The bed was comfortable. He didn’t know when he decided to lie down, or where he had found a bed handy, but it was a good idea. He was nice and warm and toasty and the bed smelled like mare, which was always a plus. Mares smelled nice.

Maybe it was Cheerilee’s bed? When he stopped to really think about it though, he could remember Cheerilee smelling different then this. More like grapes.

This was probably another mare’s bed then, which didn’t make any sense since he wouldn’t just hop into any bed without a good reason.

…where was he and who's bed was this?!

Ivan opened his eyes.

The room was of a decent size. A few bookshelves by the wall, writing desk with disorganized papers strewn over it, telescope by the window…

When he tried to sit up, he felt dizzy. When he lay back down he felt dizzy too.

…to be safe, he checked for new casts.

…just one, still in it’s sling. Good.

Also he was still in his coat. This was also good.

Where were his bags?

Hat was missing. Where was his hat?

“Waaah!” yelled a foalish voice from far away, followed by the distinct sound of several books hitting the floor. Repeated apologies in a feminine voice came after. Possibly belonging to the same mare this bed did.

On that note, lying in unfamiliar beds made him uncomfortable. Time to get up.

His balance was a little off, but he had felt worse. Even if he was walking on three legs.

...The door was locked. Ivan took a deep breath.

…If he were actually taken against his will, it would explain his dazed state. He might’ve been struck in the head. A short trot to the window revealed he was on the second floor. His magic wasn’t safe to use while his head was so muddled though. Control would be difficult.

Ivan losing control of his magic would result in bad things.

Thinking further, he doubted that he would be tucked into a bed high up with an operable window if he were kidnapped. There was also little reason to kidnap him in the first place.

..so ho-

His sense of balance began to sway, and black blots swam in front of his eyes, growing and shifting as his sight began to fail him.

He slumped against a wall, sliding to the ground, fighting the encroaching shadows to stay conscious.

The shuffling and bumping he had done attracted attention. He heard hooffalls ascending stairs.

“Ohmigosh, are you alright?”

“N-no.” He tried to say in the most ‘well duh’ way he could muster. Talking was hard though, and it came out as a whisper. He saw purple, barely. Then he went blind.

He was still conscious, and it looked like he would stay that way.

“Ohsunohsun what do I do?! Spiiiiiike! Get a book on head injuries!”

So he had been struck. Or some accident had happened.

Come to think of it, his head was throbbing. Why hadn’t he noticed that sooner?

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” His sight was coming back, and he could see her face was way too close for comfort. He reached up his good hoof and made to move her back, but his motor skills weren’t the best. He ended up shoving her back, causing her to tumble backwards.

…he didn’t intend to do that, but at least he had his personal space back.

He could think straight again, and he could see. Lifting his head, he saw a unicorn that looked a bit familiar. He had probably seen her around town once or twice.

She also seemed to be at a complete loss as to what to do. Perhaps his pushing her roughly away had something to do with it.

“Twilight, I can’t find that book! I don’t think we have one!”

…Ah, yes, Twilight. He recalled that one unicorn that he had wanted to avoid for some reason.

Spectacular.

“…What happened?” Ivan asked, probably a bit harsher then he had meant to. He found the entire situation unpleasant and wanted to set his affairs in order and leave as soon as possible.

“Oh, um… I’m sorry?” Ivan facehoofed. Then winced because slapping his forehead was a very bad idea.

“Wait don’t do that!”

“…hurt. How?”

“You… hit your head.”

“How.”

“I… might have…” …He wondered if he would’ve had an easier time with Fluttershy. Fine. He was done.

“…leaving. Hat. Bags. Where?”

“Y-your stuff is downstairs, but you sh-“

“Bye.”

“No, stop!” Ivan felt foreign magic try to seize him. Oddly enough, despite anypony being able to easily resist levitation cast on them by another pony, Twilight seemed to be getting a good grip on him.

Hurting her in response would look bad. And she was probably trying to help or something. He should probably play nice.

A green baton of sorts projected itself, and sharply rapped Twilight on the horn, breaking her concentration and stopping the attempted magic quite handily.

“Don’t.” He warned, glaring at the surprised mare.

“Y-you’ve got a concussion!” She blurted, eying him the way a foal would a barking dog.

“…What.”

“Well… I think you do. You took a pretty hard hit.” A concussion would probably explain what he had been going through earlier. And the missing memories from earlier today.

“…Kay.” He said, turning to leave. He would stop in with the nurse to make sure it wasn’t anything serious, though since he could still walk alright, it probably wasn’t.

Either way, he had already learned his lesson about neglecting himself when something was wrong.

“No wait you need to-“

“Clinic.” He interrupted.

“Well yeah, I guess you could go there bu-“

“Going.”

“But I need to apologize!”

“Did.”

“Do you even know what I’m saying sorry for?”

“Don’t care.”

“Are you angry at me, or-“

“Don’t. Care.”

“How can you not care?!”

“Hey, Twilight?” Said what appeared to be a young dragon as they passed, which was incredibly unusual, but the stallion was so far past caring about anything. “Is he gonna let you make him a lab rat or not?”

…

Ivan spied his hat and bags over by the door, and they were on him in milliseconds. He was getting out of this place now.

“Don’t follow.”

“Spike! Why would you-“

“But you said he was doing things you’ve never seen before! And what about all those schedules you made me draw up?”

“I never said I was- hey, wait!”

“Don’t follow.”

“No, I need you to liste-“

“Leaving.”

“But Celestia needs to know!”

“Don’t care.”

“I need you!”

“Flattered. No.” The door slammed behind Ivan under the force of his magic.

…for a few minutes, neither Twilight or Spike said a word.

Twilight seemed to be on the verge of tears though.

“I… I had like… a whole week of experiments planned…”

“…do you… do you want me to make you come hot cocoa?”

“…extra marshmallows.”

--

As Ivan walked towards the clinic, his memory started to piece itself back together.

He was doing his morning magic practice when something had happened to make him lose his concentration.

The resulting explosion blew him backwards. He probably hit a rock or something.

“Hey, Ah found him!” That was Applebloom. He didn’t know whether the crusaders showing up comforted him or made things worse.

Possibly some bizarre combination of the two.

“Hey, Ivan, what’s all that red stuff in your mane?” Scootaloo asked, hovering near his head. Her wings were getting stronger it seemed, though she probably couldn’t hold it that long.

“Blood.” He didn’t know it was there before now, but blood was probably a safe guess.

…he wondered if he got any on Twilight’s bed.

“Oh moon, what happened?!” Sweetie Belle was panicking.

“Got hurt.”

“How?!”

“Accident.”

“…you’re alright, aren’t you?” Ivan almost answered her, when he felt his hat shift, and a muzzle press itself against his head for a moment.

“What…?” Ivan asked, already knowing what it was, but needing to know why.

Dinky grinned back at him from his back, having climbed without him knowing somehow.

“Kissed it better.” …suddenly, the day didn’t seem so bad anymore.

“…thank you.” Ivan muttered, unable to stop himself from giving a small smile.

“…so where are ya off to?” Applebloom asked as they walked down the street.

“Clinic.”

“Need to get that checked? My sister said that when anypony hits their head, they should get it looked at.” Sweetie Belle said, as if she was lecturing him. Ivan took it in stride, nodding back at the little unicorn.

“Right.”

“Maybe she’ll be able to get all that out of your mane too. That’s gotta feel awful.” Said Scootaloo as she was obviously trying quite hard to keep hovering.

She suddenly dropped, only to be caught by Ivan’s horn. Scootaloo let herself be gently set on the ground, stretching her wings out.

“Thanks Ivan.” She said sheepishly, receiving a grunt in response.

“So ya fell down?”

“Sure.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Sure.”

“…Is it like when ya ‘fell down’ and broke yer leg?”

“Sure.”

“Ivaaaaan, c’mon!” Scootaloo whined. “How can we get revenge if you won’t tell us what happened?”

“Accident.” Ivan said after a brief pause of consideration. He realised that at this moment, he was perhaps the most powerful pony in Equestria, barring the heavenly sisters.

He could direct the Cutie Mark Crusaders to ruin the life of any pony he deemed deserving.

Such power should be used wisely. Also Cheerilee would probably get mad at him if he sic’d her students on Twilight Sparkle.

…having friends was a bit of a buzz kill sometimes…

“That’s what you said when we got you! Are you protecting somepony?” Sweetie Belle accused.

“If you’re protecting somepony else, will you have time to protect us?” Dinky mused.

“He’d find a way. Not that we need protecting.” Answered Scootaloo. Ivan raised an eyebrow.

“Gilda.”

“I had that under control.”

“Called.”

“Well yeah, because if I beat her up, she’d be totally embarrassed to show her face anywhere. You’re a local hero, so it’s alright.”

“Cast.” Ivan pointed out, shaking the limb in it’s sling. “Not hero.” He added for good measure. “Nopony. Still embarrassing.”

“You’re not a nopony. You’re Ivan!” Dinky chirped.

“Yup. Griffins everywhere run in fear of your magical might.” Added Sweetie.

“He’s kinda like the Twilight of blowing stuff up.” Scootaloo agreed.

“…Twilight?”

“Yeah!” the pegasus continued. “Twilight Sparkle. She’s this purpl-“

“Lavender.”

“Purple, Sweetie Belle, she’s this purple unicorn who’s special talent is magic.”

“Which?”

“No, just magic. Like, all of it.”

“…possible?”

“Sure is! Hey, wait, if Ivan’s using magic too, then is calling him the Twilight of explody magic right?”

“Who do you think would win in a fight?”

“Probably Ivan. Ah don’t think Ah’ve ever seen Twilight do anythin’ violent like.”

“Why are Ivan and Twilight fighting?”

“No, Dinky, we’re just wondering. It’s hypothermal.”

“…is that right?”

“It’s some kind of H word.”

--

“Hello, how can I hel- wait, you again?”

“Concussion.”

“How the hay did you manage that?”

“Accident.”

“Well I hope you didn’t do it on purpose. Come on, follow me. Fillies, you stay here.”

“But Nurse Redhea-“

“No buts. You probably don’t want to see Ivan get stitches.”

“Eeeeeeewwwww!”

“So, what actually caused this?” Nurse Redheart asked as soon as the fillies were out of earshot.

“Accident.”

“…Do I have to call Cheerilee?” …did the nurse just imply he was whipped?

…maybe he’d set the crusaders on her later for that…

“Accident.” He said again.

“Well alright. This might sting a bit.” She warned, removing his hat.

“Mm.”

“…Normally I don’t see ponies this often. Except for Rainbow Dash.”

“Mm?”

“She’s constantly trying something dangerous, or inventing a stunt… honestly it’s a wonder she hasn’t snapped her wings clean o- hold still!” She scolded when Ivan flinched.

“Sorry.” He said quickly. From behind him, the nurse arched an eyebrow, wondering if it was the pain that made him react that way. She chuckled, realizing the stallion was probably just squeamish. Most ponies didn’t want to imagine a pegasus without wings.

“…so Cheerilee talks about you a lot.” She said, smoothly switching to a subject that would put him on the defensive.

“Kay.” He replied. The nurse frowned.

“Oh don’t give me that nonchalant act. Most stallions would be flattered. She’s pretty, smart, such attractive coloring… though I doubt you noticed with that hat over your eyes. Which you shouldn’t be rolling at me, by the by.” The way Ivan tensed up told her she had been right on the money.

“So what’s stopping you from taking her out to dinner?”

“Money.”

“I believe I heard applebucking season gave you quite the windfall.”

“Nomadic.”

“Well then stay here. Open a day care or something, Celestia knows you look after the fillies often enough anyway. Might as well get paid for it. You haven’t left yet anyway. What’s stopping you?” If Ivan spoke more then one or two words at a time, Redheart was sure she would’ve gotten several sentences of sarcasm.

As it stood, Ivan was content wiggling his cast a bit, to remind her it was there.

“That’ll be healed up before long. Then what’ll your excuse be?”

“…Done?”

“Just about… there. Well?” she prodded, cutting the thread.

“Thank you. Bye.” Ivan replied in clipped tones, hat firmly in place as he moved to the door. Any protest Nurse Redheart had was drowned out when Ivan opened the door, causing four fillies to tumble into the room. Ivan calmly sidestepped them as they fell, and walked around them out the door.

“Ivan, we’re sorry please don’t be angry…!” Sweetie Belle trailed off as the crusaders gave chase.

Nurse Redheart sighed, put away her tools, and wondered what she was going to tell Cheerilee later if Ivan brought this up. Though he probably wouldn’t.

--

“…hey, Ivan, ya alright?” Applebloom asked after a while. “Ya seem a bit off.”

He was feeling more then a bit off. He didn’t regret leaving the library for a second, but all the moving around he had been doing was starting to take its toll. He felt tired, cold, and a little sick to his stomach.

Was this normal? Would Redheart have told him he’d be feeling this way if he hadn’t left?

Was it alright to sleep? He remembered hearing something about going to sleep with a bad concussion being harmful, even fatal.

“Ivan?”

“Fine.” He said gruffly, trying not to sway.

“…Hey, Ah’ve got something Ah need to do back home. Ah’ll be back real quick.”

“Alright Applebloom. We’ll be hanging out under that tree we picnic’d under that one time.”

“See ya soon!”

“Come on Ivan.” Scootaloo directed, taking the lead. Ivan followed, not in an arguing mood and thinking that relaxing under a tree was just what the metaphorical doctor ordered.

--

Ivan soon found himself settled underneath the tree as the remaining three crusaders bickered about this and that, glad their attention wasn’t on him. He didn’t like what he was feeling now.

It felt like there wasn’t enough blood in his body, and for whatever reason he was starting to shiver, feeling colder then he had ever felt in his life. The nausea was still there, churning his stomach just enough to be uncomfortable and making him thankful that he hadn’t eaten yet today.

How could one little blow to the head cause all this?

“Ivan? Are you alright?” He looked up to see Cheerilee walking towards them, led by a worried Applebloom.

“Don’t know.”

“Poor thing…” she said, sitting herself next to him and pressing up against his side. “I talked to Nurse Redheart on the way here. She says it’s alright for you to sleep. She also apologized, but she wouldn’t say for what.”

“Kay.”

“You’re feeling cold now, yes? My dad went through the same thing once. It should pass soon. I didn’t think to bring a blanket with me, sorry.”

“Fine. Helping.” Or at least she was helping one side of him. The rest of him was still freezing.

“Can you do a warming spell?”

“No.” He managed to get out through his chattering teeth.

“Poor thing.” She said again, nuzzling him. Though Ivan appreciated the gesture, he wondered why she was suddenly so affectionate.

Probably the same reason the crusaders made him all those treats, he thought, and he almost smiled again.

His thoughts were interrupted by Scootaloo climbing onto his back.

“It’s my turn anyway. Feel warmer yet?” Ivan barely had time to nod before he was buried in crusaders. Sweetie Belle joined Scootaloo on Ivan’s back, just barely managing to fit. Dinky and Applebloom pressed themselves up against his other side.

He was still cold. Though it was much more manageable now. With the worst of his problems out of the way, his eyelids started to feel heavy again.

“You think there’s a pony warmer cutie mark?” Dinky asked. “I think we’re pretty good at this.”

“…nah, flanks still blank.” Applebloom answered, sighing.

“Think there’s a cutie mark for snuggling? We’re pretty good at that too. Maybe Ivan got that one.”

“Dinky! Shhh!” Sweetie Belle hissed, looking horrified.

“What? Ivan spent the night at Miss Cheerilee’s when he got sick. She probably knows.”

“I do. But you shouldn’t just throw out a pony’s secrets like that. You’d make Ivan mad if you told just anypony.”

“Sorry Ivan.”

“F-iiine…” Ivan said in the middle of a yawn.

“Sleep Ivan.” Cheerilee said quietly. “I’ll stay until you wake up. You won’t be cold then.”

“Mm…?”

“It’s fine.” He didn’t really want to fall asleep like this. Something about the whole thing made him feel defensive. He didn’t want anypony else to happen on him like this.

…being buried in cuddly ponies though made a very convincing counter-argument, and he found himself starting to indulge without really thinking about it.

He only noticed after he was starting to doze off that he had rested his head over Cheerilee’s neck, and he probably should’ve done something about that.

But it was comfortable, and she probably wouldn’t mind if he kept it there for a few seconds longer…

--

“…Thanks for getting me Applebloom.” Cheerilee whispered after she was sure Ivan was asleep.

“No problem Miss Cheerilee!”

“Ssshhh!” Scootaloo hissed.

“…sorry.”

“So, what did Ivan do this time?” the teacher asked, expecting some form of great epic story where Ivan jumped in front of an angry octorock or something.

Honestly, they were such troublesome beasts…

“He wouldn’t say. Called it an accident.” Sweetie Belle informed her helpfully.

Cheerilee felt sceptical, but decided that she really should’ve expected that. “…did he? So you just found him like this?”

“He was on his way to the clinic. Had red stuff in his mane. He said it was blood.”

“…typical stallion.”

“I kissed it better!” Dinky whispered as if it were a secret.

“I’m sure he appreciated that Dinky.”

“He smiled!” Cheerilee allowed herself a small giggle at the sleeping stallion’s expense. At some point, Cheerilee thought to herself, it looked like the crusaders started taking care of him instead.

“Heeeeeeey!” Shouted a pony from far away. Cheerilee squinted, and saw a purple (or perhaps lavender) blur approaching quickly.

“…Twilight…?”

The unicorn in question slowed to a stop, panting heavily.

“Oh… oh Luna, I thought-“

“Sssshhhh!”

Twilight finally took note of Ivan’s current state and whispered “Sorry Scootaloo.”

“…so how is he?”

“Nine stitches!” Dinky reported, unshakeable grin in place.

“Sorrysorrysorry-“

“What are you saying sorry for Twilight?” Cheerilee asked, eyebrow quirked. “Surely you didn’t have anything to do with this, did you?”

“…maybe…?”

“What did you do to hi-!”

“Ssshh!” Applebloom hissed.

“…Sorry.” Scootaloo muttered, still glaring at the unicorn.

“…Twilight I think you should explain. And everypony should use their inside voice.” Cheerilee said evenly, hoping she calmed every pony on the scene.

“Alright, well… I was on my way to Fluttershy’s cottage when I saw some light in the trees. When I investigated, I saw him doing magic I hadn’t ever seen before.”

“Was it awesome?”

“It sure was Sweetie. It was hard to tell, but I’m pretty sure Ivan was containing an explosion inside a sphere.”

“…wait, what?”

“He made an explosion, and then trapped it in a sphere. And then fueled it while keeping it contained. The sheer force required to keep it contained that long in such a small container…”

“So he lost control?” Cheerilee asked, plainly seeing where this was going. “But you said you were responsible.”

“Well… I might’ve run up to him and started begging him to help me run a gauntlet of experiments. I also might’ve been extremely loud and surprising while I did that. At that point Ivan might’ve had his concentration broken and the released force might’ve blown him backwards head first with enough force to break a boulder in half on impact. Maybe.”

“…Twilight, yo-“

“And then I might’ve panicked a bit and maybe I levitated him back to the library and put him in my bed while waiting for him to regain consciousness, and I might’ve locked the door to my room to make sure he didn’t run away before I could tell him about the week of experimentation on magical applications of intense force and how they could benefit ponykind that I was planning and drafting to Spike.”

“…wait, reall-“

“And then I might’ve crowded him when he woke up and gave him not even a second to breathe while he was suffering from short term memory loss and didn’t explain why I had locked him in a totally unfamiliar room instead of bombarding him with several apologies that he couldn’t possibly understand. Spike also told me that I might’ve sounded, ah… ‘hysterical enough to scare Pinkie Pie’ at the time. Maybe I drank nine mugs of cocoa and went through two bags of marshmallows before I stopped crying and went out to apologise properly.”

“…nine mugs and two bags?” Applebloom deadpanned. “Is that why your hooves won’t stop shakin’?”

“…maybe.”

“I, uh… wow Twilight, I’m sorry, but…”

“Yes, I, um… did some thinking and what I did was probably wrong. Upon retrospect, it was also probably really creepy.”

“Tell me about it.” Scootaloo said.

“But! But think about the possibilities! Just off the top of my head, a pony with that kind of magical force could make diamonds. Diamonds shaped any way he wanted! He could craft diamond armor for Celestia’s castle guard!”

“Holy sun, Rarity’d lock him in her room if he could make diamonds…”

“Sweetie Belle!” Cheerilee scolded, “that’s highly inappropri-“

“Well where else would she put him so he couldn’t get away? Rarity wouldn’t put a diamond machine in the basement. That’d be uncomfortable.”

“…so you didn’t mean…”

“Didn’t mean what?” Sweetie asked, head cocked ever so slightly to the side in sweet confused innocence.

“Nevermind, so Twilight, we’ll tell him you want to talk when he wakes up. I’m sure he’ll hear you out. In the meantime though, he’s been through a lot, so we probably shouldn’t wake him.”

“Oh, heavens no. By all means, let him sleep. Just as long as nopony thinks I’m some kind of insidious perverse kidnapper who wanted to make him some kind of love slave.”

“What’s a-“ Dinky began before she was cut off.

“Yes, nopony thinks that, it’s fine, so you can go back to the library and wait for Ivan to wake up instead of saying questionable things in front of very impressionable fillies.”

“Alright, just as long as that’s clear.” Twilight said uneasily, before getting up and cantering off. “Good day.”

“…how is Ivan still asleep?” Scootaloo asked, looking at the stallion who hadn’t even stirred.

“By the sounds of it, he’s been through a lot today. Ponies who need rest sleep sounder then ones that don’t.” She paused a moment, and ‘hmm’d’ to herself. “Though Ivan himself seems to be quite good at sleeping to begin with.”

“Quick, chec-“

“Applebloom, dear, if Ivan’s cutie mark had to do with sleep, I’m sure he would’ve gotten it by now.”

“Aw…”

--

“…So that’s about everything.” Cheerilee finished, and waited expectantly as Ivan appeared to be considering something deeply.

He had awakened feeling much better (according to him anyway) and had tried to ask the crusaders to get off of him only to be refused in favour of ‘making sure he wouldn’t get cold again’.

Apparently the teacher had explained his sudden chills and they thought it was something nightmarish that had mercilessly gripped him and was forcing him to suffer.

“…so you gonna go?” Dinky asked. “’Cause I wanna get a library card while we’re there.”

“Hm…”

“Oh of course he is, aren’t you?” Said Cheerilee, looking at him in a way that she probably looked at unruly students. “After all, she wanted to apologise properly to you.”

Normally, Ivan would have said no and closed the whole matter right there. But then his friend and the fillies might be disapointed in him.

…also he was feeling incredibly indulgent towards the schoolteacher given that she had served as his pillow for the past hour or so.

So he nodded, deciding that in exchange for his sacrifice, he was going to sit there and put it off for as long as possible.

Take that friendship! Kill his joy, would you?

“And he’ll probably help with those experiments too. Since I know you’re all going to ask to watch, remember to do so politely and do not yell at the top of your lungs for any reason.”

“No.” Ivan said. That was something that wouldn't stand.

“No what?”

“Experiments.”

“Why not? You might not know Twilight, but she’s the student of Princess Celestia herself. Anything she proposed wouldn’t be a waste of time.”

“No.”

“Oh come now. What, was it something she said to you?”

“Lab rat.”

“She did not say that.”

“Dragon did.” The crusaders decided not to say anything, watching the exchange go back and forth with avid interest.

“Who, Spike? He’s a colt himself, and I’m sure Twilight denied that ri-“

“Nope.”

“…she didn’t?”

“Schedule. Week. Unconscious.” Ivan reminded, sensing victory and closing in

“Alright, that probably put you off a lot, I probably would’ve been put off too, but-“

“Locked.”

“…alright so she locked you in a room alone after causing you to suffer a concussion instead of finding you medical attention and started planning a week of experiments without consulting you before you were even conscious again, but that’s… no reason to… um…”

“No.”

“…you’re still going to hear the apology though?”

“Yes.”

“Well that’s…. something.”

“…but Rarity told me stallions weren’t supposed to win arguments with mares.” Sweetie Belle mused to herself.

“Sweetie Belle, not only is that unfair gender discrimination, but nobody won anything.” Cheerilee scolded.

“But everything about that argument went exactly how Ivan wanted, and you backed off in the end. That sounds like a winner to me!” Dinky said.

“This was a discussio-“

“Hey, high hoof Ivan!” Scootaloo said, holding it up for him. Ivan slapped it without missing a beat.

And Cheerilee almost got angry at him for undermining her in front of fillies that she was supposed to be an authority figure for, but as the crusaders laughed and started talking about something else, she noticed Ivan’s brim was lifted to show his eyes.

And the way he smirked at her, and implied that he was joking…

Well after coming to that conclusion, she was too shocked to really consider anything except the long term effects that blow to the head might’ve had on Ivan’s personality.

…and discarding plans to possibly arrange another accident later.

“You’d probably have lots to talk to her about.” Cheerilee said, hoping that this playful Ivan would last. Secretly, she was a little thrilled that he wasn’t making any motion to lower his hat’s brim again.

“Oh?”

“Well, her talent is magic, or so I hear. She studies it passionately. She said you were doing something she had never seen before, and that’s probably what got her so fired up, please believe me when I say she’s got more sense then that normally.”

Ivan said nothing, but she could tell he was mulling it over. She continued.

“I’m not saying that you should jump into those experiments, you already said you wouldn’t-“

“Ivan won.” Scootaloo said again, perhaps for the sake of just saying anything at all.

“-but if you took a bit of time and compared notes with her, it would probably make her happy. It’d be the friendly thing to do.” The crusaders missed it, but Ivan heard the underlying message.

You should make more friends. You’d be happier.

“Consider.” He said noncommittally, but she could tell that was pretty much an agreement.

“I’ll even come with you. You might need somepony to lean on after all.” He blinked, before remembering that he was, in fact, recovering from a head injury.

“Just a precaution.” She assured, even as he nodded.

“Mm.”

“So shall we go?”

“Cutie Mark Cru-“

“Of course, it’ll just be the two of us.” Cheerilee said, effectively cutting off the cheering fillies. Predictably they complained.

“Twilight is going to apologise for something she feels deeply ashamed of.” The teacher replied patiently. “Applejack told me that three of you were in a very similar position not too long ago. And you asked to do it in privacy. Twilight deserves the same courtesy, don’t you think?”

“…you’re a real downer Miss Cheerilee.” Applebloom replied, fidgeting.

--

The crusaders had followed them to the library, but went off to do sun knew what else after that. Cheerilee helpfully knocked on the library door for Ivan, thinking of his leg.

When Twilight reached the door, her eyes locked with Ivan’s (as well as they could, considering his brim came back down as they entered the town), and whatever welcome she was about to offer disintegrated from her mind.

“Oh my Celestia I am so sorry.” Ivan scowled, but said nothing. Cheerilee coughed into her hoof.

“I think he knows by now Twilight. Could we continue this inside?”

“Oh, certainly!” She stepped aside to let them in. “Spike, could you put the kettle on?”

“Sure thing Twilight!” The dragon replied from somewhere unseen.

Not long after, the three ponies were seated at a table, and the librarian seemed to be awkwardly trying to figure out where to start.

“…erm, Twilight, would you rather I not be present for this?”

“Oh no, it’s fine. You already sort of know most of it after all…”

“Ah…”

A pregnant pause followed, before Twilight took a deep breath, looked Ivan dead at where is eyes probably were, and said;

“I’m so-“

Ivan snorted, beginning to get irritated.

“No, really, I’m serious this time. Well I was serious all the other times but you get what I’m trying to-“

“Today.” The stallion almost growled.

“Right, right… When I saw what you were doing, I should’ve known that jumping out at you and surprising you was a stupid thing to do. And I put us both at risk for my foolishness. Then I forced a very uncomfortable situation on you, and attempted to monopolise you without your consent, and didn’t take you to the clinic to receive proper care. I am sorry, and I hope you’ll forgive me and maybe let me make it up to you.”

Ivan, for a moment didn’t say anything, his jaw tight as he considered the mare in front of him. And Twilight sweat for that moment before he relaxed, and slowly nodded.

“And I know I have no right to ask you for anything, but I wanted to talk to you about your magic.”

“…Continue.”

“…well I thought about it, and just sitting out there doing it didn’t really make much sense. Were you practising at all?” Ivan nodded as Twilight’s horn started glowing, and a quill and roll of parchment floated out from somewhere behind her.

“So, how did you create that situation?” the lavender mare asked as she started to take notes.

Ivan paused for a moment, before putting his own horn to use, creating a floating green light above the table.

“Bomb.” He said, presenting it to Twilight.

“I take it you can detonate it at will?”

“Yes.”

“And you just made one of these and threw up a shield around it before setting it off?” Ivan nodded, before making the spell vanish.

“Erm, if you don’t mind my asking…” Cheerilee began, relaxing a bit when the magical explosive ceased to be two feet from her head. “Why were you doing that Ivan?”

“Mm?”

“Well, what you were doing sounds dangerous. I’m just wondering what you got out of doing it.”

“Practice.” Ivan said, “Daily. Morning.”

“Every morning?”

“Most.”

“So what are you practising for?”

“Control.” The stallion supplied, to which Twilight looked confused.

“Control? But there are several other methods to practice magical control. Methods that aren’t dangerous. Why would you pick that?”

Ivan went silent. And he realised too late that remaining silent that long clued both mares in to the fact that they had accidentally stumbled upon something secret.

“…were you never taught?” Twilight asked tentatively, setting down the notes and quill.

“Was. Tried. Can’t.”

“You’re referring to traditional unicorn control exercises?”

“Mm.”

“… and you ‘can’t’? It’s a common thing for a lot of unicorns to be unable to use magic not attributed to their talent, but I’ve never heard of a unicorn that can’t do any of the training methods…” Twilight put a hoof to her chin in thought.

“Power obviously isn’t the issue, you’ve got a lot of that. And if you’ve got the ingenuity to create a magical mine, then you’ve got some talent… huh, hey, Ivan, what is your talent?”

“…why?”

“Well if you’ve got a problem casting simpler magic, I’d like to know why so I can possibly help.” Twilight said, smiling. “I’d also present a method to help anypony else who pops up with the same problems you have.”

“…no solution.”

“Why is that?”

“…confidential.” He said, taking a breath. “Stays here.”

“If it’s something private, then I won’t tell anypony.” Twilight said. “But why would you tell me any secrets? I, um… don’t think you like me very much.”

“Help.”

“But you said there’s no solution.” Ivan shook his head.

“Different help. Repayment.”

“I guess I do owe you one… how could I help then?”

“Learn.”

“From me?”

“Researcher. Knowledgeable?”

“I, um… like to think so.” Ivan gave a small nod, but said nothing else.

“So, um… what did you want to learn?”

“New magic.”

“You can’t learn that anywhere else?”

“Hard.”

“And you know why that is?”

“Special talent.” Ivan stated, and Cheerilee’s eyes snapped to him, knowing that she might be about to learn something important.

Ivan knew what his talent was, but he was still without a cutie mark. And it was plain to see that divulging this information to somepony he didn’t know was something that made him massively uncomfortable.

…was she even privy to this?

“Ivan, do you want me to leave?”

“No. Stay.”

“If you’re sure…”

“Trust.” He said with a touch of conviction, and the teacher wondered for a moment just how deep his respect for her went.

“…so what is your talent?” Twilight asked, setting the conversation back on track.

Ivan hesitated, but answered. “Violence.” And both mares’ eyes widened at the admission as they found themselves unable to respond.

A pin dropping would’ve been easy to hear. So the silence was shattered when a kettle started to whistle.

The dragon from before walked out from another room.

“You want me to get that Twilight?”

“Y-yes please, Spike.”

And after he’d left, Twilight took a breath.

“…I suppose that explains how you blew apart those rocks Rarity told me about. So… I’m sorry Ivan, but I’m not really seeing where the problem is.”

“Overspecialized.”

“Your magic?”

“Yes. Few spells.” Twilight took a moment to think.

“So the problem is that you can only do magic if the spell can harm?” Ivan nodded. “So what do you know how to do presently?”

“Levitation, projection, explosions.”

“Huh. And you just want to learn if there’s anything else you can put past that loophole?”

“Loophole?” Cheerilee asked.

“Well, projection and levitation are versatile spells, but Ivan can still use them just fine. Probably because they have the potential to cause harm. Though, really, I haven’t heard of a unicorn that can’t levitate…”

“That sounds like it would give him a lot of possible spells.”

“Maybe. Since Ivan’s repertoire is so small, we don’t really know how picky his talent is… I’ll have to dig into a few books and make a list of things to try.”

“Thanks.” Ivan replied.

“Oh, don’t mention it. I still get my week of experiments after all, just… they’ll be completely different. You know, I never really did think about potential loopholes to special talents and how magical spells apply to them. I may write an essay…”

“…leave?”

“Oh, yes Ivan, thanks for coming, I’ve got a lot of work to do now though! Spiiiike! I’m making a new schedule!”

“We’ll just see ourselves out then.” Cheerilee said, getting up from the table.

“Thanks for coming. Ivan, if you wouldn’t mind coming in tomorrow at about noon?”

“Sure.”

“Super! See you then!” The door closed behind the two as Twilight came to a realisation.

“I… I have a student.” Her mind was blown. She squealed and clapped her hooves as she considered the long-term ramifications.

Celestia would be so proud!

--

“…So.” Cheerilee started as she and Ivan walked to nowhere in particular.

“Mm?”

“…alright, I’m trying to figure out how to ask you about your special talent without seeming invasive. Since, you know, something’s bothering you and I want to help.” Ivan at the least didn’t seem offended, though he was obviously unsure of what to do with such bluntness.

He didn’t say anything, which Cheerilee took as a go-ahead. It would’ve been easy for him to just say ‘no’ and clam up.

To be honest, she was wondering why he hadn’t. Maybe it was the head injury.

“…so your special talent is… hurting?” For his benefit, she spoke in a hushed tone as they walked. She started leading them to her house, having a private conversation in mind. The stallion was in a talking mood (imagine that), and it looked like she was going to be the one to hear it.

Ivan hesitated, but nodded.

“So… how long did it take you to figure that out?”

“…Colt. Scootaloo’s age.”

“Did something bad happen?”

“Yes.” Normally when he spoke, it was a toneless thing. Communicating only words and not emotions behind them. One or two words to get it over with as quickly as possible.

But Ivan sounded tired, now. Tired, hurt, and in desperate need of a hug. And she would’ve given it to him had they not been walking through a busy street. If he didn’t like showing his face in public, she doubted he’d appreciate public displays of affection.

So she made a mental note to hug him later, and didn’t ask anything more until she had ushered him through her door.

He followed her into her living room. He set down his bags, opening one and lifting a book out of it. She quickly recognized it as a photo album. What was undoubtedly his entire past was sitting on her coffee table, and she half expected the wood to splinter under the weight.

“I-Ivan, you don’t have-“

“Want to.” And she wondered if he had told anyone before this. Then he lifted the cover, and hoofed through the pages slowly, so she could see a happy green colt frolicking under the watchful gaze of a lighter green unicorn mare and a red pegasus stallion.

Then she saw the family grow. A picture of his mother holding a bundle, and a small pink face peeking out of it.

The next turn of the page revealed what was probably Ivan’s sister. A surly little pegasus that always seemed to scowl at the camera.

“Salad Shooter.” Ivan said.

“Her name?” He ‘hmm’d’, and lingered. A picture of him hugging her tightly as she tried to escape. A picture of him giving her a birthday gift. The first picture Cheerilee saw where she was smiling, leaning against her big brother as they both slept on a couch.

‘Sally’ she remembered. It couldn’t be anypony else.

Ivan turned the page.

The next picture showed Salad Shooter with only one wing.

“Oh… oh Ivan, no.”

“School. Bully. Fighting.” She could almost see the scene happening in front of her, with her fillies and colts.

“Tried to help.” She could see a unicorn try to help his friend or relative, using magic he hadn’t been taught to properly use.

“Missed.” She knew that magic was shaped to the unicorn’s will. She knew that Ivan, then, was unpractised, undisciplined, and in a panicked state of mind. If the earlier pictures were any indication, she knew Ivan cherished his sister. And if he was anything then like he was now, he would’ve moved to protect her by any means necessary.

“…young.” He said, voice starting to crack. “Never flew.”

She reached a hoof over, and turned his gaze away from the page. Then she hugged him as tightly as she could.

He didn’t cry like he did when he was sick. He didn’t fall apart under the weight of his crimes and beg some phantom for forgiveness.

His tears were as quiet as he normally was. The occasional sniff and quake of his shoulders, a shuddering breath once in a while, as he slowly bled out his pent up emotion.

He might’ve been skittish of making friends because he was afraid of hurting or scaring them. He might’ve seen himself as some sort of villain once upon a time. One who hammered and shaped himself into a stallion who could face the world despite taking the sky away from somepony he dearly loved.

Worse still, all signs did indeed point to violence as his talent. Even worse still, that meant what he did was something he was born to do.

And every time he wielded his horn to attack, he would think back to that first time and…

You did something terrible Ivan. Something everypony views as unforgivable. Something that can never be taken back, no matter how pure your intentions were.

Even if you’re forgiven, you’ll be guilty for the rest of your life.

She started rubbing his back, nuzzling him, trying to remind him that the pony he was hugging was friendly, that there was somepony here with him who cared.

It isn’t enough, but this is all I can give you. I’ll give you as much as you need.

You’ll get even more as you keep making friends. And with Celestia as my witness you will never swallow your tears again.