Blood.

I snarled and lunged, teeth snapping at air.

A hoof met my face again, pain flashing through me.

I spun with the blow and bucked back at the infuriating assailant. But once again, she’d flown back before I’d even grazed her.

There was blood dripping down my face, my lip was split, the scratches on the side of my face had been re-opened.

She ran forward, her hooves barely touching the ground as her wings propelled her forward- a leap! She sumersaulted in the air, launching herself at him, hindleg first.

Oh no you don’t! Not again!

A dodge to the side, my teeth snapping out and closing about the attacking leg, her eyes widened but it was already too late, my muscles bunched and I hurled her aside. The pegasus bounced off of the ground and rolled up to her hooves with ease.

She growled and I snarled right back. My brain was on autopilot. She was too fast to think.

I launched myself forward, thundering into a full on charge, and the smaller mare lowered her head tucking her wings close to her body as she launched herself towards me, her hooves pounding against the ground as she met me head on.

I began to turn to shoulder-check the smaller mare but I’d blinked. There was a flash of blue and sudden pain in my jaw. My head snapped upwards, my forehooves left the ground and two bursts of pain bloomed in my chest, canceling my momentum. My breath left me in a gasp, my ribs creaked in protest, anger flooded my veins.

I didn’t think. I snarled and brought my head down like a hammer; it hit flesh, and the mare let out a squeak as she was slammed into the dirt. Stars danced in front of my eyes as I raised a forehoof to slam down at her.

Hooves connected with my barrel, three, five, eight times in rapid succession. She’d rolled over while I’d reared up. A strangled cough was all that was left of my breath before a gust of wind was at my hindlegs and a mass took them out from under me. I slammed to the dirt, immediately scrambling back up as I struggled for breath, my vision only just starting to clear.

She’d flown through my legs, bowling me over and getting behind me!

I launched myself to the side as a blue streak passed through where I’d been a moment before; I rolled to my feet as she swung back around for another pass, forehooves extended.

This time she clipped my shoulder, even as I leapt aside, staggering me. I’d barely gotten my legs beneath me before she struck me again, her hooves bounced off my side. The pegasus ricocheted off and I stumbled back. Blue was coming back at me once again, coming right at my side, I braced my legs but there was a blur, a rainbow over my back, pain bloomed in the other side, making me wince as I staggered once more.

Enough!

I planted my hooves, my eyes wild and teeth bared as the blue bullet slammed into me hooves first again, bouncing off of my tensed hide. She recovered quickly, little more than a streak of blue and rainbows as she swung around again and again from every angle, The side, above, at my legs, at my flanks, at my shoulders– I snarled and snapped at her as she ricocheted off of me, trying to anticipate- to predict- to counter her hit and run tactics, but failing again and again. Even when I thought I had her, she changed direction midflight to avoid my grasping jaws.

Trajectories, patterns, movements, she had a pattern, she had to! No one was– there!

My jaws snapped, catching a blue feather.

Hooves clipped my jaw, scattering droplets of blood across the ground.

Enough!

I tapped into the power I had, feeling an electric shock in the back of my mind at the taxing magic, but I made my will reality, algorithims and formulae became reality and form, will became tangible shape, and anger became real as I cast my spell.

My assailant slammed into the emerald shield that swatted her out of the air, the shield splintering like wood and sending pain lancing into my skull.

She rolled to her feet easily, shaking her head slightly as she assumed a ready stance. I cringed at the pain, my body felt battered and bruised and the base of my skull felt like it was on fire, I’d over-used my magic, I hadn’t fully recovered yet.

I turned to my assailant, snarling even as a drop of blood fell from my face.

Damnit, I was probably beat to hell and Dash practically looked fresh as a spring daisy. Fuck. We were both panting, a slight sheen of sweat on our hides as we stood off, she snarled back at me, “Damnit, why won’t you just fall?!”

“Same reason you won’t fucking sit still!” I shouted back, launching myself forward. I charged at the pegasus once again, my eyes focused on hers. She stood her ground before my thundering hooves, her gaze holding mine even as I approached, both of us waiting for that moment where we were within range of the other–

Her eyes widened and then narrowed, she breathed in, her muscles tensed–

Now-!

I feinted left– she moved to intercept– launched myself to the right– her eyes followed me– my hindlegs touched my forelegs beneath me and I pushed off, forelegs first, straight for her center of gravity, I'd clip her even if she dodged–

She went under my outstretched legs, appearing on my right side, a hoof slammed into my muzzle hard and my hooves hit dirt to brace myself, three more strikes followed in rapid succession, jerking my face from side to side. I staggered back, trying to pull back, but her hooves followed me, rapid fire, head and chest and forelegs.

An uppercut jerked my head up and anger flashed through me. I planted a back hoof and sprung back from the blow like a coiled spring, forehoof extending right into the center of the blue blur in the corner of my eye, connecting solidly and sending her tumbling backwards.

I snarled and wiped the blood from my muzzle as my vision cleared; I glared across the clearing at my ‘sparring partner’. Fucking crazy ass mare! I just got out of the hospital! She scowled back, already on her hooves, rubbing the center of her chest where I’d just struck her, coughing as she regained her breath.

“Bucking little–“

“I’m half again your size! You’re the little–!”

A snarl, a flash of spectrum, and hooves slammed into my chest, sending me stumbling back. A grimace of pain on my face as I reacted without thinking, swinging my anger at the assailant. The base of my skull erupted in fire and a small gasp escaped me as the only semi-tangible hammer swung.

Dash rolled with the blow, the hammer flickering in and out of existence even as it struck her and sent her rolling away. She was fast, almost faster than I could see, but not faster than I could think.

The pegasus stumbled even as she landed on her feet, stunned. This might be my only chance! Despite the roaring pain in my head, I charged, hooves thundering against the ground. Her rose-colored eyes snapped to me, still unfocused, she was already in a ready stance, but it was too late, I was too close and moving too fast. I turned my head aside to shoulder check the smaller mar–

A blue hoof shot out–

The world spun–

Impacts- dirt- was that a potted plant-?

Pain and grass against my back–

Something was already grabbing my left foreleg and I snarled as my eyes refocused. Dash held my hoof to her chest, her lower legs locked around it at the shoulder, pulling it off to the side and locking it down in a classic wrestling move, one I actually knew.

One I knew a simple weakness of, a weakness I’d learned from wrestling with my dad and ‘big brothers’. Be bigger and stronger.

A strangled roar escaped my throat as I heaved with all my might, the muscles and tendons in my shoulder screaming in protest even as I used as much of my body as a counterweight as I could, twisting my hips and pulling, I lifted the entire foreleg well off the ground, Dash and all.

She let out a squeak of surprise, making a vicious grin spread across my face before I slammed the leg and her back to the ground. Her breath left her in a whumph, the mare coughing even as I lifted my leg again, groaning at the strain– the weight was suddenly gone from the leg, making it jerk in surprise, Dash having let go and flown back a good distance, not about to let that happen again.

I rolled back to my hooves as quickly as I could, wincing. Everything hurt. My chest and legs, my shoulder and body. The base of my skull was still on fire, magical exhaustion still screaming at my mind for over doing it, my breaths shaky.

Blood.

A drop fell from my muzzle and I wiped at my face again, crimson smearing my foreleg. Less of it was fresh. The cuts were clotting. Good.

Dash didn’t look so fresh now, scuffed and dirty, her feathers were quite literally ruffled, and there were bits of dirt and grass in her normally beautiful mane. Her sides were quivering with each breath, controlled as it may have been. A vicious grin spread across my muzzle, I might’ve felt like shit, but she didn’t look too good either.

She growled and began to move, her rose colored eyes focused intently on mine. I matched her movements, the two of us slowly circling one another. Around and around we went, eyes locked as we waited for that moment, that hesitation, that signal, that brief instant of weakness–

I messed up first.

My left shoulder gave out, the muscles suddenly turning into jelly for an instant before I forced them to firm up, but it was enough for the pegasus, launching herself at me like a bolt of spectra. I turned to meet her charge, but she spun on her forelegs and bucked straight into my chest, her hindlegs slamming into me with an audible thud.

I couldn’t breathe–

I could still fight–

Her legs were going back beneath her–

I lunged forward, teeth closing about her tail–

She squeaked in surprise–

I heaved.

I spun the blue mare around over my head like a damn lasso before letting go with a grunt, letting her fly. Dash tumbled through the air, her wings flaring to try and control the flight, my nostrils flared, my lungs desperately trying to refill after the blow.

Dash skipped along the ground and I began to gallop after the still hurtling mare.

My chest burned, pain from the blows, pain from the lack of oxygen, but it wouldn’t stop me.

She slammed into a tree, falling unsteadily to her hooves, given a moment, she would’ve gotten into a ready stance.

I didn’t give her that moment.

I shoulder-checked the smaller mare back up against the tree before rearing back and lashing forward with my own hooves at her center of mass.

The first one clipped her shoulder as she lunged to the side, her eyes still glazed from the blows, but her reflexes intact. This was the first advantage I’d gotten in this damn fight and I wasn’t going to let it go. My next strike clipped her face, but her counter struck me hard in the jaw, making my vision blur and the world spin.

I didn’t stop.

We were a tangle of hooves and blows, sweat and blood dripping as we struck again and again, strike and counter-strike. I’d abandoned all pretense of defense as I gasped for air, I wasn’t fast enough, I wasn’t good enough to even try to deflect her lightning fast strikes, but I was bigger, I was stronger, and she had nowhere to go.

I rained blows down on the smaller mare, looming over her, but giving her plenty to target, three of her strikes slammed into me for every one of mine that glanced her as she twisted and turned beneath me, squirming and moving out of the way as I lashed out. Grunts, growls, snarls, strangled battle-cries, we were animals in a fury of melee.

Splinters flew as my hoof slammed into the tree behind her, but when I tried to pull it back it was stuck.

Our eyes widened as what had happened registered–

I snarled and tugged harder–

Dash coiled like a spring–

The hoof was suddenly free, I was stumbling back–

She exploded upwards, both forehooves slamming into my chest as she sent us both flying back–

I landed, my back hitting the dirt hard, knocking whatever wind was left in me out, and she was already on top of me, hooves raining down. I made a sound, one of anger and pain as I lashed back out at her, hooves clipping her as her own rained down. I slammed a hoof into her side and rolled, trying to pin her, to keep those hard blows from raining down, but she fought it.

We were a tangle of limbs, blows and bites, headbutts and grapples, pain and anger, sweat and blood.

I tried to pin her, but a headbutt to the chin gave her enough time to roll us back over– She tried to put me into a headlock, but I reared up and dropped to the ground back first, slamming her into the dirt, her grip loosening enough to roll out of it– I bit her wing, she kicked my hooves out from under me– I’d wrapped my forelegs around her and began to squeeze, but a pair of hooves slammed into the sides of my head hard enough to make me drop her– she bit my horn, tugging it forward, pain lancing into my head, letting out a strangled scream I’d lunged forward and bit her neck, neither of us let go for a moment, she tugged harder and tears formed in my eyes, I reared up and shook her like a rag-doll till she let go, ignoring the blazing pain–

But slowly, bit by bit, exhaustion won over fury. Tired limbs slowed, blows softened as we gasped desperately for breath, pain dulled reflexes and blurred vision…

My foreleg was draped around her neck in a tired attempt to put her into a headlock, the other foreleg trapped between both of hers as she tugged uselessly at it in an attempt to break the hold. We were panting, exhausted, my eyes were closed as I leaned against her for support, her head swinging to bump against mine again and again, a weak headbutt, but even that slowed to a stop, the side of her face leaned up against mine.

We stayed like that for Celestia knows how long, laying on our stomachs and our sides pressed up against each other, leaning our heads together for support, our breaths intermingling as the tension slowly melted from our bodies.

The sweat made my skin feel cold, but the blue mare was warm against me. I still couldn’t catch my breath, breathing through my mouth and nose, scents assaulting my nose.

So many sensations, the scent of grass and dirt, musk, sweat, copper and Dash herself. Her fur against mine, the dirt and grass beneath me, the breeze against my skin, her tail draped across my own shorter one, the feathers of her wing against my back.

There was a dampness against her face, sweat and dried blood, I wasn’t sure who’s… probably mine. Her breath was hot against the side of my muzzle as one of us, I’m not sure who, started to nuzzle the other, gently rubbing our cheeks together.

A swallow, and a voice croaked out, “You suck.”

I didn’t know who’d said it, but it didn’t matter, it opened the floodgates. It started as a snicker, then a giggle, then a chuckle until it finally grew into full blown laugher, our sides heaving as we laughed against one another, neither letting go as we leaned together.

“Let’s…” the laughter faded into chuckles and giggles, nuzzling my face against her own, “Let’s not do that again…”

“What?” she panted, still laughing, “Afraid… I’ll kick your ass?”

“Afraid?” I laughed, “Certain.”

She giggled, pressing her head against my neck, “Yeah, says the stallion seven weight classes above me!”

“Oh yeah,” my head lay on top of hers, rolling my eyes with a small chuckle, “Says the mare who’s got three black belts versus me who’s entirely self-taught.” Dash leaned against my neck and blew a raspberry, showing just how much she appreciated that one, making me chuckle harder.

“Yeah, and you just didn’t go down! Buck, how’d you do that anyways?” she bumped her head against the bottom of mine admonishingly, “I hit you and it wasn’t like it did bucking anything.”

I laughed, “You’re kidding right? I think I’ve got to go back to the hospital honestly…” I trailed off with a grumble.

“Then how the buck’d you keep standing ya horse apple?” she thumped my chest with a hoof, the smile evident in her tone even if I couldn’t see her face with it tucked against my neck.

“Adrenaline?” I shrugged, realizing I was holding her close, “I just… refused to fall. Fought through the pain… best way I can put it…”

I felt her shake her head against my neck, “That’s ridiculous…” she trailed off, squeezing my leg to her chest, “I… hey…?”

“Yeah?” I tried to look down at her, but she buried her face further against my neck.

Dash hesitated very noticeably, “Your… your name’s Emeris right?”

“Yeah… why?”

“I… you’re… you’re not mad about this?”

I shook my head, giving her my best confused look in spite of the frustration I felt, “Not really, irritated and confused sure but… not angry…” I hadn’t wanted to really hurt her, just... I didn’t... I wasn’t Gary god damnit...

She was quiet for a long moment before burying her face against my neck, murmuring, “Y’know, Emeris… you’re pretty cool… y’know… for a stallion.” There was a subtext there that I could’ve read from a mile away, my cheeks warmed.

“Thanks...” I gently rubbed my chin against her mane, a small smile crossed my face, “So… I guess that means I pass?”

*Whump!* “Ow…”

“Well, it doesn’t look like anything has been broken again, but your left shoulder is torn up and most of your body is bruised, not to mention the cuts... what in Equestria happened to you two?”

“Fell out of a tree.”

The doctor gave me an entirely disbelieving look at that.

“Onto a manticore.”

“...” still no belief on his face.

“What? I live in the Everfree, how is this surprising?”

The doctor opened his mouth, then after a moments thought, closed it, scowling slightly at me, obviously not really believing me, “Then why are you both injured?”

I shrugged “She dove in to save me thankfully, because the thing totally caught me by surprise.” Glancing down at my injured leg I shrugged, “Kinda embarrassing really, one manticore shouldn’t have gotten us this bad, but it did.”

He kept scowling at me, even as the nurse moved from applying gauze and bandages to Rainbow’s injuries to applying them to the few remaining ones on myself, “And why, pray tell, were you in the tree in the first place?”

Well, at that I just had to give him my absolute best shit-eating grin, “That one, I’m not telling.” Across the room, Dash snickered into her hoof even as the doctor scowled at me harder.

“I don’t like treating patients that are going to go out and hurt themselves again.”

My grin melted into a gentler smile, “I understand, don’t worry, once is more than enough for me. I’m not gonna even give this a chance to happen while I’m still injured.” I mean, seriously, it'd been less than an hour since the fight, a day since I'd gotten out of the hospital in the first place, and barely a week since I'd been originally injured so badly... I was freaking done for a while.

His eyes narrowed, “And why did it happen this time?”

“Kinda got talked into it,” I rubbed my uninjured leg in embarassment, that wasn’t exactly what happened, but it was pretty close. I was usually above getting goaded into a fight, let alone one as bad as that, but Dash’d hit an emotional hot button there and I hadn’t been paying attention enough to catch it. I did not appreciate the insinuation that only Gary had worth and that I did not.

Yeah, that’d kinda riled me up.

This time his admonishing glare swung to Rainbow, who shifted uncomfortably under it. Well, that wasn’t fair. “Won’t happen again doc, promise. Once you clear me here, I’m going straight home to get some bedrest. I’m only going to go out to get supplies, no more tree climbing for a while.”

He rolled his eyes, “What is it with you and trees? First the timber wolves and now you fall out of a tree onto a manticore?”

I thought about it, and a wicked thought danced through my head. I glanced back and forth before leaning in, cupping a hoof to the side of my muzzle. Both Dash and the nurse noticed and leaned in, their ears swiveling to better hear as I spoke in a stage whisper, “Well, see, it’s an evil tree conspiracy. Every tree in the forest is totally out to get me. They sent the timber wolves after me as a first strike, the dropping me onto the manticore was a strategic follow up strike–”

With a subdued groan, the doctor face-hooved making Dash guffaw and myself chuckle, “Well you asked.”

Sighing to himself, the doctor shook his head, “Two weeks bedrest for you, if you’re not careful you could cause one of those ribs to crack again,” I winced at the thought. “And you,” he jabbed a hoof at Dash, causing her mouth to snap shut with a snap, “A weeks bedrest for you, no hard flying. You’ve got some deep tissue bruising throughout most of your back and flying will only make it worse.”

Man, it was like you kicked a puppy, poor girl... um... mare. Still not used to thinking like that.

The doctor turned back to me, “And I’d better not see you in here again–”

“For at least two weeks?” I interjected.

“For at least two wee-...” he trailed off before giving me a small glare, earning a great shit-eating grin from me. “Nurse?” A very sudden tightening of my bandages made me squeak, setting Dash snickering all over again, “Now, can you please at least try to not get hurt again?”

I shifted uncomfortably, that had hurt, owwww, “That’s what I usually try to do, it’s just been a crazy month.”

“Doesn’t seem like it,” the nurse muttered.

“Heyyyyyy...” I grumbled, “Two times in as many weeks isn’t that bad.” The medical staff gave me a rather deadpan look, “I’m not even in the emergency room this time!”

The two medical professionals shared a look.

*cinch* “Ow!”

Once I stepped out of the hospital doors I was greeted by a waiting Dash, the blue pegasus tapping a hoof impatiently, “Took you long enough.”

I shook my head, an amused smile on my face, “I don’t sign anything I don’t read first.” It was true, it always frustrated people, but it’d saved me a lot of frustration over the years. Most recently, it’d saved me from Twilights attempts 3 and 6 to get us married.

“Well it took forever,” she rolled her rose colored eyes.

“You didn’t have to wait for me...”

She smirked, “What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t?” Her hoof thumped into my shoulder, making me wince.

Rubbing the shoulder, it took a moment to come up with a good response to that, especially past the almost hesitant warmth in my chest, muttering, “Didn’t have to waste your time waiting though...”

She shrugged, and I realized that there were still sticks and leaves stuck in her mane... and probably mine as well, “I don’t really have much to do. Can’t fly for a week,” Dash experimentally flexed one of her wings out, wincing as she did, “Doc wasn’t kidding, my flight muscles are pretty beat up. Trying to fly right now would be pretty stupid...” she sighed, “So we need to find something to do... any ideas?”

I raised an eyebrow at the pegasus, feeling my mouth quirk up, “Okay, don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy your company... but... ‘we’?”

Dash snorted, “Yeah, we, we’re both beat to Tartarus and on bedrest,” she jabbed a hoof into my chest, “We’re in this together.”

An affectionate smile spread across my face, I wasn’t about to complain about spending time with an attractive female, “Well, let’s start with ‘Not that Obstacle Course’ again and go from there?” In spite of herself, Dash snickered even as she stuck her tongue out at me, making me laugh as a pleasant warmth suffused my chest, “Heh... mmmm... more seriously, I’ve got some books on magical theory at my house... but I’d rather not read them.” I trailed off, thinking aloud.

The blue mare seemed to start at that, shifting uncomfortably, “Y-Yeah, books! Who’d read those?” My attention snapped back to her and she fidgeted under my gaze even as I raised an eyebrow at her in confusion, “What?!”

“I love books,” it was a simple statement that made her stop, “I distinctly remember telling you that I was a nerd...” I shrugged, “I just don’t want to read the books I’ve got at my house ‘cause I’ve been studying that subject for the past two years. Just... enough is enough y’know?”

Dash blinked those beautiful eyes of hers, before giving me an incredulous look, “But... you sure as buck acted like an athlete when you ran my course...”

“So?” now I was the one with an incredulous look on my face, “Being an athlete and a nerd aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive states.”

She blinked and said uncertainly, “Gesundheit?”

Groaning, I facehoofed, “Being an egghead doesn’t mean you can’t like exercising. Opposite’s true too.”

Ever so slowly, her face lit up as a grin spread across her face and a little part of my heart sung happily at being able to make her smile like that, even if I didn’t know why. Dash let out a little excited squeal, prancing in place in spite of her bandages and she was so cute that I had to cover my mouth to keep from chuckling.“Okay okay, what’d be a good book? The Daring Do series is filled with awesome and action and adventure! Or maybe the Silverwing series?! Ooh ooh! What about the Dragonblood series?! It’s got this totally awesome mare who’s got the blood of a dragon- and... and... um... what?” she trailed off, looking at me funny as I tried to stifle my snickers.

I waved it off, barely keeping myself from chuckling, “Nothing, it’s nothing,” Blatant lie, she was just too cute, “Any of the above really, I haven’t had a chance to read fiction since I got here.”

“Really? So what have you been reading?”

A shrug at that, “Technical manuals on magic mostly.” It wasn’t like it bothered me, I found the things fascinating, it just bore repeating: TWO YEARS STRAIGHT. I’m done for now. Thank you very much.

“Ugh! Lame!” she suddenly wrapped a cyan leg around my withers, “Alright then, we’ll fix that right up! Twilight’s got all of those series in that library of hers so we can start on whatever one we want. Ooh! She might even have the new Silverwing already!”

I coughed uncomfortably as she started to pull me along, my mind suddenly scrambling at the mention of Twilight, a cold ball of panic begining to settle in my stomach.

“What?”

“Well... ah... um...” I shifted uneasily, looking away from her and trying to figure out how to explain my problem with this plan.

“C’mon, you can tell me.”

“Well... my last encounter with Twilight wasn’t... ah...” what was the tactful way to put this? “Um... it... she wasn’t very happy to see me... let’s put it that way...”

Dash blinked, then slowly, her eyes narrowed, her voice suspicious, “What do you mean?”

“Um... she... kinda...” those rose colored eyes of hers narrowed further, making me shift uncomfortably, “Ah... kinda zapped me to get me out of the library...?”

The blue pegasus looked flabbergasted, “What-?! Why?! I... just... ugh!” her wings flexed, readying for take off, but a wince told the story of the pain and her inability to do so, “Ugh! Horse apples! Why would Twilight do that?!” Dash stomped a forehoof, her wings slowly folding back at her sides.

I opened my mouth, trying to come up with some excuse for the lavender unicorn, but a better idea came to mind, I closed my mouth and pointedly looked around us, at the bubble of emptiness in the otherwise decently crowded street. It took her a moment, but Dash looked around as well, noticing the isolation, I waited until the realization entered her eyes before muttering more dejectedly than I’d intended, “I’m not exactly the most well liked citizen of Ponyville...”

A look passed over her face that made my heart fall, sadness, hurt, an attempt to understand, then her eyes hardened and she seemed to nod to herself, “Then we’re just gonna have to fix that. Come on.”

I blinked, “Um... what?”

She scowled as if it were obvious, “Come on, we’re going to talk to Twilight.”

Shuffling my hooves nervously, I ventured, “It’s not a pressing matter... we don’t need to do it now...”

Those rose eyes narrowed again, something they were doing rather often it seems, and Dash gently jabbed a hoof to my sore chest, “Did she zap you?”

“Well... yes... but...”

“Did you deserve it?”

“Probably, I mean–”

Dash rolled her eyes and reiterated, “Did. You. Deserve it?”

Her eyes bore into mine, making me flush and look away, unable to meet her gaze and trying to find my voice. I wanted to defend Twilight’s actions but... I couldn’t lie to those eyes, to her, I couldn’t find it in me to do so. It was all the answer she needed.

With an affirmative nod, Rainbow Dash turned around, “Come on, we’re going to talk to Twilight.”

“Dash-! I don’t...”

The cyan mare let out a growl and spun back around bit my ear, giving it a harsh tug. I squeaked, my feet automatically moving as she pulled me along as she growled out around my ear, “‘E’re ‘oing ‘o ‘ee ‘iligh!” I didn’t need to be a dentist to translate that one.

“Nng!” it wasn’t all that painful, but it was unpleasant as hell, “Okay okay okay! I’m going! I’m going!”

Her teeth released my ear and I stumbled forward, giving my head a shake. I opened my mouth to complain when I was rather forcefully shoved forward, yelping as I stumbled and Dash behind me, barking like a bloody drill sergant, “Keep moving, keep moving.” Another shove before she just started pushing, her head pressing against my flank as she walked, forcing me to stumble forward even faster, “Come on, keep movin’.”

Damnit mare! You are having way too much fun with this!

“You had way too much fun with that,” I grumbled in front of the library.

Dash just beamed at me, so I blew a raspberry, but it only made her snicker, “Oh come on, it got you here didn’t it?”

Her logic, it was infallible. Either that or her grin was just overwhelmingly cute and honest in its existence.

I’ll lean towards the latter thank you very much.

Face-hoofing, I grumbled, “Just... can you at least be the one to knock? … please?” that last word came out far smaller and pleadingly than I’d intended; trepidation had crushed my confidence, and my insides were more of a quivering mess than usual when talking to others. Twilight scared me more than I’d thought, this would require further analysis.

A look came over Dash’s face that I could only call concern, “Hey, don’t worry big guy, I’ll handle it, promise.”

I tried to come up with an appropriate expression, but... nothing came to me... so as she led the way those last few terrifying feet to the libraries door, all I could manage was a soft, “Thanks... sorry for being a hassle like this...”

“Pffft,” she waved the apology off with a hoof, “It’s no prob, haven’t gotten to talk with Twi much anyways so it’s a good excuse.” With every bit of that boundless confidence she had been infamous for in my home dimension, Dash strode right up to the door and knocked on it with a hoof.

There was a lump in my throat that I desperately tried to swallow down while we waited, though thankfully we didn’t have to wait long. It was only a few moments later that a purple mare opened the door, calling over her shoulder, “And make sure the books are all sorted before you go over to Rarity’s! What can I– Dash?!” her eyes went wide as they saw her friend, bandaged up with more than a few bits of surgical tape and bandaids, “What happened to you–?! I– What happened–?!” her eyes found me.

I swallowed. Hard. There was a certain amount of surprise in her eyes... but it was overshadowed by a righteous fury, something I couldn’t mistake for anything else. Thank Celestia Dash was there, her hoof jabbing out between the two of us, “Hey! Hey! It’s okay, I know what this probably looks like, but the big guy here didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Dash, you’re hurt!”

“Duh, we had a fight,” her hoof shot out to stifle whatever Twilight was going to say, “I started the fight Twi, not him.” From the look in Twilight’s eyes, that didn’t matter. Dash went on to explain that I wasn’t a bad pony and actually decently awesome for an egghead and so forth... but neither Twilight nor myself were really listening. Her eyes were locked with mine, and there was a simmering, calculating anger there.

“–so dragged the big guy over here to grab the Daring Do series or maybe the Silverwing series! It’s totally lame that he hasn’t read them yet, especially since he’s supposed to be an egghead and everything.”

Then it was like someone had flipped a swtich, Twilight’s demeanor changed, “Are you sure you’re okay Dash?”

“What-? Oh, pfffft, yeah, totally. He hits pretty hard, but AJ hits harder. I’ve had worse.”

“Well, um... I actually have something I need you to do...”

The blue pegasus blinked, “Um... sure?”

“Well, you see, Princess Celestia wants me to test Gary right away to see how breaking the curse affected his skills, but I scheduled to help Applejack today and it’d be really nice if you could do that for me.”

“Um, well, okay, but–”

“Please Dash?” Twilight pleaded, her eyes shining, “Celestia wants that report right away and I don’t want to let Applejack down,” the lavender unicorn placed a hoof on Dash’s shoulder, “Can you help me out here?”

That was vicious. My respect for Twilight rose another notch.

“I...” Dash glanced back at me, obviously torn, “Twi... look...”

“Please Dash? I don’t want to let either the Princess or Applejack down...” Twilight was doing her best sad-puppy-eyes impression. It was a very good impression. “You know what that’s like, right?”

This time Dash just looked straight at me, holding my gaze, “You okay with this big guy?”

I thought about that one for a moment, my eyes trailing off of hers. I doubted Twilight would lie about Celestia’s orders, and she had helped save my life after that fight with the Timber Wolves, I remembered that much. And she’d looked ready to blast me when she’d thought I’d attacked Rainbow Dash, but once Dash had disabused her of that notion, she’d just looked angry. That and after a moments thought, I was certain I could manage a ~50 yard blink at a moments notice. It’d cost me a nights sleep due to a serious migrane, but if I had to, I could.

I didn’t know Twilight’s specific game, but I was willing to let it play out, I smiled as best I could at Dash, “I’ll be fine Dash.” I hope.

“You sure?” her eyes bore into mine, “I can stay around until you’re done testing if you want...”

There was a small flush of happiness at her concern, but I was going to play along, at least for now. I waved her off with a hoof, as much of a smile on my face as I could manage, “It’s no prob Dash, we’ll read later, promise.”

She didn’t believe me, not really. But torn between her loyalties, she went with the one we were suggesting, “Alright, if you’re sure...” she walked past me, stopping to give me a look I couldn’t interpret, her mouth opening for just a moment before her facial expression changed and she kept walking.

My eyes swung back to Twilight to find her purple orbs simmering once more. Thankfully, her horn wasn’t-, oh, wait, there it went.

I coughed uncomfortably, “Um, so... testing–”

“Get in here.”

“Yes ma’am,” I squeaked.

“And here’s your allowance, have fun with Rarity!” and Spike was gone like a bolt of purple lightning, Twilight smiling as she waved at the already long gone dragon. Poor little guy, got played like a fiddle. The unicorn turned, her gaze rather quickly returning to that simmering anger, making me shift uncomfortably in my bandages.

Twilight walked right up to me, her eyes boring into mine, her horn glimmering. I reflexively readied the blink spell, the back of my mind burning. And then there was paper.

I blinked, my brain processing what was in front of me.

Paper, with writing on it, lots of paper, and a quill... and an ink bottle.

“First part of the tests, general knowledge and basic magical theory.”

“Oh... okay!” she looked surprised at my chipper tone, but my worries had melted away considerably. I wasn’t entirely sure why she was angry with me, but I had my suspicions, and I’d make it up to her step by step. Written tests though? No problem. I was always good at them, and even if I didn’t know the material, it wasn’t about to stress me out. This was miles better than what I’d been anticipating.

Releasing the teleport spell I’d been readying I took the paper, quill, and ink from Twilight, ignoring the pain at the base of my skull before setting the paper down and taking the quill in my mouth. Never used mouth-writing before, but there was a first for everything, and it’d be better than straining my already taxed reserves.

A glance up found Twilight giving me a funny look, I did my best to ask what the problem was and she just shook her head, a look that seemed to be mostly confusion on her face, “You are a strange pony.”

I gave her my absolute best ‘aduh’ look before returning to the paper in front of me.

The derivative of... whoo boy, don’t think I’d gotten that far into Calc...

Okay, so that lets me take the Ln of e, which cancels that out... leaving me with x^4 * 3x^2 + c = y as my equation for the instantaneous change in velocity... so plug and chug and I get... urgh, triple digits to the fourth suck, um...

I scribbled some more on the page, that’d be four decimal places in the final answer, so this would be 13.7^4 * 3(13.7)^2 + c = y, which... was... 35227.5631 * 563.07 + c = y... m’kay... right... wish I had a calculator...

Scribbling out the most legible answer I could, I finished the test with a bit of a flourish. Was I weird as hell for enjoying written tests? Yes, very. But I did, and I felt good about it. I’d bombed the hell out of the history and literature portions for obvious reasons, and from the way the questions were worded, my limited knowledge of psychology, sociology and the local religions were mostly invalid. I’d also be happy if I’d gotten most of the physics and calculus questions right, though at least I’d kept up on those over the past two years with my experiments and data.

Unfortunately, most of my time over the past two years had been spent trying to break the curse, nothing more or less. I’d studied magic heavily, even the very forbidden texts with Celestia’s permission, so I’d probably aced the magical theory portion of the test, but I’d earned that one. There were bits and pieces that I was unsure of, but I wasn’t going to worry about them.

Just hoped that the surprising number of ‘short answer’ questions were legible.

I set the stack of papers onto the desk in front of Twilight, considerably more relaxed than I’d been earlier. I was still nervous and uneasy around the mare, but the... general atmosphere of the library calmed me down considerably. Books, pages, wood, the gentle creak of boards when I shifted my weight... it was soothing to me.

And despite my conscious reaction to her, my body and subconscious still trusted and liked the purple mare, and found her scent and presence relatively calming despite the tension in the air whenever she was looking over my shoulder.

While she scowled at the tests in front of her, I sat down. She had said it was just the first part. My chest squeezed uncomfortably as the tension and fear tried to creep back up on me, but I breathed slowly and deeply, zoning out slightly and focusing on the sensory input I was getting to avoid panicking.

The library was practically saturated with free magical energy, between Twilight and Spike, it wasn’t much of a surprise. Even though it’d only been about... a glance at the sun... about two hours since I’d started, I could already feel the soothing warmth at the base of my skull that I’d come to recognize as my magical reserves. Nowhere near full, but I wouldn’t be straining to cast simple spells anymore.

I was glaring at the ugly mess of scarring just above my right forehoof when a soft clink drew my attention back to Twilight as she set aside her quill and pushed my test aside. The lavender mare looked... unhappy? Confused? I wasn’t really sure. But she didn’t look murderous or mindlessly lustful, so I’d call it a plus.

The unicorn mare scowled at me as she stepped out from behind her desk, “Alright, I want to see your best Alteration spell.”

“Right to the practicals... joys,” I muttered under my breath. Only reason it was a problem was the small amount of power I had left, “Um... I turned my cat pink?”

“...” she gave me a deadpan look.

Coughing awkwardly, I rubbed my uninjured foreleg with the bandaged one, “Well, ah... look... I’m really running on empty here after that match with Dash so I’d rather avoid using up magic that I don’t really have... if... if that’s alright with you...”

For a moment, it looked like she would give it to me... but then her gaze hardened several times over, if anything, she looked angrier than before. I was grateful her horn didn’t light up given how hard an edge her voice had taken on, “No. The rules are plain. I need you to demonstrate your best alteration spell.”

I swallowed and looked for an appropriate target. The spell wasn’t inherently complicated, it involved an alteration of the wavelength absorbtion and radiation of a selected material by a set formula, pink was actually an easy slection due to the human (and apparently pony) eye registering all of the ‘colors’ outside of the normal visible spectrum minus green to be pink, the problem came from selecting a chemically uniform structure such as the hair on an animal and choosing a color.

See? Not complicated, just tedious.

Books would be bad... ink would be bad... wood... really bad and not even possible with the formula I had... glass! I walked over to the nearest window, staring up at it. Accounting for the refractive and general lack of opaqueness of glass meant adjusting the formula a bit, but it was easier and less energy intensive than trying to build a bounding box and just change an object.

I focused, taking the smallest dollop of my power that I could manage, something I’d gotten an enormous amount of practice when I had the ridiculous power of a GSE affected alicorn, and then fed it through the algorithm I held in my mind, focused through my horn, and gently applied to the glass. Slowly, a pink tint spread across the material until the entire window was encompassed. And then I was done, a small bead of sweat working its way down the side of my muzzle.

“That’s really the best you can do?” I couldn’t blame her for sounding incredulous.

A gentle shake of my head, “I could do more things...” I shook my head, my mouth was still in Applejack/Rainbow Dash mode, “Sorry, cover more surface area if I weren’t running on empty... but that’s the most complicated Alteration spell I know...”

She scowled, her beautiful eyes narrowing at me, and while her gaze made me uncomfortable, I was telling the truth. Eventually, she snorted and pulled up a clipboard and a quill with her magic, making a note on the page,, “What is your best Medicinal spell?”

“Um... I don’t know any...”

“... what.”

Flushing in embarrasment, I rubbed my uninjured foreleg again, stumbling over my words at the disbelief and intense scrutiny, “I didn’t lose a lot- um... I was never all that good at it, but... well... whatever skill I had was... I lost it when I stopped... when you helped break that curse...” her eyes narrowed and I stopped, swallowing hard despite my suddenly dry mouth and forcing my brain to think about what it needed to say before my lips worked, “Whatever knowledge I had of Medicinal magic went away with my wings.”

Twilight scowled, and there was a sudden rush of fear in me when her horn glowed, but all she had done was bring some pieces of paper over, “Do you know the reweaving spell?”

“Nnnnnno... sounds familiar though...”

“Ugh, watch,” she brought up a piece of paper and with a quick flick of magical power, tore it in half, realizing what she was about to do, I opened my magical senses as much as I could to ‘watch’ as she performed the reweaving spell, but it was over quickly, the paper whole and as good as new, “There. Your turn.”

“Um...”

“Ugh, what?” she snapped.

“I ah...” this time I really flushed, embarassed as hell at not being competent even as a part of me relaxed ever so slightly, I wasn’t perfect,”I didn’t catch that the first time...”

She scowled again before performing the spell once more, “Better?”

Well, no, but I didn’t really want to dig myself any deeper if I could help it. Focusing, I picked up one of the pieces of paper with my telekinesis, tearing it simply and focusing on the torn edges. The spell seemed to work by a repetitive bounding and telekinetic attraction algorithim, focused on the edes of the material, taking attached portions of it and interweaving them through a basic sine wave... at least... if I was reading the little wobbles of magic correctly. As an alicorn, it’d been so... easy to just know right away what the magical formula was, but now... ugh, it’d gotten a lot harder.

This was a good thing. Just... embarrassing. I was used to learning things really quickly, even as a human.

I was wrong by the way.

I knew it the moment the spell started and realized that it was cosine rather than sine, but I’d already cast the spell and the torn page was turned into tatters as the spell kept trying to reweave the paper but rubbing the edges together until the tore apart.

Stupid stupid stupid. Not the sine/cosine mistake, that was an honest one, forgetting to include a cancelation key into the spell though had been stupid, I should’ve been able to stop that.

Twilight was unimpressed as scraps of paper fluttered to the ground. Didn’t blame her.

“Yeah... I’m gonna try that one again...” Grab paper, rip it, cast spell... and thankfully, I was right this time. The reweaving algorithim needed to use cosine instead of sine at that speed... though unlike Twilight’s usage of the spell, there was an obvious discoloration where I’d wove the pages back together.

With a snort, the lavender unicorn made a note on the paper she had, “Alright, lets move on.”

Telekinesis? I was pretty decent, just running low on power. Converting from Newtons to Horsepower to give her an idea what my upper limit was had been a bit weird though. It was at that point that I’d remembered that I’d already sent the Princess a letter telling her that I hadn’t been that affected... but it’d been through Twilight, who might not have sent it, and it hadn’t been very detailed anyways.

Charms? I hadn’t even wanted to touch that one, but she’d insisted, and despite the spell she’d taught me literally bouncing off of her considerable magic resistance, she declared it passable.

Clairvoyance always made me feel like a pervert, but when I realized that analysis magic fell under its purview as well, I was able to show off a bit with my chemical analysis spell, something that was third circle magic by simple virtue of its complexity.

I’d bombed evocation test, and not in the good way. Converting willpower and magic into pure energy or instantaneous effects was not my forte, I could understand the process, but my brain just didn’t work that way.

Illusions? Eh... no. I didn’t do well, lets leave it at that. That thing had been flickering, transluscent, but oh Celestia had it been fugly. Let us never speak of it again.

Of Reality Warping, I was only willing to perform a single spell. A blink several feet to the right. It’d severely taxed my remaining magical reserves, but eh. Pain is weakness leaving the body... or at least that’s what I kept telling myself as the base of my skull burned unpleasantly.

Then came Counter-Magic... that had been... weird. The test involved trying to unlock what amounted to five puzzle spells as quickly as possible. It’d been more difficult that I’d thought since they weren’t, y’know, actual spells with an effect I could unravel, but Twilight had seemed impressed, angry about it, but impressed.

Reality Calcification though... well... I’d retained every bit of skill I’d gained while an alicorn. The standard tests just hadn’t applied to me. A cycling reality distortion? Nope. Spacial anomalies? Also nope. Alteration of fundamental properties of matter and physics? Nope. Twilight had actually let out a frustrated snarl and slammed her power into my own to try and beat my support of reality, but despite it feeling like a firecracker going off inside my skull, I kept reality locked down.

That’s where we are now, Twilight scribbling away angrily against the clipboard while I rubbed the side of my head with my foreleg, trying to massage away the oncoming headache.

Ow, by the way.

Thankfully, there was only one more school of magic, Boons, so hopefully I’d be able to bow out after that–

“Alright, that’s the last school of magic,” wait, what? “So that leaves one more viable test, the Mana Application test.”

I blinked, my confusion certainly showing, “Um... the what?”

“Ugh,” she rolled her eyes, speaking like one would to a child. Despite what some small part of me might say, I wasn’t all that offended, “The Mana Application test, it determines the maximum mana output you are capable of.”

“Oh,” a test of raw power, “Um... this might not be a good time–”

“I know, I don’t have the appropriate machine here for a perfect test, but I can measure my own precisely enough to get a reading.”

“Um.. not that but–” I’m exhausted woma-... mare!

Twilight snarled, jabbing a hoof at me, “Oh no, no backing out of it, you’re finishing these tests!”

“No! It’s not that, but–”

“But nothing,” she strode right up to me, her muzzle almost touching mine, “Magic up.”

“But–” my eyes went wide.

The lavender mare growled, leaning forward just the slightest bit more, her nose bumping against mine as she snarled out, “Magic. Up.”

I swallowed. Oh Celestia this wasn’t going to end well.

My eyes closed and I tilted my head down in concentration, dipping into my magic once more, maybe if I–

“And if you don’t do your best just so you can weasel out of this, I’ll know.”

FFFFFffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuu-... this is not going to end well.

I took a slow breath, diving deep into my power, calling it to the fore. It came to my call, pouring forth... but it wasn’t all I had and I knew it, I reached deeper, into the lake of fire that was my bodies initial reaction to exhausting itself, and I pulled that lake of fire with me. My horn lit up brightly enough that I could see the light through my closed eyes, hearing the sparks dance along the magical focus.

And then Twilight’s horn touched mine.

I was a boat in a storm, an unweildy raft in the middle of a hurricane of power. The firmament beneath me rocking and distorting as the typhoon called Twilight just made her presence known. In the real world, my body flinched and cringed away from the power, but she followed after me as I drew in a shuddering breath.

I tightened down my power, a tight little skiff that bobbed and weaved in the torrent of energy. My first reaction was to pull away, to dive into the firmament as a metaphorical submarine and just get away from this. I couldn’t fight this! How do you even confront something like this?!I was not this strong, she would overwhelm me! Panic took hold in my chest.

A slow, deep breath. Panic wouldn’t help. Perspective would.

I was weak, I was tired, I was exhausted. Twilight was far more powerful than me Ridiculously so. But I’d been on the other side of Celestia’s power, Twilight just seemed so overwhelming because of the power disparity. Calm. Focus. She wanted a direct confrontation of power, that’s what she’d get, no matter how obvious the result was.

Tighten the focus, narrow the power. My raft became a tight sphere of power, crashing towards the typhoon. Her power began to tighten down into a twister, far more intense, far more dangerous, and far more terrifying. Panic surged again in my chest, but I forced it down, my body trembling as I pushed forward to meet her power with my own.

I was buffeted about, tossed to and fro, but I clung to the firmament and poured on the power, pushing against her power with my own in this battle of wills.

She pushed back harder.

I’m not ashamed to say I whimpered as I felt my metaphorical self get tossed about in the storm.

I clung to the reality around me, the hardwood beneath my hooves, the air against my skin, her breath against my muzzle, her horn against mine, her scent. I anchored myself in it and pushed back, reaching past the fire at the base of my skull and pulling at whatever I had left of my power, throwing it against the base of her power in an attempt to dislodge her, if just for a moment.

It didn’t work.

My raft, skiff, ball of power, whatever it was... dissolved, consumed by my last push, and the core of my self was buffeted by Twilight’s power hard the instant before she withdrew.

Belatedly, I realized that I’d slumped against her, my head pounding as the unicorn lowered me to the floor.

I was right, that had sucked.

Ow.

Twilight stared at the collapsed unicorn, a turmoil of emotions bubbling inside her chest. Her every instinct screamed at her to help the sweating, panting and obviously exhausted pony before her, a big stallion that she had bullied. What properly raised mare bullies a stallion?! But her conscious mind reminded her instincts that this was Gary, and despite appearances, he wasn’t a normal pony.

It didn’t matter that she’d basically crushed him magically, that he didn’t seem to have stood a chance, that’d he’d pulled at his primary mana reserves for a test.

He was Gary, that... that monster. It didn’t matter that he looked like an decently attractive unicorn, that he was exhausted and panting on her floor...

She didn’t know what in the world his scores meant, they were all over the place! And all of those short answers she’d snuck into the test to perform a psych evaluation on him... his worldview... he expected so much intolerance... so much selfishness and greed... so much violence... and yet... he seemed so eager to do the right thing...

Twilight forced down her guilt. No. He’d fooled even Princess Celestia, she wasn’t going to let him fool her.

Her emotions surged and boiled as she forcefully made her notes, ignoring the persistent lump in her throat that she just couldn’t dislodge.

Gary groaned, his eyes clenching shut as he forced himself up onto his belly, breathing forcefully through his nose, his soft voice was surprisingly deadpan despite the pained edge to it, “... ow... worst hangover I’ve ever had squared...” he cringed and began to rub the side of his head with a hoof, “Okay... yeah... ow...” it didn’t seem like he’d meant to be heard, his ears flat back, his tail tucked tight against him, his breathing loud in the quiet library.

Twilight couldn’t help herself, he was cute stallion doing something stupid and she knew better. Reaching out with a hoof, she moved his own, placing behind his ear, her voice far kinder than it should have been despite the resignation in it, “Look, rub here instead, it helps stimulate the blood flow to the main magic manipulation centers of the brain and reoxygenate and remana it more efficiently than anywhere else.”

“... and thus help mitigate the pain faster...” he sounded... surprised... and Twilight knew it wasn’t because of the new knowledge, but rather its source. A part of her shriveled up in guilt, feeling terrible about how she’d treated the stallion, but only a part, the rest was still resolute against whatever Gary could cook up.

She forced herself to walk away from the downed unicorn, setting the exam notes with the exam proper, organizing the papers into a bundle that Spike would be able to send to the Princess. It was hard to ignore the dull green unicorn in the room, for more reasons than just his size, that would be going into her notes to the Princess once Gary had left. The blasted unicorn wouldn’t get out of her head! It was even worse than when he’d been an alicorn!

Slowly, he forced himself up onto unsteady hooves, his eyes still closed, his breathing considerably more normalized. His eyes opened, and Twilight couldn’t help but note that the rapid dilation and contraction of his pupils seemed to indicate a conscious effort to focus them. The gray-green eyes swung to hers, and Twilight felt an emotion bubble up in her chest, one that made her look soften for just a moment before she violently squashed the errant emotion. It was fake, a product of his curse, she was sure of it.

It just had to be.

“Twilight... I–”

“We’re done.” She looked back at the papers in front of her, pointedly going back to sorting them.

Gary’s face fell, his mouth working silently before he shut it. Turning and heading out of the library on unsteady hooves, pausing as he opened the door. He stood there in the sunlight pouring through the open doorway for a long moment before he spoke, “I’m sorry... for everything.” And with that soft, simple statement, he left, the door closing quietly behind him.

Twilight stared down at the papers in front of her, not really seeing them as tears began to gather at the corner of her eyes and she whispered into the empty library, “But sorry’s not enough...”

Author's Notes:

So yeah, I lied. We don’t get to find out Twilight’s issue in this chapter, and sadly I haven’t hinted at it very well, but my options were to continue with this for another 10,000 words to get to that point, or to cut the chapter at this point. I went with that one. That said, We will find out Twilight’s problem with Emeris in the next chapter as well as start the next story arc (finally, eesh, six chapters for a single arc? This fic might be longer than I thought...).

Thanks again to Aburi and Anhero for pre-reading/editing!

And as always, critiques are always welcomed (no matter how harsh).

Anyways, Autobots, Roll out!