Writing is Magic

Dear Princess Celestia,

It happened. The Elements of Chaos appeared in Ponyville and tried to destroy both the town and the Elements of Harmony. Unfortunately, I did not see the entire fight, you will have to ask Twilight for more details, but this is what I saw, which includes the final outcome.

The Elements of Chaos were in formation, like when our Elements make a combined attack. For some reason, Art sprang up from his apparently being knocked down and charged at the attackers. He tackled what appeared to be his clone right out of the middle, which short-circuited the magic. When the magic subsided, I could see Art and the clone both down, Art surrounded by glowing energy of what kind we’re not completely sure.

Regrouping and re-gaining their strength, Twilight and the others set up to perform their own combination attack. It seems that six Elements of Harmony are enough on their own; you need seven Elements of Chaos to create the same amount of power.

Without the seventh element, the forces of chaos were overtaken by the Rainbow-colored attack of harmony. This caused them each to be turned into stone, not unlike Discord in the past. However, upon further examination, Art’s clone, which I assume to be Ignorance, has escaped for the time being. In their defense, even seeing it with my own eyes, I’m not sure I would have been able to tell the two unicorns apart, so perhaps it is better that they didn’t accidentally turn Art to stone in his stead.

The six rushed to check on Art’s condition, but he was still surrounded in what Twilight described as a “magical shield” which blocked any and all attempts to get through it for some time. It was unknown at this time whether Art was dead or alive.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash went in search of Ignorance, as they presumed that he couldn’t have gotten very far. However, their efforts have so far been in vain, though on his own, without the other six Elements of Chaos, it is questionable what threat Ignorance could pose, if any.

The “magic shield” eventually subsided, and it turned out that it was actually helping keep Art alive, since his body absorbed a great deal of magical energy. He was very carefully moved to the hospital where he is currently resting, though it is unclear how long it will take him to recover, if he ever does so fully.

At the request of Princess Twilight Sparkle, we would be very honored if you came to Ponyville, not only to hear the full account of the events, but to decide what to do with the six new statuettes that we have in our possession.

Your humble servant,

Spike

        One of these days, when I'm old, gray, and retired, I'll look back on days like this and laugh, but not right now. I may have been alive, but I felt half-dead. Jumping right into the face of such strong magical energy was not good for anypony, much less one that wasn't used to such power. So there I laid in the hospital, again, awaiting my prognosis.

        The six and Spike were already there when Princess Celestia herself showed up to visit me, per Twilight's request.

        "Shall I give my report," I asked the princess.

        "I've heard it all from Twilight," she responded, "no need to rehash the events. Though I will say I am happy that you are all still alive and well."

        "I wouldn't exactly call my current condition 'well'. The docs haven't been able to tell me how long I'll be on the shelf this time."

        As if to answer my question, the head doctor walked into the now pretty crowded room. He set a glass of water on the table at the foot of my bed, though I didn't know why.

        "Mr. Colter," the doctor began, "I have good news, and I have bad news. The good news is that you will make a full physical recovery in a very short time. We were all quite surprised that your actions didn't injure you more than they did."

        "What's the bad news," I inquired.

        The doctor pointed to the glass of water, "Try to bring that to you."

        I tilted my head to the side, unsure of why he wanted me to do this. I turned back to the glass, and relaxed, doing what would be normal in order to do such a simple feat of magic. However, nothing happened. I tried concentrating harder, but there was nothing, not even sparks from my horn.

        "I regret to inform you that there does not seem to be any magical energy in your entire body," the doctor proclaimed, "you are incapable of using magic, and I have no idea how to fix it."

        The others collectively gasped as I flopped my head back down onto the pillow in shock.

        "That's impossible," Rarity exclaimed, "a unicorn with no magic?"

        "I'm afraid it's not impossible," Celestia answered, "there are times when a unicorn can use more magic than they are capable of controlling, causing their body to 'short-out'. The magical shield that has been alluded to must have been Art's own body protecting itself. Using such high-level magic when one is not used to it can be very dangerous."

        "Well there must be some kind of cure," I said, "or do I just have to wait it out?"

        "There have been cases of unicorns using so much power that they have to recharge," the doctor answered, "however, all the tests that we've done show absolutely zero magical activity. It's as if you never had magic at all. I've never seen or heard of anything like this before."

        I closed my eyes, my limbs involuntarily shaking. What was I going to do if I couldn't use my magic?

        "There must be a solution of some kind," Twilight finally said, "come on girls, we have a cure to hunt down."

        "I will see if I can find out anything as well," Celestia echoed.

        They all left the room in much higher spirits than I was. My mind was racing. I didn't know a great deal about magic itself, and certainly nothing about something so rare. It would have to be up to them, I figured.

        When I finally opened my eyes again, I saw somepony standing at the window. It was Time Turner, the very pony who had seen the future which I had risked life, limb, and magic to prevent. He just stood there and stared at me for a moment, as if he was trying to make sense of everything as well. Then he smiled and nodded slowly. This calmed me for some reason, made me feel better about what I had done, made me momentarily forget about the consequences and just made me remember that I was still alive. I smiled and nodded back, before promptly falling back asleep.