Twilight Sparkle’s relief was palpable. Her heart was still beating like a marching band drummer and her breath was coming in rapped pace but that feeling of dread was slowly fading away.  She was still trembling as it lingered in her chest but for now it seemed everything was back in order.

Twilight looked at the shattered glass on the floor. She had been making herself a glass of milk when it happened. The cup was levitated in her magical field when, out of nowhere, she felt as if she was backhanded by a minotaur. A shockwave had washed over her entire castle, she didn’t see it, but she most definitely felt it. It was like standing in an ocean and being struck by a five foot wave.

At first she didn’t notice anything amiss. It wasn’t until she absent mindedly tried to clean up the scattered pieces of glass while pondering what just happened when a dreadful pit began to form in her chest, her body seeming to realize what was wrong a split second before her mind put it together.

Her magic wasn’t working.

It was like trying to move a limb that had been slept on wrong and was completely numb. She could feel her brain sending the instructions to her horn but nothing was happening.  So, Twilight Sparkle did what was expected of her brilliant, rational, and priencessy self, she flipped the heck out.

“Why isn’t it working? It has to work, it has to work.”  She sputtered frantically, all other things in the world completely forgotten in favor of this small pile of glass shards and their refusal to obey one of the most basic axioms of the universe. That is, when Twilight grabs them with her magic, they respond.

“No. No no no. Nonononononononono! What’s going…..” Whhhiimm, her magic suddenly grabbed the glass shards and brought them, a little too quickly, likely due to the hoofculean effort she was putting into it at that point, up level with her eyes. “Whew, thank goodness.” She said as calm slowly returned.  She waved the glass shards around a bit, putting them down and picking them back up to make sure everything was working and it seemed to be.

Collecting herself and breathing deeply, as her sister-in-law Cadence had taught her, Twilight began to ponder what had just transpired. Could it have been Magic Exhaustion? She thought, No, no, that doesn’t make any sense. I don’t have any of the symptoms and I haven’t exerted myself lately.

Ah! She reminded herself, but you did channel an immeasurable amount of power to defeat Tirek.

Yes, but that was the Tree of Harmony’s power, not mine. That wouldn’t cause M.E. would it?

That was still an incredible amount of power being squeezed all at once through your horn.  Maybe it’s…..

It’s not Mana Burn, I would definitely feel that.

Just as Twilight was beginning to grow concerned anew, a groan of pain drew her attention to the castles dining area. She arrived in the kitchen to find a certain baby dragon on his back holding the side of his mouth with one hand and his belly with the other. An orange citrine on the floor and a bowl of other assorted gemstones on the table were evidence that he had been preparing himself some Jewel Pancakes for breakfast.

“Spike! Are you ok? What’s wrong?” Twilight asked, her concern over her possible disability completely forgotten in the wake of seeing her oldest friend and Number One Assistant on the floor in obvious discomfort.

“Owwww, oh, my stomach. It feels like I swallowed a knife. Auugh, and I think I broke a tooth on that last one.” Spike tried to get to his feet but a sudden lance of pain struck him in his stomach again and he doubled over. “Arrgh, my horde for an antacid.”

“Hold on Spike, I’ll cast a pain reliever on you…..as soon as I find it. Come on,” she lifted spike up onto her back, “let’s go to the library.”

Twilight’s castle library was a sight to behold. The destruction of her old treehouse library at the hands of Tirek had left her in a state of depression.  She knew that it could be replaced but it was still saddening, like losing an old friend. Of course her first act as the newly dubbed Princess of Friendship was to commission a new library.  It proved unnecessary however as the Tree of Harmony seemed to anticipate her wants and accommodated.  On her first night in the new castle, while exploring, she and Spike had come across the room and lo and behold, therein was a fully stocked library to rival that of the Canterlot Archives.

The library was a two story circular room with bookshelves lining the walls in both directions and two elegant curved staircases that merged into one towards the back. Lanterns adorned every second bookshelf as well as on the ceiling with a chandelier that was at once both modest and somehow fitting of royalty.  The center was lined with a royal blue carpet with bare stone around the outer edges and a statue in the middle of a certain famous belle clad wizard whom Twilight idolized.   There we also, of course, reading couches.

Twilight, upon discovering this little gift left to her by the Tree, stood in the entrance way, frozen in place. Not moving, not blinking, and barely even breathing. Spike started to worry about her after ten minutes of this and absolutely no response to any of his calls or pokes. Eventually he managed to break her from her stooper by declaring Pi to be exactly three. One remedial mathematics lesson later, she was whinnying like a school filly and bouncing around her new Mecca, until her body finally forced her to sleep at 5 in the morning.

Now though, the grandeur of the library was the furthest thing from her mind.  Laying a still groaning spike on the couch, she immediately set about a search for a book that had a pain relief spell.  “Ok Spike, now tell me what happened. I need to know if I should take you to Zecora.” Twilight didn’t even consider a doctor or a vet as both had tried and failed to diagnose a problem with spike in the past.

“I…I’m not sure” Spike said as he rubbed the scales on his belly.  “I was making us breakfast and the next thing I know, I’m on the floor hurting like a unicorn is trying to poke a hole in my stomach from the inside.

“Did you eat anything this morning?” Twilight asked, discarding a book with the title “Viruses, Bacteria, and Microbes, Oh My!”

“I just had a few gems while I was making my Jewel Pancakes. Don’t think I’ll ever touch a citrine again.”

“Why not? You eat citrines all the time.” Daring Doo’s Field Survival Guide. No that’s not it, why isn’t this in the fiction section. Actually, should the Daring Doo series be in the Autobiography section? Gah, focus, Twilight, where was that one with the unicorn coltscout leader on the cover?

“I took a bite out of it and my tooth broke in two. I’m just glad dragon teeth grow back more than once. Still really hurt though.” Spike was panting heavily, still in obvious discomfort but not, it seemed, as much as he had been.

“That doesn’t make any sense, I thought diamonds were the only thing that could break dragon teeth. Ah ha! Here it is, Twenty One Spells Every Unicorn Should Know. Let’s see, spell 17, the Pain Numbing Enchantment.  A simple spell that provides immediate relief from all but the worst aches and pains. WARNING: THIS IS NOT A HEALING SPELL. Medical treatment should be sought immediately for serious injuries.”

The floating book snapped shut in front of Twilight as she turned her attention to Spike.  “Okay,” she said, “This should just take a second.” Spike felt as his body was engulfed in Twilight’s familiar purple aura and then, the pain slowly ebbed away and finally stopped all together.

“Oh thank goodness. I don’t know if I could have lasted much longer,” The relief on Spike’s face exceedingly visible. “You’re the best Twi.”

“You’re welcome, Number One Assistant. Now back to the matter at hoof, are you sure that’s all you did this morning?”

“Uh huh.”

“What about in the past few days? There has to have been something you ate.”  Twilight was already pulling other books from the shelves, looking for causes of illness in dragons. Unfortunately, there was very little on the subject of dragon anatomy. Not that there weren’t ponies who got to study a dragon’s insides up close, rather they weren’t really in a position to publish books on the subject afterwards.

“I’m positive, Twilight, I think I would remember eating something strange.”

“Did you eat any…meat?”

“Wha..? NO! I definitely didn’t eat any meat.”

Twilight looked at Spike skeptically, “Its ok Spike, I understand, dragons need protein and…”

“Twilight! The only things I’ve eaten in my life that are even remotely carnivorous are eggs and fish, and I only tried fish once. You know me, I like gems.”

This was true, Twilight thought, Spike’s diet was exclusively gems. While not much was known about dragons, what was known was that dragons could eat literally anything they could fit into their mouths. Their stomachs had enchanted enzymes that could break down even the hardest materials.  And gems were rich in magic that they needed to survive.  

Magic? Twilight’s magic had been refusing to work around the same time Spike had had his incident. But that couldn’t be related, could it? “Spike, I’m going to go see Zecora, she helped us last time with your growth spurt so maybe she can shed some light on this. Will you be ok on your own?”

“Yeah, yeah. I feel loads better, in fact I think I’ll go finish making breakfast.” He was off the couch and out the door before Twilight could point out the obvious problem with eating again so soon.

“Ugh, Owlowiscious?” She called, he pet owl who had been sitting on his roost the whole time, quietly watching the exchange quickly fluttered down and perched on the armrest of one of the chairs.

“Hoo?” While Twilight couldn’t speak Owl, she always manage to infer what Owlowiscious was saying from context. At least she liked to think she did, sometimes he really was just saying ‘who.’

“Would you look after Spike for me? I need to run to Zecora’ s, if he starts hurting again please come get me right away.”

“Hoo”, and with that, he flew off towards the kitchen. Satisfied that Spike was ok for the time being, Twilight set out for Zecora’ s Everfree Forest hut.

“You are right in thinking it strange, very little can cause a dragon stomach pain.” The zebra shaman, Zecora, spoke in her usual rhyming dialect after listening to Twilights tale. On another day Twilight might have pointed out that ‘strange’ and ‘pain’ technically didn’t rhyme but she was more focused on her Number One Assistant’s ailment. “These Symptoms you are describing, sound like a tear in stomach lining.”

Twilight Sparkle’s mind works in a strange way. It will hear the words, define them, and then combine them to draw a conclusion. In this case, she heard ‘tear’ which means to cut or rip, a negative word. Then there was ‘stomach ’, a noun describing a vital organ that needs to be in perfect working order at all times for a being to survive. Tear plus stomach equals PANIC!!!!!!!!!!

In her mind, the part that controls emotion running around with her hooves flailing and screaming, “Spike’s mortally wounded, he’s going to die!!!! What do I do, what do I do?!?!?!?!” Meanwhile, in another part of her head, there was the one who was responsible for calm rational thought. She tried to say that such injuries were often minor and perhaps they should let the expert tell them what to do, however, she had a nasty habit of speaking in a voice that even Fluttershy would call ‘too quiet’ during times when it really mattered. Now was one such time.

All this took place in less than a second and Twilight began hyperventilating for the second time in as many hours. Gabbing Zecora by her withers she voiced what her inner self had been screaming, “What do I do? How do I fix it? Is Spike going to be alright? What do I do?”

“Calm yourself Princess Twilight, I assure you Spike will be alright.” Zecora replied in a calm motherly tone. It worked wonders, reminding Twilight of the way Princess Celestia had often spoke to her.  “Spike’s lack of vomiting is a good sign, it means his injury is benign. Prepare soft foods for his meal, and in a few days he shall heal.”

Twilight let out a quick sigh and wiped her brow, “phew, I was almost worried there for a moment.” Zecora smiled and while Twilight wasn’t looking rolled her eyes. Now that Twilight was able to think strait, a thought occurred to her. “Zecora, dragon’s stomachs are magically reinforced aren’t they? I’ve even heard stories of minotaur’s making armor out of it in the Pre Celestial age. What could spike have eaten that would have done such a thing?”

“Not much can harm a dragon this is true, I fear I don’t have an answer for you.” Twilight’s ears drooped, she hated not knowing something. But at least Spike would be alright.

“Thank you Zecora, you’ve been a big help. Spike isn’t going to be happy about not being able to eat gems for a few days though.” Twilight turned to leave.

“Your thanks warm my heart, tis why I practice the herbal arts. And if a diet of gems he insists, I can make you a quick list, of alchemical potions and balms, that will insure his healing won’t go wrong.” Zecora went to her cabinet and placed several bottles in a pouch which she handed to Twilight. “These medicines of red, purple and orange, will insure that Spike…..”

Zecora never got to finish her sentence as right at that moment the door burst open to reveal a certain blue pegasus with a rainbow mane.

“Twilight! I’ve been looking all over for you, you have to come quick! There’s an emergency, well two emergencies but one is bigger.” Rainbow Dash already had Twilight by the hoof and was dragging her out the door. Twilight wrested her herself free and looked up at her panicked friend.

“Rainbow what in Equestria is going on, what emergency?”

“We’ll my cloud house fell out of the sky, but that’s not important now, there’s a CHANGELING in ponyville!”

Twilight had just begun to process the part about Rainbow’s house falling out of the sky but everything skidded to a halt at the word ‘changeling’. It was going to be a long day. Next Chapter: 2 Unmasked Estimated time remaining: 46 Minutes