//------------------------------// // 9: Overcharged // Story: When A Door Closes, Another Opens // by Intet22 //------------------------------// “What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.” ~ Aristotle “Alllllright fillies and gentlecolts,” the announcer said as he trotted back onto the stage. “Welcome to the Archmage’s Exhibition! Now since we all know how much you ponies love the combat exhibition, this year we’ve decided skip all of the usual boring challenges and get straight to what you all came here to see! So let’s get started now, shall we!” With those words the crowd burst into a thunderous round of applause. The combat section of Archmage’s Exhibition was always the most popular of all of the events in the exhibition, and for good reason. For the participants, it was one chance to show their skills in every single school of magic into one single challenge. For the crowd they got to watch an extremely engaging performance where anything could, and usually did happen. “The first two challengers to prove their worth are…” The announcer turned towards and pointed to a small red mare that stood on the far side of the coliseum, impatiently tapping her hoof to the ground as she waited for the event to begin. Her mane was rather sporadic in style, with patches of charred hair scattered throughout an otherwise normal, two toned orange mane. “Crismon Ember, a powerful unicorn that has specialized for many years in both the combat and force magic. She has had the pleasure of severing the Royal Guard for ten straight years, combating some of the most evil horrors that ponies could imagine. From changeling armies, to even the dreaded frost golems of the vast glacial peaks, nothing will stand in her way.” Ember gave a quick brush of her mane at the announcer’s comment. With little effort, the mare summoned a small ball of flame that slowly circled around her. In a flash of light the seemingly normal orb of flame gave a violent shudder and flew towards the middle of the arena, detonating with a deafening explosion as it reached its target. “It’s good to see that she could make it this time,” Twilight said after the roar of the explosion had died out.   “You know her?” Rainbow questioned, receiving a quick nod from Twilight in return. “Yes, quite well actually. She was one of the more enjoyable guard-ponies that helped look after Spike and I when I was studying under Celestia. Everyday she would take time out of her day, just to come and visit Spike and I after I had finished my lesson for the day. In fact, you could say she is one of the main reasons that I got so interested in the force magic school in the first place. Every night she would go into the middle castle courtyards just outside my window and practice her magic with extreme dedication and finesse. I can remember sitting next to that window and thinking about how I could possibly have the skill with force magic that she had. So I'd constantly take notes on how she practiced, making sure to watch for even the  simplest movements. The books on force magic we had in the castle were great by all means, but being able to see magic performed at such a high level didn't quite compare with the old texts. Once I was old enough and had enough experience in the other schools of magic, Princess Celestia assigned Ember as my force magic teacher, and I trained under her guidance for a couple of years.” “That’s actually pretty awesome,” Rainbow said, her gaze shifting back towards the announcer. “Aaaand,” the announcer shouted enthusiastically as he turned towards the other pony that patiently stood on the opposing end of the coliseum. His stature was different than Ember’s, easily a foot taller than the mare. He was extremely well built for a unicorn, his impressive muscle structure rivaling even most earth ponies. “Her prestigious opponent, Aegis!” The purple colored stallion simply bowed at the sound of his name, his well kept blue mane brushing across his muzzle as he lowered his head. “Once a pony renowned for his genius and expertise in the magical school of warding, he has since devoted his time to becoming one of the best in force magic. However that is not where his power lies. Aegis is famous for being the second strongest pony in shielding magic, falling a couple of inches behind Shining Armor himself. He is also one of the few fortunate ponies to come close to the esteemed prize last exhibition, falling short of the title of champion by only a couple of points.” The announcer took in a much needed breath before he continued. “Remember ponies, the standard Archmage combat tournament rules apply! Any and all forms of magic are permitted, as long as it doesn’t seriously injure the opponent. Matches will be carried out in a single elimination style and the combatants may wish to concede to their opponent at any time they so choose. All participants will be scored in a variety of aspects throughout the dual, ranging from defense to the quality of every spell that is cast.” With the rules for the dual established, the announcer turned towards Ember. “Are you ready, Ember?” the announcer asked only to receive a well practiced salute from the mare in question. “And you, Aegis?” “Yes, sir,” Aegis said with a quick nod. “The combatants are set!” The announcer took a couple of steps back towards the edges of the coliseum walls, sitting down in one of many empty chairs that were set out for the staff. “Begin!” With a violent roar, a white hot jet of flame erupted from Ember’s horn towards Aegis. Unfazed to the simple attack, the stallion let out a deep sigh as a magical shield erected in around him. The column of fire slammed into the newly conjured defense with a satisfying thud. In a violent shudder the torrent of flame warped and enveloped the shield in its molten wake, threatening to scorch anything that dare stay in its way. Confident of her work, Ember watched the spell dissipate into the air, only to see the violet coloured shield remained firmly in place, not a single scratch across the pristine face. “Is that all you got?” Aegis insulted as the shield quietly receded back into the ground. “Well, if that is the case…” A violet coloured aura surrounded Aegis’s horn as two orbs of pure force energy materialized beside him. With a simple movement of his hoof, the orbs shot down the field towards the target. Ember quickly dodged the first blast, the sphere missing her head by a couple of inches. However the second shot slammed into her body and detonated on impact, sending her flying across the field into the coliseum wall, causing her to collapse against the unforgiving stone slab. "Lucky shot," Ember said with a light tsk as she pulled herself free from the indentation in the wall. "Luck didn't have any part in that one," Aegis said with a coy smile. "We'll see about that," Ember quickly retorted. With a malicious grin, Ember ran down the field towards her target, firing spell after spell as she closed the distance between them. In a simple yet agile maneuver, she jumped into the air and shot a bolt of flame below towards Aegis. Unimpressed by the rather simple maneuver the stallion jumped from underneath the blast to safety, only to be stopped by a swift hoof making contact across his muzzle. Pain shot through his body as he recoiled a couple of steps back from the blow. Impressed that the mare actually landed a hit across his face, Aegis summoned a cage that quickly encased Ember in its magical hold. Ember let out an annoyed sigh as she started to channel a concussive blast of energy at the tip of her horn. However when she shot it against the cage bars, the spell quickly rebounded back at her, detonating as it came in contact with its master. “How pitiful,” Aegis spat. “You're not even powerful enough to break through a simple reflecting spell. Here I was thinking a royal guard such as yourself would be a more challenging adversary, but apparently I was mistaken.” Brushing a hoof through his mane, Aegis took a couple of steps around the conjured cage before speaking again. “That blow across my face was pretty good, I’ll give you that one, but everything else since then has been lackluster at best.” Aegis abruptly stopped mid stride and looked towards Ember with a wicked grin across his face. He always enjoyed belittling his opponents, no matter what their skill level may actually be. Often times he took great pride in how well he could anger his competition and this time was no exception. He knew that one more quick push against the unicorn’s overzealous pride would send her over the edge, and he knew just where to do it. “Tell me, little pony, how did you get into the guard anyway? A weakling like you couldn’t even guard a piece of fruit, let alone one of the princesses. They must have been really desperate if they were scraping that far down the barrel.” Those last words were enough for something to snap inside of Ember. Nopony would insult her life’s work and get away with it if she had anything to say about it. With a calming sigh, Ember sat on her haunches and began to mutter softly to herself as her horn began to glow. The wind that blew through the coliseum shifted violently and was now circling around her, the skies above becoming darker and darker as each second passed. “What’s going on?” Rainbow asked with a confused look as she stared at Ember. She could tell that something was different with the unicorn. The air around her became thick and heavy with an ominous presence that Rainbow couldn’t quite put her hoof on. “The air almost feels like...” Rainbow thought to herself as she waved a wing through the empty air. "Syrup? Why in the hay…?” “Ember is drawing magic in from the surroundings,” Twilight said with a hint of worry behind her voice. “I know that we went over the magical schools on the way here Rainbow, but there is one very important thing that I forgot to mention. All unicorns in Equestria have something known as a magical limit that determines how much magic they can have in their body at once. The limit helps keep the number of magical accidents to minimum as a unicorn should never be able to channel more magic than their body can handle. In some rare cases where the unicorn is emotionally pushed to the limit, they can overcome this limit, but otherwise a unicorn should never be able to access more magic than their body will allow. Although a long time ago, a famous researcher pony found a way for high level unicorns to push past this limit. For the researcher’s time it was one of the most important discoveries to ever come to light, quickly outpacing many forms of magical research.” “And that’s bad, why?” Rainbow questioned, her obliviousness surrounding the situation obvious in her tone of voice. “If the ability is used sparingly it, typically isn’t a problem,” Twilight said as she continued to stare at Ember. The mare had started to twitch slightly, and a dull white glow had started to form along her eyes. “If a pony absorbs too much magic, it will eventually outpace their body’s ability to control it. With nothing to keep the power in check, all of it eventually starts to seek a way back into the surroundings which sends the unicorn into an overcharged state. During the course of these events the unicorn will lose all control over their body and attack everything around them without any sort of reason behind their actions.” “Why would anypony risk doing something so dangerous then?” Rainbow asked. “Think of it this way, Dash,” Spike chimed in from beside her. “What would you do if you were in a Wonderbolt competition that would guarantee you a spot on the team if you were to win it?” “Anything,” Rainbow quickly replied with no hesitation. “Exactly,” Spike said with a nod. “Knowing you, you probably would injure yourself doing something bold and daring that you might regret later, but you'll have at least have won the challenge that you set out to do, and you'd finally be a Wonderbolt. If you had the ability to suddenly increase your flying abilities back to normal after a tiring race, you probably would. However Ember is a little bit different. She doesn’t really care for competitions or whether or not she is the best pony at any specific form of magic, but she always took great pride in her work, making sure that she protected the princesses no matter the task, and no matter the cost to her. However she overly…” Spike paused for a quick moment as he tried to think of the correct word. “Devoted,” Twilight said while she turned towards Spike. ”Yes, devoted!” Spike exclaimed with a snap of his claws. “Ember absolutely hates it when somepony makes fun of the princesses or her work. I mean she absolutely hates it more then anything in the world. I can remember one time Twilight had said something on how the royal guard wasn’t doing there job as best they could due to the severe lack of organization. Boy when Ember found out, she was down right livid, and things didn’t go too well for Twilight when Ember got her hooves a hold of her.” “Really? What happened?” Rainbow asked. “She burnt off all of my fur,” Twilight said flately. “For starters...” “So you can see why she’s doing this,” Spike continued to explain, while quietly chuckling to himself as the memory of furless Twilight flashed through his mind again. “An insult like that probably sent her anger over the edge, and now she is fully determined to make Aegis eat his words. Frankly, I think the guy deserves it.” “She is getting awfully close to her limit though,” Twilight thought to herself as she looked back towards Ember. “Anymore and she’ll…” Suddenly a bright flash of light encapsulated Ember, effortlessly blasting away the conjured cage that was holding her prisoner. A hushed silence fell over the crowd as they stared in suspense at the white orb. After a couple of moments of stillness, the light slowly receded back into Ember. Her eyes had become solid white, and small arcs of pure magical energy shot off of her body, the small streams skipping across coliseum floor before they disappeared into the air. Small bursts of flames licked off of Ember’s fur as she attempted to stand, only for her hooves to give out moments later. “Celestia! Luna!” the Archmage’s powerful voice boomed through the colosseum, easily cutting through the ominous stillness that now filled the stadium. Both of the princesses turned the Archmage upon hearing their names, patiently awaiting the next words from the powerful unicorn. “Listen to me carefully, everypony here is in serious danger. Get as many ponies as you can, and get them as far away from here as possible. I’ll reinforce the coliseum shield and that should buy you enough protection to get everypony out unharmed.” Both princesses nodded towards the Archmage and proceeded to take flight towards the plentiful crowd. As they cleared the coliseum walls, a thick clear shield erected behind them, wrapping the weak barrier that already existed in its protective embrace. “Sky Chaser!” the Archmage shouted towards the attentive guard. “Get Spike out of here! Take him to the Manehattan Inn, Rainbow and Twilight will be joining him later.” “Yes, sir,” Sky Chaser said with a salute. In one smooth motion, he scooped Spike up in hooves and placed him on his back. With impressive speed he took off through the open door and soared to safety. “Twilight, do you know what to do?” the Archmage asked, receiving a quick nod as the words left his mouth. “Good. Now, Miss Dash, you probably should get out of here as well. There is no sense endangering your life.” “I’m not leaving,” Rainbow said, her dedication clear in the tone of her voice. “W-w-what?” the Archmage stuttered, completely baffled by the mare's response. “I’ve made one thing clear to myself throughout my life Archmage,” Rainbow said with a hoof softly pressed to her chest. “I will never, ever leave my friends when they need my help. So if Twilight is going to risk her life to try to bring Ember back from this magical overcharge thing, then I’m going to help her out.” "But..." the Archmage continued. Sensing that he was going to get anywhere no matter how hard he tried, he turned to Twilight and let out a defeated sigh. “The barrier is going to require a lot of concentration to maintain, and even if it didn’t the amount of magic needed to keep it strong will be enough to drain me. Will you two be okay on your own?” Twilight simply nodded in acknowledgement. “I’ll leave you to it then. Good luck.” With a flap of their wings, Rainbow and Twilight quickly began to make their way towards Ember and Aegis. “Aegis, get out of there!” Twilight shouted as she soared towards the center of the field. The stallion stared at Twilight with a dumbfounded expression across his face, completely at a loss for words. “What did I just say?! Get out of here now!” This time the words sank into the stallion’s mind as he took off towards the nearest exit. With extreme caution, Twilight landed a few feet away from Ember and she slowly began to walk towards the mare, while Rainbow cautiously hovered behind her. To say Twilight was a little scared about approaching Ember would be a massive understatement. Being close to somepony that was in an overcharged state was similar to trying to predict whatever Discord might do should he ever revert back to his evil ways. Nopony could ever predict where and when something was going to happen, but they knew it was only a matter of time, and that wasn’t going to be good. “Remember what the Princess told you,” Twilight thought to herself, her rational mind momentarily victorious over the crippling fear that coursed through her veins. Ever since her magical outburst at the entrance examination, Celestia had always made it a clear point to make sure that Twilight knew how to deal with an out of control unicorn. Twilight never had any more magical mishaps since that day, but she did have to agree that it was a much needed skill, even if she almost never had to use it. “Ponies are still able to control the power after they absorb too much. The only thing that stands between them and utter loss of control is their own willpower. If they can keep the power under reins for even a small moment, they may be able to let out enough of it for their magic level to return to normal...” Ember gave another violent twitch as the boundless magic pulsated throughout her body once more. “However that is easier said than done… Especially when she has pushed herself this far already.” “Ember?” Twilight quietly said. Ember slowly raised her head from the ground and turned towards Twilight as the word rung in her ears. Twilight could see that the mare was fighting to keep control of the powerful energy that lay contained inside of her, the sheer effort of the task pushing Ember’s willpower well past her breaking point. One simple slip, one simple break of concentration and the power would roar to life, ready to strike at anything that dared to be close to it. However behind all of the stress, Twilight could see regret… Regret for doing something so reckless that could endanger the numerous ponies that Ember had sworn to protect. “Princess Twilight?” Ember said with a hushed tone, her eyes slowly blinking as the words left her mouth. “It’s going to be okay, Ember,” Twilight assured Ember as she took another step forward towards her. Summoning all the remaining strength she had left, Ember slowly stood up from her prone position and scanned through the emptying stands of the coliseum before turning her gaze back towards Twilight. “How can you… Be so sure?” Ember let out a heavy sigh. She felt exhausted, and she knew it was only a matter of time before her willpower would eventually cave. Every part of her nerves felt flayed and torn from the constant assault they were under. The magic that coursed through her veins felt like a tremendous weight across her body, the burden increasing more and more with every passing second. “Trust me Ember,” Twilight said as took another cautious step. “Try to release the magic… Slowly…” “I don’t know… If I can…” The magic inside of her gave one more final shove against its cage, this time Ember’s will proved to be no resistance, as she felt it easily shatter beneath the momentous weight. The resistance on her body seemed to release all at once, as she collapsed to the ground with a relieved sigh. She could feel part of her start to be locked deep within psyche, the control over her body slowly slipping away until it was no more. Now she could only sit and watch as the magic took full control over body, free to do with it whatever it so desired. “Ember?” Twilight asked, a hoof’s length away from the huddled mare, unaware that Ember’s control over the magic had already shattered. A moment of silence hung in between the two of the them, until Twilight began to feel the earth below her hooves start to shift. As she looked down to the seemingly normal slightly charred grass, Twilight realized something wasn’t right… The ground was boiling hot… “Rainbow!” Twilight yelled behind her. “Get away from her now!” The ground beneath Twilight erupted into four giant columns of flame, with Ember sitting in the center of the searing hot torrents. After a couple of moments, Ember rose to her hooves, her legs no longer violently trembling beneath her as she stood. “This isn’t good…” Twilight thought to herself. With a bright orange flash, a large orb of pure flame magic began to materialize at the tip of Ember's horn. Small tendrils of magic quickly began to extend from the four columns that surrounded Ember, the small streams connecting themselves to the orb as it began to syphon the magic from the pillars. In a matter of seconds, the spell unleashed and sent a large column of flame roaring down the field towards Twilight. Quickly noticing the situation that she was now in, Twilight began to channel as much magic as she possibly could for a teleportation spell as the blast of flame began to close in on her. However as she watched the flaming column rocket towards her, Twilight noticed that there was one problem with her plan to escape the blast. There wasn’t enough time to gather the energy needed for the distance that she needed to travel in order to escape unharmed. “Look out,” Rainbow yelled as she slammed into Twilight, pushing her away from the blast as quickly as she could. With Rainbow not able to slow down her blistering speed after the two cleared the blast, they tumbled across the soft grass coliseum floor before coming to a complete stop. Rainbow now stood overtop of Twilight, who lay on her back, her eyes darting back and forth to wherever they so desired. “You okay?” Rainbow asked as she quickly scanned over Twilight’s slightly trembling body. On first glance, Rainbow didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, but as her eyes trailed back across Twilight’s fore-hooves, she noticed that most of the fur on the front of her hooves had been seared away, leaving behind a large burn across the front of her legs. Rainbow’s ears flattened against her head, as pulled one of the burnt forehooves close towards her. “Twi… Your hooves…” “It hurts, Rainbow...” Twilight said, her eyes beginning to water as she looked into Rainbow’s magenta coloured eyes. “But we’ll have to look after it later. We have to get Ember to regain control of the magic, or things are going to get even worse than they already are.” “Yeah, but how?” Rainbow asked as she took a step away from Twilight. “I don’t know, but there has to be a way.” Using more strength than she thought she would need Twilight rolled over back on her hooves, making sure to avoid the burn. Reaching out with one of the charred limbs, Twilight tried to stand, only to have a searing bolt of pain shoot through her body, forcing her hooves to give out from underneath her. “Twi, you can’t stand on those hooves. Here just a second...” Taking extreme caution to not touch the burns, Rainbow draped one of Twilight's hooves over her shoulder and carefully slipped her body underneath Twilight’s frame. With a quick push of her hooves, Rainbow rose from the warm ground, the alicorn now laying comfortably on her back as she rose. As Twilight scanned around the coliseum, she noticed that all of the innocent ponies that came to watch the exhibition had vacated area, leaving only the four ponies alone in barren deathtrap. With a sigh of relief, the Archmage dropped the shield the now-unneeded shield, and proceeded to walk towards the three mares in the center of the field. "Look and see what you are doing," the Archmage said to Ember, his voice strong and commanding but not too forceful. The energy that circled around her seemed to stop all of its movement, seemingly waiting for the Archmage to continue. "Is this truly what an esteemed guards-pony such as yourself does?! Do they blindly scorch everything in sight and even harm the ones they’ve taken solemn oath to protect. No, they don't! They protect who they serve. Look at the princess Ember!" Ember looked over towards Twilight and immediately felt a sense of guilt surge through her barely conscious mind. “You were the one that caused that!” "He's right…” Ember thought to herself, her thoughts echoing softly throughout her head. “The princesses have put their absolute trust into me to protect them from anything, and yet I am the one that ended up harming them. This isn’t me… I wouldn’t do this…” One brief moment of silence echoed through Ember’s mind before she turned to face the power that coursed through her body. It shone like a bright light, the brightness almost blinding her as she stared. “I think it is time that you got the hell out of my body.” Ember reached through her mind and grabbed the magic in between her hooves. The orb struggled to move in every possible direction that it could, merely looking for some way to escape from the mare’s clutches. After a couple of moments the magic started slowing down in its movements, before coming to a dead stop. "Now to let you out and back to where you belong." In one simple motion, she pushed the magic towards the edges of her body, and began to let it slowly seep out into the world around her. With each painstakingly long second that passed, Ember could feel the weight across her body start to lift. "Look!" Rainbow shouted as she pointed a hoof towards Ember. The flame columns that surrounded her gave a small shutter and slowly receded back into the ground below. "It looks like the Archmage got through to her," Twilight quietly said with a deep and heavy sigh. The flow of energy coming from Ember’s body had stopped flowing into the air around her. Rainbow could feel the atmosphere starting to the revert back to normal, the air feeling crisp and soft like before. With the magic finally out of her body, Ember could feel her legs beginning to buckle from underneath her, the limbs finally giving out from all of the force that had been put upon them. Not wanting to fall face first, she slowly lowered herself towards the ground comfortably tucking her hooves underneath her as she lay on top of them. “Archmage,” Ember said, her voice extremely coarse. “In my bag there should be a package of enchanted bandages specifically designed for burns. Could you please treat the princess with them?” Normally she would have done it herself, but the overcharge had completely drained her of any energy that she once had. It would take many days, if not a full week for her magic to finally return to normal. “Of course, Ember.” A bright flash of light later, the wrappings materialized next to the Archmage, the entangled mess of fabric floating patiently in the air beside him “Is she going to be okay?” Rainbow asked, while Twilight lifted a hoof towards the Archmage. “That burn looks pretty bad.” “Don’t worry about it, miss Dash,” the Archmage said as he began to wrap the limb. “The burn looks a lot worse than what it is. Unfortunately the princess will not be able to walk at all for the night, but if she administers a fair amount of healing magic across it every four to five hours, it should heal enough for her to walk without too much pain.” After a couple of minutes, the Archmage finished covering both limbs and took a couple of steps back from Twilight to check his work. “I know it doesn't mean much to say this now,’ Ember said. “But I'm sorry about what happened. I just---” “You don’t need to apologize for anything Ember,” Twilight said with a smile across her face. "It was merely an unfortunate turn of events that couldn’t have been avoided." "B-b-but," Ember stammered with her head hung low. "How could she forgive me just like that? I went against everything that I've sworn to protect as a royal guard. And through my careless thoughts, I almost killed her... So why?" Ember felt a spark of magic underneath her muzzle start to push her head up until her eyes were matched with Twilight's. "Ember, please listen to me. You've always been there to protect the princesses no matter what the call, willing to risk your own life to save others. I can only begin to think about the thoughts that are in your head, but please try to forgive yourself. You did nothing wrong, you just made a bad choice... Now I don’t mean to be rude, but I believe there is a baby dragon that is probably worried out of his mind, and eagerly awaiting for us to see him.” Taking that as her queue Rainbow took a couple of steps away from Ember.. "You better hold on tight Twi," Rainbow said once Twilight was comfortable. "It may get a little rocky on the flight back." "Spike should be at the Manehatten Inn right?" Rainbow asked, her head turning towards the Archmage. "Yes. The Inn is about a mile due south of here. When you get there, the innkeepers should be able to direct you two to your room without any problems.." "Thank you." With those words, Twilight tightened her grip around Rainbow’s neck and the two mares flew off into the skies above. The two mares now stood in front of a large wooden door, the numbers “629” emblazoned across a small gold plate on the door’s face. “You ready?” Rainbow asked, only to receive a quick nod from Twilight in response. With an effortless push of her hoof Rainbow opened the door to the room. As they walked inside Rainbow noticed that the room was rather simple for being one of the more prestigious rooms that the inn offered. The walls were painted a dull indigo coloured hue. An odd choice given the blue carpet that stretched across the room. At the end of the room sat a rather large balcony, the outlook providing a gorgeous view to the flower gardens that resided below. Turning her head towards the two beds that lay in the room Rainbow saw Spike sitting near the foot the bed closest to the balcony, his head hung down towards the floor. Sky Chaser sat next to him. Ever since they had come back to the room, Sky Chaser had sat with Spike, trying to calm the drake’s pacing nerves, but was largely unsuccessful at his task. “Poor guy,” Rainbow thought to herself as she took a step into the room. “He must have been worried sick about us.”  “Hey, Spike,” Rainbow said with a smile. “Sorry it took so long for us to get back…” Upon hearing Rainbow’s voice, Spike’s gaze instantly snapped towards the open door. For what seemed like minutes, he simply sat on the edge of the bed, his mouth moved back and forth, no words coming from his mouth as a wave of much needed relief came over him. Without saying a word he jumped of the bed and ran as fast as his little feet would carry him, wrapping her hoof in a scaley hug. “I knew you guys where going to be okay,” Spike sobbed with tears rolling down his face. “I just knew it.” “Thank you, Sky Chaser,” Twilight said thankfully. “Sorry for making you look after Spike while we were trying to help Ember at the exhibition.” “It wasn’t a problem at all, princess” Sky Chaser said with a quick shake of his head. “He didn’t say a word to me at all while we waited for you two to come back.” Sky Chaser reached behind him and grabbed his spear that lay resting against the wall behind him. With a simple motion he tucked the large weapon underneath his wing and proceed to walk towards the door. “Thank you for helping Ember,” Sky Chaser whispered in Twilight’s ear as he walked on past, closing the door behind him as he left the room. “Well…” Rainbow said with a quick roll of her eyes. “I don’t know about you two, but I could really use some good old relaxation right about now. What do you think Twilight?” “Sounds good.” With a loud pop Twilight teleported off of Rainbow’s back onto one of the beds. With a quick jump, Spike landed on the bed next to Twilight, while Rainbow climbed onto the other bed next to the bathroom. As he reached in for a hug, Spike stopped mid motion as he noticed the bandages wrapped around Twilight’s hooves. “Twilight…” Spike said with a concerned tone. “What happened to your hooves?” “Ember lost control Spike,” Twilight said quietly, her hooves shuffling awkwardly beneath her as she answered the question. “I wasn’t able to channel enough magic to escape a blast of flame in time. Thankfully though Rainbow was there to save me, or else it would’ve been much worse.” “Thank Celestia...” Spike said with fresh tears forming around his eyes. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if you never made it back.” The three sat in the room for a couple of hours, constantly talking about whatever ideas came to the top of their heads, simply enjoying each other’s company as the night quickly approached. “Well… I think we probably should get some sleep.” Twilight said as she looked towards the clock. “It’s been a long day and I know that all three of us probably could use some shut eye.” “You’re probably right,” Spike said as he got up. With a couple of steps he walked towards the smaller bed that lay sitting at the foot of Twilight’s bed, and quickly curled up beneath the warm covers that awaited him. Within minutes he was sound asleep. However for Twilight this simply wasn’t the case as she sat and stared at blue wall next to the bed. Every part of her body from muzzle to tail felt exhausted, but no matter how hard she tried, sleep’s magnificent embrace just wouldn’t come. Every time she would start to feel herself starting to fall to sleep, the events of the coliseum would replay in her mind, forcing her body back into the severe sense of shock that she had felt moments ago. A cold sweat trickled down Twilight’s spine as the thoughts to roll through her head. She could feel her heart rate start to increase. Each beat of her heart filled her ears with a loud thumping, and she could feel her stomach tie into notes as she tried to calm herself. However no matter how hard she tried, the fear continued to surge throughout her body. “Twilight, what’s wrong?” Rainbow asked with a panicked tone as Twilight began to thrash around. “I’m scared, Rainbow,” Twilight said frantically. “I keep thinking about what would’ve happened if you weren’t there to save me. Every time I close my eyes, I can see that fireball roaring towards me again, and it scares me Rainbow.” As Rainbow looked over, she could see that Twilight was starting to panic. Without any hesitation, Rainbow pushed the covers away from her, and quietly flew over towards Twilight’s bed. Hovering in the air as quietly as she could, she reached a hoof underneath the covers and quickly slid underneath the soft sheets. With a simple motion, she lay a hoof and wing over top of Twilight, cradling the troubled mare in between her hooves. In an instant, Twilight could feel the unease that had started to build up start to melt away into the comforting embrace. “If you weren’t there Rainbow I probably would---.” “Ssssh it’s okay Twilight,” Rainbow quietly interrupted as she slowly ran a hoof through the troubled alicorn’s mane. “It’s over now. There’s no need to be thinking about what could’ve happened. What matters now is that we’re safe, and there isn’t anything in Equestria that will change that.” As the words left Rainbow’s mouth, Twilight could feel her body start to return back to it’s normal rhythm. Both mares lay together in silence, neither one of them saying anything to each other as they enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere. Without saying a word, Twilight moved in close towards Rainbow, her back now pressed firmly against Rainbow’s stomach. “Thank you Rainbow,” Twilight said as she closed her eyes. “Don’t mention it,” Rainbow said, only to hear the soft sound of Twilight’s peaceful snoring in return.