Turning around Twilight saw the same stallion that she had caught in her house not even an hour ago, except that he had a thick trail of blood flowing from his head and mouth. He stood there, leaning more on his right side, a crooked smile on his face. She stood there, kicking the ground nervously, Granted he did break into her home, but she had just snooped through his stuff. She just stood there, her lips partly open as she wracked her head for something to say. Her heart fluttered as she looked at him, an unusual feeling that she was not experienced with
“This pony broke into my house, utterly destroyed most of it and came back here covered in blood and limping,” She thought,” Why is my heart beating like this and why do I feel like a filly meeting their idol for the first time?”
“Um, excuse me, Miss Sparkle,” the stallion said kindly, “are you going to stand there all night just staring at me?”
Hearing his voice snapped her back into reality, a flood of new emotions surged through her. Anger being the strongest she felt right now. Stomping the ground with her leg, she opened her heart to the power that rested there. Usually she could just summon this power on a whim, unlike most unicorns that had to focus, but not this time. Her emotions were too unstable. Focusing on the stallion in front of her, she urged the space around him to become weightless, to defy the laws of gravity. Twilight felt the warmth flow through her veins as it traveled down to her hooves, back up to her heart and finally to the base of her horn. Magic as they called it, but the power was in reality nameless, this power had existed since the first unicorn had stepped into this world. The magic spiraled up her horn and finally seeped out. The stallion looked nervous or excited; she couldn't tell or care what he felt at the moment. She released her spell, aimed at the pony standing no more than a few hooves from her.
He felt his body become lighter almost instantly. The aura coming from her horn was more than he needed to know that she had just cast a spell at him. The stallion felt his hooves leave the ground, the feeling of weightlessness getting stronger.
“I can’t let her do this,” he thought,” but I can’t hurt her either.”
Thinking quickly, he knew that the only thing he could do was to interrupt the spell. Releasing his magic as fast as he could, the warmth flowed through him, but it went straight to his horn this time. The stallion imagined the base of her horn, feeling where the magic came to a focal point. He felt the positive magic at the base of the horn; forming an equal amount of negative magic, his eyes flashed black and green as he released his own power. A spark shined brightly right where her horn met her forehead.
A feeling of slight pain shot into her head. Suddenly she couldn’t control her magic and the aura faded into thin air. The stallion dropped like a rock to the ground, cracking the bark beneath him and sending several jars rolling away in crazy paths. Desperately, Twilight tried casting a simple solidify spell on the air mixed with a pressure change on the area to push him away from her, but nothing happen. The magic flowed as usual but it couldn’t pass into her horn, instead it just caused her a sharp pain causing her to yelp.
“Ma’am, please stop trying to cast, it’s only going to cause you further pain.”
Fear gripped her heart. Never had she been this scared of another pony. How could this pony block her ability to cast spells? Why was he just standing there smiling at her? Where did this stallion come from? All of these questions and more were racing through her head, all the while she was also trying to figure out how she could escape from him. Flicking her head side to side trying to see if there was a way she could get away from him, she saw a piece of bark stuck straight up in the air. Diving behind it she laid on the ground, shaking slightly.
“Twilight, there is really no reason to hide from me,” The stallion called from the other side of her cover, “I promise you that I will not harm you.”
“And why should I believe you!” Twilight yelled, “You destroyed my home, my books and all my work. You attacked me already and made it so that I can’t use my magic!”
A slight rumble came from the bark slab, a green and blue aura radiated around it and Twilights cover was lifted effortlessly into the air and landed gently near what was left of the front door. She got to her hooves and faced the stranger face to face. That same smile was still on his face, his eyes stared into hers and they were filled with kindness but there was a hint that he was older than he looked in them.
“See, I’m not going to hurt you. Just come over here and I’ll release the hold I have on your horn.” He said gently.
Cautiously Twilight took several steps towards him, the entire time ready to charge and impale if needed but the stallion just stood there waiting very patiently.
“What’s your name?” She finally asked
“I’ll tell you my name after I fix your problem with magic.” He responded, “Now stop being such a scarediepony and get over here. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Taking the last few steps Twilight stood next to him. He just smiled and leaned his head down so that his horn touched the base of hers. Twilight suppressed every urge to whip around and buck the fool out of him, but once she felt the magical blockage in her horn slowly vanish she relaxed and let him finish. Feeling much better, she focused on a book not too far from her. Summoning up a quick surge of magic, the book lifted into the air and floated over to her. Thrilled that she could use magic again, she hugged the book tightly. Never had she felt that helpless before and it was definitely not a pleasant feeling for her.
“Now will you tell me your name?” Twilight asked for the final time while her face was buried in the book’s cover.
“My name is Aphirion,” He said cheerfully as another thick stream of blood flowed down his face and over the cheek, “and I’ve been looking for you for quite some time now.”
She looked back at the stallion that was still just standing there among the pieces of her broken home, smiling like before and Twilight smiled back just a little bit.