A cheery, red maned, white coated colt greeted Dusk and Tombs from behind the front counter when they entered the building. He politely asked them who they were looking for. His calm demeanor disappeared when Dusk told him to point them in the direction of the room Odd was in. The colt hopped from one hoof to the other as he explained that he wasn’t permitted to tell them.

Tombs, who wasn’t in a very good mood after the run, yelled at the foal and told him, in no polite terms, to get the pony in charge.  The colt ran off, happy to get away from the angry librarian. He came back a few moments later with a pale blue earth pony mare in tow. She sat down at one of the writing stations and looked at the two ponies questioningly.

“I’m Nurse Warmth, how may I help you two?” The mare asked Tombs and Dusk.

“I need to know what room Odd is in.” Tombs huffed. Her breathing was still heavy but wasn’t nearly as labored as before, so now she could talk fairly normally. “And I really need to know right now.”

“Miss,” Nurse Warmth said calmly. “I am not able to give out information like that to ponies who aren’t in the patient’s immediate family. I’m sorry. Is there something else I can do for you?”

“Look, you and I both know that me and those feather brains outside are more family to Odd than her own parents. So you’re going to tell me where she is or I’m going to sic everypony that owes her a debt on you.”  Tombs said, slamming her hooves onto the counter. Her volume had increased and her voice was strained. “Now, what room is Odd in?”

Though her face remained impassive, Nurse Warmth’s eyes betrayed her anxiety. It was fairly well known that Odd was a powerful force in the hierarchy of Ponyville. It wasn’t the greatest idea to make those with connections to her mad.

“I can’t tell you.” Nurse Warmth stated. She picked up a folder in her mouth and placed it on the counter. “But I can take a little break and leave this folder here. I have no idea what one would do with the information in this folder. It’s only the list of the patients and what room they’re in.”

Nurse Warmth turned around and, ushering the colt along with her, left the front room. The folder was enveloped in a slight glow. It floated into the air and then in front of Dusk’s face. He quickly flipped through the pages. His face lit up when he found the name he was looking for.

The folder dropped back onto the counter as Dusk took off down the right hallway. Tombs followed closely behind the purple unicorn. Up a flight of stairs and down another hallway; it took them less than two minutes to find the room they were looking for.

Both ponies paused outside the door; they each waited for the other to open it. Tombs relented and turned the handle. A blast of energy came barreling out, pulling the door form Tombs grasp and flinging it open. Odd was sitting up in the bed furthest from the door. None of the other bed had anypony in them.

Dusk stepped into the room with caution. As he got closer to Odd, he noticed that, though her eyes were open, they were vacant. She was comatose, that was for certain; she didn’t react to Dusk or Tombs’ presence. However, the magic in the room did.

The air began to move clockwise around the room, creating a stale breeze. The magic crackled in Dusk’s ears and made them pop. Dusk looked over his shoulder and saw that Tombs was even more on edge than he was. Her mane had poofed out and so had her tail; it gave her a rather strange appearance.

“I’ve seen this before.” Dusk whispered. “But it was only in a colt that never used the abilities he had been gifted with as a unicorn and it was on a much smaller scale than this.”

“Magic?” Tombs questioned. “She hates magic. Odd hasn’t ever used magic in the time I’ve known her. It hasn’t ever seemed to bother her before.”

Dusk flinched at the mention of hating magic. So that’s what Tombs had meant when she’s said it was strange for Odd to be seen “somepony like you.” He shook his head. Whatever Odd thought of magic it shouldn’t, no it wouldn’t, affect how she felt about Dusk. He was going to make that mare his friend weather she liked it or not.

“Odd’s will alone wouldn’t have been able to hold back that much magic. Some other barrier must have been in place.” Dusk explained. “The barrier broke somehow and now the magic is flowing without any direction.

“Somehow we have to either drain all the magic from her or erect another barrier in her mind. Both aren’t very safe ideas.” Dusk took another step forward only to be pushed back by a strong gust of wind. “Whatever we do, it needs to be soon. Her body is under extreme stress and so is her psyche. Magic is as much a physical process as it is a mental one.”

“L'éveil de l'oracle provoquera la chute de la royauté. La lune et le soleil se briser en mille morceaux. Seul le retour du crépuscule apportera l'harmonie.” Odd whispered. She repeated it again, a little louder than before. “L'éveil de l'oracle provoquera la chute de la royauté. La lune et le soleil se briser en mille morceaux. Seul le retour du crépuscule apportera l'harmonie.”

“What in Celestia’s name is she saying?” Dusk asked Tombs. It was getting harder for them to here one another over the increasing roar of the magically created wind. “I’ve never heard a language like that.”

Tombs’ face looked solemn. “It’s the ancient tongue of Cloudsdale. It hasn’t been spoken since the reign of Discord.” She said. “No pony should be able to remember it, let alone speak it.”

“Yet you understand it, don’t you?”

“Well, yes. But, in my defense, I basically live in a library; one tends to learn a lot of things in that type of atmosphere.”

“So what is she saying?”

“I’m not telling you.” Tombs said firmly. “Now do whatever you need to. I want Odd back to her normal self within the hour, so hop to it book-colt.”

Dusk grumbled under his breath but figured Tombs had her reasons for not translating for him. He weighed the pros and cons of each approach in his head. Thinking was hard with the roar off the wind and all of Odd’s babbling. He did manage to come to a conclusion. Both were dangerous for him and Odd, but helping her reconstitute the barriers was a slightly safer option.

A small voice in the back of Dusk’s mind gave him another reason to do what he was about to. “Right now, the only thing Odd is doing is protecting herself; she isn’t able to anything else. I need you to distract her so I can get close.”

Tombs nodded. She pushed by Dusk, moving closer to Odd. The magical wind began to push her back. It was gentle at first but its intensity increased with each step Tombs took. Maybe, if she could get close enough, she could snap Odd out of it.

Dusk crept along the edge of the room, coming around from the opposite side that Tombs was. Now that Odd was distracted it shouldn’t be too hard to sneak up her. Pausing a few feet from the bedside, Dusk muttered the spell under his breath. He needed to make sure he got it right on the first try.

Dusk sprang onto the bed, landing next to Odd. He touched his brightly glowing horn to Odd’s and said the spell under his breath. Odd’s horn began to glow a pale blue in response to the spell. The mauve color of Dusk’s magic mixed with the blue of Odd’s, creating an indigo glow.

“Tombs,” Dusk yelled. “you’re going to want to catch me now.”

Odd’s chanting stopped at the same time that Dusk’s eyes rolled back into his head. Tombs rushed forward and managed to grab Dusk before he hit the ground. The magical wind died down, though Odd still remained nonresponsive.

Tombs dragged Dusk to one of the empty beds and eased him into it. His horn was still glowing but it remained the indigo color. Whatever spell Dusk had used had somehow connected him to Odd. Tombs slumped to the floor and began to pray to Luna and Celestia that both ponies would come out of this endeavor unscathed.