The blinding light finally faded away after a few moments, a ringing in everyponys ears letting everypony know that they were still alive. In the center of the room, floating in the air, Misty Spell was bobbing up and down. Her eyes were bright white, as magic flowed out of her horn, crackling in the air with raw energy. Her muzzle was wide in a silent scream as painful seeming spasms wracked her body.
Hidden behind an upturned table the two mares were glancing at each other in surprise. "She has magusitis?! Our new magic guild master has magusitis?!" Silver Cog exclaimed in disbelief, glancing over the table and swiftly scanning the room.
Fire Flare could only shake her head "I guess as an Earth Pony it wouldn't have been a problem" she said, gritting her teeth as a platter on the floor next to her transformed into a duck. When it leapt at her, she grabbed it in her orange aura and tossed it across the room where it was zapped again and turned into a cluster of grapes. "So what do we do?! This'll kill her!" she exclaimed, gaze returning to Silver Cog, who was still scanning the room.
"There!" the grey unicorn shouted, pointing a hoof at the discarded eyepatch that had been blasted across the room, now stuck to a window. "I'll put up a shield, go get it quickly," Silver Cog said, not even checking for a nod or response from Fire Flare, and lit up her horn. A wall of green came into view from floor to ceiling all the way to the window. The magic started blasting against it, unfiltered force straining against it.
A blast of wind signified Fire Flares burst, her body glowing as her physical capabilities were enhanced via magic. In the blink of an eye Fire Flare was across the room and had grabbed the eye patch. As the barrier went down, Fire Flare bolted forth, hoof colliding with Misty Spells face, slamming the eyepatch back in place. When she did this, Silver Cog used her own magic to fasten the eyepatch back into place.
The force from the impact had sent Misty Spell flying, slamming into some tables that had piled up by the wall. After a few uncertain moments she climbed out of the mess, struggling to get to her hooves. She was dazed and her face hurt badly, already able to tell it would be a shiner. "Ow owowowow, what WAS that?!" she asked, falling back on her rump as her legs were shaking.
"That was magusitis," Silver Cog said, walking out from behind the table, adjusting her glasses as she did so. "Allergy to magic," was added by means of explanation. "It's curable now, but back then a mage would wear an enchanted item to keep it in check" she said, reaching out and brushing some of Mistys hair out of the way to look at the eyepatch. "Hm, you'll need a new hairstyle, it looks like you cut it yourself" she said with a shake of her head.
Misty shook her head in bewilderment "my hair? I'm a unicorn allergic to magic, what was going on?!" she asked, clearly freaked out, even though she barely remembered any of it.
Fire Flare chuckled, patting Misty on the withers. "Well, ya almost died. Magusitis makes a unicorn expel all the magical energy in their body. Unfortunately the body can't differentiate between magical energy and regular energy very well, so it just...umm, what was it again?" Fire Flare asked, a sheepish grin on her face as her gaze went to Silver.
Rubbing her temple in frustration, Silver started to clean up, moving unbroken tables back into place. "Essentially you would have expelled every ounce of energy in your body, including the energy keeping your heart beating," Silver explained to an increasingly aghast Misty Spell.
Misty then smacked Fire upside the head. "And you laughed about that? You're horrible!" she shouted, tears welling up in her eyes as the realization of how close she was to dying crashed down on her.
Fire Flare rubbed the back of her head, wincing a bit "okay yeah, I deserve that. I guess I'm just kinda more used to near death experiences than most" she said. "I'm sorry I laughed" she added, realizing how messed up her words must have been. She was about to say something else when a knock came at the front door. When they all turned to look they saw Mayor Mare poking her head in through the door, a nervous look on her face.
"Is everything...alright in here?" she asked, making a point of not acknowledging the mess, having gotten used to such things during parties in town hall. "Ponies were complaining about strange lights and-oh, hello there. I don't believe we've met. Are you new to ponyville?" she inquired, attempting to make a good first impression with a potential new constituent.
"Not now mayor" Silver sighed, walking over to the mayor to explain what had happened.
While that was happening, Misty Spell wiped the tears from her eye, glancing over to Fire Flare who was still looking at her apologetically. "S-so I have to wear this eyepatch forever then?" she asked, voice a little shaky as she did. Her hoof went to the eyepatch and felt the gem embedded into it. 'This thing might have saved my life...thank you Gentle Hooves,' she thought to herself, letting out a relieved sigh.
Fire Flare shook her head "nah, ain't no big deal. It's curable now. Wasn't like a thousand years ago though, it's why folks had to wear enchanted junk to keep it in" she said with a smirk, pulling a broom and dust pan out from a nearby closet with her magic and bringing it over to them. "Still, ya gave us a major scare there," she added, broom starting to sweep up the mess. She moved to turn her attention to the broom, but both of them had their attention grabbed by a clearing throat. When they looked up both Mayor Mare and Silver Cog were looking at them.
Mayor Mare put on her best politicians smile and walked over to Misty, extending her hoof in greeting. Misty took the hoof and shook. "Welcome to Ponyville, Ms. Spell. While your abduction was quite unlawful I regret to inform you that Guild Master Arcana is quite outside of our reach, and we've no means of sending you back. However, we will do our best to accommodate your stay here."
Misty tilted her head in confusion "no means of sending me back? Can't I just walk? It's a few days north, but I could manage it," she offered, confused as to why she'd be stuck here any longer than necessary. Horn be damned, she had no intention of staying away from her family.
This seemed to catch the mayor by surprise, as she turned her gaze to each of the other unicorns in turn, both of whom were rather interested in things that were quite literally anywhere but where mayor mare was standing. "Oh. Oh dear you didn't know did you? Me and my big mouth. The previous guild master didn't just summon you from a town over. He pulled you from an alternate universe, at least that's what Silver Cog has told me," Mayor Mare explained, a worried look on her face.
Misty Spell felt faint. Then she looked faint. Then she fainted.
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The early morning sun fell in through the window, onto the large bed that was home to a rather large lump under some blankets. The lump, feeling the warmth of the sunlight started to squirm with annoyance. "Nnnng no, to tired mom" the muffled voice of Misty Spell called out groggily, eyes glued shut as she started to squirm her way out from under the blankets. When she did, she let out a long yawn and stretched, the pleasant popping of joints making the idea of waking up a little more palatable.
Her eyes opened slowly, green orbs scanning the room she was in for a moment. For one beautiful moment she thought she was home in bed and the strangeness of the previous night had been a dream. However, it registered all too soon that she was in a strange room she'd never seen before. True it was uncomfortably big, the majority of wall space dedicated to book space, and the only furniture seemed to be a large desk, three chairs, and the bed. Despite the alien surroundings, she lacked the energy for any big reaction. Instead, she noted the bathroom attached to the bedroom/office. "Who lives in their office anyway?" she mumbled to herself as she turned the light on and glanced at herself in the mirror.
Her reflection looked completely different from before. Though at first she couldn't figure it out. She checked her teeth, looked into her eyes, everything seemed to be normal. Even the horn, which she was weirdly used to already, didn't strike her as what was off. "Well, might as well brush this rats nest I call ha-hair! That's it, duh, stupid brain," she chuckled as she finally figured out what was off. Her hair was a lot longer than before. After a moment of self congratulations, however, Misty did a double take and looked at herself again. "No way my hair would grow this long naturally, how did thi-" she flashed back.
"Hm, you'll need a new hairstyle, it looks like you cut it yourself"
Misty narrowed her eyes, a deadpan look overtaking her face. "Oh. Right, well at least it's not too bad, I could get used to hair like this. I mean, I'm kinda liking the one eye covered thing I have going on, hides the eye...patch...wait," she drew up short once more. "Eyepatch! Ohno ohno ohno, where is it?! I'm gonna die with out it!" she fumbled around, trying to keep her right eye closed as she burst back into the bedroom/office and looked around frantically, not seeing it anywhere in sight. She was so panicked that she hadn't noticed Fire Flare standing in the doorway holding a brown paper takeout bag and munching on a hayburger.
"Lose somethin'?" she asked, watching the pandemonium and tilting her head to dodge a thrown pillow as Misty tried to find the eyepatch underneath it.
"M-my eyepatch, it's gone! I need it for my...my...wait, why am I still alive?" Misty asked, starting to calm down as she realized that nothing was happening. She heard a crinkling sound as the takeout bag was dropped on her desk. "What's that?" she asked, there being no burger joints or restaurants in the area she'd grown up in.
Fire Flare rolled her eyes, a good natured smirk on her face. "It's framed in the enchanted item storehouse, we cured ya last night, and breakfast. Sorry, Silver told me to feed ya but I can't cook to save my life" Fire Flare shrugged, finishing her own burger. "Now eat up, ya got some remedial magic lessons before our guild meeting starts. Ya won't be doin' anything right away, but it'll be good to start ya off as soon as possible," she explained, watching as Misty curiously fished the food out of the bag with her hooves. A package of fries and a hayburger with ketchup.
Misty Spell had completely calmed down now, and with burger in hoof, she took a bite. It wasn't bad, while she couldn't say it was great by any stretch of the imagination, it would be an alright meal. "So, why is my hair like this exactly?" she asked between bites.
Fire Flare looked her over carefully before getting up without a word and walking into the bathroom. "It's too late for a shower for now, but we can at least apply a little eyeliner and brush that hair," the red unicorn said, coming out with a mane brush and the stated makeup. "As the master of our guild it's your duty to look presentable. You looked like you were still living with your parents," she explained.
"I was," came Misty Spells response.
The items dropped to the floor as Fire Flare slapped her hoof to her face. "Celestias sun and moon, and you've been saddled with this much responsibility?! We're dead."
Misty Spell was about to object to the accusation that she couldn't handle it, but she realized fairly quickly that she quite honestly probably couldn't. However, she did have another objection "isn't the moon Lunas?" she asked, only to get a confused look from Fire Flare.
"Who's Luna?" the unicorn asked, picking up the brush and starting to stroke it through Mistys mane. "There's only Celestia, and I guess Cadance if you wanna count her, but she hasn't really come into her own yet," Fire Flare explained with a casual shrug.
Misty mulled this over in her head for a moment "umm, what year is it?" the brown unicorn asked as Fire Flare finished brushing the mane and tail into position and started to apply the eyeliner.
Fire Flare didn't answer until she'd finished. "The year 1000, next months Summer Sun Celebration's gonna be big. We're setting off magic fireworks for the party!" Fire Flare exclaimed excitedly, not noticing Misty Spell completely lost in thought.