Renewal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

----

Rarity listened from outside the door.

She listened as her friends laughter turned to sobs. The doctor and nurse both trying to console her.

She needed to talk to her. To Luna. Somepony important.

But maybe, first, she should take care of a teensy weensy little chore. Just a little something to get her nerve up.

Yes, that sounded like a wonderful idea! She needed to go get Fluttershy, tell her Twilight was awake, as well as Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and one must never forget Pinkie Pie!

With renewed fervor, Rarity headed for the exit.

----

He looked into a green eye, let his gaze linger over green hair and stared at raw, pink skin.

Spike hadn't really looked at a mirror lately. The doctors here in the human world had told him he wasn't supposed to leave the bed unless he really, really had to go.

Something about not aggravating bruised ribs.

Which were really, really aggravating. Getting out of bed sucked. Doing... Stuff really sucked. He hadn't looked in the mirror of the small restroom once while he'd been doing that.

Today though, he... He wanted to take a look. He wanted to see what the mirror thought he'd look like if he were human. Or pony. He wasn't all too sure anymore.

More than the hair or the fingers, he was amazed by the burn. He'd never had one before. When he was a dragon, he was functionally impervious to fire, magma, heat in general.

He lightly pressed a finger into the burn and slowly drug it down. The dichotomy of heat being followed by chilling cold was novel, new.

Kind of unpleasant, too.

He decided he didn't like it.

He made his gaze focus on the white elephant in the mirror.

The eye-patch.

The doctors said his eye had been lightly scorched, too. That it would probably heal up just fine if he left it alone but that it looked a little deformed from the injury.

He wanted to see it. He'd never broken a bone before, chipped a tooth or anything severe enough to leave him with more than a bruise.

His fingers gripped the cotton fabric wrapped around his face. He felt a thrill in his chest, his heart was pounding with anxiety, nervousness.

He pulled it away and up, a gauze pad dropping out from underneath.

The skin was a little blotchy, kind of pale, but it looked the same as the rest of his less-burned face. He used a finger and thumb to press open the eye.

He hissed, his eye stinging as it saw light for the first time in days.

Green. Not acid green, nor was all of it green, just the iris. The same emerald green as his other eye. It looked completely...

Normal...

For a dragon. Oh. That's what they meant by 'Deformity'.

His gut clenched painfully, fear rising from the depths. He was transformed, been transformed twice over, first into a pony and then to a human.

He swallowed, though nothing went down his throat. His mouth dry.

"Maybe too much magic was fighting each other? That happens all the time, right Spike?" His reflection didn't have an answer, much as he was expecting.

If that hadn't transformed, or reverted instead, what else had? Would?

Was he going to turn back into a dragon in the middle of the night? Would he turn into a puppy then? Or was that part of the magic of the portal and not part of this world?

"Spike, the social worker is here to see you. Are you alright?" Nurse Redheart was at the door, looking for him.

"In the bathroom!" He hollered to her. "Be out in a minute."

He pulled the eye-patch down over his eye again and rested his elbows on the sink, fingers curling into his hair.

He didn't feel so good.

----

"Princess Luna?" One mare stood at the head of a group of four, standing between the Princess of the Night and the room wherein stayed the Princess of Friendship.

"Lady Rarity? Ah, you must be concerned for Twilight. The healers assure me she is doing well." The three ponies behind Rarity let out a collective sigh, though the weight upon the unicorn's shoulders remained.

"That's wonderful, Princess, but that's not why I'm here. Why we're here."

"Whoa, speak for yourself Rare-bear, Twilight's-"

"Pinkie, this is important, please. Eh-heh, my apologies, Princess." Rarity blushed and demurely looked down, almost unable to see Princess Luna motion for her to go on. "Ah, yes, well. I wanted to say, that is, well, I may have... Recognized the magic when Spike used it."

Silence filled the hall as various ponies looked amongst each other.

"Geeze Rarity, you should've said something sooner!" Rainbow Dash looked as though her expression swung on a pendulum, sliding from confused to angry and back in a matter of instants.

"Hold, Rainbow Dash. As I understand, the magic was only in use for a few brief moments before... Events occurred. That she finds the muddled magics at all familiar is astonishing." The blue pegasus looked between the princess and unicorn a few times before nodding, accepting her words. "Now tell us, Rarity, what is the name of this magic?"

"I... You must understand, it all seems like a rather distant dream, quite hard to remember. I'm sure there's a more accurate term you and Twilight would use for it, but I do remember it's name... Part of the incantation. No, no, I'm sure the name will do."

"Inspiration" Rarity shuddered, as though the words themselves were vile. "Manifestation."