"Here's a good spot," said Kai, pulling the cart out of the field and next to a big pile of rocks. After anchoring the wheels to the ground, he rapped on the back door to alert the others. While he waited for them to file out, he prepped the camp. He was really good at doing so by now, and by the time Fluttershy and Twilight came back with their vegetation, he'd already started the fire and set up all the tents. They were just waiting for Nik to come back with his fish when Twilight looked up from her sorting.
"So, there was something I wanted to ask you, Kai."
"Ask away."
Twilight took a deep breath. "Your magic seems to be incredibly robust. At the same time, however, it seems that you're using more energy than is necessary."
Kai looked up from the fire. "Was there a question in there?"
"Why is that?"
Kai turned back to the fire. "My formal education on magic was probably about the same as yours was, at first. We're about the same age, so I can't imagine that it changed that much between the time we went to magic kindergarten. The difference is, that's where my education ended. I learned to read and cast basic spells, then I had to leave. That's just the way it was for me. You probably had a few more lessons in magic than I did, with teachers who actually wanted you to learn the subject. Not so much for me."
Twilight shifted in place. "My parents were really supportive about me learning magic. They helped me gain entry into the best magic school Equestria had to offer. I learned from Celestia herself."
"Was Celestia a good teacher?" asked Nik, sitting down with his fish. "I don't like being on her bad side, but you've seen her good side."
"I liked having her teach me," smiled Twilight. "I was a bit scared when she sent me to Ponyville for independent study, but it worked out in the end. That's actually how I met Fluttershy."
Fluttershy shrunk down and blushed. "I was very timid and shy back then."
"You still are," chuckled Kai, "but that's one of the reasons we love you."
The blush on Fluttershy's face grew in intensity as she looked away.
"So, who taught you magic after you left the public system?" asked Twilight, trying to keep the conversation on topic. "Surely you must have learned from somepony."
"I had a few teachers, yes, but I couldn't really ask any questions of them. It's not as though they'd answer me."
Twilight scowled. "That's rude of them."
Kai looked up. "They were long since dead, or otherwise unavailable. I had to read the information that they wrote down, and if there wasn't any other information written down, I'd have to either try out the method myself small scale, or find a different method. The former is mostly what I do now because I can do it easily."
"So you just make up spells as you go along?" asked Nik. "What happens when you make the wrong spell?"
"I live long enough to regret it," answered Kai. "I try not to rely on spells entirely, though. You never know when your horn's just going to fail out of nowhere."
"I've never heard of that," said Twilight, shaking her head. "Your horn can just fail?"
"It's happened to me a few dozen times," admitted Kai. "One second, you can repel wolves, bears and badgers, the next, you can't so much as lift a rock. It's the weirdest thing, and the worst part is, I can't find any other documented cases. I can't even investigate it myself, because I can't use magic to find out why my magic isn't working."
Twilight conjured up a pencil and notebook and started writing. She had to know more about this. She'd spent enough time around Kai by this point that she felt as though they were friends. That meant she would do what she could to help him if she had the chance. Furthermore, she didn't want it happening to her. "How often does this happen?"
"Usually coinciding with other injuries. Not with all of them. I broke my leg once, horn still worked. Fell off a castle wall, still fine. Hit by falling tree branch, now there's a problem."
"How hard were you hit by the tree branch?"
"Pretty hard." Kai shone a light on his back "It's that third scar on the left, right above the shoulder blade."
Twilight pressed her hoof against it. "This one?" Kai nodded in response. "That must have hurt pretty bad. Did you have to go to a hospital?"
Kai shook his head. "I was living alone, and I had no money at the time. It righted itself the next day."
Twilight pulled her hoof back. "I see. I'm sure your parents must have been very worried."
Kai shoot his head. "They didn't know anything about it. My mother's been lobotomized and my father threw me out on my arse when I was seven."
A deafening silence followed. Kai looked up from the embers and found that Twilight was staring at him uncomfortably. Nik was also rather surprised to hear that. Fluttershy looked away. She knew about Kai's parents, but couldn't warn him in time to stop him from saying anything.
"I see I've said something wrong," nodded Kai. "Let's move on. How would your parents have treated such an injury?"
"I... I don't know," said Twilight, still visibly uncomfortable. "I guess they'd take me to a doctor right away. That's what parents do, right?"
Kai simply shrugged. His experience was atypical. When more silence followed, he just accepted that the conversation was over. Grabbing a bit of greenery from their stock, he climbed out of the dip they'd parked in up onto the rocks. His view was better up here, so he could see if they were being followed.
Or rather, that was the reason he would give if asked why he'd done it. He simply didn't want to be judged for his parents' decisions. Or rather, his father's decisions, as his mother hadn't chosen to be the way she was. He sat up there for a good ten minutes, eating his greens before he felt something drop into his lap.
"I found some oxeye. I thought you might enjoy some." Fluttershy sat down next to him and smiled.
Kai looked back to the camp, then returned his gaze to the moon. "I'm sorry I made things awkward," he said quietly. "I didn't mean to upset everyone."
Fluttershy shook her head. "You don't need to apologize. Not everypony has a good childhood. Just because she did doesn't mean you had to."
Kai picked up the daisy and bit off the head. "I suppose we all have our demons..."
"And that's what makes us special."