The sun had come out on a beautiful morning the day after, as if the events of the previous day didn't happen.
The light of the sun's rays got reflected on Boost's eyes as he slowly started to wake up. Groaning, he sat up, and looked at Currency's bed.
Something was immediately wrong, for Currency was standing tall on the bed, with a blank stare.
"Currency?" He asked nervously.
She didn't respond, but continued to stare out into space.
This was slightly concerning for Boost.
"Is something wrong Currency?"
She didn't respond, and maintained her blank gaze. He knew something was wrong with her, and proceeded to push the emergency button to call the nurse.
Nurse Redheart answered immediately, who came in panting.
"I'm here!" she said. She looked over at Currency. "What..."
"Nurse, I think something is wrong with her!" said Boostrot nervously, a scared expression on his face.
She walked closer to Currency. "You found her like this?"
"Yes, I woke up and found her just like that."
"Hm..."
She touched Currency by the hoof. It was a mistake.
The minute she touched her, Currency broke her gaze, covered her ears with her hooves and began screaming wildly.
"Currency!"
Nurse Redheart, temporarily startled by this, moved to restrain her on the bed, struggling to keep Currency down.
"I'VE FAILED!!!" Currency screamed, "ALL MY FAULT!!! ALL MINE!!! PROTECT THEM! SAVE THEM! PLEASE! FOR WHAT I WOULDN'T DO! For what... I couldn't do..." and at that, she collapsed on the bed, and fell into unconsciousness again.
Nurse Redheart and Boost stood there recovering from the initial shock of what had just happened.
His face turned into an expression of horror and worrying. "Something is wrong. Something is horribly wrong..."
"I couldn't agree more..." muttered Nurse Redheart. She examined Currency, and then felt her forehead. "Strange... her head feels cold..."
Boost started to worry more. "Call, Twilight. CALL HER!!!"
Nodding, she ran out of the room. Clearly, this was no medical issue, but something deeper, perhaps more than Boost felt comfortable with. He waited for what seemed like years, holding little regard for his own missing leg, and more for Currency. Many thoughts passed on his head. "Will she be fine?" "Will she be the same mare that he knew after this?" Or the most terrifying of this thoughts, "Will she survive? "He sweated as he slowly started to get into an episode of panic.
A little while later, Nurse Redheart ran back into the room, followed by Twilight, most likely awakened from sleep, as it was still early morning.
"Twilight!" Boost yelled. "It's Currency! Something is wrong with her!"
"I came as soon as I could!" She replied with concern. After spotting Currency crumpled on the bed, she muttered to Boost, "Oh Celestia.... what happened exactly?" She bent down to examine her.
"I don't know! When I woke up I found her standing up on her bed, and when the nurse examined her, she began to scream things like it's her fault and stuff like that!"
She frowned. "Her fault?"
"Yeah. Can you please explain what does she mean? Please tell me you can."
After a minute of thinking, she replied, "No, i'm afraid I have no clue. it must be something to do with her horn though, like we thought."
"Can a unicorn live without its horn?"
Disturbed by this thought, Twilight said, "Yes...but it would be much worse for her..."
"Help her! Then help her!!!" he begged.
Hesitating no longer, Twilight began to view Currency's mind, by putting her hoof on her.
"Hm..." She muttered.
Without warning, Currency leapt out of the bed and dived forward, landing on the ground with a hard impact.
Shocked, Boost shouted, "Twilight?! Twilight! Is she alright!? What did you do!?"
"I didn't do anything! I swear! She just..." She carried Currency back into the bed. "Hm... Do you think she is reliving something in her past? Like a vision?"
"Why would she do that?" Boost asked uncertainly.
Twilight looked at Currency again, who was still incapable of any movement.
"It's as if she was diving to save something..."
"Like what?"
"Well... What if she was reliving the moment where she became a shadow?"
"But again... Why would she do that!?"
"I don't know!" She said stressed. "It's just a theory!"
She could see Boost's heartbeat in the monitor increase. Clearly he was extremely worried about her.
Suddenly nervous, she ran to Boost. "Boost, please, your heart rate..."
"What? My heart rate?" His heartbeat went down slightly. He looked at the monitor, and continued, "Remember that i'm cured Twilight! Help Currency!"
"Sigh... I care for both of you Boost, but alright...." She moved back to Currency. "Hm.. without a doubt, it's her horn that's causing this. There is some way to fix it, that much I know, but its beyond my skill to heal.
After thinking for a bit, Boost shouted, "Bluespark can brew potions! He is amazing at it!"
"Hm, or Madame Zecora, yeah," said Twilight. "But I suppose that Bluespark would be the closest solution.
"He lives in a small wooden house close to Carousel Boutique, said Boost. "Go and find him, He must be there working on a way of fixing it."
"Right! I'm on it!" A little softer, she adds, "Don't worry Boost, we will find a way to get you two back to health. I promise."
"You are doing too much just for a dirty colt Twilight..."
With a sad smile, she replied, "You're far from dirty Boost, your heart proves that. It's what the best of friends do."
"Heh... Thanks. But lets not get sentimental. You need to go find Blue. He will know what to do."
"Right." And at that, she left the room.
And in a few minutes, Twilight arrived at Blue's house, still in poor condition from the fallen parts and graffiti on it's walls.
"Hm..." She said with slight doubt, "This must be it..."
She went to the door, and knocked on it. The door proceeded to fall down, scaring Bluespark, who was inside working on something inside.
"What the!? Princess Twilight!?" he said with great surprise.
"Oh! Sorry Bluespark," said Twilight, "Didn't mean to startle you... Sorry about your door..."
"Eh, Don't worry," He said casually. "I can fix it later. What brings you here?"
"Well... it's about Currency Compass... you wouldn't happen to know a potion that could repair her horn, could you? There was an... incident this morning."
"Yeah..." he replied, a bit unnerved. "I was researching about previous cases of severed unicorn horns, and let's just say that it's not pretty. I'm working as best as I can to make a potion that can repair it, but it will take some time. Gladly, I can make it before her brain gets damaged beyond repair."
"Wait, you've been working on a cure?" asked Twilight startled.
"Yeah!" said Blue, a bit annoyed, "Did you really think i would let my friend stay in the hospital without a leg?"
Twilight replied, "No, it's just... never mind...well, Currency has been in a delusional state for the whole morning... I'm a bit worried".
"Don't worry Princess Twilight. The potion is almost complete now. I just need to polish some things and it will be ready and safe to use. It will definetly regenerate Boost's leg...but...something i'm not sure about though is if it can regenerate an unicorn horn normally, because its such a complex organ of the pony body. So... it might can have some effects we don't expect, but it's a probability. Maybe it will just regenerate normally."
"Hm... side effects?" She looked at his potion station.
"Probably... But lets just expect for the best," he said while he was brewing a frothy blue potion.
On the nearby shelf was the same white potion that Boost and Currency took note of, but Twilight gave no special regard to it.
"Sigh..." She looked around. "Er, nice place you have here!" she said politely.
"Thank you. I wouldn't say the same though, I just want to have the work done and not focus to much on the order of the place."
"I see..." she continued to look around. She took a look at various artifacts Bluespark possessed, until she found some pictures of him and Boost playing in some type of playground. She supposed that the picture was taken a couple of years ago.
"Aw... You two are really close i see."
"When i first met him... I knew he needed some company. A poor colt who sat in a destroyed school. When I saw him, I wanted to help him, even if he was dangerous, because I knew that he was something more than just a monster. First, I just wanted to make him happy as long as I could be with him. But then we became closer and I tried to find a cure for him. But i guess Miss Compass got ahead of me. Heh..."
"You have a good heart Bluepark." said Twilight in a warm tone. "And an incredible mind i might add!"
"Well... thank you..." he kept working on the potion in grave concentration.
Twilight kept looking around the shelves, and happened upon a picture of Bluespark as a baby in the arms of an adult pony, With the same colors as Blue, but lighter. "Um, Bluespark? Who is this pony?"
"Hm?" He looked at the picture. "Oh! That's my father, Whitespark. He is still living in the Crystal Empire. When I left for Ponyville, he wasn't very happy, much less that I was hanging out with Boost. But after I explained it to him, he understood everything."
"That's interesting." Twilight said. After finishing her inspection of the room, she sat on the sofa and decided to wait for Blue to finish.
They spend several minutes in silence, which no doubt felt like hours to Twilight, who was almost asleep on the sofa when suddenly she heard,
"Aha!" She woke up with a start. "Its done!" Bluespark proclaimed. "Well.. partially... But i can say at least it's safe to use!" The blue potion has turned into a pink one. "What are we waiting for? Lets go!"
"Right!" Getting up, she followed him out of the house, being careful with the door, and soon, they were on their way.
They arrived at the hospital, but they found something to be... wrong.
When they entered the room, they found Boost on the floor, struggling to get up, and the window shattered to pieces. Currency was nowhere to be seen.
"Boost!? What happened!?" Blue said, while he helped Boost into a sitting position. Twilight, shocked at this new discovery, ran to his side, and helped him up as well.
"I don't know.." replied Boost, a bit bleary, "It happened so fast. She tried to escape...I could hold her for a bit, but then she got away...jumped out the window..."
"Don't worry buddy," said Blue. "I got something that can help you."
"Are you alright then Boost?" Asked Twilight with concern.
"Yes... Its just that I fell and I wasn't able to get up. I tried to call a nurse but i couldn't reach the button."
Blue took the potion and poured some on his hoof, which seemed almost like a gel.
"Show me your leg." he said tensely. Twilight watched on in curiosity.
He turned around showing his only leg. Where his old leg was supposed to be, only a big scar remained. Twilight winced a little as she saw it.
Blue started to rub the gel on the scar. "There..." Blue said.
Then, the gel got absorbed into his skin. Something started to grow on it and take form, almost like some throbbing tumor.
"What the..." Boost muttered in bewilderment. "This is so weird..."
"What manner of..." said Twilight, as Boost began to move the tiny leg that was growing on him. Clearly it wasn't pleasurable sight to see. She began to lean against the wall for support.
"Twilight? Are you ok?" Boost asked a bit nervously.
"Y-yeah... I'm fine..."
Then Blue said. "Are you sure? You look pale. Boost, I think you should stop moving your leg until it grows completely."
Twilight, trying to perk up, said, "I'm fine, don't worry, it's Boost that I'm concerned about."
"Why?" He asked.
She turned to Boost, "Don't you find this... a bit strange?" She looked down at his forming leg.
"Well... Yeah, a bit," he replied. "But when you've been with Blue for a long time, you can expect that. Its not the first time he's drawn me into one of his experiments. Remember when you used your shrink potion and you couldn't find me for 3 days?" said Boost, a mischievous grin on his face.
"Heh... Yeah. i remember." Blue said, smirking back. Twilight was slightly dazed by this remark, but eventually shook it off as she continued to watch his leg grow. And soon enough, his leg has grown completely. It was hairless, but complete.
"Sweet Celestia..." muttered Twilight, "that's incredible!"
"Ok Boost, said Blue a bit cautiously, "get off the bed slowly, and try to walk."
Boost complied, and slowly got off the bed. He lost his balance for a moment, but then he was able to walk normally. "Wow... amazing. Thanks Blue!"
"No need to thank me. I'm glad that you're alive!"
Twilight smiled at the two. "I'm glad your alright Boost... but now we need to find Currency and repair her horn, before its too late."
"Right. Lets go, and lets not worry," said Blue. "The worst that can happen is for her to not be able to do magic again."
"That is, we need to find her first, and that might not be too difficult. She can't have gone too far," Twilight said.
"Without her horn, definetly not," Blue stated.
"I hope she's ok..." Boost murmured.
"We need to find her before her state can lead her to permanently damage her mind."
"WHAT!?"
Clearly, that may have not been the best choice of words, with Boost close.
"Or if she hurts some pony..." said Twilight, with slight discourse.
They left the hospital, and soon enough stood outside a few meters away.
"Oh god..." said Boost slightly stressed. "Well, let's do this. He transformed into wolf form, initially startling the others.
"I'll throw you up in the air, and yell if you see anything weird. Ok Twilight?"
"Wait... what-" But before she could process what he said, Boost has already grabbed her.
"Ok on the count of three! One... Two..." She gave blue an overwhelmed look, who just shrugged in return.
"Three!" Then he threw Twilight high up in the air with amazing strength, sending her flying a few meters above the ground. She used her wings to help her stay up in the air, and, slightly shaken, began to search. "See anything yet!?" Boost yelled up in the air, after a few minutes.
"After a few moments, she flies back down. "I think I spotted her!" said Twilight. "She is in somewhere in Sweet Apple Acres!
"Shortcut!" Boost yelled excitedly.
Blue sighed. "Boost please do not-"
But before Blue could continue his protest, he grabbed both of them and began to make really, high, and very long jumps all the way to the edge of the Apple orchards in only a matter of minutes. He put them down, both of whom were shaken to the core.
"I need to get used to this..." muttered Blue. Twilight collapsed on the ground exhausted.
"Sorry." Boost said. "At least we are here."
"Just... Don't do it again..." Blue muttered.
"Fine... So Twilight. Where is she?"
"Hm... Let's see.." She looked one way, then another's "Er..."
"What?" Boost asked. They look towards a figure moving through the trees, walking at a slow pace.
"There she is!" whispered Twilight.
"I got her!"
Boost ran towards the figure and jumped at it to prevent it from running away.
"What in blue blazes?" The figure shouted in surprise.
"Wait..." He took a closer look at her. They had cornered Applejack, who was not at all too happy about being jumped in the middle of her stroll.
"Eek! Applejack!" He got off her. "I'm so so sorry! I thought you were Currency!" Boost proceeded to help her get up.
"Agh, thanks... but what in tarnation are you looking for Currency for?"
"She's escaped the hospital. We think it has to do with her missing horn, so we need to find her fast. Twilight saw her here."
"Oh, heya Twilight!" Applejack waved to her.
"Hi AJ!" she replied.
"So... asked Blue, "you wouldn't have spotted her by chance?"
"Well... I heard some sorta commotion out here..." she replied, trying to remember.
"Where?"
"About in the area where we are right now actually..."
There was silence for a moment. Then Blue said,
"Maybe it was because of the way of Boost brought us here." Boost laughed nervously.
"Well, let's find her..." muttered Twilight.
They went through the apple trees searching for her, reminding Boost of the large size of the orchards when he was stealing items from the farm.
After a few minutes of tense searching, they heard some sort of laughter. Almost maniacal, causing the entire group to jump.
"Are you hearing what im hearing?" Boost asked slightly scared.
"Yeah... Maybe its her." Blue said.
Applejack replied, "how could that be her?"
"A unicorn without its horn can lead to serious mental illness," Blue replied. "If we don't return her horn in time, her brain can get permanently damaged."
"Oh... well then," Applejack muttered.
"Let me see..." Boost said. Then he slowly walked to the source of the laugh. There was nothing there, but green leaves and ripe apple trees.
"Wait... What? I swear it was here!"
"Hm..." Blue said. They then heard some muttering to the north, as if some crazy voice was reciting a stanza of some sort.
Boost's ears twitched. "I got you!" He ran to where the muttering came, but once again found nothing.
Twilight, confused, said, "But how..?"
"I don't understand..." Blue said as confused as Twilight.
"Are you trying to mess with me!?" yelled Boost into the darkness.
"Well somthin's up..." said Applejack, a bit nervous.
Boost, looked around desperately trying to find her. He spotted a flash of red behind a nearby tree. It could be her hair, he thought. Without thinking twice, Boost ran at it, jumped behind the tree, and cornered the source of the noises.
It was Currency, who was looking on the end of her wits, her hair was messed up, and she had a wild look about her face. He caught her as soon as he could. "I got her!!" he yelled triumphantly.
Upon being caught, a sudden look of fear crossed her eyes. "No! Please princess! Don't do it! It's me!" She tried to struggle out of boost's grip.
"Blue! The potion!" Blue ran as fast as he could.
"Well.. Finally we found her."
Currency managed to get out of Boost's grip, and backed away frantically. "Princess! Please! Don't..."
"What's got into her!?" Shouted Applejack.
"I'm not going to waste any time!" yelled Bluespark, who fired a spell straight at Currency, knocking her out.
"No..." She muttered, as she collapsed.
"Nice shot!" Said Twilight relieved.
"Thank you," said Blue, panting a bit. "Now... Lets finish this once for all."
"Reminds me of that one time you went crazy, remember Twilight?" said Applejack, relieved as well.
He took the potion and poured some on his hoof. He then rubbed it on her broken horn, which was little more than a stump. "Lets just hope it works..."
Immediately, the salve began to fizzle, and her horn slowly begins to regenerate. And in matter of minutes, Her horn was completely regenerated.
Blue proceeded to remove the spell from her. "Lets hope she is ok.."
She slowly started to wake up, the grounds about the group were silent.
"Oh... Oh my head..."
"Currency!" Boost yelled relieved, as he went and hugged Currency, still in his Wolf form. "You are back!"
"B...Boost? Is that you?"
"Of course its me!" he said excitedly.
"Oh Boost!" She returns the hug with a sudden surge of energy.
Then Blue came to the pair, and said "Ok, relax Boost. We still need to do some tests to see if her brain hasn't got any damages."
"Brain? What?" Currency said in a confused manner.
"Miss Compass. Can you tell me what day it is now?"
"Er... what day?"
"Day. Date. Both work, just tell me one please."
"Er.. a thousand years after I became a shadow? 2017 is it?"
"Can you tell me what's thirty two plus twelve?"
"Forty four? No wait... Is that right?
"Yes. Now some more questions..."
Question after question followed, and Currency correctly answered each of them with surprising crispness and sharpness. Soon enough, she had passed the test.
"Ok", finished Blue, "I can see your brain has suffered some minor complications but they can get better during time. I can say that you'll be fine."
Boost proceeded to hug Currency tighter. "I'm glad that you are fine Currency."
"Fine? I don't understand... What happened?"
"Let me explain you." Then Boost explained everything that happened from the moment that they defeated Gladtrot to the actual moment.
She stared in disbelief at the group. "And I did what to him?"
"I don't know exactly. What I saw is that you teleport him somewhere." She sat in silence.
"You know where did you send him right?"
"Um... No, I don't," she said sadly.
Upon hearing this, Boost's morale quivered, "Y- You don't know where did you send him!?"
Blue said, "Boost. please..."
"No! He could be anywhere by now!!! And he said he will come back!! I'm dead!!!"
"Boost," said Currency calmly, "Please calm do-"
"ITS EASY FOR YOU TO STAY CALM! YOU DON'T HAVE A KILLER LOOKING FOR YOU!!"
"Many people have tried to kill me Boost... it's hardly a thing to get excited about for me." Twilight and Applejack were taken aback by this remark."
"What do you mean hardly!?"
Boost kept crying on the ground. Now in his normal form.
"Boost?" Asked Currency, "why are you crying?"
"Don't you get it!? HE IS NOW ROAMING FREE SOMEWHERE! LOOKING FOR ME! I AM DEAD!"
Strangely enough, she smiled.
"Not if we can help it."
"Currency. You dont know.. He is a very intelligent pony. He will find a way of getting ahead of us!" He stood there in the ground for a couple of minutes, When his mind became more cleared he said sobbing. "I don't want to die Currency..."
"Boost..." She put her hoof on his cheek. "There are many things worse than death... and he can cause much harm to the inhabitants of Equestria if we can't challenge him."
"Are we going to be fine?" he begged. "Please Currency... promise me. Promise me he won't harm any of us..."
Her smile seemed to be all he needed to reassure him.
"And we will help you all the way." said Twilight."
"No matter what." Added Bluespark.
"Thank you. Thank you all." Boost said as a small smile appeared on his face.
"But we need to train your mind," said Currency, her smile falling a little. "We can't rely on luck and love alone to stop him. You'll need to learn to be able to resist him."
"And how are we going to do that?"
"We'll find out I suppose." she said. "For now, let's leave this place..."
He nodded. Bidding farewell to Applejack, the group of four left the orchard to head back to town. Its time for them to face the new adventures that their life has to offer.