It was pretty late when the train was pulling into Canterlot station. The girls came with me, Spike too. We were all tired, except for Pinkie of course, and just wanted to settle in. Celestia promised us rooms in the castle for the time we are here. She also sent me instructions to meet her in the throne room before anything else. The high pitch of the brakes slowing the train to a stop helped wake everypony up a little. I couldn’t tell you why a train from the small town of Ponyville was this full to save my life, but by Celestia, it was crowded. It took a good five minutes to get off the train. Everypony was relieved for it too.
Rarity, sleepy as she was, came up to me and said: “Pardon me Twilight dear, but I seem to have forgotten why we came here.” I didn’t blame her because it was so late, so I politely reminded her.
“Spirit, if you remember him, has just recently slipped into a coma. He’s currently in private care at the castle and Princess Celestia is going to take me to visit him, along with those of you who wish to do the same.” I took the lead as the girls followed behind. Using my magic, I readjusted Spike to make sure he doesn’t suddenly slip off my back. Might as well let him sleep now, he is a baby after all.
“That bad, uh? Feelin bad for the poor fellow.” commented Apple Jack. “I remember you mentioning something about ‘magical exhaustion’, what’s that?” if it wasn’t so late, I would have probably have been less blunt about it.
“Magical exhaustion means that he’s suffering from a lack of magic, which is the equivalent to lifeforce for a unicorn, and there’s a high chance he’s going to die from it.” everypony, except Rarity, gasped from the news. In fact, Flutter shy nearly fainted again, Apple Jack looked like she just got bucked in the muzzle, Rainbow Dash almost tripped over one of her wings somehow, and Pinkie looked like somepony told her she couldn’t throw them a party. That was a good indication of how bluntly I put it.
Fluttershy, After recovering from the shock, asked: “He lived with you for a while, didn’t he? Must be tough for you.”
Now that I thought about it….”This might sound rude at first, but it really isn’t. Even though he lived with me, I couldn’t learn much about him. He was always so reclusive and secretive when I wasn’t teaching him magic.” Except for when he was in my bed crying that night. I almost blushed remembering the night we spent together. “The only thing he couldn’t hide that well was how lonely he felt. Not that he ever admitted it, but almost anypony would have been able to see it in his eyes if they looked close enough. If you ask me, I’d also say it was like there was something he was hiding.” Like he felt obligated to keep it to himself.
At this point, we had already reached the Castle and was entering the throne room. I couldn’t hide my glee seeing Celestia again. However, it didn’t last long. The grim depressed expression she had on reminded me of the reason for coming here. What was her relationship with Spirit? Must be somewhat significant for it to show on her like this.
Upon noticing our arrival, Celestia’s mood seemed to lift a little. “Greetings girls. It’s nice to know Spirit has made a few more friends than he has claimed to.” No, I think that she needs to know. If she does, she might talk to him about it if he recovers.
“Actually, Spike and I are the only ones truly here to see Spirit. They’re just here to help me.” Celestia’s expression indicated surprise and disappointment, making me realize my mistake. Oops!
“Either way, I’m sure Spirit would appreciate the visits. If only he could be aware of them. Come, I’ll take you to see him.” Celestia paused. “Along with those who also wish to see him. Those who aren’t here to see him shall be taken to their rooms to settle in.” I followed after Celestia, Spike still on my back, though I didn’t expect either Fluttershy, Apple Jack, or Rainbow Dash to follow along too. I decided to not question them and continued following Princess Celestia.
She lead us to a wall behind the thrones. Why-. She lifted a hoof and pressed it against the wall. It pressed down a hidden button that would have been impossible to find unless you knew it was there. After she released her hoof from the button and set it back don, and equally hidden door opened. A set of stairs on the other side headed down. “Impressive.” I commented.
“I have to request that none of you speak of this or of where you are about to go.” without waiting for a response, Celestia continued to lead us down the stairs. They went for quite the distance before we reached the bottom, which leads us into a hall. Turning left, Princess Celestia stopped after a few doors and opened it with her magic. “Here we are, after you.”
I went in, followed by the girls, to find a medical ward style room, except there were only two beds. I recognized the nurse, who came up to us and said: “Please don’t get too loud.”
“Nurse Red Heart, nice to see you again.” I greeted.
“Twilight, it has been a long time. I’ll leave to give you girls some privacy with the patient.” she said, trying to keep her professional tone. We all gathered around the sleeping form of Spirit.
“I don’t see anything wrong with him.” remarked Rainbow.
“Rainbow!” snapped Fluttershy. I took the role of reexplaining it to her.
“Rainbow, magical exhaustion doesn't have a physical sign. Magic is like lifeforce that unicorns can bend to their will. But a unicorn dies if they completely run out. Though that would require either casting a great number of spells back to back or casting a spell that they aren't ready for yet.” I paused, looking up to Princess Celestia as the pieces came together. “But which was it?” Now all eyes were on Celestia. With a sigh, she started to explain.
“It was both. Luna told me that she saw him from her balcony as he was practicing magic in the training grounds. See, he has access to resources to learn advanced offense spells, not just self-defense spells. In his saddlebags was a time on fire magic. It took me some time, but I found out that he was trying to learn an advanced spell called Fire Dragon. If executed properly, it will leave the target covered in intense burns that can kill if left untreated.”
“Why would he need to learn magic like that?” Fluttershy interjected.
“I’m not sure myself. I think Luna wanted to make him an advanced soldier or a battle mage. Luna also said that after a while, he teleported his way to meet her, but collapsed in the hall in front of her door. Now her’s here.”
I was pretty late now. “Why don’t you two go ahead. I still need to talk to Princess Celestia.” I proposed. They murmured in agreement and left, accompanied by the guards to their rooms. Celestia’s face remained emotionless, but I could tell she was curious. “He doesn’t know how to use long-distance teleportation. I only taught him the short distance version, and that wouldn’t get you from the training ground to Luna’s room. At least, not casting it more than once. You said that he was practicing advanced fire magic?”
“Yes, the Fire Dragon. Fire magic is one of the hardest to master, and I’ve only seen that spell learned by a few high-level battle mages.”
“That’s what I thought.” I turned my head down to look at Spirit. “To get to Luna so quickly, he would have had to have cast that teleportation spell repeatedly, more than two or three times. If he wasn’t exhausted after trying to cast Fire Dragon for a long time and was able to teleport repeatedly before giving out, imagine how much magic he used.” looking back up to Celestia’s face, I saw that she was smiling down at me.
“Twilight, you make me proud. I knew you would figure it out. I agree, there’s no telling how great his magical abilities would be if he was trained in regulating his magic usage. Actually, the thought alone could probably intimidate Star Swirl himself. Maybe that’s why my sister has him doing this, she did recommend trying to get him into the royal guard.”
I nodded in agreement. “Hey, I’m getting tired myself, but I would like to be alone with him before leaving.”
“Say no more, I understand.” she left before I could say anything else.
Looking back down at Spirit, I said: “You idiot.” I knew he couldn’t hear me, but I felt like I had to speak my mind. “I wonder if you’re capable of even thinking sometimes. Clearly not this time.” I paused for a moment. “I should have Celestia make you wait on practicing magic until I can help.” If their’s a next time.
I was shocked at the sight before me. A tear formed at the corner of Spirit’s eye. There’s no way that’s possible, he’s still in a coma! He let out a soft moan. That sounds…..painful. I went to the door and poked my head out, but nurse Red Heart wasn’t anywhere around. I heard Spirit’s voice again. What the-. I went back over to him and bent down. “Spirit?” and to my surprise, there was a response.
“Twilight….” it came out slow and was almost impossible to hear. Is he dreaming? I had to be sure. Lighting up my horn, I tapped it against his and collapsed.