Seeking Secrets

by Shumiry

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"I remember. And because of that there will always be a part of me that is prepared to do violence." -Secret Seeker

The rain poured down, soaking him, and forcing him to maintain a shield over the three books. Two lay nestled in his cradle, the third open in his lap. The storm, from what he had heard while the pegasi flew overhead, was supposed to last the rest of the day. He hoped that the magical lightning rod Twilight had installed protected him...

Over the past few days he had managed to gain a firmer control over his magical abilities. He hadn't been able to experiment much beyond feats of telekinesis, primarily due to a lack of resources. Twilight rarely left the library, oftentimes studying or writing reports until the early hours of the morning. But, even with Spike's considerable assistance, sometimes she just had to go somewhere. Yesterday, as luck would have it, happened to be Twilight and her friends' weekly pet play-date, causing her and Spike to be out of the library for most of the day.

He had snuck inside shortly after they'd left, now having a much less circuitous route which enabled him to stay hidden better, and browsed the books, once again in new locations. Sometimes he seriously considered the possibility that Twilight might have obsessive compulsive disorder. As he had browsed a bookcase on the ground floor he had found himself staring at Basics of Manticore Anatomy, and had been tempted to take it, since it seemed to be one of the first books he noticed every flipping time he broke in!

“Like it's taunting me...” he had muttered in a moment of uncharacteristic superstition, imagining the library itself plotting against him. Shaking his head to clear the thought, he had moved on, finding three promising-looking texts. It had been quite a struggle, the decision to abscond with all three, since he was sure that Ms. Sparkle would need one of them while he was still using it, and would cause a ruckus when it couldn't be found. In the end he had elected to take them all, thinking that, if such an event did occur, he could drop the sought after book on the table on the balcony, and she might think she'd left it there.

Food had been something of an issue as well. While he should have been up to almost full capacity by now, he instead was barely beyond the state he'd been in to begin with. It was a long trek to the orchards, and a long one back, taking most of the night to make the trip one way, meaning he'd had to stay hidden amongst the trees. He'd only made one trip back to the orchards since arriving, and had availed himself of a couple of sacks at the Apples' farm, adding its value to the value of the numerous apples and vegetables he'd already... procured. The tally of his debts was starting to get large.

Lost in the book he was reading, A Foal's Guide to Runecraft, he'd failed to notice how much the branches of the tree were swaying. Protected as they were by his shield, the books were completely safe. The same could not be said, however, of the two sacks of apples he'd lashed to the branches. While the boughs were sturdy, and should have held the added weight with little trouble, lightning blasted through the tree just as a strong gust buffeted it. The combined affronts were too much for one of the poor branches, and, with a resounding crack, it broke free, tumbling to the ground.

He stared at the branch where it lay, the sack, still intact, tightly lashed to it.

“Okay,” he muttered to himself, “nopony is around. I can just untie the rope...” Sending his magic sense down to the bag, he tugged on the strands, loosening the knot. SLAM! The door to the library, caught in a gust, had crashed open!

He dropped his focus, letting the light blue glow of his magic fade from the rope just before Twilight, wrapped in a brown cloak, came around the bend of the tree. She stood over the branch, and poked the bag with a hoof. A lavender glow enveloped the sack, and he saw it open, saw her look inside. Then she looked up, staring right into his eyes as lightning flashed behind him.

His heart stopped. For what seemed like an eternity he gazed down into the light lavender eyes, illuminated by the glow of the lightning bolt.

She saw him.

She was looking straight at him. Any moment now her jaw would drop, and she would run inside, locking the door and scribbling a letter to Celestia. His thoughts raced in a million directions at once, trying to figure out his best course of action. Before he could decide upon anything, the lightning vanished. He saw her blink, then rub her eyes with a foreleg. Looking down again at the bag, her lips formed a smirk, and she muttered something. Something that looked like “Spike.” With a smile, she leaned down, grabbed the sack with her mouth, picked it up, and turned to walk back inside.

For minutes afterwards he stood there, heart pounding in his chest. Why hadn't she seen him? She'd looked right into his eyes! Finally, a strong gust knocked him from his musings, and he stumbled down to a sitting position in his cradle.

“Think!” he chastised himself. “Okay, she heard the branch break and came outside to investigate. Saw the sack and looked up. She should have seen me because the branch was missing and she had a clear line of sight.” A rumble of thunder shook the tree. Thunder, because lightning split the air and caused the two bodies to crash together. Realization dawned on him. He saw, in his mind's eye, Twilight rubbing her face with a forehoof. Not to get rain out of her eyes, but because she had just looked directly into a flash of lightning!

With a sigh he rubbed his hand down his face, futilely wiping away some of the rain, as he recalled the way the lightning had illuminated her eyes. He was safe, for now. Spike might believe he'd stashed them and forgotten, but they'd be too fresh for that. He might keep it all hush hush and enjoy the boon of a free sack of apples. But more likely he'd deny that they were his, and the two of them would investigate.

Grabbing the other sack, he untied it and stuffed the books inside, burying them among the apples. After looping the drawstring over his head, securing the sack on his back, he began his descent, dropping the last twenty feet, softening his landing with a bit of telekinesis. Low to the ground, he scanned the empty streets and skies. It was going to be risky, but he couldn't stay here any longer. He had the books to learn what he could from this library, but his many searches had yielded nothing related to the problem that nagged at his mind.

Facing north, he began the journey to Canterlot. In the archives of the regal city, he would find, if it were anywhere, the text that would either allay his fears, or confirm them. Regardless, he had to know.