Chapter 2: Gravity is Dead to Me

In her new room, Twilight sighed, wondering why she was suddenly so lonely. Rain had started to steadily pour in Canterlot, and the nagging feeling of longing hit the young alicorn hard. On a dreary day like today it was likely that she would have been at the Carousel Boutique, Rarity styling everypony's manes to pass the time, Applejack shying away from the manecare products she didn't completely understand or want to understand. But here Twilight was, lying alone. There were no books in this room yet. Apparently some were going to be brought from the library by royal guards, although she secretly wished she could have brought them here herself to have a reason to go back to her old library to visit Spike -

The thought hit her as hard as a brick wall. She had left Spike in Ponyville. She started to breathe heavily as she hopped up and practically ran to the door, and was thrown back across the room when she found that she had locked the door and forgotten, the ripped-off doorknob now lying in her hoof. This was getting very complicated, and Twilight was getting desperate. She'd left her #1 Assistant back in Ponyville in the pouring rain, and she was locked into her room with no way of escape except... The window.

The window! Brilliant, Twilight. She threw her cloak over her flank and trotted back over to the windows, and began pushing on them. If only... I could get this thing... Open... Finally the window creaked loudly, and cold and humid air started flowing into the room as the space between the window and the wall grew. When she was finally able to stick her head out into the damp outdoors, she did, and swung her body through the window, thinking only of Spike and the fact that she didn't know what she would do without him - before remembering that her room was nine floors high. Now, as she clung to the windowsill, her only wish was that she knew how to use her wings as well as lifelong pegasi. It didn't look hard at all, but she was afraid she would mess something up... But she put on a brave face. For Spike.

And with that, she started flapping her wings, and noticed that, yes, they were helping to keep her from falling to her doom. After a couple of seconds she let go with her hooves and used them instead to gently close the window, and flew off to follow the Friendship Express tracks to Ponyville.

It wasn't long before Twilight Sparkle could see the train tracks through the damp haze. Her wings were rewarding her well - it now felt more like hovering than before, but it didn't make a difference, as long as she could retrieve her closest friend. The tug in her gut grew stronger with guilt, and she sped faster along the tracks to distract from her internal nagging. You idiot... Idiot... You left Spike... You left Spike, idiot... Twilight clenched her teeth so hard that she heard the grind through the pouring rain - because it was all true, what her conscience was screaming at her, and she knew she deserved to feel this way for what she had done. As she flew, she practically forced herself to think about it, as if she was a filly who had been sent to her room for drawing on the walls.

She hung her head, shutting her eyes tightly. Maybe, if she was going to be so irresponsible, she didn't deserve her baby dragon at all.

Unexpectedly, when her eyes blinked open and before she knew it, there was the Ponyville station straight ahead, and the young alicorn contemplated how she was going to arrive at the library if she hadn't yet been shown how to land. Well, I'll just have to learn now. Holding her breath slightly, she ever-so-slowly headed towards the ground, and landed softly at the station with a still-cautious shiver. She folded back her wings and shifted her cloak so that they weren't visible and wouldn't attract as much attention. That was the very last thing she needed at that particular moment, a distraction from her current mission. So, throwing the hood over her head as a final touch, she set out through the familiar rain-flooded streets towards the library.

The streets and houses were the same as they used to be and had been for so very long, but for some reason Twilight couldn't identify, everything had a different feel to it now that the rain was falling hard. It usually didn't flood this high in Ponyville, not with Rainbow Dash around to clear the clouds before anypony could say "ten seconds flat." Twilight shrugged to herself. Maybe Rainbow wasn't feeling up to it today? Wait, she'd be up to  it even if she was sick... the alicorn realized with a jolt, but quickly pushed the thought that this was the very least of her problems, reminding herself that the pegasus could handle it for herself and everything would be fine. After all, everypony looked normal - scratch that, Twilight thought - nopony was outdoors. Likely because the waters were up to the doors, and it was near impossible to walk around without getting drenched in water. Twilight Sparkle, on the other hoof, was hoof-deep in water and wet all over, and she didn't care at all, as long as she could make it back to the library.

And right now, the floodwaters were carrying her in the direction of Rarity's boutique.