Stasis awoke to the sound of a door creaking, the subtle wheezing of old ponies after a flight of stairs, the clip-clopping of overlarge hooves trying to remain quiet until it was time.
Grinning wickedly to himself, Stasis began to slowly slither backwards towards the blankets’ center-mass, so slowly it might confound an aging pony’s eyes, and he covered his ears with his hooves.
“Rise and shine, lad!” came a muted bellow, as if from an elderly dragon many miles away, loud and impotent.
Stasis began grabbing the blankets and pulling them tighter around himself, wriggling about until they were wrapped about him like a suit of armor, an impenetrable cocoon, and focused upon falling asleep. It was actually quite an uncomfortable position for sleeping, but he’d been getting lots of practice.
“Come now, lad. Summer’s days start early, and so should you!”
Stasis did his best impression of the noises Star Swirl made when he was sleeping. Even a changeling’s vocal chords were stretched trying to reproduce such agonized sounds.
“Oh. Oh, that’s cheeky.”
“Is he always this lazy in the mornings, Mr. Swirl?” asked Goldie.
Stasis sneered. Lazy? No one was more industrious when it came to such rebelliousness than Stasis Silvertongue! Also, Goldie was in his room for some reason.
“Why is Goldie in my room?” he wondered aloud.
Star Swirl gave an ominous chortle.
“Star Swirl made me his helper this morning, and I’m helping get you out of bed! Now get out of bed, Stasis!” She poked him through his textile defenses.
“No,” he growled, turning his back to her.
“Yes! Get up, get up, get up!” shouted Goldie, punctuating with pokes.
Stasis muttered the most unflattering things he could think of as he put on his masque, just in case.
“Hey… hey, Mr. Swirl, I think I just saw something yellow.”
“In Stasis’ bed, eh? That doesn’t surprise me.”
Stasis thought for a moment, then smiled. “You know, Goldie… it’s soooo early in the morning, and this is suuuuuch a huge bed. If you wanted to take a quick nap in it, nopony would have to know. Nopony would judge.”
He was going to make Goldie sleep at the foot of the bed.
“Let him know what we think of his tempter’s ways, lass,” came the solemn reply.
“It’s almost nine in the morning, Stasis! Wake up them sleepy bones!” Goldie said, shaking him again.
Stasis snarled. “It’s summer, you freaks. No learning, no working – no waking!”
Star Swirl sighed laboriously. “Eh… well, it is Saturday, I reckon. Lass, how would you like to help me fix some oatmeal and, say, fried potaters?”
“For breakfast?” The scrunching of Goldie’s nose was almost audible.
“Aye. We’ll put a plate of it outside the lad’s door. See if that doesn’t draw him out.”
Stasis was reconsidering his anti-antemeridian stance when a thought occurred to him.
“Wait… what day is it?”
“Saturday,” Goldie said, then paused. “…Hey, weren’t you going to do something this morn–“
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
Stasis began digging his way out; his fortress had become a prison, grasping and smothering as he punched and flailed against it. Even as he freed his hooves, it covered his muzzle, and he shook his head from side-to-side, struggling to breathe as he pushed forward.
The world fell away below him, and he hit the floor with a thud. The blankets fell to cover him gently.
“…Well, I reckon that’s mission accomplished, lass. Do you think you could set some water to boil for me?”
“Dad lets me boil water all the time at home, and I know how to treat burns!” Goldie said as their hoofsteps receded.
Stasis shoved the blankets off of himself as he wondered: was it too late? Abra had said ‘Saturday morning,’ but she hadn’t said when Saturday morning. And he didn’t know where she was going; he’d planned on stalking her house until she left, so he could follow her. Or better yet, find some way to distract her so she missed her meeting entirely.
Scrambling up off the floor, he dashed out the door and down the hall.
To his chagrin, the ponies were walking side-by-side down the stairs. Worse, Star Swirl was moving slow; slower even than his normal, glacial pace, his breathing somewhat labored.
“Speed up, speed up, speed up!” Stasis shouted, hopping up and down on the stairs right behind them.
Goldie gave him the evil eye. “Don’t be rude, Stasis. You should never rush ladies and old ponies!”
“This is important. I’m already late for a, uh, meeting!”
Star Swirl looked behind and frowned as he said, “A meeting, eh? You? On a Saturday morning?”
Stasis pawed at the stair, wondering if he could just jump over the two of them. “Yes, a meeting. You’re not the only one with important things to do, you know. I’m a very important pony, and lots of other important ponies want to meet with me!”
“Like Major?” asked Goldie, who hadn’t sped up at all.
“Even more important than Major!” said Stasis. “Anyway, if you had just taught me how to teleport like I asked, we wouldn’t have these kinds of problems!”
Star Swirl looked him in the eye. “Watch your tone, lad,” he said, his pace nevertheless increasing slightly. “You’re never going to convince me to teach you advanced magic when you’re too irresponsible –”
Star Swirl’s hoof caught on the edge of his cloak. His eyes widened for the briefest instant as he pitched forward.
His head hit the stairs with a thunk. His body flipped over as he tumbled down in a cacophony of noise. The few brief seconds seemed much longer.
Stasis stared at the body at the bottom of the stairs. Goldie screamed.
“He’s dead…” Stasis whispered. “He’s dead! We killed him!”
Goldie was already at the bottom of the stairs, touching Star Swirl with her hoof.
“Mr. Swirl? Mister… Mr. Swirl?”
Stasis dashed down the stairs and jumped in front of her; he peeled back an eyelid.
“Stasis! What are you doing!” Goldie shrieked. “Don’t do that!”
Stasis took back his hoof quickly. “See how his eyes are rolled up in the back of head? He’s not dead, he’s just in a coma or something!”
Goldie’s eyes flickered between Stasis and Star Swirl. “Well… what are we going to do?”
Stasis whirled on her. “Not what we are going to do; what you are going to do. Goldie, you have to save him!”
Goldie hugged herself defensively. “B-b-but I don’t know what to do, Stasis. I’m not a doctor!”
Stasis threw his forehooves in the air. “What was the purpose of all those countless hours of playing nurse if you can’t help the one stallion who really needs it, Goldie?”
Goldie squeezed her eyes shut and looked away.
Stasis hissed as he looked over at Star Swirl, his limbs splayed and his hat crumpled off to the side. “Well, then, what are we going to do? The hospital’s all the way on the other side of town, and we need a doctor right now!”
Goldie sniffled and said, “T-there’s one doctor I know, Doctor Lipid… he’s really nice -”
“Where?”
“He lives in a big brown house across the street from the thrift shop….”
Stasis knew where that was; it was still several blocks away. Star Swirl could be dying as they spoke, his heart stopping, his brain swelling, his lungs deflating! Stasis didn’t even know all the things that could happen to ponies when they were hurt!
His wings suddenly ached on his back, desperate to buzz; if only he could use them! If only he could teleport, or cast magic wings, he could go straight there!
Wait. There was one spell that he knew. He’d been Star Swirl’s student for months; nopony would question it!
“Goldie!” he shouted, drawing energy into his horn. “You have to take care of Star Swirl until I return!”
She looked at him aghast. “B-b-but -”
He turned in the direction of the thrift store, charged at the intervening bookcase, and leapt, channeling the spell.
He felt the magic almost explode out of him as he sailed through the books and the wall, a cold pressure squeezing and pulling at his insides, and then the sun’s light burst into his eyes as he fell, tripping as his hooves hit the ground and he smashed face-first into the dirt.
A moment later he was up, already channeling as he charged at the cast-iron fence. There was that same explosive burst of energy and light torn from his body as the bars squeezed and pulled through him, and he was on the other side. Glancing back briefly, he saw sunflower yellow flames crackling against the iron and grass beneath it.
Speeding up again, he charged at the neighbor’s house. Knowing that the floor would probably be higher than the ground, he leapt again, felt the same burst of energy almost squeezed out of his body, and hit the floor. Wobbling for a moment, he tore off through the darkened room and out the other side.
Pushing himself to go faster, faster, he hit the ground running, tore through the neighbor’s yard, and leapt again.
Ponies were eating breakfast peacefully at their dinner table. Screaming, Stasis charged; there were shouts as they scrambled out of the way and he vaulted onto the table, milk splattering one leg as he dashed and jumped off the other side, and slammed through the opposite wall in a fiery cackling of magic.
The spell was primed in his horn now, the thoughts and channels of his mind held stiff as he pumped magic through it in bursts. He broke through the wall of the neighboring house, its matter tugging at him slightly, and he phased through an interior wall, and through an external one, and then he was falling through the air towards a mare watering flowers.
He phased through her, her aura gripping and burning him with a crackle of blue and yellow flame, and he held onto the spell too long, his legs sinking deep into the earth. His scream and the mare’s mixed together as he slowed the magic passing through the spell down to a trickle, the earth becoming like molasses as he waded upwards and out of it. Yanking his hind legs free, he began galloping again.
The houses began to blend together as he galloped, his muscles pulsing even as he poured his considerable energy through his horn like a faucet, the adrenaline rush and power glut exciting him even as it mixed with his fear, pushing him to go faster, faster, faster. His shouts merged together into one continuous yell as he went, dodging sluggardly ponies by fractions of a pace.
When his power exhausted itself, it surprised him, the glow turning to sparks as pain seared through his skull. He had barely a second to turn his head aside before slamming into a wall, nearly impaling himself on his own horn. He stumbled towards the door, ignoring the ponies’ shouts as he clumsily opened it with his hooves and practically fell out into the street.
He was almost there. Not giving his aching muscles time to stiffen, he broke into a run, charging straight towards a throng of ponies standing in his way.
“Out of the way, you fools!” he screamed. The throng - a large family, he thought - broke apart in a panic, one of the smallest children stumbling and falling; Stasis leapt, sailing over the obstacle and hitting the ground running, shouting at the ponies his urgency, forcing them to part before him.
Slowing his pace down to a trot, he shoved his way between and past two burly stallions. The thrift shop was right in front of him, so where was the big brown house?
There! He forced his burning muscles back into motion, crossing the distance as fast as his wingless body would allow.
At the top of the stairs he raised his hoof and began beating against the door and shouting, furious at his inability to beat his wings with pride, or crack reality with his horn, or beat down doors with his hooves. If he were an adult he would have torn off his masque and teleported or flown here in seconds, and there wasn’t anypony in the world who could have –
The door opened suddenly, a fat, saggy old mare staring back at him.
“You’re not a doctor!” Stasis wailed. “Star Swirl’s going to die because you’re not a doctor!”
“Good heavens. Star Swirl, you say? Has something happened?” asked a much younger, plumper pony from behind the old fat one.
“For you,” mumbled the mare, heading back into the house.
“Thank you, Mother,” said the brown unicorn cheerfully. “Now, is somepony injured? How can I help you, Mister…? – ouch!”
Stasis sunk his teeth deeper into the pony’s leg, almost breaking the skin as he began to drag the pony down the steps.
“Hold on there!” said Dr. Lipid. “Where are we going, and why? Can you at least tell me that?”
“Whe’er goings -” Stasis spat out the leg. “Star Swirl hit his head and we’re going to save him, you fool! Faster, faster, faster!” He jumped behind Dr. Lipid and put his forehooves on the pony’s haunches, pushing as hard as he could, to little effect; the pony’s mass was just too great.
“Alright, alright, I’m going!” said the unicorn as he magically brought his saddlebags out of the house and closed the door. “Let’s go!”
Dr. Lipid began waddling along at a mediocre pace. Even exhausted and aching as he was, Stasis matched it easily, eyeing the pony’s much longer legs.
“The greatest magician who ever lived is hurt, and that’s the best you can do? I thought all you doctors did was talk about how important it is to exercise!”
“Do as I say, not as I do,” wheezed Dr. Lipid.
Thinking quickly, Stasis spotted a carriage coming down the road towards them, and burst into motion. He threw himself in front of the ponies drawing it, hissing and batting at them with his hooves. They pulled up, cursing as the carriage bumped their haunches.
“What the Discord’s gotten into you, child?” said the driver, yet another fat old pony, as he got down and approached Stasis. “Are you mad, jumping in front of my boys like that?”
“Quick, get in the carriage!” Stasis yelled at the doctor. “I’ll distract him!” He bared his teeth and tensed his haunches, preparing to attack.
“Star Swirl seems to have had an accident, and I’m a doctor,” said Dr. Lipid. “May we borrow your carriage?”
The driver blinked. “Star Swirl, you say? Oh! And this must be ‘the lad,’ of course!” Turning to his sons he said, “Get the doctor and the boy to Star Swirl’s home, on the double!”
Stasis ran and jumped into the carriage, followed by the doctor. He grabbed the reins with his teeth and flicked them, earning a glare from the ponies as they hauled the carriage around to face the way they’d come and broke into a brisk canter.
“I must say, that was quick thinking on your part, commandeering this carriage like that,” said the doctor, settling comfortably into his seat.
“Commandeer?” Stasis questioned.
“It means to borrow for an important purpose,” said the pony with a smile.
“I know what it means,” he grumbled. Stasis preferred to think that they had stolen the carriage.
“Also….” Dr. Lipid sniffed. “…Is that raw potatoes I smell?”
Stasis ignored the gluttonous doctor, tapping his hooves impatiently, wishing he could do something to make the carriage rattling beneath him go faster. His thoughts drifted to what he would do if he didn’t have Star Swirl around….
He felt a foreleg drape itself across his back, and Dr. Lipid smiled at him and said, “I’m sure he’s going to be fine. You did the right thing, coming to get me so quickly.”
Stasis angrily shook off the offending appendage and looked away.
Within moments the carriage pulled in front of the iron gate, and Stasis leapt down and barged into the house.
Star Swirl’s hat was now settled softly atop his head, covering his bald spot. The side of his face was damp, and a half-empty glass of water rested beside him. Goldie sat a few paces away, her face in her hooves.
Dr. Lipid walked over to Star Swirl, dropped his satchels, and sat down. He lit his horn, magic flowing over Star Swirl’s body even as his hooves began doing much the same.
“Well, I’m not feeling or sensing any fractures,” he said as he bent one of Star Swirl’s legs at the joint, “which means he probably doesn’t have osteoporosis, despite his physically inactive lifestyle. Good news there! Also, his breathing seems alright, pulse is slow and steady, and gut is striking up the normal choir. Let’s see about that head injury.”
Gently, he lifted Star Swirl’s head with his magic, and pointed at a swollen spot on Star Swirl’s left temple, just above the eye. “See that? That’s our culprit, right there. Other than some bruising in a few places, it’s the only external problem I can find.”
“What about his brain?” Stasis demanded. “I don’t care about the other parts; what about his brain?”
“I don’t know. Let’s see.” Dr. Lipid seized a flask filled with a white crystalline substance from his satchel and, unstopping the cork, poured it into the glass of water. He held it under Star Swirl’s nose.
Stasis watched, rapt. Nothing happened. A tightness grew in his chest and he shuffled his hooves, feeling useless, wishing that Star Swirl were a changeling so that Stasis could give him energy that way –
Star Swirl’s eyelids twitched, then blinked, then opened. He looked between Stasis and Dr. Lipid.
“Eh?” Star Swirl asked.
“You’re not dead!” Stasis exclaimed. “We thought you were going to die!”
“Yeah, well, no need to sound so darn happy about it,” Star Swirl gruffed, trying to stand.
“Please stay seated,” Dr. Lipid said with a smile, putting a hoof on Star Swirl’s chest. “You’re not feeling well at the moment, Mr. Swirl.”
Star Swirl glared. “What are you talking about, you inexperienced sausage? I’m feeling just… I’m feeling… oh.” Star Swirl slouched a bit, and touched a forehoof tenderly to his forehead.
“Nothing’s broken or fractured as far as I can tell, but you’re pretty banged up from your fall down the stairs. Now I’ll just need to assess your mental state and –”
“My fall down the what now?” Star Swirl said, looking over at the offending steps.
“A poor start, but I still have high hopes for your recovery, Mr. Swirl,” said Dr. Lipid.
“I may be a bit longer in the tooth than you lot, but that doesn’t mean I’m some kind of… invalid, who just falls down every flight of stairs he comes across. What happened?” Star Swirl demanded, looking over at Stasis and scowling.
“You… tripped. On your cape,” Stasis said simply. Uncomfortably.
“What’s the last thing that you DO remember?” asked Dr. Lipid. “Something pleasant, I hope?”
“Aye. Clubbing an air-headed doctor upside the head. Or is that a precognition?”
Turning towards the one pony who’d remained quiet the entire time, Stasis walked up to her. “Goldie?” he asked. “Are you alright?”
“Increased irritability may be a good sign, actually. The most stubborn and aggressive elderly are often those with the strongest will to live.”
“You are walking on thin ice, boy. Literally, I will freeze that floor and send you crashing through it.”
Stasis touched Goldie’s shoulder with one hoof. “I’m sorry I put so much pressure on you earlier, Goldie; I should have known that your nurse-game wouldn’t prepare you for something like this. Even I didn’t know what to do, and I used to play fighting games all the time.”
Goldie turned to Stasis, her eyes watery. She took a tentative step towards him, then threw her forelegs around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. He froze as she hugged him tightly.
“There… there?” Stasis said, patting her tentatively with one hoof.
“I strongly recommend against even routine magic use for at least a few days. Using your horn after head injuries or against your doctor has been known to lead to intense migraines and mis-prescribed laxatives.”
“Prescriptions?” Star Swirl’s eyes narrowed. “Time and space are my tools-of-the-trade, boy. Remember that time you thought you misplaced your favorite sweater? Maybe you didn’t. Remember that board certification exam you think you passed last month? Maybe you didn’t.”
Doctor Lipid laughed, seemingly unconcerned about the cosmic fire he was playing with. “How about we talk about your chronology for a bit, Mr. Swirl. What’s the last thing you remember?”
Star Swirl tugged at his beard in thought. “Eh… I was letting Goldie inside so we could both go wake up the lad. It’s a mite bit blurry after that.”
“So, some retrograde amnesia, then. Remember when I woke you from your concussion with true-love’s first kiss? That was a chuckler, I'll tell you.”
Stasis turned away from the two weird older ponies as, sniffling, Goldie let go of him and looked down at the floor. “I’m… I’m sorry, Stasis. I didn’t know what to do….”
“I’ve been scared before, too,” Stasis admitted. “When Trottingham was attacked, I think that was the worst. I was injured, and there were changelings and ponies fighting left and right, and I didn’t what to do or where to go. It was even worse than the ursa major.”
“You… you fought a star bear?” Goldie said, rubbing at her eye.
“Well… I was there, and the ursa was there, and there was fighting, yeah,” said Stasis. “So I guess I just have more experience being terrified than most ponies. I’ll probably develop an immunity to it after a while.”
Goldie’s eyes were moist as she looked over at Star Swirl, who was still threatening Dr. Lipid. “I wish I could do things to help ponies like you helped Star Swirl. I wish I didn’t just… just sit around and cry every time something bad happens….”
Stasis pondered that. Goldie was a pony, that was the problem. Herbivores like ponies were just weaker and more cowardly than changelings.
…Except when they were royal guardsponies. Or god-ponies. Or Star Swirl. But Stasis didn’t even really think of Star Swirl as a pony anymore; he was just… Star Swirl. He sort of had his own category.
Maybe Goldie could be like those? Maybe Goldie could be an exception that proved the rule, or something like that. Maybe Goldie could overcome her inner pony nature and rise to become something greater; a changeling-at-heart.
After all, if some of his own kind were weak pathetic quislings, then it was only fair that some ponies could be strong and courageous, he supposed.
Stasis eyed her critically. “Well… you don’t have a horn, or wings, and you’re pretty weak, especially for an earthpony.”
Goldie looked at him, and he couldn’t tell if she was glaring or about to cry.
“…But I bet there are other ways that you could help when something bad happens!” Stasis added quickly. “Look at Dr. Lipid; he’s fat and slow and smiles too much. But even he can still find ways to be useful!”
“I didn’t see the resemblance,” Dr. Lipid interrupted, looking back and forth between Star Swirl and Stasis, “…but now I do.”
“You… think I could become a doctor?” asked Goldie, her brow furrowing with thought.
Stasis shrugged; he would much rather be the one creating the injuries than the one patching them up, but to each his own. “I guess. Or a nurse. I’m not really sure what the difference is.”
“Doctors have more student loans,” said Dr. Lipid. “And are usually uglier.”
“Do you think that my cutie-mark might be in nursing? Or doctoring?” asked Goldie, looking back and forth between Stasis and Dr. Lipid.
“Only one way to find out,” said Dr. Lipid as he carefully inspected the inside of an indignant Star Swirl’s mouth. “It just so happens that I’m in the process of opening my own clinic right here in Trottingham. I’ll need some ponies to help manage the patients and take routine measurements like body temperature and heart rate, as well as administer certain medications.”
Goldie’s eyes twinkled.
“That’s kind of you,” said Star Swirl, pushing the doctor away and working his jaw. “Now, remind me: how much is this visit going to cost? I doubt the lad thought much about that when he decided to run off and fetch you.”
“He rather forcibly commandeered a carriage, actually,” said Dr. Lipid, “after dragging me out of my home with his teeth.”
“He was in such a hurry, he didn’t even use the door or a window; he just ran through the wall over there and almost started a fire,” said Goldie. “I didn’t even know he could do that. Did you teach him that spell, Mr. Swirl?”
Star Swirl blinked.
“I thought you were dying,” Stasis explained, shuffling his hooves. “I wouldn’t have used such, um… secret-techniques-that-I-read-about-in-one-of-your-books-and-wanted-to-surprise-you-with-later, if I’d known you’d just have to sniff some crystals and be okay.”
“Unfortunately… Mr. Swirl’s okayness is yet to be seen,” said Dr. Lipid, thankfully changing the subject. “Mr. Swirl’s displaying an amazing recovery time, overall, with few symptoms, but given his age and the severity of his concussion… hmm. Is Stasis the only pony living here with you?”
Star Swirl nodded grudgingly.
Dr. Lipid turned to Stasis and smiled. “Stasis, I’m going to need you to keep a close eye on Star Swirl for me, especially for the next few weeks.”
“Me?” Stasis asked, looking back and forth between the two.
Dr. Lipid nodded. “An injury like this could affect his mind, his memory, his magic. You know where I live, you can drop by and update me on his condition anytime you want to. Also, you’ll need to take care of your father for the next few days while he’s bedridden.”
“What?” Star Swirl bellowed. “Boy, you weren’t even born the last time I took that kind of time off. I’ll commit seppuku with my own horn before I abandon progress to the post-grads and adjutant professors!”
Dr. Lipid smiled. “You’re an eighty-plus-year-old stallion who just fell down a flight of stairs, Mr. Swirl. Even if you hadn’t knocked your brains half out of your head, I’d still prescribe bedrest.”
“He’s been feeling tired ever since he cast all those spells at my cute-ceanara, and that was days ago,” Stasis felt it prudent to note. “I’ve been trying to get him to rest but, you know how it is, if only he’d listen to me….”
Star Swirl’s bushy head slowly swiveled towards Stasis. He had a dangerous look about him.
“Bedrest, three days minimum,” said Dr. Lipid. “No magic for a week; not even basic levitation. Checkups every week for the next three. I’ll send you the bill.”
As the doctor and Star Swirl began to haggle over the price, as Goldie looked off with her own distant expression… Stasis wondered how he was going to find time to play with Major and Goldie if he had to stay inside and watch Star Swirl all day. He wondered whether he’d be able to attend rehearsal, or go to the park, or maybe harass the summer school students who couldn’t even pass with C’s like Major.
He looked at the sunlight streaming steeply through a window at the end of the hall, and with a sinking feeling in his chest, he realized that Saturday morning was essentially over. He wondered what he was going to do now that Pierce had his unicorn, and his unicorn had her spell.