//------------------------------//
// Spike and Starbloom 
// Story: Starbloom Chronicles 
// by L_Wolf 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 6


        Starbloom had tried to prepare herself all day for this, she knew she would see Spike today and she had a lot of mixed emotions about it. But now here she was, face to face with him and all she could was stand there in front of him staring with tears forming in her eyes. She didn't know what to say to him.

        "Starbloom, are you okay?" Twilight asked coming from the kitchen and walking over to her and Spike nudging her softly with her hoof. "It's okay you don't have to be scared." she said, trying to reassure the small filly.

        When Twilight nudged her it snapped her out of her emotional roller-coaster and she smiled weakly at Spike nodding at him. "Yes, I'm Starbloom... Twilight told me all about you Spike and I'm glad to meet you." she managed to find her voice and speak. She wasn't to sure what Twilight had told him so she decided not to offer anything. She looks up and over at Twilight smiling at her. "If, it's alright I'd like to go take a bath? Got kinda dirty from crusading today," she asked Twilight, the look in her eyes saying she needed some time to herself.

        "Of course Starbloom, that sounds like a good idea," Twilight answered the small filly noticing she was covered in dirt now that she got a better look at her. "Do I even want to know what you girls have been up to?" Twilight asked after having a good look at her.

        Starbloom gave her a cheesy grin and shakes her head lightly, she answered Twilight saying, "Probably not, but it wasn't anything dangerous." She thought it best not to mention the diamond dogs, so continued by saying. "We just went hunting for gems."

        Twilight blinked at Starbloom and shakes her head a bit, "Gem hunting? Well as long as you’re safe. Now go and get cleaned up for dinner," Twilight told the filly.
        Through all of that Spike remained quiet before hearing the mention of gem hunting. He drooled a little and looked at Starbloom. "Did... you find any? Gems I mean." He asked with a hungry look in his eyes. "Please tell me you found a few," he said smiling at her.

        She looks at Spike and smiled  nodding her head to him. "Yes actually we did find a few," she answered reaching back into her saddlebag and takes out one of the gems showing it to him. It was a small emerald. "Here you can have it," she said giving it to him before heading upstairs to take a bath.
        Spike grinned as she gave him the emerald and licked his lips. "Thank you so much. It looks delicious, mmm I love emeralds," he said as he gave the emerald a lick.
        Starbloom smiled as she made her way up the stairs and to her room putting her saddle bags in a corner and took a deep breath, taking off her cape and putting it on a hook  on the wall before going into her bathroom. She started the water in the large tub, raising the lever to turn the shower on.
        "Brilliant Starbloom, you finally see Spike after weeks and you act like a filly..." She scolded herself, pausing as she looks at herself in the mirror sighing softly. "Well, I guess that is because I am a filly." She reminded herself shaking her head before getting to the tub and closed her eyes letting the water from the shower rain down on her. She gets her sponge and starts to scrub the dirt and mud out of her coat.

        It took a bit of work but she managed to get her coat clean so she started to wash out her mane using her fore-hooves to lather up the shampoo in her mane before turning to do her tail. Once she was cleaned and rinsed off, she plugged the tub and switched the shower off to fill the tub and settled into the raising water to relax.

        "I need to relax, this Spike isn't my Spike from world. I must remember that and not let my emotions get the better of me." She told herself closing her eyes and turned off the water relaxing. After a few moments she heard a knocking on her bathroom door and looks over to it tilting her head faintly. "Come in," she answered the knock wondering who it was.

        It was Twilight who came into the bathroom and trotting over to her. "Are you okay Starbloom? You seemed upset when I came out of the kitchen." She spoke softly and had a look of concern in her eyes as she looked at the young filly in the tub.

        "I'm alright Twilight, just seeing Spike after all this time. My emotions got the best of me I guess," Starbloom replied in an equally soft voice. "I guess I wasn't as ready as I thought I was," she added closing her eyes again sighing softly.
        Twilight nods softly to Starbloom as much as she tried she couldn't picture how the filly was feeling seeing Spike again after having thought she lost him forever. She smiles at Starbloom and using her magic she got a towel. "Well come on let's go have some dinner." Twilight said holding the towel up.
        Starbloom nodded, getting up and draining the tub. She shakes herself off to get most of the water off her before hopping out and let Twilight finish drying her off with the towel. "Thank you Twilight, what are we having for dinner anyways?" She asked moving to the mirror to straighten out her mane with a brush as Twilight put the towel away.

        "Nothing too fancy, vegetable stew, bread and some of Applejack's Apple Cider." Twilight said smiling waiting for Starbloom to finish before walking with her down the stairs back to the Library's main hall before heading into the kitchen. Spike was already there having set the table and waiting.

        "There you two are, I thought I would have to start without you." Spike said looking over Starbloom and Twilight the emerald Starbloom gave him sitting on a smaller plate. He planned on saving it for desert. 

        Twilight gave him a smile as she used her magic to fix everyone a plate and set it on the table for them as she spoke. "Sorry to keep you waiting Spike, Starbloom was pretty dirty from her gem hunting." She gave Starbloom a smile before continuing. "I can only imagine how Rarity reacted if Sweetie Belle was just as dirty."

        Spike went lovey dovey at the mention of his crush and Starbloom giggled softly to herself nodding at Twilight. "She was just as dirty, so was Scootaloo and Apple Bloom." She said to Twilight looking at Spike who composed himself.

        The rest of dinner went by with general chatting about Spike's trip and Starbloom's crusading adventures and how school had been going. Spike did ask about where Starbloom was from. But she gave her general answer that she was from Canterlot but left details vague when she could and doing her best to change the subject.

        Once dinner had been finished, both Starbloom and Spike cleaned the table. Spike insisted he could do it on his own but he was still happy for the help. Twilight watched the two for a moment before going into the main hall of the library and settled at her desk. She was still researching Starbloom's ability, before Spike left Canterlot, Twilight sent him a letter asking to bring her a few books. Being the faithful assistant he was, he got exactly what she requested.

        She opened one and started to read, it was a book of medical information on unicorns that had lost or damaged their horns in one way or another. Most of the book was about unicorn anatomy and on how the horn was connected to the skull and how it acted as a focusing point for magic, but she eventually found the entry she was looking for.

        A unicorn that has had its horn removed, either through accident or magically removed as punishment for their crimes must undergo treatment to remove magic build up that develops over times. Most unicorns use their magic on a daily basis so it is not a wide-spread problem except in areas where there is already a lot of magic buildup.
        The rate at which unicorns’ magic builds up differs from pony to pony, but the average time for treatment is normally every three months, but unicorns with an extremely high level of magic need to undergo treatment for magic build up much more often. These unicorns are normally the ones whose special traits or talents focus on magic in general.
        If left untreated, magical build up can become dangerous for unicorns without a horn, possibly leading to mental and emotional instability. If left untreated the unused magic can reach a critical point that results in magical explosion, much like a balloon filled with too much air.
The signs of magic build up is easier to see with unicorns with intact horns, they typically have sparks of magic and a bright glow on the tip of their horn. If a unicorn has no horn, the signs are harder to spot, they are more often prone to emotional outburst and show signs of mental instability as mentioned above. 

        That part caused Twilight to go into a panic as she started to frantically search through the book looking for a treatment for magic build up. The loss of a unicorn horn was such a rare occurrence that she never considered the possibility of adverse side effects to it.

        "What's the matter, Twilight?" Spike asked, both he and Starbloom had come out of the kitchen to see Twilight reading the book and the frantic look spread across her face. Spike and Starbloom walked over to where Twilight was standing, her eyes quickly going over the page as she re-read it before she started to quickly flip through the pages of the book looking for something.
        "Twilight?" Starbloom spoke up as she looked up at her tilting her head. "Twilight, what's wrong?" Starbloom was starting to get worried herself as she saw the frantic reading and searching. She knew all too well something was going on. Twilight tossed the book in the air with her magic out of frustration.
        "Hey careful I have to return that to the library in Canterlot!" Spike said quickly catching the book before it hit the ground looking over at Twilight, but the look was more of worry then anger. "Come on Twilight, tell us what's wrong?" Spike pleaded with Twilight looking up at him holding the book.
        Twilight sighed and flopped on her flank looking down before looking at Spike then over at Starbloom. "We have a problem, I'm afraid Starbloom might be suffering from magic build up." She said looking at the floor of the library. Both Spike and Starbloom looked at each other before looking back to Twilight confused.
        "Magic build up? But Starbloom doesn't have Unicorn magic, she's an Earth Pony." Spike said looking at Twilight tilting his head in confusion. Starbloom started to look a little worried she looked at the book Spike was holding and recognized what it was. She never read the book herself but she knew it was a medical book.

        "Actually Spike, I am a unicorn, just a hornless one." Starbloom said sitting in front of Spike looking down. She had wanted to keep it a secret but if there was a problem like this it would be best to come clean now. "My horn was removed a few weeks ago." She sighed softly rubbing her right fore-hoof on the floor of the library floor.

        "Wait... what?" Spike asked looking from Starbloom to Twilight and back to Starbloom. "But how, why? I thought only criminal unicorns had their horns removed." He said with an even more confused look on his face now.

        "That doesn't matter now Spike," Twilight said getting more in control of herself looking over at Spike then at Starbloom. "We need to find a way to drain Starbloom's magic and soon or..." She said frowning and not wanting to think about what could happen.

        "How do we do it?" Starbloom asked looking up at Twilight trying to think of something, but without a horn it seemed impossible. "Unless...." She said as she got an idea and focused on pushing the magic out of her, focusing the magic on some books on a bookshelf. 

        It was clearly a strain on her as she started to sweat and gritted her teeth but her eyes soon flared with her magic aura and the books come off the shelf and floated around her. The initial strain over she let out a deep breath and held the books in her magic, making them orbit around her. It was still clearly hard to hold the books up  without a focusing point like her horn, and she was burning through her magic build up quickly, the aura around the books and her eyes started to flicker before fading quickly and the books dropped to the ground.

        Starbloom also went down with the books dropping to the ground, her magic spent, leaving her exhausted. She laid on the ground panting hard, fur matted with sweat but smiling. "I... did it..." She said before passing out. Twilight and Spike quickly checked to make sure she was okay.
        Twilight smiled softly and nods, levitating Starbloom with her magic "Yes, you did." She carried Starbloom up to her room, wondering if this was how the parents of a unicorn foal felt when their child first used magic. She pulled the covers on Starbloom's bed back and placed her in it, tucking her in. "Sleep well, Starbloom." Twilight said smiling and kissed her forehead before heading back down stairs.

        She saw Spike putting away the books Starbloom had dropped and went over to help using her magic to pick up some of the books and put them away. Spike turning around when he saw the books floating. "Who is she Twilight?" Spike asked a serious look on the baby dragon's face. "Tell me the truth."
        Twilight sat down sighing softly, she had a feeling this was coming after that display of power. "Spike... she is me. From the world in my dream. You remember me telling you about them right?" She asked looking at her assistant as he came over and sat in front her.
        His only answer to her question was a nod. Twilight continued by saying "I'm not sure how it happen but those were not dreams, not really. I was seeing this other world and this other Twilight. My theory is that when we performed that experiment it linked us and allowed me to view her life through my dreams."

        "But how did she get here and why is she a filly?" Spike asked after a few moments when Twilight finished speaking. "In your dream you told me you touched your horn to her head, breaking the link between the two of you."

        Twilight frowned and shakes her head slowly. "That, isn't all that happened. I never told you, or anypony else this but after Starbloom disappeared, Luna appeared in my dream, I think it was the Luna from Starbloom's world. She told me she would use the rift created from the experiment to send her here, for a second chance. That she and Celestia wanted her student to live a normal life, to bring her into the dream world she had to make her a filly again. Celestia couldn't bear the thought of Starbloom being condemned to a life in prison." She explained to Spike, using Starbloom's new name to make it easier for Spike to understand.

        Spike sat quiet for a while as he thought about what Twilight had told him, Twilight wasn't known for being able to keep secrets. The fact she managed to keep that to herself meant the conversation between her and the Luna in her dream must have been pretty emotional and tough for her to talk about.
        "Spike, we need to find a way for Starbloom to easily and safely use her magic without it being so much of a strain on her, before her magic build up gets high again." Twilight said looking at Spike getting back on her hooves. "Make some tea, we're in for a long night of study"

        Spike nods and got to his own feet. "Right away Twilight." he said before leaving the main hall of the library to make some strong tea to help keep Twilight awake as she started to pull books down from the book shelves and stack them next to her.

        Twilight started to read the books feverishly trying to find an answer thinking to herself as she did so, I won’t let you down daughter, I won’t let you die from this. She knew that much stress Starbloom put on herself to use magic without a horn could be fatal if she kept it up.