//------------------------------//
// Examination 
// Story: A Pup Named Fenrir 
// by MisterEdd 
//------------------------------//

I stood within a dark forest, the thick, near-black trees reaching nearly to the sky, their sprawling, crooked branches claw-like and bare. A light snowfall had begun, covering the land in a thin layer of ivory powder that lightly crunched beneath my footfalls. I took a whiff, my nostrils invaded by the spicy musk of the trees, a scent I'd not detected since the early days of my first lifetime. I was in Járnviðr, or "Iron-wood," an infamous forest in Jotunheim known for its immense size and mammoth trees. It was also my place of birth, the location of my earliest memories, now mostly forgotten and lost to time.   

Dancing flurries flitted past my eyes, landing on me and coating my fur with little icy-cold droplets. Hoarfrost encased the trees' trunks, creating glittering, semi-transparent carapaces that caught the sunlight and refracted it into a million tiny luminescent beams. In spite of the beautiful day, I couldn't help but shiver at some imperceptible terror that wriggled its way down my spine. Further into the forest I ventured, determined to discover why I was here, whether it be the will of fate or mortal being that returned me to my old home. Fear never held me back before and it wouldn't begin now.    

A steady drumbeat pounded out a rhythm, beginning low then rising in intensity. All around me, I could detect multiple voices whispering in the darkness, their words indiscernible even to my keen lupine ears. Ahead of me, a roaring bonfire blazed from a stone fire-pit, the flames reaching for the clouds with yellow-orange fingers. I could make out a shape standing right behind the flames, their face enshrouded by rising smoke and descending ashes. Inexplicably, I was drawn towards the fire and, more importantly, to the as-yet-identified figure, who watched my approach with unwavering anticipation. 

Soon, I was bathed in the heat of the bonfire, which now retreated enough for me to accurately catch a glimpse of the figure and in that moment, I nearly felt my heart stop. It was a tall, pale-skinned woman with flesh nearly as white as the snow, her raven-black, waist-long hair kept in multiple braids tied with metal bands and leather strips. The woman's face was high-angled, with jutting cheekbones and a pointed chin, her eyes a golden hazel with cat-like pupils. She'd painted gray-black, wing-like markings around her eyes and cheeks with several dots connecting her jaw to her chin. As for her clothing, she was garbed in a light brown strap-dress and a white cloak trimmed with gray fur held in place with a silver, serpent-shaped brooch.

It was Angrboða, the Witch of the Iron-wood, who I knew as...
 
"...Mother?"

Angrboða smiled and took several hesitant steps around the fire, unfazed by the snow beneath her bare feet. She raised a slender hand and placed it on my snout, her fingers lightly combing through the hair. Her other hand gently cupped my cheek and raised my head so that we could meet eye-to-eye. I swallowed away the sudden dryness in my throat and I wished that I had some water to quench my new thirst. My heart raced faster than it ever had before.  

"My son, it is you," she declared softly.  

For a moment, I was completely speechless.

"It is I, Mother," I finally replied, relieved to have finally broken the silence. "But why am I here?"

"Dearest One, you have brought me here to the place of your deepest desires. Dreams are the unrealized wishes of the heart. Why else would I be here?"

I nodded, enjoying the sensation of her caressing my face.

"I've been reborn in a new world called 'Equestria.' I have a life here, friends even!"

Exhaling through her nostrils, Angrboða peered at me sorrowfully.

"I know, but it cannot last."

"I don't...I don't understand, Mother."

"I think you do," she sighed. "The Hunger has returned. Despite your best efforts, it continues to plague you."

My heart sank at her words. "Yes, but I can conquer it, perhaps even for good. I can start over anew, no longer be the monster that I once was, can't I?"

Angrboða shook her head, eyes sparkling with tears.

"There is a dark power within you, a magic that is...alive in a way, a force of insatiable greed and hunger. It is starving and the more that you try to force it away, the stronger it grows until one day, you may not be able to resist it."

It was like getting struck in the stomach with Mjölnir.    

"What happens then?"

"Then you...become a mindless savage, an unthinking aberration of gluttony and destruction. Every time you fight it, it tries harder to return. As long as you periodically satisfy it, you can keep the Hunger at bay." 

I growled in frustration and turned away. No matter what I do, I'm in trouble. 

"How did I get like this?"

Angrboða was silent for a minute. "Do you recall the story of Gullveig?" 

Long ago, there was a powerful enchantress named Gullveig, who was renowned for her skills in sorcery as well her cruelty and malicious ambition. It is said that she was an incredibly wicked and vile woman who frightened the Aesir so much that they impaled her with spears and burned her alive. Amazingly, she survived so they tried again and again but she refused to die. It was the fourth attempt that Gullveig actually perished, with only her heart remaining intact, which was surprising given that Fire devours everything. How truly wicked was this woman if Fire refused to fully consume her?      

I nodded, so Angrboða continued: "When Gullveig perished, Loki found her unconsumed heart and it called to him, making him believe that he could gain the witch's power by eating it. Instead, Gullveig's corruptible influence infected your father, turning his heart black and his mind to wickedness. Loki passed that evil onto you and your siblings but as you were the eldest, you inherited the majority of the dark magic."

It all made sense now. Gullveig may've died but her spirit, her essence lingered on, turning my father from a cunning trickster to a ruthless schemer and me into a monster of death and carnage. "The Hunger" was nothing more than a dead witch's final joke, a mystical plague that'd infected me since I was small.  

I turned to my mother. "Isn't there a cure to this affliction? Anything?" 

After contemplating, Angrboða merely shook her head. "I don't know. My own skills as an enchantress are great but even I don't know how to remove Gullveig's curse. The only thing you can do is to learn magic, enough to fight off the Hunger and keep it from overwhelming you. You have magic in your blood, just as I do and my mother before me did." 

She took my face in both hands, her eyes pleading with me to listen to her words.

"Fenrir, you have that magic too. Believe in yourself and you will succeed. Remember, only eat enough to survive and to control the Hunger and learn the ways of sorcery. I have faith in you, my son." 

I was on the verge of tears.

"Mother..."

I awoke with a start, my limbs flailing out as though I'd just been kicked in the gut. Hel, I was so startled that my little jolt almost sent me over the edge of the bed. Righting myself, I peered over my shoulder to find Fluttershy slumbering peacefully, the sight of which greatly put me at ease. For how hard she worked, a few hours of respite were more than well earned. I stretched my legs and carefully touched down on the floor, once again taken aback by the shorter drop. 

Slipping through the bedroom door, I passed by the long mirror in the hallway and confirmed what I already suspected: I had indeed grown once again. Before, I was tiny, just barely reaching the average pony's knees but after my little pie-binge, however, I now stood at chest-level. My legs were longer with more muscle, four toned limbs made for hunting and catching prey. My muzzle was more narrow and pronounced, my body slimmer and lacking in the fluffy softness I'd previously possessed. At this rate, I'd be full-grown within weeks and that'd mean the end of my little ruse. 

I was seized by a sudden onset of panic. 

Would Fluttershy and the others reject me upon learning of my true nature? It was possible that the alicorns could fill the role of the Aesir, becoming so afraid of what I might do and what I was capable of that they would try to keep me locked in a cage somewhere. No, Fluttershy wouldn't do that! She cared about me and would never allow that to pass. Besides, based on their semi-pacifistic society, I doubted the ponies had it in them for such extreme measures. Equestria wasn't Asgard and the ponies weren't the Aesir. 

This was just my old fears and insecurities rearing their ugly heads. 

Nothing more. 

A part of me contemplated another runaway attempt, to just flee and never look back. The Everfree Forest, though vast and notoriously treacherous for travelers, was much too close to Ponyville and would be the first obvious choice if the ponies sent out a search party. I stopped and was reminded of my first attempt, Angel's words bouncing around in my head reminding me to stay for Fluttershy's sake rather than my own. I conjured up excuses and counterarguments but I couldn't find a way to dispute the rabbit's claims. Fine, I will stay but I didn't know how I was to continue keeping my secret when my own body was going to betray me first. 

Perhaps it was time to come clean? 

I found Angel seated on the couch with a small book on his lap, albeit one that was upside-down, his brow heavily furrowed as he squinted at the words. The picture on the front cover was that of a robin, leading me to believe that it was a book on ornithology, or the study of birds. One ear twitched at my arrival and he glanced up from his book, only to jump slightly at the sight of me. His eyes comically widened, his ears flopping down to either side of his face.

"Faust, what has Fluttershy been feeding you?" 

I frowned. "It's just the way that I'm built."

"Like you were in, uh...?"

"Asgard."

"Right." Angel waved a paw then set the book aside. "Couldn't sleep either, huh?"

"No," I admitted, sitting down in front of the couch. "Crazy dreams."

"I can understand that. I just woke up from a dream where a hundred tiny Opals were chasing me with sticks of butter. I guess that's what I get for eating pretzels before bed."

I merely quirked my brow at this.

Angel awkwardly coughed into his clenched paw. "Right...anyway, what was your dream about?" 

"My mother," I answered honestly. After all, he already knew my secret so deceit was pointless at this stage. "She was telling me about this...affliction, for lack of a better word, that I have. Basically, I have this intense hunger that drives me to consume and grow. I thought I had it handled back on my world but now it's returned for me." 

"That's rough," Angel commented, clearly not comprehending my words but responding to show an interest in what I was saying. "So what now?"

"I'm going to try to gain control over it, rather than it controlling me."

"Good plan." 

An awkward silence steadily grew between us.

"So you had a mother, huh?" Angel finally asked. "Any other family?"

"I had two younger siblings: a brother that was a giant serpent and a sister with half of her face and body resembling that of a corpse. I also had a half-brother that was an eight-legged horse and whose mother happened to be my father." 

"...I'm sorry, what?" 

We continued to talk for a half hour, during which I related much of my life story, though omitting much of the more explicitly violent and dark portions. Surprisingly, Angel remained captivated by my tale, never once interrupting or making a snarky comment. Eventually, he bid me good night and I too decided to retire, though sleep sadly eluded me. As I couldn't get back to sleep, I attempted once more to teach myself to read, again to no avail and gingerly placed the book back onto the shelf. I adjourned to the kitchen and waited five minutes before Angel hopped into view, giving out a groan as he stretched his little arms out.    

"Morning," I greeted him. 

"Hey. Is Fluttershy up yet?" 

Just then, we heard the familiar clip-clop-clip-clop of hooves on the staircase, then on the hardwood floors. 

"Good morning, Angel. Good morning, Fen...oh my!"

To say Fluttershy was surprised by my sudden growth spurt would be an understatement. She'd staggered back onto her hind-hooves with her wings flared out, a slight tremor shaking her body. Her blue eyes were heavily dilated as she took in my new appearance, starting with my face and traveling downward to my toes. I gave her an uneasy grin in an attempt at diffusing the situation, hoping that she'd still recognize the pup she'd come to adore. Settling back onto her front hooves, Fluttershy folded her wings and began to look at me with curiosity rather than fear.   

"Good morning, Fluttershy," I murmured. "As you can see, I've had a bit of a growth spurt."

She nodded absentmindedly, then took a few steps towards me. I remained perfectly still, not wishing to startle her with an unexpected movement and this seemed to pay off in my favor as she continued advancing. Reaching out a hoof, Fluttershy gently prodded at my mouth, her toe poking at them to reveal my teeth. The motion tickled and I desperately fought the urge to release a very masculine giggle. She stopped poking and began to stroke my muzzle in long, deliberate drags. 

"Fen?"

"It's me," I confirmed, my eyes searching her own. 

"Yeah, he grew up a little," Angel interjected in a blasé tone. "Freaky, right?"

"Well...I'm definitely going to have to stock up on beef," Fluttershy joked somewhat uneasily, though I suspected it was more for her benefit than my own. "How do you feel?"

"Taller."

Fluttershy cocked her head to the right, then the left, presumably to get different angles in the light. She then smiled and caressed my cheek, a gesture that I was more than happy to receive. I leaned into her touch and a soft whine of contentment slipped out. While I was mortified, Fluttershy laughed softly at the sound. Well, at least she was no longer apprehensive.  

"I think some breakfast is in order," Fluttershy beamed and I nodded.

"About time," Angel remarked and I shot him a dirty glance. "What?"

Fluttershy prepared Angel his usual greens and I couldn't help the sound of disgust I made when she laid a bowl out for him. The little troublemaker responded by covertly holding up a clenched paw and sticking out his middle digit in what I assumed to be an obscene gesture of disrespect. He then wiggled his eyebrows, grinning smugly. Smiling somewhat amiably, I opened the side of my mouth wide enough for him to get a glance of my teeth and then made a biting motion, complete with a quiet snarl. Angel immediately turned green and quickly spun around so that his back was to me.  

Me: one, Angel: zero. 

As for me, Fluttershy placed a plate down and gave me a good ear scratch. My meal consisted of a large piece of raw chicken covered in a light smattering of gravy with bits of grain and pork-chunks. Mmm, delicious! I semi-purposefully made loud chewing noises, which caused Angel to keep his back to me. I could almost picture his face twisting up in disgust.

Me: two, Angel: zero.

Sounds petty, I know but I take my victories where I can get them. 

"Angel," Fluttershy spoke up. "I'm taking Fen over to Twilight's so we'll be back in about an hour."

My ears perked up. "How come?"

"Dr. Fauna said to take you to a thaumaturgist and Twilight graciously offered to examine you for free. She's always interested in studying oddities and logic-defying rarities. Maybe she'll help find a remedy for your condition."

I froze mid-bite. I hadn't anticipated that this would happen so soon, my fears of imprisonment creeping back into my heart. Aside from the terror I felt of the ponies learning my secret, there was an added dose of undeniable curiosity. Just what would Twilight find upon examining me? If Gullveig's curse still had me clutched within its iron grip, then surely that meant that I was still a jotannulfr, just in a different location and body. More importantly, could Twilight find a cure? 

Angel turned around so that his eyes met my own, his face wearing an I-know-what-you're-thinking-but-you-need-to-keep-calm-and-carry-on expression. I blinked in acknowledgement and swallowed the last of my meal. Despite the full belly, I had this sudden cold emptiness in the pit of my stomach. 

"Maybe. Do you think she can?"

Fluttershy tapped on the tabletop. "Well, Twilight is a gifted spell-caster and an alicorn." She then added more confidently, "I really don't want to give you any false hope but I think it's possible." 

"Even false hope is better than none," I gently smiled and Fluttershy patted my head.

If only that were true.

We, that being Fluttershy and I, leisurely strolled into Ponyville, the pegasus trotting with me plodding alongside her. Ponies stopped and stared, no doubt puzzled by my literal overnight transformation and trying to piece together what could've happened between then and now. It appeared to be more bafflement than fear, though this did little to assuage my mounting anxiety, which metamorphosed from a slight tremor in my left paw to a spasm that shook my whole body. For the first time since I'd arrived, I walked with my head lowered and my tail tucked between my legs like a lowly mutt. 

"Wasn't he much smaller yesterday?"

"Yeah, he was! How bizarre!"

"Maybe it's some kind of magic?"

My ears swiveled to pick up on the conversations, collecting every whisper, every speculation and binding them to my mind. The ponies were watching me and I couldn't help but watch them back, my eyes darting at each and every face that passed me by. Looking back at this moment, I realize, of course, they weren't all judging me but in that moment, all gazes were fixed on me and me alone. There'd been a time when I wanted others to look on me with awe and terror, to be able to point and scream, "What is that thing?!" moments before I ended their pitiful existence. I used to savor those moments, relish them, however, now that I'd experienced true happiness, I wanted nothing more than to be ignored and forgotten.  

Kill...kill...kill...

The Hunger clawed at the back of my head, demanding through slobbering jaws to be released. It wasn't just the need to consume that fueled it, oh no, but a drive to satisfy all of my baser instincts, to fulfill the wishes and desires that arose within me. I wanted to snap my teeth and howl, to send these miserable fools fleeing in mortal dread to huddle up with their loved ones and pray that I didn't smash through their doors. I wanted to feast on their flesh, to rend them limb from limb and display their dismembered remains as warnings to those who would dare judge me. Who were they to criticize and condemn me for being different, for being born the way that I am?!  

Kill...kill...kill...

Crimson flooded my vision, a thousand little pinpricks jabbing at the backs of my eyeballs. A low growl rumbled in my throat, my lips pulling away to reveal my teeth. My heart was beating faster now, thundering in my chest as blood rushed to my ears, drowning out all other sounds. My mind conjured up all of the pain from my previous life, from being snatched out of my mother's arms to being chained up and left to rot for a millennium, and now, I wanted revenge. Every muscle in my body was pulled taut, readying themselves for the incoming attack.   

Kill...kill...kill-

Through the veil of unbridled fury, something solid brushed against my scalp. The crimson haze was pulled away like a stage curtain and I once again gradually became aware of my surroundings, as though I was awakening from a dream. I blinked away the vestigial remains of rage to discover Fluttershy hugging me, her hoof stroking my head front-to-back. Although I couldn't exactly make out what she was saying, her dulcet tone was enough to pacify me and I slowly regained my composure. My eyes no longer prickled and my legs, which once were pillars of iron, were now reduced to wobbling pieces of soggy bread that could crumble beneath me at any time.  

"Shhh, it's alright, Fen. There you go, that's it," Fluttershy cooed into my sagging ear.

It was astounding how much of an impact she had on me, a factor that was simultaneously relieving and terrifying. No one, not even Tyr, who himself was a master dog-tamer, was capable of placating me to this degree, not when I was ready to launch into an all-out blood-rage. This rage, comparable to the battle-trances of the berserker warriors, was first discovered during my first night in Asgard, when a foolish stable boy decided to jab a pitchfork at me. By the time the guards arrived, he wound up losing the last two fingers on his right hand, the index finger of his left hand, his left ear and most of his nose. Odin speculated that it was the result of my jotunn heritage and whatever type of dark magic power my mother wielded. 

No one said that he was all-knowing.    

Once I'd become lulled into a more complacent state, we continued our trek and despite Fluttershy's calming influence, I still regarded the townsponies with a suspicious glare. It wasn't long until we arrived at what appeared to be some kind of crystalline fortress, its near-transparent walls glittering in the sunlight. I concluded that it was some sort of pony-magic and left it at that; too much consideration on one topic was hazardous to one's mental well-being. There were no sentries posted so we entered without delay, Fluttershy leading the way without a servant or messenger in sight. Twilight Sparkle must be a very relaxed and laid-back monarch if this was how she ran things in this town.  

As we entered the castle, a warm, almost numb sensation rattled through my limbs and the rest of my body. An old, dare I say, living energy inhabited this palace, something so powerful that even one uninitiated in sorcery as I could detect it. From what I could tell, the castle had been created out of the unidentified magic, which continued to hum and flow through its halls. Perhaps Twilight made it and if she did, then it spoke volumes of her great power. A ray of hope shone on me in that instant. 

We were soon met by a short, plump bipedal lizard with purple skin and large green eyes. 

"Hey Fluttershy," he greeted in a high-pitched voice, giving me the impression that he was a child. 

"Hello Spike! Is Twilight around?"

"Yeah, she said you'd be dropping be. She's in the library."

Spike then looked at me. "So this is Fen, huh?"

"Who's this?" I questioned aloud.

"Oh, where are my manners? Fen, this is Spike. He's Twilight's dragon assistant."

This was a dragon? I certainly hoped he wasn't done growing because he looked like something Níðhöggr picked out of between his toes. If all dragons in Equestria looked like this, then I had no doubts the ponies lived here unimpeded. 

"Hello," I said simply and gave him a large whiff. 

He smelled like peppermint and roasted nuts. 

The three of us traversed the shimmering hallways and passed through a set of large doors emblazoned with twin twelve-pointed stars. We entered a massive circular room filled with more books than I've ever seen, hundreds of them sitting on thirty-foot wooden shelves connected via several metal ladders. Four crystal pillars located around the room reached up and interconnected at the ceiling where a giant glowing blue gem hung like a lantern. In the center of the room, Twilight was seated nose-deep in a book that, sadly, lacked a picture on the cover so I had no clue as to its contents. Detecting visitors, she made the book vanish in a flash of raspberry-colored light and strode over to meet us.   

"Hi Fluttershy! And..." She paused upon spotting me. "...Hi Fen."

Fluttershy smiled somewhat uneasily. "Yes, Fen had a bit of a growth spurt. Overnight." 

"No kidding."

The alicorn conjured some kind of an item resembling a glass set in a metal circle with a small handle. Peering through it, she studied my face, then the interior of my mouth. I don't know what she was looking for but she appeared to be utterly intrigued by me regardless. 

"Fascinating." 

The item disappeared and Twilight motioned to Spike, who placed a clawed hand on Fluttershy's foreleg.

"Stand over here, please."

"Will it hurt?" Fluttershy sounded apprehensive and that made me growl aloud. 

"Absolutely not. I promise he won't feel a thing!" Twilight cheerfully assured her, and by extension, me. "Tell Fen to hold still. This will make the examination much easier."

"I can hear you, you know," I grumbled but that went untranslated.  

Twilight's horn ignited with the same raspberry energy from before, engulfing the appendage in a brilliant light. The light extended over to me, surrounding me in a similarly-colored aura, which felt like being blown on by a light breeze. That was soon replaced by the sensation of having a million little men marching all over my skin, a feeling mildly uncomfortable but not unpleasant. She concentrated, the aura ebbing and flowing around me in a lazy rotation. So far, it was a fairly inoffensive procedure.   

Waves crackled off of the perimeter of the aura and contracted into a tiny ball. The ball then zipped into my chest and began illuminating my entire skeleton. Twilight glanced through half-lidded eyes and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. 

"So far, his bones and muscles look normal. I doubt this is a physical abnormality."

"That's a relief," Fluttershy sighed. 

"So what is it?" Spike asked.

"Hold on..."

 The ball wobbled, giving off ripples like a stone after it was cast into a lake, each one bouncing to the other parts of my body and returning to their point of origin. A metallic hum, akin to that of a bell, soon filled the room with its soft dinging. I saw Twilight's brow furrowed in confusion. 

"What in Celestia's name...?"

The humming grew louder, accompanied by a sound like crackling fire. Lowering her head, Twilight poured more magic into her horn, creating a bigger aura around me and lifting me off the floor. A secondary aura shone within me, this one a bluish-white that brought to mind frost on a window in the afternoon sun. Twilight willed the aura to expand until it surrounded my body underneath her own aura, this one a pale green with a jagged black outline and a dark green interior. Unlike Twilight's aura, which appeared to dribble like water, this one moved in a decidedly more flame-like manner, sputtering and swiping at the air in aggressive random strikes. 

"That's strange..."

Spike cocked his head. "What is?"

"Unless I'm mistaken, Fen has his own magical aura!" 

Fluttershy immediately looked puzzled. "Is that even possible?"

"It shouldn't be...wait..."

Focusing intensely, Twilight poured more magic into her horn, which now glowed at a near-blinding luminescence. Having spotted something in the aura-my aura, apparently-and sifting through it, she peeled it back to expose a series of interlocking spirals, each one burning with a red glow. The raspberry field developed wedge-shaped appendages and began  extracting the spirals, pulling them out and untwisting them. Slowly, the spirals were converted into a series of geometric shapes, both rudimentary and intricate, all of which appeared to throb with malicious energy. 

"Twilight," Spike began in a semi-frightened tone. "What are those things?"

"I don't know, Spike. They might be ritualistic symbols of some kind."

I knew what they were. Although I didn't understand their exact meaning or purpose, I recognized them as magical sigils known as staves. Seiðkona, or sorceresses, often employed them in their rituals to aid them in predicting the future or summoning spirits. Vague recollections filtered through my brain of my mother drawing staves on the ground as she chanted over a bonfire, her arms raised above her head in salutation to an unknown god or spirit. It would seem that Gullveig enchanted her heart with several such staves, imbuing the accursed organ with dark magic powerful enough to corrupt and twist the minds of others. If I had somehow inherited such evil workings, then what did that mean for me and could they be reversed, even removed?  

The staves floated around me, beating like the heart of the witch that spawned them. 

"I think that's enough of that."

A burst of white light engulfed the room and I found myself floating back to the floor, the magical symbols and auras dissipating into nothingness. It was good to have solid ground back under my paws but the more pressing matter was what that was all about. In between frantically scribbling notes, Twilight was casting little peeks at me, her face unreadable. Whatever it was that she'd discovered, it couldn't be good. The anticipation was stifling to the point where the room began to spin, my heart beating so fast that it almost hurt. 

"Twilight, what did you find? Is Fen okay?"

I was thankful Fluttershy broke the silence; the eerie stillness was unspeakably nerve-wracking. 

Setting aside her quill and notepad, Twilight took a deep breath and sighed.

"I...don't know how to answer that. This is unlike anything that I've ever seen before."

Spike looked at me, then at Twilight. "You said something about his own aura?"

"All things, both living and inanimate, generate a magical aura. This is what makes casting spells possible. However, inanimate objects, such as trees and rocks, and certain non-sentient and semi-sentient beings, like fish and bears, cannot project that same type of magic; they can only be affected by magic instead of affecting it. If Fen can generate his own magical field, then that means he's capable of affecting matter. That is to say, he can perform magic."   

"Oh, but what about the symbols?" Fluttershy asked worriedly.

Twilight rubbed her temples. "Look, when someone casts a spell, they leave behind a fragment of their own mystical signature. By the looks of it, that's someone else's signature. Someone cast some sort of spell on Fen, I just don't know why or what for. What I do know is that when I scanned those symbols, they gave off an energy reading almost exactly similar to dark magic."

I exhaled, releasing a breath I didn't know that I'd been holding in. 

"Will Fen be okay?"

Twilight smiled weakly, placing a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. "I don't have any answers at the moment but for right now, I think Fen is going to be alright. Whatever this dark magic is, it doesn't appear to be affecting his health. I need time to research it but I believe he's going to be fine."

Fluttershy appeared to believe Twilight. 

That made one of us.