//------------------------------//
// I:III Time is a Fickle Friend 
// Story: The Solar Enigma 
// by Lionheart07 
//------------------------------//


The Solar Enigma

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Book I

Chapter III: Time is a Fickle Friend

“Fear is excitement without breath” – Robert Heller

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“What if something went wrong?” Spikes voice wavered slightly as he spoke. In the last few minutes the dragon had became obliviously fidgety. He almost looked like a cat, chewing on his claws as his eyes darted around the room.  

Soarin and Spike were currently sitting in the hospital lobby, waiting for something to happen. Originally, the plan had been that Soarin would retrieve Twilight Sparkle from her home to aid them. However, a few last minute revelations had left them with a better option. Instead, Spike had sent a letter to Twilight Sparkle through his dragon fire and described the situation. They had asked her to teleport to the hospital as soon as possible. It had seemed like a much safer and more reliable plan. The only problem was that they had sent the letter almost twenty minutes ago and there was still no sign, or word from the purple unicorn. 

Trying to calm the dragon’s nerves, Soarin said, “I’m sure that everything is fine.”

“But she should have been here by now, right?” Spike said, “Why wouldn’t she be here, unless something happened?”

Soarin suddenly found his eyes drawn to the fireplace; like a moth to the flame. He found the flickering inferno relaxing with its oranges, reds and yellows dancing an intricate pattern that only nature could discern. Breaking his gaze from the hypnotic display, Soarin turned and spoke in a soft, yet confident tone to his companion, “Maybe something is holding her up?”

“What could possibly be holding her up?” The dragon’s voice was drenched in worry.

In light of his companion’s sorrow, Soarin decided to go for some humor to try and relieve some tension. Recalling what he knew of Twilight Sparkle from his conversation with Spike earlier, he said, “Maybe she ran into a library on the way here?”

The dragon’s eyes narrowed and he spoke with a rapidly sharpening edge on his voice. “We live in a library.”

Soarin tried to hold in his laughter. He really did, but it became too much and he was soon guffawing like a fool. Getting his mirth together, Soarin managed to squeeze out, “Wait, so a book loving librarian and a fire breathing dragon live in a library and its still standing? How is that even possible?”

The flustered Spike took a deep breath and prepared to respond when he was interrupted by the sweet, yet anxious voice of Nurse Redheart, “Spike are you sure that your letter reached Twilight?”

Surprised, the two males turned and looked over the couch that they currently inhabited. Spike took a moment to comprehend the nurse’s words before stuttering out a replay, “It should have. When I use that magic I sent it to a, um… a magic aura or something. I don’t know how else to explain it and I dunno how it works, I just kinda do it. It should be fine, it’s not like the storm would affect it or something.”

Nurse Redheart eyebrows rose, “Magic can be affected by storms?”

Spike continued with a shrug of his shoulders, “I think so. I’m pretty sure that Twilight said that pony magic could be, but only when it’s a wild storm.”

Right then, Dr. Horse sluggishly staggered into the room appearing almost zombie like in his clucky posture. Ears perked up to hear the young dragons words, the doctor paused next to Nurse Redheart. Opening his mouth, a rough and exhausted series of sounds were admitted, almost sounding like somepony shouting though water – so muddled were his words. Still, with some difficultly, Soarin was able to make them out.

“Yes, this is part of the reason that the Everfree Forest is so feared.” Clearing his throat loudly, Dr. Horse continued on with a bit more clarity, “The forest is wild and pony magic does not resonate well there. Generally, this means that the deeper you go, the harder it gets to control your magic. It doesn’t matter what type of pony you are, it simply makes all aspects more difficult. Unicorns won’t be able to cast as complicated spells. Pegasi will have much more difficulty flying and earth ponies will find their endurance limited.”

“You know I’ve always wondered about that. Is there something wrong or unnatural with pony magic or something?” Soarin said, wings flustering slightly as he thought.

Dr. Horse replied with minimal effort; only his eyes, rather than his head, moved toward the Wonderbolt. “Nopony knows. It’s just the way things are.”

Spike asked, “Pegasi and earth ponies have magic? I thought only unicorns did?”

Soarin, with machine-like precision, answered before Dr. Horse could even open his mouth. “Pegasus wings, unlike gryphons or birds, are not large enough to support a pony without magic. So all pegasus must learn to,” he stumbled looking for the right word, “accept their magic to allow for flight. Sure, we can never cast something fancy or flashy like levitation or teleportation, but a skilled and talented pegasus can use their magic to remotely control weather and some basic stuff like that.”

Leaving no time for a pause, the doctor continued right where the peagsus left off, “That’s correct and earth ponies are much the same way with increased endurance and strength. But alas, we are getting off topic. What we need to do is…”

Suddenly the shrill and obstreperous voice of the Nurse broke Dr. Horse’s incoming monologue, “Oh no!”

Startled by the interruption, the three males reacted quickly. Soarin leaped off of the couch; eyes furiously zipping around the room in suspicion. Spike jumped slightly and Dr. Horse stared intensely at Redheart. All three of them asked in unison, “What?”

“This storm will affect magic because it’s wild right?” Focusing his attention back on the mare, Soarin noticed that Redheart’s mannerism and tone reminded him of a scared mother. She was skittish and her lip was quivering with nerves.

Dr. Horse was the one to finally answer after a brief period of silence. He responded with a calculating tint in his voice, as if he was trying to see where the question would lead to.  “Sure, the buildings will help isolate the effects, so we should be fine. In fact, here in the hospital I haven’t even noticed any change in my casting.”

Redheart seemed to slightly calm down. “Oh, but Twilight is teleporting from her home. How do we know that it won’t affect her?”

Soarin, seeing an opportunity, tried once again to contribute. “Well if the magic is protected by the buildings, and both ends of her spell are located inside, she should be fine…right?”

“That’s not quite true. The storm would actually interfere with the magic. Teleportation deals with a combination of the spectral and magical planes and thus…” The doctor shook his head back and forth. “Needless to say, the wild nature of the storm would collide with it.”

Soarin, slightly confused, asked with some hesitation, “What does that mean for us?”

Dr. Horse said, “She won’t accurately hit her target destination. It’s possible that she could overshoot it, or even undershoot it. With a storm of this size she could be quite a ways off.  It seems we now know why she hasn’t arrived.” The doctor started to chuckle hopelessly. “Our genius plan wasn’t so brilliant after all.” 

Nurse Redheart, now much calmer than before, said, “Now don’t be hasty. Twilight is a smart girl; I doubt she would have teleported into the storm. She would know about something like this.”

Spike, with a hallow chuckle said, “You don’t know Twilight. She forgot to come pick me,” Spike pointed toward his chest, “her number one assistant up, so she must be really busy. I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t even realize there is a storm going on.”

Dr. Horse snorted quite loudly and rolled his eyes. “Look at the window,” he pointed a hoof toward the rattling frame – it looked like a monster trying to escape its cage. “There is no way that she could have not noticed that.”

The nurse disagreed and before Soarin knew it both her and Dr. Horse were arguing about what to do. Out of the corner of his eye, Soarin noticed that Spike was preparing to jump into the dispute.

Slamming his front two hooves down, Soarin shouted, “JUST STOP” Three sets of eyes turned and met his. “We will give her ten more minutes, if we haven’t had any sign of her, then we will act.”

The room descended into uncomfortable silence. If Twilight doesn’t show up… what in the hay should we do? Pacing slowly, Soarin instinctively, yet slowly, stretched out his wings. She could have tried to teleport and then she would be lost in the storm. Or she could have not tried and be stranded in her home.

The sound of hooves broke the Wonderbolt’s thought process. Looking around, Soarin noticed that Nurse Redheart was heading down the main hallway. She must be checking up on the filly. Although… if both Dr. Horse and Nurse Redheart were here, then who was watching the kid?

Voicing his concern out loud Soarin said, “So while the two of you were here, who was watching the filly?”

“One of the nurses, Redheart isn’t the only one you know.” Dr. Horse looked at Soarin’s stony expression and sighed. “I promise you she will always be watched. I might not have the same resolute drive that you do, but I’m far from incompetent.” 

Out of the corner of his eye, Soarin saw that Spike was slumping back down into the cushions. He also noticed that the doctor was eyeing the broken table, eyes slightly narrowed and a frown drawn across his features. 

The doctor spoke again, “If it makes you feel any better, Daylight was also in the room watching Scootaloo last I checked.”

Daylight? Who is Daylight? Racking his brains Soarin suddenly remembered; the next second he was shouting, “WHAT? NO! That makes everything worse!”

“Not a fan eh?” Dr. Horse said with a chuckle.

Soarin calmed himself down and spoke as seriously as he could muster, “That monster is evil incarnate.”

The doctor merely let out a short bark of laughter before he turned and looked at the clock. I know that bird is up to something. I’ll just have to catch it in the act.

A faint bout of noise hit Soarin’s ears and he perked them up for better reception. He quickly realized that they were hoof steps and less than a minute later Nurse Redheart reappeared. The doctor ignored her arrival and was still watching the clock. Nine minutes had passed.

The next minute progressed in eerie silence – a morose symphony for the deaf. As soon as the second hand hit the hour mark Dr. Horse began speaking, “It’s been ten minutes and she is not here, it is now time to act.” His voice was much clearer and stronger than before.

Soarin couldn’t help but notice Dr. Horse’s personality change from earlier in the evening. When he was first tying to get the doctor to do something, it had been a disaster. However, when they had come up with a plan, his confidence had been reinvigorated.

Soarin approved of the change.

“I’ve been thinking; what are we going to do? How do we even know that she tried to teleport?” asked Soarin.

Dr. Horse, still watching the clock, responded immediately, “We don’t, but the best thing to do is to assume that she did. Because if she did, then she could be stranded out in the storm and in danger herself.”

Soarin nodded in agreement. “So… Are we just going to run around in the storm looking for her or something?”

“Nope, you are going to run around the storm and look for her.” The doctor made it sound like it was the most obvious and logical thing in the world.

Soarin took a moment before answering. He spoke with a quarter of animosity and three quarters exasperation, “Just me?”

“Yup.” Dr. Horse had an amused smile stretching from check to check.

Soarin almost face-hooved. “Why? Wouldn’t we have a better chance of success with more ponies looking?”

“Well you do have that fancy flight suit that keeps you dry. None of us have anything like that and would only be putting ourselves are more risk. What’s the point of saving one pony to lose another? Besides, you’re a Wonderbolt. You’re trained to deal with crazy stuff like this every day.” Dr. Horse paused for a minute before tuning and looking the light blue pegasus in the eyes. “Add in the fact that you have more experience than anyone else here, and are more physically fit. Quite frankly, you are the clear cut choice.”

Soarin sighed, unhappy with the logic the doctor was stating. “Fine.” He paused, hoof on his chin. “So we know that she would not have tried to teleport out of the storm right?”

The response was immediate. “I very much doubt it,” Dr. Horse’s voice was strong and confident. “Teleporting takes two focus points, the start and the end. However, the initial push is what makes it so difficult. Think of it like jumping, while landing in and of itself can be uncomfortable, it takes no effort when compared to takeoff. Teleportation is much the same way. Teleporting from a protected home, especially one that is frequently daubed in magic, to a wild storm would be easy magically. Doing it the other way, would be extremely taxing.”

Noticing Soarin’s confused expression, Redheart put in her two cents, “It would be like jumping down a cliff compared to jumping up a cliff.”

Dr. Horse’s head bobbed in semi-approval. “Close enough.”

His understanding somewhat improved, Soarin said with some hesitancy, “So, we know that Twilight likely didn’t try and teleport again.”

“It’s honestly hard to say, most unicorns wouldn’t be able to teleport in these conditions. Twilight is not like most unicorns,” the doctor paused for a moment. “That said, she knows that we were calling her here to do advanced and exhausting magic, so it is unlikely that she would use up her magical reserves if she could help it. There is also the storm to take into consideration. Twilight would know the impossibility that the storm would add to making accurate teleports. However, the longer we wait the more likely she is to panic and try to teleport to help her own predicament.”

Turing away from the doctor, Soarin observed the windows in the lobby. They still appeared to be covered by white paint on the outside. “So…time to go for a trip through the snow?” At the doctor’s nod, Soarin found himself deeply sighing. “And the think, the whole idea of this plan was so that we could avoid that.”

“The fates must hate you,” without pause to take breath Dr. Horse continued, “We have already wasted enough time, you need to get going.” 

“I’m going, just give me a second to get…” 

He was interrupted by a young voice, “I’m coming too.” It was Spike. The dragon hopped from the couch and was walking toward the entryway with purpose.

Following the progress of the dragon with his eyes, Soarin took a minute to compose his words before speaking. In a firm, yet strong, voice he said, “I appreciate the offer, but it would really help me if you could stay here. The weather out there is real bad and I don’t want to have to keep an eye on you.”

Spikes narrowed his eyes and said, quite hostility, “You don’t need to keep an eye on me. I know this town better than you.”

The Wonderbolt was unfazed. “Unfortunately, I would do it all the same. That’s just who I am.”

“Then we split up.”

Luckily, for Soarin, Redheart made her opinion known. “I don’t think so young man, you are a dragon. This type of cold is much worse for you than it is for ponies. I will not allow you to go out in this storm, period.”

“But…that’s not fair!” Spike was stumbling over his own words and turned to the doctor for, what Soarin assumed, was support.

The doctor merely had a content look on his face and replied with a shrug of his shoulders, “You heard the lady.”

Spike let out an exasperated growl before stomping over to the couch. He kicked a few magazines out of the way before sitting down. Soarin wondered if the dragon toyed with the idea of setting the magazines on fire. He would have loved to help.

Turing to the door Soarin closed his eyes, took a deep breath and prepared to head out...only to be interrupted yet again. “Wait! You need to bring this with you to.” Facing Nurse Redheart he noticed that she had something at her feet. It was a saddle.

The exact same one he had been using before. It was mostly pink with some light blues and purple. The yellow butter flies on the straps were definitely feminine and the overall style made wearing it unwieldy and bulky for a stallion. The worst part, by far, was the words on the side that spelt out: I’m a big mare now! in glittering colors of the rainbow. 

“You’re joking right?” Soarin looked closely at the mare’s light blue eyes while he spoke, but could not see any trace of deceit. He couldn’t even see the hint of a joke. Redheart either didn’t have a sense of humor or had an excellent poker face. 

Nurse Redheard shook her head. “Of course not, it’s crucial that you have it on. It could save your very life.”

Before he had time to voice any type of argument, the nurse quickly snapped into action and stepped forward with the saddle in her mouth.

Soarin had no idea how this was going to help him in any situation. But, by the weight on his back, he assumed that the nurse must have already put it on him. How she did it so fast, Soarin had no idea. Looking back he confirmed that the saddle had been placed on his back. The strap of the saddle that went under his belly had also been place over his wings, which meant that he wouldn’t be able to extend them.

Spike was laughing, likely to the Soarin’s expression, which was morphing between doleful, hostile and annoyed at random. Soarin was surprised to hear the child laughing. He had thought that the dragon would still be brooding about not being able to come along. Apparently, laughing at the Wonderbolt took precedence.

Finally accepting the humility, Soarin asked with little emotion, “Why did it have to be this specific saddle? And why over the wings?”

A large grin exploded on Nurse Redheart’s face. Add in the glowing of her eyes and Soarin had to fight a blush down from appearing on his face.

“Do you really think you’re going to be flying in that weather? As for why that saddle…well, it is yours right?” Her voice was so heavenly and sweet that Soarin almost melted at her feet. 

Dr Horse interrupted the proceedings, “one last thing, we wouldn’t want you to get lost after all. Isn’t that right Ma’am?” The doctor’s magic was levitating a piece of rope. Soarin had no idea what it was for. Instead he focused on the unicorn’s expression, which was devoid of any sneer, smirk or smile. Dr. Horse had a completely straight face.

Snorting angrily, Soarin decided on one thing for sure. Once this was all over, he had a lot of revenge to plan.


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The point of the saddle, Soarin had soon found out, was that one end of the rope could be attached to it with the other connected to the hospital. This way, when or if, he found Twilight Sparkle he would be able to simply follow the rope back.

He had tried asking the nurse why he needed to attach one end to the saddle when he could just tie it around his body instead. He had hoped that his argument would make the tight saddle unnecessary to bring along.

She had told him to shut up. Well, not in those exact words but that was the general gist of it. She had argued that it would keep him warmer. He had a feeling the difference would be minuscule, but in the end there was no point to arguing; the clock was ticking. One extra minute could mean the difference between live and death for the filly, so Soarin put up with the stupid thing.

Soarin had briefly discussed the best way to go about his search with Dr. Horse before setting out. They had agreed that heading out as far as he could go, and then circling around while keeping the rope taut, was the best option. If he was unable to make out any sign, whether through tracks or magical residue, he would start to work on the interiors of the circle his rope could map out. And if that netted no results, Soarin would head back to the hospital to re-evaluate their choices again.

The Wonderbolt had left the hospital only around a minute ago and the rope was already being a nuisance. He was keeping the rope coiled up so that the wind wouldn’t jerk it around too much. In order to reduce his inconvenience, Soarin increased his speed so that the rope would be pulled out faster. Thankfully, his muscles weren’t protesting too much due to the rest at the hospital.

As he headed forward, in what he assumed was a straight line, he noticed that the blizzard seemed to be waning slightly. While the snow was still coming down in huge quantities the wind had partially subdued – the whiteout had obtained some light gray. Spirits rising Soarin added a little skip to his trot. 

Unfortunately, the rope pulled taut and Soarin let out a yelp as the unexpected force pulled him into the ground. Pushing himself up from the ground he merely turned around and looked for what had caused the rope to tighten up.

Griping the rope in his mouth, Soarin reluctantly forced his legs to head back. He thought about readjusting the saddle so that he could use his wings to help, but in the end decided that it wasn’t worth the effort, or the time.

After a short period of stumbling around, Soarin found out that the rope had caught on a rock. Soarin kneeled at the series of rocks and sorted out the rope. Making sure it wouldn’t re-catch on the jutted rock he set out in the original direction again. This time he ran into no problems and, with surprising haste, pushed forward.

After a few minutes of fighting through the snow, legs already protesting, Soarin finally ran out of rope. Carefully, Soarin took a minute to look around the area. The wind had died down even more and it was possible to make out some of the features in the direct vicinity. It was dark out, but the snow on the ground was reflecting just enough light for his squinting eyes to make out some objects. 

Large symmetrical shadows and silhouettes were located to his left and a black wall appeared toward his right, with strange peaking shadows – almost like a series of pencils lined up together. Turning his gaze closer to the ground, Soarin noticed something even more peculiar. It was difficult to tell with the rapidly waning source of light, but there was a sizeable rounded depression, followed by an undeviating streak extending pashed it. The snow was beginning to cover it up, snowflakes lightly twinkling with mischief as they tried to cover the imperfection.

Curiosity and hope surging through him, warming his very core, Soarin headed toward his discovery. Due to the taut rope, he was unable to walk straight and had to curve slightly from his target. Not over concerned with the rope, Soarin found his thoughts pulled to something else; very nearly covered up, faint circular depressions were heading away from the impact.

They were pony tracks. And they were out of his range.

Setting his haunches on the ground, Soarin appeared similar to a dog, sitting at the edge of his zone, rope keeping him out of range of some interesting discovery. While contemplating how to proceed, the area was bombarded by a sudden surge of freezing wind and snow. It only lasted a moment, but still made the Wonderbolt shiver in response. Ignoring his feeling of unease, Soarin debated on how to proceed. So two real options here: one, ignore the signs, or two, go off-rope.

Not liking ether option, Soarin decided instead to call out into the night, with the hope that his quarry would hear him, “IS ANYPONY THERE!”

He was pleasantly surprised when he was answered almost instantly. It was faint and difficult to hear, but there was definitely somepony or at least something out there.

“STAY WHERE YOU ARE, I’M COMING.”

Facing backward, he prepared to untie the rope with his teeth, only to realize that it was no longer taut. Testing this, he moved forward about a body length and found that the rope was still loose. It must have snagged on something prematurely and recently came free. Confident with his deduction, Soarin paid the discovery little heed and headed out toward the sound. In order to find the voices owner, he started calling out into the storm so that he had a better idea of where he was heading.

“MARECO” Why not have a bit of fun with it too?

Smiling, the Wonderbolt listened to the response on the wind. It sounded like a confused, “What?” but he couldn’t be sure. 

Continuing toward the sound, he noticed that it was rapidly getting darker. At this rate it would be pitch black in under a minute. He was unsure what would cause such an effect. It was however, late in the evening, so maybe the light that he had experienced earlier was simply good fortune. He called out again, “MARECO”

This time he definitely heard a response: an exasperated and vociferous sigh. Because he could hear it, Soarin figured that he must be relatively close. Unfortunately, the rapidly descending light was making it extremely difficult to see anything in the darkness. 

Soarin cautiously continued forward…only to be blinded by the sun! Or at least some flash of light that remotely simulated it. Rapidly closing his eyes, he growled softly in annoyance. That hadn’t been nice. Opening his eyes to a squint he could now see that around ten wing lengths away a purple unicorn mare had created a light source around her horn with magic. She was looking in his direction but her eyes were not focusing on any one particular point and were dancing around the vicinity.

With a crooked smirk on his face Soarin jumped out toward her and shouted, “MARECO” one last time.

He was rewarded with a scream and a unicorn mare that fell backwards over herself. She remained unmoving on the ground, but Soarin could still see the rise and fall of her chest. As he tentatively approached the downed mare, he took in her appearance. She was a midsized light purple unicorn with an unusual cutie mark. It was a pink star, with five or so smaller white stars around it. Her tail and mane were slightly frazzled and mostly dark indigo with one parallel streak of pink and purple each. As he neared her position she quickly sat up and looked into his eyes with her own. Even though her eyes were narrowed, Soarin could still note that they were an electrifying purple, slightly darker than the one observed in her mane. 

Her glare made Soarin feel small and insignificant, like a young child being scolded and she hadn’t even said anything yet. Attempting to break the tension, he jubilantly said, “You were supposed to say polo.”

The mare in front of him face-hooved and groaned: rubbing the area between her eyes with great enthusiasm. 

Thinking back, Soarin tried to remember what he could of Twilight Sparkle from the brief moments he had seen her in Canterlot. He was fairly sure that this was her, but figured it was better safe than sorry. “Are you Twilight Sparkle by any chance?”

Not that Soarin expected a lot of random ponies lost in a storm like this, but hey, you never know.

She was muttering under her breath about something. Soarin leaned closer to try and hear what she was saying. All he could make out were a few words, none of which were nice and half of which he didn’t know the definition of. 

Finally, she seemed to get her composure back into place and regarded her apparent savior. “It’s good that you’re finally here, I was starting to get really worried.”

Soarin frowned. “Uh, you never answered my question…”

The mare flashed him an annoyed scowl, before closing her eyes and sighing. “Yes I am Twilight Sparkle.” She then turned away from him and started rummaging through a saddlebag. She pulled out, what Soarin thought was a book, but he had never seen one that large before.

“Uh… What’s the book for?” Soarin asked, head tilting to the side in interest.

“Well, the spell that the doctor is asking me to do is extraordinarily complex. I need to make sure that I know all the theory behind it better than the back of my hooves. I haven’t read this book in almost two weeks.” Her eyes began to widen in shock as her own words finally registered in her mind, “I COULD HAVE FORGOTTEN SOMETHING, I NEED TO READ IT AGAIN.”

She dropped to the ground and opened the book on the snow. Her horn was glowing dimly and her aura covered the surface of the book.

Maybe she’s waterproofing it from the snow? Soarin wasn’t sure. He watched as she opened the book and began reading…or at least he thought that’s what she was doing. She was turning the pages so fast that he had no idea if it was even possible to read with that kind of speed.

With one quick look at her face, Soarin could tell that she was deeply involved in her task and was ignoring his presence. Trying to stir the situation back on track he said, “Uh, shouldn’t we get out of the storm?”

“Of course we should.” She was still reading.

“How can we do that if you are reading?”

“Huh? Oh…” She chucked with a nervous smile on her face. It was infectiously cute. Her smile suddenly turned effervescent. “I got an idea!”

The light from her horn surged in intensity. Soarin felt a weight land on his back. Leaning away from the imaginary load, Soarin encountered resistance. It was almost like something was attached to his back, connecting him to the mare in front of him. 

“What’s the point of this?”

“Oh it’s a tether spell, now we can’t be farther apart than we are already. That means that I can keep reading my book while walking and if I get to absorbed and distracted the tether will yank you so that you are aware that I am not paying attention.”

“…That seems really complicated.”

Twilight, with a swing of her head, dismissed Soarin. “Of course it’s not, now let’s go.”

Sighing, Soarin turned around and grabbed the rope that was attached to the saddle on his back. He was planning on rolling the rope back up as he went along so it didn’t get all tangled up. He began to trace his steps back toward the hospital. 

“Wait a second,” Soarin stopped and glanced back at the purple unicorn. “Why did you say the tether would only yank me around? Wouldn’t we both be yanked around?”

The mare started pawing the ground nervously, a slight blush appearing on her checks. “Well you see; it’s not exactly a standard tether spell it’s a more, um, complicated variation…”

Wait…what? 

Trying to keep his annoyance in check Soarin asked, “Why didn’t you just cast the simple version?”

The mare gave a forced smile and quick chuckle, “I was so excited about my idea that I changed the spell without meaning to. They’re really similar and the undomesticated nature of the storm makes casting difficult.”

“So, what will the spell actually do then?”

Twilight turned even redder and answered slowly, “Uh to be honest I’m not sure. I know that it’s used by the royal guard when dealing with prisoners, but I don’t know what it does exactly. It’s obviously some kind of tether so it likely pulls or immobilizes the victim in some way when a specific distance is reached.”

Every second we waste, is one less second to save the filly. Flicking his tail and letting out a huge sigh, Soarin started to walk again. “Whatever, just try and keep up okay?”

Picturing a snake in his mind, the rope was wound up to the best of his ability as he walked back toward the hospital; it was not exactly easy, but Soarin miraculously managed to avoid tripping over himself. Luckily, the pace they were traveling at was slow, and with his constant glances backward, he was able to keep the mare inline and on track.

By this time the darkness was absolute, which made it difficult to keep track of the rope. Fortunately, Soarin was able to manage due to the unicorn’s aura around the book. It gave just enough light for him to see what he was doing.

Continuing their trek forward, Soarin’s hopes began to rise. If everything went well, Twilight would be able to help the filly and this night of hell would finally come to an end. He continued to feel the rope slide through his front right hoof, as he hobbled forward. The Wonderbolt quickly glanced back at the unicorn to make sure she was still following him. He wasn’t sure how she was staying warm, but the mare definitely wasn’t shivering. Soarin assumed magic was involved, and with how much harder spells were to cast in this storm he only hoped she wasn’t using up too much of her reserves.

Unexpectedly, the rope disappeared from Soarin’s hoof. Assuming he dropped it, Soarin merely reached down to find it again. Quickly picking it up the Wonderbolt felt his heart momentarily stop. The rope was cut. Confused, he suddenly remembered when the rope had gone from taut to slack right before finding Twilight. It must have been snagged on something and finally snapped at that point. And since I keep walking afterward I pulled it out of place…

The reality hit him harder in the face than a baseball would have. Soarin had no idea where they were.

The sweet voice of Twilight broke into the air. “Why did we stop?”

Soarin really didn’t want to tell the mare they were lost and hesitated in answering as he tried to think.

“Wait, why did the rope end? Did it break?”

Unable to lie he merely nodded his head up and down in conformation.

“It did? But then that means we’re lost?” Twilight froze in fear as realization came upon her. “No…don’t tell me we’re lost!”

Soarin wasn’t really paying attention to the mare but had subconsciously continued nodded his head up and down slightly. That was all the confirmation she needed.

“WE CAN’T BE LOST.” Twilight was franticly looking around in the darkness. She must have been looking for something familiar to determine their position; unfortunately anything beyond a pony length or two was unrecognizable. “THE PRINCESS WILL BE SO DISSAPOINTED IN ME. THIS WASN’T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! WHAT IF SHE…”

The unicorn was completely freaking out. Soarin was quite surprised at how sudden the transformation was.  Twilight was franticly moving around the area. She would hop in one direction and then to another, eyes darting all over the place.

Suddenly, Twilight took a large jump away from Soarin, disappearing completely into the darkness. Remembering the tether, Soarin’s eyes grew huge as he tried to tell Twilight to calm down and come back. He was never able to get the words out before the spell went into effect. 

Soarin felt his entire body thrown down face first. The amount of force was quite remarkable and he quickly found himself deep within the snow.

Unfortunately, the strength of the spell was strong enough that he found himself unable to stand. After a second or two of struggling, the Wonderbolt recognized a much bigger problem. Due to the large quantity of snow his head was forced into, the density of snow had built up around his muzzle and he was unable to draw breath. 

He was suffocating.

Frantically, Soarin increased his inutile struggling in hopes of breaking the spell. When he realized that he was unable to free himself, he quickly turned his focus to getting Twilight’s attention. The spell was mostly holding down the front of his body so he was able to awkwardly move his back hooves. He tried using them, along with his tail, to launch snow from the ground into the air, hoping that the disturbance would be noticed by the unicorn. Disastrously, the amount of snow that he was able to displace was minimal and in the darkness chances were minute that she would even notice. 

Soarin, being a Wonderbolt had done a bit of breathing exercise before. Due to high altitude flying they needed to have strong lungs, which meant that he could hold his breath for close to seven minutes. Not a world record, but still respectable enough. He decided to keep up his act for a minute or two hoping the mare would notice him and remove the spell. 

She never did.

Trying to think of a different method, Soarin ran a blank. The only other thing he could come up with was using his wings to try and launch himself up, but the strap on the saddle kept his wings neatly folded up. 

And to think Redheart told him the saddle would help save his life, yet here it was preventing just that. Soarin couldn’t help but mentally chuckle at the irony. 

Stopping his actions, Soarin briefly paused to rest his back hoof muscles. The stiffness that was building there could be the onset of a cramp and he would rather not make his situation any worse. Taking the monetary break Soarin racked his brains to try and think of any other solution to his current predicament. No clear answers presented themselves to him. 

He was going on three minutes without air. 

With no good ideas on how to proceed, Soarin found himself strangely bored. He soon found his mind wondering to the saddle on his back. If he could find some way out of it, he might be able to use his wings to push up for breath. Even if the spell pulled him back down again, he could hopefully shout something out to Twilight for help.

Trying to clear his mind, Soarin thought back to earlier in the night, when Bon Bon had first introduced the saddle to him.

“This is the only one I have, sorry Soarin, it’s somewhat girly,” Bon Bon said slightly disheartened. “I was going through spring cleaning a little early and…”

“A little early? Spring is still months away Bony B? Why would you want to do more work now?” Lyra’s response was razor sharp and saturated with confidence. She had definitely bounced back from the traumatic experience with the filly earlier. Or maybe she just loved antagonizing Bon Bon.

“Wait… You went through spring cleaning and kept that saddle?” Lyra was speaking again, “Haha, I had one similar like a decade ago Bony…”

The cream colored earth pony huffed with as much dignity as she could muster. “It’s good for sentimental reasons, not that you would understand Heartstrings. After all, you have the emotional capacitance of a troll.”

“Or perhaps, I don’t need silly trinkets when I can simply use my brain. It’s useful, maybe you should try it sometimes.”

Much more concerned with the fate of the filly then Bon Bon and Lyra’s games, Soarin interrupted the two squabbling mares. “Ladies, don’t we have bigger problems?”

The two mares both stopped and looked over at Soarin in surprise, as if they had forgotten his presence. Bon Bon gave a sheepish smile while Lyra simply stood against the wall with her front hoofs crossed. Bon Bon quickly regained her composure and said, “of course Soarin, now let’s get the saddle on you, but please be careful. The equipment is quite old and the straps were never all that strong to begin with. If you are too rash with them they might just snap right off…”

Popping out of his memory Soarin’s felt confidence rush back into his veins.

Tentatively, Soarin tried to spread his wings. Due to the strap their progress was quickly stopped; the weight of the snow on top of them didn’t help either. Not so quick to give up, Soarin tried to spread his wings again, this time with a bit more force. His sensitive wings quickly snagged against the harsh and craggy strap of the saddle. The strap still didn’t give any, so Soarin pushed a little harder. This time, Soarin felt pain as it started to cut into his wing; he relaxed and felt the irritation go away.

Unable to take a breath, Soarin took only a moment to try and settle his trepidation and prepare for the incoming agony. He had been without breath for five minutes or so and he was starting to get light headed.

He quickly snapped out his wings. When they encountered the strap he kept pushing. When they encountered pain he forced himself to push even harder. He could feel the leather cutting into his wings and he knew they had broken skin. He pushed harder.

The saddle held firm.

By now, his vision had gone completely black and the unicorn was still yelling. Her volume had decreased slightly and Soarin hoped it meant she was calming down.

Gritting his teeth to try and hold the burning sensation in his wings at bay, Soarin continued to try and force his wings to unfold. For whatever reason, it was at that point that the true gravity of his situation hit him. He felt an emotion that he hadn’t experience in a long time.

He was scared.

Feeling his heart rate increase, Soarin found himself pushing erratically with his wings and hooves trying to get off the ground and out of the snow to draw breath. The sudden surge of adrenaline numbed the pain in his wings, but he still could not free himself from his entrapment. Even with all his might the spell still held him down completely.

It was at that point that he tried to call on his pegasus magic. As he had explained to nurse Redheart earlier, all pegasi have magic. The critical step in learning how to fly was learning how to instinctively connect with your magic. Some found this easier than others. Soarin, for example, had been flying since before he could walk, but he knew of others that did not make the connection until their early teens.

However, that was different from calling up your magic at will. Actually using the magic, rather than through instinct, was something that very few pegasus ever learned, much less mastered. It was like learning to move a limb you didn’t even know you had. The Wonderbolts made knowledge of its use a requirement for the team as it could drastically help in military situations – allowing for more efficiency and increased agility. There were also many combat maneuvers, mostly offensive, that made use of its potential. 

Soarin had been so hesitant to try and call upon his own due to the storm. Because of its wild nature his magic powers effectiveness would abate, but at this point it didn’t matter anymore. It was all or nothing. He needed to breathe.

Calling upon magic as a pegasus is very different from a unicorn. Many have described it as feeling unnatural and eerie, compared to unicorns who have described theirs as almost erotic. Magic essence, in general, is uniformly spread throughout the body, not collecting near the heart as many fairytales would have you believe. Unicorns use their horn as foci to allow for them to draw upon their magic. Earth and pegasus ponies do not have this luxury. 

Suddenly feeling like he had been sunk into a mucky and dreary ocean, Soarin knew that he had found his magic. Using every ounce of willpower he had, Soarin forced the viscous ‘water’ to his wings. He was specifically aiming from the part that was held down by the strap. He then pushed with all his might, both physically and mentally.

A reverberating snap thundered throughout Soarin’s head. The saddle had finally come apart. He quickly changed the flow of his magic so that it would coat the entirety of his wings. He purposely put more magic on his larger feathers for strength and less over his wounds to dampen their influence.

He then spread his wings. Although he would never admit it later, the storm, combined with the massive volume of snow covering them, made it one of the hardest things he had ever done. Finally, though sweat – and blood – he managed to open them and using all the magic he could find in his body, flapped his majestic wings as hard as he could.

When his head finally came free of the snow, Soarin drank in oxygen with massive undignified gulps. He mirrored a fish that had been caught on land for a substantial period before finding water again. Sputtering and coughing he collapsed onto the snow. His wings were still spread out on either side of him and the Wonderbolt’s vision was only just starting to reappear. He wasn’t sure why the tether had stopped pulling him down. His magic should not have been able to break the unicorn spell…

“Are you okay?” The voice came from above him, concern and confusion mixed in with the syllables like chocolate in a candy bar.

Soarin tried to respond, but could only answer with extreme wheezing and dry coughing. Even just attempting had left him feeling out of breath. Continuing to take deep breaths, he laid on the ground resembling a dying equine on its last legs of life.

“Soarin…?” The mare’s voice was solicitous and quiet. Her ears where drooping down as she carefully used a hoof to gently shake the Wonderbolts prone form.

Soarin elected to stay in his current position. While it was uncomfortably similar to the situation he had found himself trapped in just moments before, he was too tired to really care. He also needed the time to think. While he was sure that Twilight Sparkle had almost gotten him killed, he was also equally sure that the unicorn hadn’t meant it.

After a moment or two, his breath had slightly stabilized so Soarin flipped himself onto his back. He realized that while he definitely didn’t hate the unicorn, he just didn’t trust her either. “Just…remove the…the spell.” He paused to get his breath, “please?”

“Why, what happened?” The mares question was filled to the brim with innocence as her head angled slightly to the side in curiosity. 

It was right then and there that Soarin decided that he would never tell the unicorn had close she had come to accidently killing him. She still had an important job to do and he would not destroy her confidence. That didn’t mean he would lie. “Your tether spell caught me unaware and knocked me to the ground. It took a lot of energy to get back up and tired me out. So could you please just remove the spell?”

He could tell that she didn’t completely believe him. Her purple eyes had narrowed in thought as she stared at his still prone form. For a fleeting, fear filled moment, Soarin thought that she might deny him his request, but in the end she nodded and the Wonderbolt felt the imaginary weight on his back disappear.

Giving himself only a moment more, Soarin stood up. They had wasted enough time and needed to get moving. He walked over to where Bon Bon’s saddle had fallen during his short flight and quickly slipped it back on. It wouldn’t easily stay on without the primary strap, but he was not going to lose the mare’s saddle. Not when she had trusted it to him. The rope that had been attached to it had come loose and was sprawled all over the snow. Seeing the rope reminded Soarin of yet another problem.

Eyes darting over the entire length of the snow-dusted rope Soarin let out a growl of contempt. 

Why can’t anything ever go right! All night, bad event after bad event kept happening. He toyed with the idea that fate truly hated him. But then he wondered, was everything his fault? Am I just making bad decisions repeatedly?

…Is the filly going to die because of me?

It was at that moment that he noticed that there was a knot in the rope. Remembering that the rope was actually two smaller ones put together, it meant that they had over half of the rope in their possession. An idea coming to mind he quickly called out to Twilight Sparkle, “Okay, we have half the rope, which means that we can use it to find the other end or the hospital. How about we tie one end to me and the other to you, this way if I get lost I can find this spot again.”

“That’s way too time consuming, why don’t we…” Twilight was shaking her head back in forth.

Soarin ignored her and started unraveling the rope. He continued for a minute, but stopped when he heard an angered snort. Turning around to face the unicorn he asked, “Is there something wrong?”

“Yes, you’re ignoring me.” 

Soarin frowned. He was ignoring her because he didn’t trust any of her ideas right now. Not after she had almost got him killed through carelessness. “I already solved the problem,” was his simple response, voice a bit harsher than he was intending.

“Yes, poorly.” She didn’t say it as an insult but rather as an observer making an obvious deduction. If anything, that annoyed the Wonderbolt more.

“Oh and you can do better?”

The mare closed her eyes and sighed lightly. “I already have.” A piece of rope was dangling next to her, levitated by the unicorn.

Eyes darting around, Soarin quickly noticed that the rope that Twilight was holding was not connected to his own, which meant… Grumbling he gave her this one, “fine…”

“Good now let’s go.” The mare set off in the lead and Soarin followed behind her. He was tired and dragging his hoofs. It was surprisingly difficult to keep up with the light purple unicorn; the trials earlier had taken a lot out of him. He kept his wings extended and dragged them along in the snow. They were throbbing and he didn’t want to aggravate his wounds by folding them up. Besides, the cool snow felt heavenly on his feathers.

Soarin had no idea how she had found the other piece of rope, but figured that it had to be through magic. Even though it was petty and he was being stupid, he couldn’t help but try and point out something wrong with her plan. “You really shouldn’t have used magic to find the rope. You’re going to need everything you got to help the filly.”

Twilight didn’t even seem even remotely bothered and kept trotting along. “Oh I calculated that it would be better to use the small amount of magic to find and pull the rope to me than the go through with your inane solution. Since the spell gets harder with time, this is actually the wiser option.”

Sighing loudly, Soarin figured it was no longer worth the effort trying to one up Twilight. Instead he walked, muscles screaming bloody murder, in relative silence. Grinding his teeth and closing his eyes, Soarin perked up his ears, hoping to follow the unicorn with sound. After a moment, with the pain refusing to abate, and boredom settling in Soarin told Twilight, “I’m surprised that you knew my name earlier.”

“Oh why’s that?”

“From what I understand you spend all your time studying, I didn’t think something like stunt-shows or celebrities would interest you.”

“Actually, Wonderbolt shows are a recent guilty pleasure of mine, the aerodynamics are amazing. I’ve been trying to model the flight paths and air currents with my magic but it’s slow going. I’m having a tough time simulating whenever one of you uses flight magic. I thought about employing Isaacs Neighton’s second law of magic but…”

As time went on Soarin tried to continue to pay attention, but the words were starting to become one huge mixture, a blur of incomprehensible sounds. His exhaustion had already caught up with him and Soarin was fighting a losing battle.

It was the only reason that could use to explain the felicity that Soarin felt when he realized that they had reached the front door of the hospital. He was so affected by his euphoria that tears started to well up in the corners of his eyes. Following Twilight inside, he stopped, and with a feeling of déjà vu, placed a kiss on the wooden frame. 

He doubted he would ever harbor similar feelings about a door again. He was fine with that.


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=


After they had arrived, Twilight had quickly disappeared down the hallway, following the doctor toward Scootaloo’s room. Soarin, on the other-hoof, had collapsed down on the sofa breathing deeply.  He continued to keep his wings open and dropped the saddle on the ground next to his position. Closing his eyes, he prepared to take a nap – enjoying the soft brown cloth with a reverence he would normally have never felt. 

Unfortunately, just as Soarin let out a complacent sigh and started to drift into the sea of dreams, a shrill, yet concerned, voice caused a tidal wave to deter him from his intended course.

“What did you do to your wings mister!?” Nurse Redheart’s voice was merciless and reminded Soarin of some of his drill instructors. It was a tone that left no leeway for argument; it was going to be answered, period.

“Uhhhh…” Soarin slowly opened one eye and tried to stall for time. He wasn’t sure what he should say. He momentarily debated about telling her the truth of what had happened, but was worried that she would take it badly. After all, she was the one who had basically forced the saddle on him. If she found out that it had almost killed him… He couldn’t put her through that anguish so he bent the truth a bit. “I made a sudden movement and caused the straps of the saddle to cut into me.”

“These cuts are moderately deep, how could you have possibly jerked yourself hard enough to do that much damage?” Her voice was filled with disbelief. “And why is the saddle broken? There is no way a ‘sudden movement’ did that.”

“Uhhhh…” Soarin didn’t want to outright lie so he came up with the next best solution. “It’s complicated,” Soarin said with a nervous smile.

“Complicated?” Her voice had become strained and annoyed, like she was dealing with a difficult child.

“Yup,” Soarin put as much cheer into his voice as he could.

After a moment Redheart, shockingly, relented. “Very well, follow me; we need to get you cleaned up.”

Soarin really didn’t want to have to get up – he had just sunk into the cushions – but he knew that his wounds needed to be dealt with. Standing, Soarin let out a moan of disappointment as his muscles protested the movement. Too much more action and my muscles are going to throw a revolution.

Soarin followed Nurse Redheart toward an empty room. He closed his eyes and followed the sound of her hoof steps. After far too much time – in Soarin’s opinion – the two ponies came to a room, almost identical to the room that Scootaloo was located it. Redheart, upon entering, pointed toward one of the two beds in the room. Following her command, the Wonderbolt moved over and plopped down on the side of the bed. It was surprisingly soft and comfortable, unlike the hospitals he was used to. Feeling his eyes droop, Soarin decided to start up a conversation to better keep himself aware.

“So where is Spike? I didn’t see him in the lobby earlier.”

Nurse Redheart moved to the other side of the bed and started examining his wings before answering, “He was there all right. You must have missed him.” 

“Oh…” Redheart’s hooves over his wings were distracting him. It felt so good that he had a tough time formulating any discernable speech. Before he knew it, his eyes were starting to close again. He just needed to rest them for one minute…

“There all done!”

“Huh” Soarin jumped slightly, confused.

“Oh you dosed off, but no need to worry I fixed you up.” Nurse Redheart’s voice had lost its hostile edge and was back to its sweetened state. “Although, you should stay off those wings for a few days so they can recover.”

Getting off the bed, Soarin stretched out. Glancing over his back, he saw that the nurse had bandaged up his wings only where the cuts had been. This left the majority of their surface still free. No longer seeing any good reason to keep then extended, Soarin finally folded up his wings. He winced slightly when they came together, but it was more through irritation rather than sharp pain. Even so, it seemed that flying over the next couple of days was going to be awkward at best. Spitfire was going to kill him.

“So how long was I sleeping for?”

Nurse Redheart had her back to the pegasus and was cleaning something. She still answered almost immediately, “Not too long, around twenty minutes or so.”

“How is the filly doing?”

The nurse hesitated a moment before answering. “I’m not sure, they are still doing preparation. They should be getting ready to cast the spell soon.”

“Ah there you two are.” Hearing the new voice both the Wonderbolt and Redheart turned and faced the door. Doctor Horse was standing there looking relieved. “I have been looking for you Soarin. If you could, please follow me.”

Soarin took a moment to analyze Redheart. By her confused and thoughtful expression, he assumed that she hadn’t known that the doctor was looking for him. Hoping that it had something to do with the filly and that he may be of some help, Soarin quickly followed the doctor down the hallway.

Before Soarin knew it, they had reached a large wooden door. It resembled most of the others in the hospital, but all of them had unique markings naturally engraved into them. Soarin immediately recognized this as the doorway that had led to Scootaloo’s room earlier. He would never forget the intricate pony and animal carvings; there was even one of a gryphon with resonating green eyes, reminding him much of himself. 

As Soarin moved to open the door, he was stopped as Dr. Horse raised one hoof in front of the Wonderbolt’s chest. 

“Wait,” the doctor took a steading breath before continuing. “We have concluded the preliminary requirements. The spell is ready to be cast. However, somepony needs to keep young Scootaloo awake and engaged. If her brain is sitting passive the chances of this working drop drastically. Originally, I was going to talk to her while Twilight worked, but Scootaloo asked if you were still around. Will you talk with her?”

With a small, amused shake of his head and a chuckle Soarin said, “I’m surprised you even had to ask.”

Dr. Horse nodded in agreement. “Better to give the illusion of choice. Now let’s go.”

The door was opened. Moving forward, Soarin noticed that Twilight appeared nervous yet determined. She had a book propped up on the window sill and her eyes were darting across the pages. Her lips were moving and he could hear mumbling coming from her. Scattered all around were a plethora of books. Soarin had no idea how she could have fit them all in her saddlebags. Glancing around, he saw that the orange filly was sitting up in her bed eyes twinkling with excitement as she watched him. 

It always surprised him how much children looked up to him. When he took his oath for the Wonderbolts it was something that he had never really thought about. No one had ever told him about being a role model.

“So cool!” The filly was bouncing up and down in excitement. Her voice was surprisingly strong considering what she had been though earlier in the day. The power of youth was truly remarkable.

The doctor gave his quick farewell and stepped out the door, leaving them alone. Twilight was still standing in her corner and muttering to herself. Soarin toyed with the idea of sending the unicorn some type of signal or something, but figured she would act when ready. Instead, he turned his attention to the eager filly.

“How’re you feeling there kiddo?” He approached the side of her bed, making sure to keep his gaze on her, so she knew he was interested in what she had to say.

“Just fine, my head feels kinda itchy but I don’t need to stay here anymore! I’m tough and can take care of myself.”

“Of that I have no doubt, but sometimes accepting help shows more strength than standing alone.” It was a quote from Spitfire, one that had always stuck around in his mind.

The filly ignored him, “Ah huh, so what’s it like being a Wonderbolt!  You can tell me all your secrets. I won’t tell anypony, promise!” Her voice was so energetic that it helped remove Soarin’s own hesitations. Enthusiasm was contagious after all. 

“Well, normally I tell ponies about our routines and basic flying. Some of the lucky ones might hear about some tricks and formations, but I was thinking about telling you something I have never told anypony ever. The true secret of our success.” The filly’s purple eyes had grown huge at this and made a boisterous grin grow on Soarins face. She was adorably cute. “I’m just not sure I can trust you, after all, it is extremely important.”

“You can trust me, I swear! I’ll even Pinkie Pie swear! Come on tell me, PLEASE!” Soarin felt his mischievous smile change into slight confusion. He had no idea what a Pinkie Pie swear was. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Twilight approach the other side of the bed. Rarely had the Wonderbolt seen the level of determination that glowed on the unicorns face. She was also wearing some type of tiara. It was cast from gold, mixed with smaller opals and supporting a large star shaped ruby above it.  

Turning back to Scootaloo, Soarin decided to change the topic of conversation. He wasn’t sure if the hospital had told the young pony what she was undergoing. “Maybe later Scootaloo, but right now…” Soarin said only to be interrupted by a squeal. 

“You know my name.” Her mouth was open in awe. “That’s so awesome!”

“Mmmhmm, now Twilight is going to help you, all you need to do is relax, okay?” Soarin tried to speak as gently as he could. 

“Why? What’s wrong with me?” The filly tried to keep a strong face, but Soarin saw fear flash across her features. 

Twilight saved him from having to answer. Her voice was ethereal in its presentation, just like a goddess. “Nothing much sweetie, I just need you to keep talking to your friend and try to relax okay? This might feel a little weird.”

Watching the fear in the filly’s eyes Soarin could tell she didn’t completely believe her. Making a quick decision he quickly removed his goggles from around his neck and held them out to the filly, “Here take these, they might help.”

The filly looked at them, completely flabbergasted, and said, in an astounded voice, “For me?” Her eyes were tracing all over the piece of flight equipment, pausing on the Wonderbolts seal and Soarin’s own name elegantly engraved on the side.

“Yup, here let me help you.” Soarin stood up and, with careful precision, looped the goggles around the filly’s head. He placed them over her mane, rather than under so that they weren’t as obnoxiously large on her. Even so, Soarin was satisfied since it wasn’t practicality that he was aiming for.

Smiling, Soarin watched the filly as she tried to mutter thanks, but was unable to find the words to do so. Seeing Twilights horn start to glow, along with the gems in her headpiece, the Wonderbolt quickly launched into a story, hoping to keep the filly enraptured.

“I remember the first pair of official flight goggles I got. It’s something of a coming of age for a Wonderbolt. Everypony makes a real big deal out of it. Well, right before I got mine, I was stuck with this dumb exploration mission. Of course it had to…”

Pausing in his story the stallion looked around briefly. Twilight wasn’t blinking and beads of sweet had started to form on her face. The glow from her horn was an intense purple, which seemed to be vibrating slightly from exertion. Glancing out of the corner of his eyes, Soarin watched Scootaloo, eyes closed and shaking – whether from pain or irritation, he wasn’t sure.

In hopes of alleviating some of her pain Soarin reached across the bed and grabbed one of the filly’s hooves with his own. She flinched and slightly backed away from the contact for a brief moment before accepting it. Hoping that he gave the orange pegasus some emotional support, the Wonderbolt continued with his tale.

While telling his story he alternated between watching Scootaloo and watching Twilight. The unicorn was growing more nervous by the second, movements becoming more erratic and strained. Shifting, Soarin pulled his hoof slightly back from the filly, only to have her hold on erratically in her distress. 

Pausing in his tale Soarin heard the filly speak reticently, “Don’t leave me, please…”

There was pain in the words that made Soarin’s heart break. Hearing her speak like that made the Wonderbolt curse the cruelty of the world. No child, under any circumstance should sound like that, ever. “I won’t…I promise.”

The filly didn’t seem completely reassured and waited a moment before asking quietly, “Promise…?”

Remembering their conversation from earlier in the day he repeated his same words, “Of course, I never go back on my word.”

Suddenly, the glow from Twilight stopped and the filly slowly opened her eyes. Soarin felt his ears start to droop down. The unicorn had a hoof on her chin and was muttering to herself. In hopes of distracting the filly so that Twilight could think, he tried to grab the filly’s attention. Seeing a piece of paper nearby, a smile grew as he grabbed it, “I believe I owed you an autograph, yes?”

The filly’s eyes regained some of the spark they had contained earlier as they increased in size. “That would be so cool.”

Chuckling, the Wonderbolt quickly grabbed a pen off of a nearby clipboard and wrote: The only thing that can stop you from fulfilling your dreams is you. Believe in yourself and the impossible becomes possible. Forever your friend, Soarin

Soarin handed the paper the filly and smiled down on her. She read the writing with flashing eyes before pausing and looking up into his green eyes. “My father used to say the same thing.”

Soarin took note of the word choice. “Then he is a smart pony.”

“Scootaloo?” Twilight voice reverberated from the other side of the bed. She was speaking using a calm voice and a sweet smile. Her horn was slightly glowing as she watched the young pony.

The filly turned and looked at the unicorn, “Yes Tw…Twilight?” She let out a huge yawn before succumbing to sleep.

Soarin watched Twilight with narrowed eyes and a calculated scowl on his face, he remembered the doctor explicitly saying that Scootaloo was to remain awake for the operation. What is she doing? The mare had her eyes closed and was breathing deeply – she was also mumbling under her breath with words Soarin couldn’t make out. At that time, her mannerism reminded Soarin of a martyr; someone that was going to make a massive irreversible decision, but believed so strongly, they would never be deterred. 

Watching her take one last surging breath, she paused and started to cast yet again. Her horn started to glow, but instead of simply illuminating with the typical color of her aura – light purple – it was also mixed in with fragments of gold, red and blue, which came from the tiara on her head. She also started to chant in a language that Soarin wasn’t knowledgeable of.

That didn’t mean he wasn’t aware of what she was doing.

Is she really casting that spell? But, how is that even possible? I thought Princess Celestia was the only one capable…

Watching, the amazing lightshow of colors reflecting in his eyes, Soarin felt any lingering hostility he had toward the unicorn evaporate at that very moment. 

Twilight’s mystic aura reached out, animated as though it was alive, and surrounded the filly. The gold flecks that were mixed into the other colors, slowly and majestically turned deep scarlet red. The density of the magic soon became thick enough that the filly disappeared, cocooned by a sheet of swirling purple and red – locked in transcendent beauty. The two colors started to mix together and when the concoction became solidly maroon, suddenly exploded outward with a bright bang.

Instinctively, Soarin shut his eyes and folded his ears to try and stop the ringing. After a moment of silence, he experimentally reopened his eyes. Twilight was again trying to cast a spell of some type with her horn aimed toward the filly. Seeing her shaking knees, and sweet covered mane, he quickly jumped over by her side to give her support.

Just as Twilight was finishing her spell, the door to the room shot open as Dr. Horse and Nurse Redheart entered, both out of breath. “What happened, we heard some sort of disturbance?”

Twilight, leaning most of her weight on the Wonderbolt, responded, “It’s nothing to worry about, it’s over.”

Soarin wasn’t quite sure whether to interpret those words as positive or negative. Twilight spoke with such exhaustion edging her voice that her words were barely coherent, much less filled with any emotion.

“So…it worked?”

Twilight took a stabilizing breath before answering, “Not in the way we intended, but yes she will live, hopefully for a long time.”

“How?” By the tone of his voice, Soarin could tell that Dr. Horse didn’t believe Twilight.

“In the morning, I’m too tired right now.” The purple pony gave a tiny cough. “It’s true what they say, time is a fickle friend.” She chuckled, head hung low in exhaustion.

Dr. Horse took one long calculating look at the mare resting on Soarin. “I need to run the tests again, even if Twilight thinks she was successful, it’s better to be safe than sorry.” He turned away from then and started approaching various apparatuses on the wall. “It’s late, why don’t you two get some rest, you have both had an extremely trying day. Nurse Redheart, if you would.”

The white mare agreed staunchly with the doctor. “Of course, doctor. Would you like anything before I return?”

“Some coffee would be appreciated.”

Nodding, the nurse turned toward Twilight and Soarin and said, “Come on you two, I can set you each up in an empty patient room.”

Carefully moving forward, Soarin made sure to take most of Twilights weight onto his own body. He was tired too, but if his suspicions regarding the spell she cast were true, than she was going to need the help. The nurse led them back down the hallway toward the lobby. Thankfully, it wasn’t very far until she stopped in front of a door. She turned with a smile on her face and said cheerfully, “Here we go, Twilight can stay here.”

A quiet, disbelieving voice came from behind the white pony, “Twilight is that you?” It was Spike and his eyes were as huge as saucers.

Upon hearing the voice, Twilights ears perked up and see looked over at the purple dragon. “Spike?” The dragon responded with a nod of his head and a smile, before opening his mouth to speak again. Unfortunately for Spike, Twilight beat him to it. “What are you doing up! It’s past your bed time mister!” 

Soarin was shocked that she had enough energy to be that loud. It wasn’t quite shouting, but it was close. The expression on Redheart’s face pointed to similar thoughts, although she seemed deeply approving of what Twilight had said. 

Spike, who at the moment, reminded Soarin of a child that had one hoof in the cookie jar, simply looked at the floor and said, “Oh man,” as Twilight looked disapprovingly down at him. She lifted up one hoof and pointed to the room that the nurse had just shown them. With a sigh, the dragon walked in and was followed by a Soarin-assisted Twilight. After helping get her situated, the Wonderbolt left the room with the nurse, who quickly showed him the adjacent room and bid him good night.

Stepping in and closing the door behind him, Soarin let out a monstrous sigh. It had been one extremely long day. He was happy to finally get out of his flight suit, as the enchanted material had started to become extremely itchy and irritating after such prolong use. Carefully folding the material up – Spitfire hated wrinkles – he set the uniform down on the dresser next to the bed.

He then sat on the bed and stretched his hooves out in all directions, before slowly laying down to protect his wings. He still couldn’t believe that the day was finally over. Twilight had said that the filly was going to be okay and nopony was permanently injured. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Soarin let himself drift into oblivion.

He never noticed the black raven watching him from the window – feathers hung low in disappointment.


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