Tantibus

THE SEVENTH CHAPTER

The nurse stood outside of the room, done happily preaching the good news in the break room and now going through notes on her clipboard to pass the time. She heard shouting emanating from inside. It was muffled and unintelligible, since the doors were designed with lunatics in mind, but still distinct to a trained ear. She went as far as to place her hoof on the knob, with concern for Aeon. However, it seemed as if the visitor managed to calm him down on her own. The nurse was still worried, but Aeon knew to call for her help should he really need it. Besides, another part of her felt relieved that Aeon had someone who seemed to care and even relate to him, so much so that it cured him of his silence. He probably needed to get some anger out of his system, now that he could, and the guest handled it well from what she could hear. Better leave them to it, she thought, And then I can ask about it later.

She took her eye off the knob for a second and before she knew it, it turned on its own and the guest was exiting. It had been a while, and the nurse could not help but to feel intrigued by the conversation that must have gone down. They exchanged glances, but hers was not met with enthusiasm.
“How did it go? What did he say?”

Twilight, ashamed for stirring him up, replied: “We uh… We had a bit of an argument at the end.” Twilight took a second to think and grew paranoid. It was her fault, after all. “His throat hurts from speaking, and his past sort of… came up. He might need some assistance… I am sorry...”

The nurse did not respond and instead opened the door to Aeon’s room. As soon as she looked inside, she knew that she had her work cut out for her. “Oh dear…” she expressed. “Uhm… Ms. Sparkle. You can go on without me. You remember the exit, right?”

Twilight nodded in return and turned around to walk away. But before she did, she looked back and asked: “Is he going to be alright?”

The nurse caught her eye contact for a moment but withheld any response. Then she went inside Aeon’s room without a word.

A solemn Twilight Sparkle walked the corridors of the mental institution, alone in company and in her mind. The forsaken hoof-steps echoed off of the lifeless, white walls sealing off a select few from civilization. The doors she passed were marked with a number and the name of the resident. Twilight half-expected to see her own name and walk inside. In her current state, she felt no less depressed than the patients she would call her neighbors.

Twilight momentarily forgot about Aeon and her own melancholy as she observed the fancy signature she was supposed to remember. Here it was; the ‘home’ of Luthus Regenard. She had just passed the door on her left when her brain made the connection. She went back, knocked on the door briefly, and then waited for a response. A husky and grave voice commanded “Who is it?”.

Twilight did not want to play the ‘a friend’-card again, instead speaking truthfully and hoping for the best: “Twilight Sparkle.”
“I don’t know any ‘Twilight Sparkle’…”, was the exact type of hostile response she did not want to hear. She continued regardless.
“Uhm… I am here on the behalf of Avany… Avany Lace.” Twilight said.

She heard Luthus murmur to himself before unlocking the door. He slowly opened the door and Twilight was introduced to Avany’s uncle. His fur was light grey and his mane was cut short and white as snow. He had a lengthy goatee of facial hair that had lived a long life and seen much.

He instructed her to take a seat on a chair as he did the same on the opposing side of a rounded, wooden table. He appeared sincere and plagued by worry. Twilight did not know what to make of it, so eventually Luthus forced himself to ask:
“What has happened to my daughter?” He cleared his throat and corrected his mistake, “…I mean niece. Is she okay? My little Avany?”

Twilight was confused by the somber tone of his questions. Was she missing something here? Then she realized what it actually sounded like to tell someone ‘I’m here on the behalf of someone you love’. Such an introduction would never bode well for the news that followed.

“Oh no, I’m sorry! I did not mean to say it like that… Excuse me... Avany is fine. I’m a friend of hers.” Twilight got back on track and Luthus expressed a sigh of relief. He seemed like quite a genuine and mature stallion. “In fact, I was instructed to stop by with a simple message.”
“Oh, alright. What is that then?”
“She loves you. She wanted me to remind you of that, while I was here. I was on my way here to visit another friend of mine.”
“How sweet of her, sending over a friend like that! Why couldn’t she come?”
“She had work to do. She said she was alone on her shift.”
“Typical Avany, always working herself to the bone. Can’t say I’m surprised. I’ve always admired her passion.” The old stallion had a really charming attitude and a warm, husky voice that you could listen to for ages. Twilight thought to herself how lucky Avany must be to have an uncle like Luthus. Just imagine hearing bed-time stories from this voice…
“Why don’t you make an old timer happy, eh?” He chuckled. “You can tell her that I love her with all of my heart, and that nothing will change that. You see… It was not the first time I’ve accidentally referred to her as ‘my daughter’…”

Twilight was unsure whether or not she had time for another stop before the next train would leave. However, she was afraid that she would break the old fellow’s heart by saying no, or mentioning that she barely knew Avany in the first place. Instead, she concluded by saying that she would do anything to make him happy.

Shortly after, she was on her way. As Twilight passed through the main lobby again, she glanced at the clock and was reminded of the train she needed to catch. It was the train she had planned to take home and it was going to be a tight race to make it in time.

“I suppose I could take the next train, so that I can go to the Tourist Agency and deliver Luthus’ response.” She begun to slow down, but then she recalled her promise to Spike… ‘Expect me to be home by dinner time.’ “Oh no… that would make me hours late! Spike would be so worried…”

As Twilight walked out on the streets she decided to go with her promise to Spike. Avany already knew that Luthus loved her, and she was going to visit him later today anyway. “Who knows what Spike would do without me?”

Meanwhile, back in the library, Spike had just closed for the day. A little bit early, but Spike was adamant that he had deserved it for working so hard.

He really did utilize Twilights absence to the best of his abilities. He hoarded all of the pillows, bed sheets and mattresses in the tree house and stacked them in a pile on the floor. Then he scurried up on the second floor’s elevated platform and dove off straight into the cuddly pit, exclaiming “Woohoo!”.

Twilight rushed onto the train station platform, but stopped and looked around. Panting, and with growing stress, she noticed how empty the platform was. There were only a little newspaper colt and the occasional bystander calmly going about their own business. That’s strange. Where is everypony? It’s usually quite crowded. Did I miss the train?

She walked up to a tangerine stallion, who was in the midst of a chat with his spouse, and attempted to squeeze a word in: “Excuse me, sir.”
“Yes?” he turned around.
“The train to Ponyville, has it gone early?”
“Uh…” he hesitated for a moment, “I think the trains have all been cancelled.”
“Really?” Twilight’s heart sank, “Why?”
The stallion simply shrugged, “Not quite sure. I am just here to admire the rainbow with my wife and kids.”

Twilight was reminded of the dull weather from earlier. After a very cumbersome and tightly scheduled shift, the weather ponies would typically produce a majestic rainbow across the sky. It is partly to apologize for the inconvenience, but also acted as a signal that they are finished. According to the stallion, over Canterlot, it was best seen from the train station platform.

Twilight left the family alone to wonder at the rainbow. She would too, were it not for the stress weighing her down. “That is so strange. Why would they be cancelled on such short notice?” she asked herself.

A sudden young voice squeaked from her behind; “I know why the trains are cancelled, ma’am!”

As Twilight swung around, she saw that it was the newspaper colt. “Oh thank you. Can you tell me what that reason may be?”

“5 bits, ma’am.” He teased and flaunted his bundle of papers. It was a cheap trick to get her attention, but the newspapers might actually have contained the information she wanted.

“Fine.” Twilight reached for her bag and retrieved the money that was meant for breakfast. “I ate at home anyway…”

The paper colt, content with the transaction, walked away with his new earnings, leaving her with a copy of the evening paper, fresh off the printer. In there, she found the explanation she was looking for.

As it turns out, the weather ponies were behind on their schedule. Very much so, in fact. And it was only made worse when the pegasi could not handle the pressure of punctuality. One particular mare, new on the job, had mistakenly fired a lightning bolt into some shrubbery. This was near the train rails, and a small fire was started. It was stopped before escalating to a forest fire, but not before trees and debris has fallen on the rails. As a result, all trains were to be cancelled for the day. The last paragraph of the article read:

‘These problems will hopefully be addressed quickly enough so that all trains can resume transport by the morning’, the Director of Canterlot Weather concluded.

“I suppose I have no choice but to spend the night here in Canterlot. Poor Spike… Hopefully he can read about the delay in the newspaper as well.” Twilight sighed and tried to look on the bright side, “Maybe this is a sign that I should pay Avany another visit.”

Thankfully, she managed to remember the path to the tourist agency. But the streets around her appeared almost deserted, and a discouraging atmosphere settled in as the night washed over the city. She would likely have gotten cold feet over it, were it not for the street lights granting her some visibility.

When she finally stood outside the agency, she was sad to see that there was nothing but darkness waiting inside and she was met with a sign on the door reading ‘closed’.

“Of course. Just my luck.” Twilight groaned, “There is probably no point in trying to send a letter to anyone either, as the post office must be closed as well.”

She decided to do the only thing she could do, which was find a place to stay over the night and hope for it all to be better the next day.

Princess Celestia noticed the train-related inconvenience that might have affected Twilight Sparkle, and could not help but to blame herself. She had invited Twilight to Canterlot and given her today’s ticket, including the now cancelled return trip. What if she did not have enough bits to stay here for two days?

The Princess decided to pay her friend a visit, not only to apologize for the trouble but also to reconvene for the first time in a long while. She made a promise that she would force herself to spare a few minutes from her duties, though not today. There would be no point in trying to track her down and visit her at this hour. Instead, she could do nothing but wait until morning and hope that Twilight could take care of herself for the night.

The next day, Celestia wasted no time in her hasty search. A couple of spells for tracking purposes and some instructions from polite pedestrians later, she had located and transported herself to the Inn at which Twilight was supposedly staying. As she now entered the charming establishment, all of the workers gasped and everypony in the lobby threw themselves on the ground in her presence. It was a part of her daily life that she could never quite get used to.

She granted the loyal citizens an appreciative smile, thanked them for their admiration and then commanded them to resume their lives. They tried, although half of them had forgotten what they were doing and stood bewildered, eyes gawking and jaws gaping. The Princess chuckled and approached the receptionist, who had managed to remain relatively calm so far.

“How may I be of assistance, Your Majesty?” she asked respectfully.
“I am actually here looking for someone.” the princess said, “Is there by any chance a ‘Twilight Sparkle’ residing here?”
The receptionist skimmed through the guestbook to confirm and indeed, that pony was among those listed. “Oh yes, she came and signed herself in late yesterday. I have not seen her since. Perhaps she has slept through the breakfast?”

She could hardly still be asleep, right? It was almost noon! What did she do yesterday? Celestia pondered, “Could you take me to her room, please?”
“Yes of course, ma’am.”

The receptionist picked up the matching spare key and then proceeded to show the royal visitor the way through their hallways. Not too long after, they reached their destination and the correctly numbered door came up in front of them.

The receptionist politely knocked on the door. There was no response, even after knocking again, this time loudly. The receptionist leaned in closely and inquired “Ms. Sparkle? You have a visitor. May we come in?”

The receptionist had been working all morning and was certain that Ms. Sparkle had not left in that time. Now, after the fourth ‘Hello?’, there was growing concern. Princess Celestia felt uneasy and hoped nothing had gone wrong. Collectively, they decided to use the spare key.

“Ms. Sparkle. We are coming in, okay?”

The receptionist unlocked the door and revealed what was inside. In this case, that answer was nothing. The bed sheets where undone and Twilight’s packing lay in a mess to side of the bed, as if just flung there in haste. She had simply vanished during the night.

The Princess was shocked and worried. No magic could help her locate the missing student. She wanted to remain optimistic and therefore reasoned to wait a day or so before jumping to any conclusions.

Two days went by and the Princess was distraught. Not only was Twilight her most favored and promising student, but she was essential to the Elements of Harmony. She was a living national treasure, required for the wellbeing of Equestria.

Three weeks went by and tears were shed, from the Princess to Twilight’s closest friends and family. Posters were everywhere, and the whole nation was searching for the missing unicorn.

Four months went by and all of Equestria could do nothing but lament their tragic loss.

But there was one more pony that went missing that exact same evening, very close nearby. Some individuals suspected that their disappearances were linked. However, without any evidence or traces to follow, the investigations led nowhere.

A couple were casually chatting and reading the paper at a Canterlot café, when a familiar but tragic subject was brought up. It had only recently faded from the public’s mind, but one could not resist the urge to ask once more…

“What ever happened to Twilight Sparkle? And then there was that other Canterlot resident… What was her name…? Oh yeah. Avany Lace...”