What have I done?

It was obvious that something was wrong with what had been said. Spike hadn't even thought about this particular downside of being caught. To him, the only thing that could come out of this was him being hurt. Even when he had admitted, although accidentally, he still had that worry that it would have ended with him being in some sort of pain. That didn't turn out to be the thing that happened, though, with the actual result being that he simply felt guilty. He watched as the stallion, Hokey Smokes, started to trot away. What's wrong? Did he want to keep it some sort of secret? I guess I might of messed up with that one... The problem was that now he didn't know what to do. Part of him wanted to head back to the library, and hope that Hokey Smokes would be alright. He still didn't know what to think about this situation, nor did he particularly like the stallion, but that didn't mean that he was completely without compassion. The only thing that made that option viable, at all, was the fact that there wasn't much that could hurt Hokey Smokes in Ponyville. If the unicorn stayed within the confines of the town, nothing bad would happen. The only trouble was that there was a chance that he would leave town, that he would try to do whatever it was that he had tried to do before. If those wolves returned, then there wouldn't be much of a chance to fight back.

That was only the first option, though.

The second option was to ignore what had been said. Spike needed to apologize, he knew it. When somepony wanted to keep a secret, or just to not have something thrown in their face, that is exactly what should have happened. I don't have to like him, I just have to treat him like he's a fellow being. I should really apologize. But what if he doesn't want to hear it right now? What if I can't find him? What if he's angry? That wouldn't end well. That wouldn't end well at all. There was also the fact that he didn't know where to look. The town wasn't huge, but it was big enough that somepony could hide if they really wanted to. It didn't seem likely that Hokey Smokes wanted to be found, so it was likely that he wouldn't be found before it was time to go to sleep. Yep, sleep is definitely a good thing. I can try to find him tomorrow, and I will. He'll be alright for one night, I'm sure. It isn't as though he went back to the forest, right? A yawn escaped, and he tried to quickly make it back to the library before he went to sleep. Spike had barely made it through the door, and didn't make it to his bed, before he curled up on the floor and went to sleep. Yep, the floor will do nicely...

~Near the outskirts of Ponyville~

The rest of the day hadn't gone well, not well at all.

There had been the hope that he would be able to find a place to stay, a place that wasn't the ground, but that didn't seem to be the case. Hokey Smokes didn't want to head to Sweet Apple Acres, even if there was the chance that he could guilt them out of a bed. He didn't want to head back until it was time for him to show that he could do magic again. Maybe I can show Applejack that I'm powerful... if I ever get that way again. By the time that he had given up, the moon was high in the sky. There hadn't been a single place that he could stay, but that wasn't all bad. The thing that he did look forward to, at least tonight, was looking up at the stars as he drifted off to sleep. Somewhere, mom and dad are looking up at these same stars. I really wonder what they're up to. Why aren't they looking for me? No matter, I'll find them sooner or later. It was times like this, quiet times, when he could look up and start to think about what it was that he needed to do. They were out there, somewhere, and he was going to have to look for them. He was going to have to find them. It would take a lot of time, and more effort than he had given so far, but it would be worth it.

“I'll find them.”

As he said that, his eyes closed. The ground had gotten more comfortable than when he first started camping, which was a nice way of saying that he didn't have a home to go to, or maybe he had just gotten used to it. As he drifted to sleep, Hokey Smokes was greeted by the normal things that seemed to come to him these days.

”I can do it this time!”

Months had passed since he had tried it before, and had been told to try something smaller. Hokey Smokes still hadn't perfected the last thing he had tried, or even got it right, but that wasn't what he was going to do today. He had been told to start with something smaller, or more accurately his mom had given him the advice to start smaller, and so he had. He had actually moved to something else, lifting things with magic. Every unicorn could do it, every one with any real magical talent. There was a look of determination in his eyes as he looked over at the bookshelf. It weighed a whole fifteen pounds, it wasn't exactly the heaviest object in the room. It was still something that he wanted to share with his mom, who seemed to enjoy seeing the progress that her child made. When he had said those words, trying to get her attention, she hadn't thought that it would be anything like this. As much as she loved her son, she didn't expect that he would be able to do much more than lift a book. Having faith in somebody was one thing, but realism was something that prevented people from being disappointed.

“What is it, dear?”

A glow overtook his horn, just as always. The same glow covered the entire bookshelf. Hokey Smokes was focusing hard, having to shut out everything else, he was determined to do this right. The bookshelf started to wobble for a moment, and a worried look overtook his face. He focused his energy even more, the glow intensifying around his horn. With that, the wobbling lessened, the shelf started to move. He had known that he could do it, this was the second time in that day that he had done it. Even though he had to quickly sit it down, and then go to pick up a book that had fallen off, this was a victory. Hokey Smokes knew that lifting multiple things was way beyond his level, so he had come up with the next best thing. All he really needed to do was lift up something carrying multiple things, it would make him seem awesome. It would be something that would make sure that the people who looked at him did so with pride. Most importantly, though, it was make sure that his mom smiled.

“That's amazing.” The tone sounded sincere, which was good. “I actually have a surprise for you, too. Since you seem to be taking this so seriously, your father and I were able to get you into the School for Gifted Unicorns. Well... if you're able to pass a test, that is. You'll make us proud, I know it!”

The sun rose, as it did every day, and this time it awoke the sleep stallion.

Hokey Smokes slowly stood back on his feet, a yawn escaping his mouth, and he glanced around. There was a crowd of people, apparently it wasn't normal to sleep where he had decided to. What are they looking at? You'd think they'd never seen a sleeping unicorn before. Regardless, he didn't waste any time looking at any of them. They might have been able to help him, but he just wanted to find something to do for the rest of the day. The next day, that would be when Twilight Sparkle would be back. And that means I have a place to sleep tonight. I doubt that she would want to wait to start those test again. A smile was forced onto his face, and then he started to walk toward the forest again. There wasn't really a lot for him to do, and something had caused him to regain hope in his abilities. I bet it was mom. She's always been like that... The dream, the one from the night before, was still on his mind. His parents were coming to his mind more and more, he started to miss them more with each passing night. He would find them, he just knew that he would. Mind was focused on his parents, he didn't even notice that somepony, or more accurately some dragon, was standing in his way.

“Ooof! Sorry about th-” It was around that time that he was Spike. So he decided to follow me again? That is just so annoy- That thought wasn't even finished, Hokey Smokes looked down to see that the dragon looked scared. Was he really that frightening. “I'm not going to hurt you just because you're following me around. I didn't hurt you yesterday, did I?”

“Nope.” The look of fear slowly removed itself, but Spike still didn't seem happy. “Listen, I'm sorry about yesterday. I didn't know you wanted to keep it a secret.”

“Well, I did. And I have some very important business to take care of today, so if you don't mind I'll be going now.” Then again, he'll probably just follow me. I suppose I should let him know about my plans for the night. “If it isn't any trouble, I'll return for the night later. I doubt that Twilight Sparkle would want for her test subject to not be there when she returns. Is that alright?”

“Errr... sure? Can I join ya? I promise I won't cause any trouble.”

It would have been easier to say no if Spike hadn't looked up at him with those begging eyes. A sigh came, right before the foregone conclusion. “Alright, just make sure you don't get those timber wolves to chase you again...”

“Ehehehe, I don't think that'll be a problem.”

“Fine, let's head off then. I have a lot of work to do before tonight.”

~A few hours later~
The training had started off innocently enough. Hokey Smokes started to try to lift a single twig. He knew that he could do it, but there was the fact that he simply wanted to make sure that it was still as easy as it was the prior day. It hadn't proven anything, though, so he moved up to a branch. That had been where he saw improvement. It wasn't that he hadn't been able to do it before, but it seemed easier this time. Hokey Smokes didn't want to rest on any laurels, if he even had any, and had upped the ante. Limbs got bigger, until it was obvious that he had needed to take a break. The two of them, Spike hadn't actually caused any trouble, went to get lunch before they had come back for a little more work. Noon had passed, and now it was time for the heavy lifting to happen.

That stump is mine!

Energy flowed into his horn, and soon it overtook the stump. It was still something that he wasn't sure about, though he still did his best to psyche himself into believing that it would be simple. Inch by inch, the roots were pulled out of the ground. Sweat was starting to cover his face, but there was no way that he was going to give up yet. Spike looked on, not particularly amazed as he had seen Twilight Sparkle do even bigger feats. It was obvious that the little dragon wouldn't vocally make the comparison, though. Regardless, Hokey Smokes felt the need to prove that he could be just as magical as those around him. Right now, it meant lifting the stump that was slowly starting to be removed from the ground. A whole three minutes later, it was four inches above the ground. That had signaled victory, that signaled that he was able to do something that he had previously failed at. That means that I'll be able to do bigger things, and maybe I'll get back to where I was before the accident. Maybe I'll be able to do it...

Of course, the effort didn't come easily. Hokey Smokes hadn't noticed that he had basically collapsed.

“Woah. You okay there?”

“I'm.... fine. I just need a few minutes, and we can head back.”

“But... it's only a little after noon. Didn't you want to work a little more?”

“I've decided to take this victory and be happy with it. Besides, I can always read a few books...”

That elicited a groan, as if thoughts of re-shelving books came to mind. It didn't matter to him, he wasn't going to pull them all off the shelves anyway. The thing that he was going to do, though, was read up about lifting two objects at once. That was something that he still needed to do, that he still wanted to show Twilight Sparkle when she got back. Hokey Smokes got back on his feet, and motioned for Spike to follow him. “No use staying out here all day. I've got some studying to do.”

“This should be fun.” Obviously sarcastic, Spike jumped to land on Hokey Smokes' back. The problem was that he wasn't prepared, and collapsed.

“I was hoping you'd walk...”

“Oh... hehe. Sorry?”

“No harm done, just please get off me.”

The snap of a nearby twig told him that it was definitely time for them to get out. Hokey Smokes wasn't sure what it was, but Spike had heard it too. The two of them were soon sprinting out the forest as quickly as they could move. Neither of them stopped running until they were at the library, though there was little chance that it would have followed them out of the forest.

Whatever it was.

The rest of the day seemed to go quicker. Hokey Smokes spent the day reading, with dinner being a welcome distraction. He still didn't know what he was doing wrong, still didn't know why he couldn't lift multiple objects It should have been so easy, but for some reason it just wasn't happening. Oh well, tomorrow will be a new day to try again... With that final thought, he drifted off to sleep.