• Published 16th Oct 2019
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Trust Once Lost - Greenhorne



When I agreed to be sent to Equestria I didn't read the fine print. I'm the wrong age, the wrong gender, and lost in the wilderness.

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Ain’t that a Thaum in the Hoof

A wave of fatigue hit me and I yawned. Amy’s coat was so soft and warm against my face I closed my eyes.

I woke with a start when somepony nudged my shoulder.

“Huh?” I must have fallen asleep, how embarrassing.

“Green, are you all right?” Asked Redheart.

“Uh,” I tried to fight through the fatigue. “Er, yeah, just... tired.”

I rested my cheek back on Amy’s neck, but with a warm, fizzy sensation I found myself floating away from him.

“Green,” Amy’s voice woke me again and I could feel the bed under me. “Green, you have to let go.”

“What?”

“Your hoof,” He explained. “You need to let go of me.”

“Oh,” I was still holding onto his neck with him awkwardly bending down over the bed. “... Uh, how do I do that?”

Amy seemed stumped by the question. I guess that made sense since I was asking something he’d probably never thought about. My fatigue was already starting to recede; at a guess, magic must be physically tiring. I focused on my hoof and I could feel a slightly higher pressure of magic, so I tried pulling it back into my hoof. This only seemed to grip on tighter, so instead, I tried the opposite and pushed it out of my hoof. Amy looked startled, I guess I was pushing on his magic field? After a couple seconds of this, I felt tired again and my hoof grip released on its own. I was cold and burrowed into the blankets for warmth.

“-don’t know what I saw then,” said Amy, I must have dozed off for a moment. “But I’ve seen a magic surge before and it looked like a magic surge.”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you Amethyst,” Redheart sighed. “I just - you can’t fake a magic surge, can you?”

I was confused for a moment as to why Redheart was deferring to her trainee until I remembered that she was an earth pony, and he was a unicorn.



Amethyst thought about it for a moment.

“Not... really?” He answered unsurely but gradually became more confident. “I mean if you knew enough illusion magic you could fake the visual and auditory parts, but I could feel the magic coming off her and it didn’t feel structured at all; and the amount of magic? Well, look at her, she exhausted her whole mana pool in one shot. That’s not something you can do on purpose; not without years of high yield casting exercises anyway.”

“She’s too old.” Redheart countered. “Is it even possible for an eight-year-old to have a magic surge?”

“I mean, I’d say I’d never heard of such a thing, but...”

“But what?”

“Princess Twilight.”

“What are you saying?” Asked Redheart, incredulously. “That Green could be the next Twilight Sparkle? Is her magic that strong?”

“Oh no,” Amy waved his hooves placatingly. “Nothing like that. Princess Twilight’s magic surge lasted more than eight minutes, hatched a dragon egg, blew the roof off an auditorium and transfigured ponies into plants. They say she levitated herself off the floor and her eyes glowed as bright as the sun itself.”

“And Green?”

“About ten seconds,” Amy explained, “Her eyes glowed and the magic flow was strong enough to float her mane and tail with pure unstructured magic; and as you can see, it didn’t give her a cutie mark for magic.”

“Well, there are no guidelines for this, so I guess just do a set of obs and keep a close eye on her,” Redheart instructed, massaging one of her temples with a hoof, “I’ll figure out how to report this to the CMO without him thinking I’m crazy.”

I yawned again, and they finally realized I was awake. Nurse Redheart turned to face me and put a hoof on my shoulder.

“How are you feeling?” She asked with a sing-song voice.

“Tired. Cold. Hungry.” I fought through the fatigue to answer. “My skin feels prickly and I’m all... dizzy. I think... I think my blood sugar is low...”

“It’s all right sweetie, you just used a bit too much magic,” Redheart comforted, “It’s perfectly normal.”

“Normal?” asked Amy, “But-”

Redheart’s head turned so fast I’m surprised her nose didn’t break the sound barrier, and she fixed Amethyst with a steely glare.

“Amethyst, you’re a unicorn,” Redheart cut him off, “It’s normal to feel fatigued when you use too much magic, isn’t it.”

It was not a question.

“Why don’t you take a set of obs, and then we can let Green have a little nap?” She continued.

Amy swallowed nervously and nodded before walking out of the room, returning moments later with an obs trolley. He and Redheart had a whispered conversation as they passed each other in the doorway, but this time I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

I still felt cold, so I cocooned myself in the blankets, leaving one foreleg exposed so Amy could take my blood pressure. He clipped an oxygen saturation sensor on one of my ears and set about checking my blood pressure.

I wanted to ask Amy some questions about my ‘magic surge’ but my eyelids felt so heavy.


I felt like I was drifting away until a sudden jolt woke me. I was still moving, I was falling! I flailed in a panic and only managed to get tangled in the bedsheets, but with my head now uncovered I could see that it wasn’t me that had moved, it was the bed. I was being rolled down a corridor.

Relax, breathe, everything is fine.

I felt wet and sticky and I definitely didn’t check to see if I’d wet the bed; and even if I did check, it was unnecessary because I hadn’t. I’m not a baby.

My sheets were damp though, from a cold sweat. By the miracle of this new body’s healthy skin, it didn’t itch. It was still uncomfortable though.

Amy was keeping pace next to the bed as it was being rolled down the corridor.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“We’re going for a ride.” Said Amy.

“I can see that,” I deadpanned. “Where are we going?”

“Thaumatology,” The word was unfamiliar, but it was clear enough what it was by context. “The doctor just wants to run a few tests to make sure you’re okay.”

“Great.”

My horn was starting to hurt like it was clamped in a vise that was slowly being tightened, and I wanted to be asleep, and these ponies had no idea what was wrong with me and even if they did they wouldn’t tell me because I’m just a child. Ugh, my head.

“Hey Green, are you all right?” Amy asked with concern.

“Fine,” I snapped.

“Are you in pain?”

“Yes.”

“Did you need som-”

“I’ll live,” I pulled the blankets over my head again and curled up to face away from him.

I didn’t see much of Thaumatology because the lights were too bright, making my eyes sting and my head throb. Stupid lights. Stupid ponies with their poking and prodding and their clippity-clopping hooves on the hard floor. Stupid machines with their beeping and clacking and whirring.

I groaned and ponies looked at me with concern. Probably. Or maybe they didn’t. I don’t know, my eyes were closed, and I was ignoring them.


I fell asleep on the way back to my room, and when I woke again Amy was gone. In his place was a pink unicorn mare with a similar trainee badge on her hat. That meant the shift had changed so Redheart had probably left as well. I’d only known them for a few hours, but I felt their absence keenly. They were, after all, the only people I knew in the entire world, and I didn’t even get to say goodbye to them.

I felt much better after my nap. All that remained was a dull ache at the base of my horn, and a feeling of emptiness in my chest where my magic had seemed to originate from.

My new minder looked bored. She idly flipped through a magazine she had levitated in her magic. Watching a patient sleep wasn’t the most fascinating of assignments, so I didn’t blame her at all. The unicorn had a straw yellow mane put up into a bun like Redheart’s had been.

“Hi.” I squeaked. Stupid squeaky voice.

The unicorn mare sighed and looked up. “Oh, you’re awake?”

Her voice had no enthusiasm, as if looking after me was a major imposition on her time.

“Really?” My voice dripped with sarcasm, “I hadn’t noticed.”

The unicorn knew better than to rise to the bait and instead she slid herself off the chair and stretched.

“They wanted me to let them know when you woke up,” She explained as she walked over to the door. “Don’t do anything crazy while I’m gone.”

I almost wanted to do something crazy just to spite her, but that would just be immature. I understood where she was coming from; it was boring. I was basically wasting her time, but this was part of the job, and she’d just have to suck it up and get used to it. I’d never had much sympathy for people that couldn’t keep themselves entertained for a few hours, especially if they were being paid for it. It’s like, you’re being paid by the hour to sit around and read a book, and you’re complaining about it? You’re complaining that the patient isn’t awake and trying to rip their catheter out or punch you in the face? What are you, five? Do you need me to dangle my car keys in front of you to keep your attention?

After a few minutes, the trainee returned with a fluorescent orange pegasus. I tactfully decided not to ask if that was her natural coat color since I didn’t want to remind her of the traumatic experience she must have endured as a filly when she fell into a vat of ink on a field trip to the highlighter factory.

She wasn’t wearing a nurse hat, so maybe she wasn’t a nurse?

“Good afternoon,” She greeted, “My name is Day Glow, do you remember me from yesterday?”

I almost smirked at her name, but I managed to keep it contained. At the same time a spike of fear hit me. Yet another pony had me at a disadvantage by knowing what I’d said while I was delirious, I couldn’t remember a thing. I thought back to the notes I’d skimmed with Amy earlier; I hadn’t paid any attention to the names, but if she wasn’t a nurse, and she wasn’t in Lunar guard armor, and she hadn’t introduced herself as ‘Dr.’... Right, the social worker.

“Sorry, I don’t remember anything from yesterday.”

“That’s all right.” She consoled, “We didn’t make much progress yesterday, but I’m told you’re feeling better today?”

“I don’t know.”

“Oh?”

“To know if I was feeling better today, I would have to compare it to yesterday,” I deadpanned, “If I can’t remember yesterday, how would I know if I’m feeling better today?”

She laughed at my joke, but it felt more like politeness than actual mirth. At least she could tell when I was joking.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” She noted something on a clipboard. “My job here is to represent the Ministry of Families, Foals and Mental Health.”

That was a mouthful. Hopefully she was here for the first two and not the third.

“It’s good timing that you woke up actually,” Dayglow continued, “There’s somepony I was just with that I wanted you to meet.”

I don’t like surprises. My job is to make sure that everything goes according to plan. To be prepared for anything that might happen. Day Glow had caught me completely off guard and nervousness twisted my stomach.

“You can come in now, Applejack.” She called out.

Damit. They brought the lie detector. I couldn’t run. My leg was broken, and even if it wasn’t, I had nowhere to go, no one to turn to. I was frozen on the spot, my skin was cold.

Relax, breathe, don’t have another panic attack.

I closed my eyes, and I took some deep breaths. I managed to stop shivering as I got the panic under control. I still had a knot of nervousness in my stomach though.

All right, she’s probably right in front of you, so don’t get startled.

I cracked open my eyes and saw that Applejack was actually standing a respectful distance away. When she noticed I was looking at her, she approached and introduced herself.

“Well hello there little one, my name’s Applejack.”

The knot in my stomach twisted tighter. Oh god, what if she knew I was lying when I told her my name? Ugh.

Okay, your name is Green. That’s what ponies call you, that’s what you refer to yourself as, so it’s not a lie. Just tell the truth. Your name is ‘Green’. You’re a pony, you were never a human.

I felt bile in my throat.

“Hi my name is-” I closed my mouth again when I realized I was speaking far too quietly for her to hear me.

Applejack moved closer “Pardon?”

Her moving closer made me even more nervous, if such a thing was possible. My stomach hurt. I took a breath.

“H- *hurrgh*” My stomach rebelled against me. I threw up on her hooves.

So much for first impressions.

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