, your heart skips a beat when she sits beside you. This makes you think about the fact you had never kissed a girl.
How old are you again?
You mentally slow yourself down and calm down, you should be able to cope with sitting so close to Twilight now. She smiles and begins eating slowly, you stab your fork into the bowl and retrieve a bit of food and place in your mouth. It's amazing, similar to spaghetti and meatballs, but with more calorie filled goodness. Another man would have been able to give a better description, but for a half decade all you ate was potatoes and ramen.
“Thanks. Spike, Twilight.” You thank them both for this experience.
“No problem... Can I play with Harvey some more?” Spike asks sheepishly.
“Go ahead.”
“You should visit more, Spike always wanted a dog.” Twilight faces you, a cute smile on her face.
“Yeah, sure...” You are about to lose control of yourself in nervous, stammering but you reign yourself in. “That reminds me, it's gonna be difficult for me to get home. Can I get a ride?”
“It's alright Winter I can drive you.” Spike calls from the next room. Twilight fidgets when Spike says that, but she continues eating nonetheless.
Twilight remains silent for the rest of the meal, you don't make any further attempts at conversation. You both finish your meals and Twilight insists that you remain seated while she takes the dishes to the kitchen, you can hear Spike playing with Harvey somewhere outside. You stand up and notice you feel slightly stronger than you did before, you look around and see a couch beyond a doorway. The couch is on the opposite side of the room, a huge book to its left and a fireplace on the opposite side of the couch. The room looks like it is set up so someone can easily get the attention of someone reading while sitting on that couch. You fall onto the couch, then you land you notice a book left on the seat. You pick it up, it's obviously a romance novel by the cover and the description describes a story about a young student falling in love with a young genius in her field. The book is signed by the author and shows signs of age, there is a bookmark halfway through it.
"Hey Winter! We leaving?" You hear Spike call from beyond the room.