Good from a bad beginning
Our Little Accident
“Pensive, Dear? Are you sure you checked the batteries in the thaumometer?”
Careful Measure had been Dr. Pensive Daydreamer’s lab assistant longer than she had been his wife. She had found that, with alarming frequency, her attention to detail could be a matter of life and death. Under her watchful eye “energetic disassembly incidents” had fallen to nearly zero, and no pony had been maimed or worse in Pensive’s laboratory.
“Yes, Dear.” Careful could not tell if he was actually answering her, or if Pensive was paying attention to something else and speaking to her reflexively. She made a mental note to check the thaumometer herself. Careful had to make it a mental note. She had forgotten where she had left her clip board.
Her increasing forgetfulness was beginning to bother Careful, but it was understandable. She was distracted by the imminent birth of their first foal.
Careful, exhausted from the effort of carrying her own weight plus that of another little pony, leaned against a lab table and sighed deeply.
“Dear, you needn’t still be working,” said Pensive. “I could get a couple of grad students in to assist me…”
“Oh, nonsense! I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” She toddled over to the focus of the enchanted accelerator and opened it to inspect the lenses. Clean optics were essential, and she used a wingtip to wipe the already pristine lenses with a chamois. Careful shut the hatch on the focus and took a socket wrench in her teeth to seal the hatch for vacuum. “This series of tests will confirm all your theories, and I want to be here to witness this. There’s still a week or two before I should be off my hooves, and the baby and I will be fine so long as we aren’t exposed to high magical fields. This room has been swept clean of even background magical auras, and it should be the safest place for us to be. Um... you did check the batteries in the thaumometer before you swept the room, didn’t you, Pensive?”
“Batteries? Oh, yes, that’s been taken care of.”
‘That’s been taken care of’ was exactly the sort of nonspecific answer Careful hated to hear from her husband. Darn it, where did I leave my clipboard?! She adjusted her safety goggles. “Pensive, please put your safety gear on.”
“What? Oh, yes, thank you for reminding me,” said Pensive, as if Careful didn’t have to remind him for every single experiment. Pensive put on his safety goggles and strapped a glass insulator over his horn. He levitated two earthenware jars, and tried to attach them to the opposing ends of the accelerator. Each jar contained a single, isolated particle of magic. “If our child is a unicorn we know he’ll be brilliant. And if he’s a pegasus he’ll be brilliant and beautiful. Why isn’t this working?”
Careful fluttered her wings, preening a bit at the compliment. “Turn the jars the other way Dear. Remember, righty tighty. Anyway, we talked about this. Neither of the alleles for our breeds dominates the other, and we will most likely cancel each other out. Our child is probably going to be an earth pony.”
“Ah, that does it,” said Pensive, as the jars clicked into place. “You know, it would please me if my child was an earth pony. They have a magic all their own, and the fact that we unicorns cannot detect it confirms my theories.”
“We shall be pleased with our child, regardless of it’s breed, Pensive,” chided Careful. While her husband’s attention was elsewhere she surreptitiously removed a component that had been installed on the accelerator back to front, and reinstalled it correctly.
“Of course, Darling. That goes without saying.” The vacuum pump beeped, signalling that the accelerator was ready. “Unless you have an objection, I’m going to begin the test now.”
Careful was as nervous as she always was when Pensive was about to push a big red button, but she could think of no reason to object. She nodded.
Pensive pushed the button. A timer indicated that the particles would be released to be magically drawn to the focus, where they would collide, in one minute.
Careful leaned again, this time on Pensive’s desk. Her eyes fell on the top sheet in his overflowing inbox. “What’s this memo from Maintenance?”
“Oh, I didn’t look at that. Are they having another retirement party? We should contribute a little something, they do such good work…”
“It’s an alert that they are servicing the slate shielding on the artifact vault. That’s directly below us!” Careful glanced at a wall clock. “It’s scheduled for today. Right now!”
“Oh, my, that is a bother. If there’s magical leakage the contamination will void the test results.”
“I think that’s the least of our worries, Pensive!”
“Not to worry, Darling. If there was a problem the thaumometer would be going crazy.”
“Yes, about that. Are you absolutely sure the batteries a charged?”
“Well, not exactly. I couldn’t find the replacement batteries…”
“They’re in the top right drawer of your desk.”
“Really? Have they always been there?”
“Yes, Pensive.”
“That’s good to know. Anyway, I borrowed another meter from Ponder over in Field Modeling. It’s fully charged.”
“Oh, good,” said Careful, who felt quite relieved. “And you recalibrated it?”
“Did I do what, now?”
“Pensive, Dr. Ponder works with highly concentrated magic fields, his equipment wouldn’t be set to detect the low levels we need to avoid!”
“Oh, that’s right. Hmm, I really should have made an adjustment, shouldn’t I?”
The thaumometer began to whine. This swiftly rose in pitch to painful levels.
“Pensive, abort the test!”
The accelerator beeped, signalling that he particles had been fired. A green light went on signalling that there had been a successful collision.
Every surface in the lab, every dust mote in the air, glowed bright golden. The glow swiftly shifted to a bilious green.
“Chain reaction!” Pensive pushed his wife to cover behind the desk and tried to cover her with his body.
The four bubble chambers around the accelerator’s focus flashed to steam and shattered. The accelerator turned bright red. Luckily, it did not explode. It merely melted.
Then it was over, and the lab was eerily silent.
“Well, that is not going to look good on my next performance review. However, some of the data might be interesting, if any of the instruments survived…”
Careful Measure screamed in agony. “Pensive, get me to a doctor!”
“Darling, you’ve been injured!”
“No, Pensive. I’m going to have a baby! Right now!”
“You’re doing fine, Mrs. Measure,” said the doctor. “One more push and the foal will drop.”
Careful stood in the birthing stall, trying to retain her composure while simultaneously trying to keep her husband from going mad. It was taxing, even for a pony of Careful’s heroic levels of calm. She considered, not for the first time, ordering Pensive to go boil water or something. But it was too late for that.
“Doctor Well? You are certain there will be no complications? The birth is a month premature.” Careful and the doctor had lost count of how many times he’d asked this.
Careful clenched her jaw and groaned.
“No complications, Dr. Daydreamer,” Dr. Be Well answered. “In fact… yes, yes, that’s it… it’s over… now.”
“Now? It’s over? Oh, well then, is it a boy or a girl?”
The doctor gasped. A nurse gasped. An orderly exclaimed, “It’s impossible!”
“Really, now, it was a simple question with only two possible answers. Is it a boy or a girl?”
“It’s an alicorn!”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Please show me my child,” demanded Careful.
The nurse had been cleaning the foal with a towel. Shocked into disbelief or not, she still attended to her duty and did her job. The nurse brought the mewling newborn to a creche in front of Careful and Pensive. His coat was as black as coal, with a silky shine that had nothing to do with just being born.
Careful nuzzled the foal, and brushed a bit of scarlet mane away from his horn. Immediately the foal began to coo contentedly, and fluttered his wings happily.
“An alicorn?! We have an alicorn?!”
“Pensive, we have a son.”
They named him Good Fortune. And little Goodie was indeed a very good boy. This is one of the many astonishing things about him, as he was so very powerful he could easily have become nothing but trouble.
At three days old he could fly as well as any adult. By the end of his first week Goodie’s magic was even stronger than his flying.
Careful proved to be an excellent mother, and Pensive was well meaning and managed not to do any harm. Together they did their best to give their son an ordinary foalhood. But it was obvious, even to the concerned first time parents, that ordinary was just not a word that could be applied to Goodie.
As his first birthday drew near they sought out the best tutors for Goodie they could find.
“Alright, try flapping your wings faster,” Outside Loop instructed the colt hovering in front of him.
Good Fortune’s wings blurred, and he went spinning away.
“Okay, maybe not that fast.”
“Why not?” called Goodie. “This is fun! Weeeeeee!”
Goodie stopped wheeling away and began to somersault in place. He opened the circle, and was soon executing loops. With just a small shift he began doing an inside loop around Outside Loop.
Goodie began to roll as he spun. Then he let the position of each loop drift and he was soon spiraling around Outside. Goodie flew faster and faster, and for Outside Loop it was like being at the center of a blurry, red and black ball.
“Is this any good, Mr. Loop?” called Goodie.
“Yeah, I’d have to say that’s pretty good.”
“Dr. Daydreamer, Mrs Measure, I’m afraid I cannot teach your son.”
“Oh, dear. Is he that difficult a student, Mr. Loop?”
“Not at all. I just can’t teach him anything about flying. I don’t think anypony can. Frankly, I don’t think he needs to be taught anything,”
“But Good Fortune is just a foal!”
Loop nodded. “Yep, just a yearling and he’s already better at aerobatics than I am. I captained my relay team back in Baltimare. We took bronze twice and silver once at the Equestrian Games. Your son could beat us flying all three legs himself.”
Pensive stared at him. “Surely you’re exaggerating, Mr. Loop.”
“I speak the literal truth. I’ve been a flight instructor for 15 years and I’ve met a lot of talented naturals. They all need help; little corrections in positioning, form, and style. But not your son. His every little move is perfect. It normally takes years for a pegasus to hone everything to the perfect edge the kid was born with. If I tried to teach Goodie I’d do him more harm than good.”
“Oh, my!” Pensive’s eyes glazed over. My son, the Equestrian Games gold medalist, captain of the Wonderbolts, director of Weather Control…!
“But any time Goodie wants to come out and drill with my squad, you know, just for the exercise, he’s welcome. I’d love to have him fly with us. Frankly, it would be good for morale. The kid is just a hoot!”
Careful smirked, as Loop was only confirming what she already suspected. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Loop. Pensive, Dear, you really shouldn’t act so shocked. Good Fortune is an alicorn, after all.”
“Let us begin with a simple levitation, young colt,” Professor Stern Warning told the little pony standing before his desk. The old stallion indicated a stone paper weight. “Please lift this, Mr. Fortune.”
The colt’s horn glowed purple, but Professor Warning could see no sign that he was casting any spell. To the professor’s irritation, the colt didn’t seem to be paying attention at all.
“Perhaps you find the spell difficult, Mr. Fortune. You will never succeed if you do nothing.”
Goodie grinned, and began to giggle. “Look up, Professor!”
Professor Warning looked up. Above his head, glowing purple, floated his heaviest bookshelf.
“Mr. Fortune, put that back!” snapped the professor. “You were instructed to lift the paper weight. Do as you are told.”
“‘Kay!”
The paper weight, and the desk it rested upon, and the chair behind it, and Professor Stern Warning all glowed and rose into the air.
“Mr. Fortune! Put me down this instant!”
“Yes, Professor.” To Goodie’s credit, he set everything down gently rather than just dropping it.
“Dr. Daydreamer, Mrs. Measure, I’m afraid I cannot teach your son.”
“I see, Sir,” said Pensive. “Goodie’s raw power and intuitive control must make it a challenge to instruct him.”
“No, Dr. Daydreamer,” snarled Professor Warning. “I cannot teach him because he is an utter disgrace as a student.”
“Oh, dear. Surely you exaggerate, Professor.”
“Not in the least!” Professor Warning punctuated this with a loud ‘harumph!’ “As you well know, I have been an instructor of magic for fifty years, the last thirty of them as Dean of Experimental Magic. In all that time I have not encountered a worse student. Good Fortune is unruly, disrespectful, without focus, and all he wants to do is play!”
“In other words, he acts like a yearling foal?” asked Careful, arching an eyebrow.
“Exactly!”
“There’s a reason for that, Professor.”
“Well… yes. Of course. But I don’t accept that as an excuse! Good Fortune will never be an apt pupil, but I believe someday he will be disciplined enough to learn a trade. Perhaps cloud busting, or whatever it is pegasi do. At the moment he is incapable of being any kind of pupil at all. I agree to examine him to help you, but I cannot continue.”
Actually, you wished your ‘help’ on us when you found out he was an alicorn, thought Careful. And we agreed because you’re our boss.
“I find your son’s conduct intolerable and I will not be tutoring him in magic.”
“I think that’s probably best for all concerned, Professor Warning.” said Careful.
The couple home schooled Goodie, at first. Then Pensive began taking him to work, and Goodie sat at the back of the lecture hall and took notes. Soon after that Goodie had the run of Canterlot University, and he could safely just drop in on almost any lecture that caught his fancy. Few professors objected, and most were delighted to see him. It was taken as a sign of good luck if Good Fortune appeared in your classroom.
“Invitation, invitation, invitation... have you noticed our son has a much busier social life than we do, Dear?” asked Pensive as he sorted through the mail.
“At least the birthday party invites out number the bills and junk mail, Pensive.”
“Half of these come from parents who are just social climbers. They think they will earn status points by having the ‘alicorn-boy’ at their child’s party!”
“Perhaps, Dear. But the other half genuinely want our son to attend. They recognize that Goodie is a positive influence and sets a good example. But you’re right. We should only let him attend the parties of families we know. He’ll still be busy, Goodie makes so many friends.”
“Oh, bother, what’s this, now?” grumbled Pensive as he opened a large envelope. Inside was a copy of a manuscript. Pensive did not read a full page before throwing it across the room in outrage. “That old goat! Stern Warning has written an article suggesting that Goodie is not a true alicorn! Oh, no, Warning says our son is the result of a freak accident! He all but comes right out and calls Goodie a sideshow attraction! And Warning has the temerity to send me a copy!”
“Calm down, Pensive. Warning has no background in genetics or medicine and his opinion won’t be taken seriously. He’ll be lucky to find a publisher.”
“Professor Warning is still mad at me,” said Goodie. He’d picked up the manuscript and was scanning it.
“Son, that is not something you are meant to read,” said Pensive, gently taking the article away from Goodie. Neither parent gave a second thought to the fact that their little foal was reading a scholarly article, especially one written in Warning’s dense, impenetrable verbiage.
“Mommy, Daddy, I’m sorry I made Professor Warning angry. But he was so crabby, I just wanted to make him smile…”
“It is nothing, and I want you both to stop worrying about it,” said Careful. “Goodie, it is not your fault you could not befriend Professor Warning. Others have tried and failed before you. And Pensive, Goodie has undergone every examination known, as well as some invented for him. No difference between him and the Princesses has been detected. The only ones silent on this are the Princesses themselves.”
“Oh, we’ll hear from the Palace when the Princesses are ready, Mommy,” said Goodie. “They’ve been keeping track of me.”
“What do you mean, Son?” Pensive did not like the sound of that.
“Ponies with dark ties and sunglasses follow me everywhere I go. You haven’t noticed them because they are really good at staying hidden. And I’ve met Princess Luna.”
“Really?”
Goodie nodded emphatically. “In a dream. She was watching my dreams for a while, and I knew she was there. And when she knew that I knew she was there Princess Luna decided to speak to me.”
“What did she say?”
“She said my dreams are a lot like the dreams of other foals my age. She said that pleased her. I don’t know, but I guess that means I can be special and normal all at the same time.”
Good Fortune’s second birthday party was a simple thing to organize. His parents merely had to ask him what he wanted and what he thought the other children would enjoy. Goodie was, of course, right about everything, and it was a wonderful party.
Goodie spent most of his time watching either his guests play in the bouncy castle (he enjoyed ponies who could not fly getting the chance to tumble through the air) or the clown who did close up magic (Goodie considered the tricks of skill as entertaining as real magic).
When the party was winding down two Royal Guards in full uniform let themselves into the yard through the back gate. Pensive went to meet them.
“Hello, Gentlecolts. Are you with the clown?”
“Pensive!” gasped Careful. “Let me handle this, will you please? Officers, do excuse my husband. How can I help you?”
One Guard produced a scroll and offered it to her. “Mrs. Careful Measure? We have a royal summons for you. You and your husband are to bring your son to the Palace at noon tomorrow for an interview with the Princesses.”
When the guards opened the throne room doors for them Goodie happily trotted right in. Careful and Pensive nervously followed him. Once inside they all bowed before the assembled Princesses of Equestria.
“Please rise,” Celestia told them. Her voice had a calming effect on the worried parents. “And please do relax. This interview will be very informal. Let me begin by welcoming you all, and thanking you for answering the summons.”
Goodie giggled. “You say that as if we could have said ‘No’ to you, Princess Celestia!”
“Goodie!” cried Careful. “Good Fortune, you mind your manners, and you apologize to your monarch this instant!”
Three of the Princesses suppressed a laugh, and Celestia laughed out loud. “It’s quite alright, Mrs. Measure. Yes, Mr. Fortune, you are technically correct. But I am not a tyrant. I actually try to only summon ponies who are inclined to comply. I suppose, if you had refused to come, I would have sent a very large troop of polite but determined guards to escort you here as gently as possible. Now, are you ready to begin, Mr. Fortune?”
“Oh, yes, very much, Princess Celestia! This is going to be fun!”
“Excellent. Now, tell me why you think we called you here?”
“You want to get a good look at me,” answered Goodie.
“Do you have any idea what we might see?”
Goodie nodded. “I think so, Princess. I’m an alicorn like you, after all.”
“Do you still want to continue, then?”
“Oh, yes, very much, Princess. This should be interesting!”
“Excellent. Cadance, it’s your turn.”
Celestia stepped back and Cadance stepped forward. “First, let me commend you all on your bond as a family. Your love is very strong, and there’s nothing, good or bad, that you couldn’t overcome if you face it together. Now, Good Fortune, tell me, do you want to be a Prince of Equestria?”
“Not really.”
Goodie’s parents’ jaws fell.
“I’d rather be the King of the Gypsies!”
“I don’t understand.”
It was Careful’s turn to suppress a laugh. “I can explain, Princess Cadance. By ‘Gypsies’ he means those earth pony seers you find working out of tents. We let him have a reading at a carnival and Goodie was quite taken by the experience.”
“Ahh. And what did the seer tell him?”
“Oh, some vague nonsense about how he was going to become a mighty stallion with a great destiny,” answered Pensive.
“You shouldn’t assume it’s nonsense, Dr. Daydreamer. Now, Goodie… may we call you Goodie?” He nodded, and the Princess continued. “Goodie, do you think you would be a good Prince?”
“I would try to be. I would do my best to have charity, compassion, devotion, integrity, optimism, and leadership. That’s the formula, isn’t it? Did I get that right?”
“Indeed you did, Goodie. And if you were not a Prince, how would you act?”
“I’d try to be the same way. It’s not just the way to be a Prince. It’s a good way just to be. It’s a good way to live.”
“Thank you, Goodie. Luna, you’re up.”
Princess Luna took her place at the front. “Hello, again, Good Fortune. How have your dreams been?”
“I like my dreams very much, Princess Luna. You’re welcome to come and see them again any time.”
“I noted that, unlike most mighty stallions with great destinies, you never dream of power and how to acquire it. Why is that?”
“Oh, power isn’t that much fun, and acquiring it wouldn’t make me happy, Princess.”
“Instead, you dream of being a superhero, and rescuing innocents from disasters.”
“That’s because that is fun, and it makes me happy!”
“But you dreamed that you were the next ‘Bucky.’ Why not the new Captain Equestria? Why dream that you’re a sidekick?”
“Oh, readers root for a good sidekick, and they want him to get his own comic someday. Besides, there isn’t going to be a new Captain Equestria. Not in my headcanon. He didn’t die in the griffon war, he was frozen, and the Superb Serum kept him alive, so he’s coming back! I plan to write fanfiction about it someday.”
“Thank you, Goodie. Please continue to dream about what’s fun and what makes you happy. I hope that continues to be comic book adventures. Twilight, you have the concluding questions.”
Princess Twilight Sparkle stepped to the front. “Hello, Goodie. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I have a lot of questions, and it’s hard to pick just a few. But what I really want to know is, is there anything we, the Princesses, can do for you?”
“Yeah, actually, there are a couple of things. Like, Professor Warning has forbidden my daddy from conducting his experiments, ever since that accident the day I was born. That’s not right. Daddy should be allowed to prove his theories.”
“We can have a word with Professor Warning. But you should be prepared for your Daddy to be proven wrong. He is implying that Clover the Clever was wrong about the magic force, after all.”
Goodie just grinned.
“Good Fortune, an alicorn does not tell ponies of the things we see,” said Princess Celestia, very sternly.
“Yes, Princess. Anyway, there’s another thing. Can you get my Mommy her doctorate? When some professors say ‘Mrs. Measure’ they make it sound like she’s not as good as them. That’s just mean. Her work experience is equivalent to a phd. program, you know.”
Careful blushed. “Goodie, stop it. This is not a matter to trouble the Princesses with.”
“This is worth examining, Mrs. Measure. Yes, Goodie, I think we can do something for your Mommy. Princess Celestia, I think we’re ready for the second half of the interview.”
“Thank you Twilight. Goodie, we want to witness your physical and magical prowess. This demonstration will give us a chance to see you in action. I think you’ll enjoy it.”
They played four-square. No hooves, wings and magic allowed. Twilight refereed and kept score. Celestia won, but only barely. Goodie could have been victorious if he’d just stop showing off by heading the ball, but he simply wasn’t competitive by nature.
After the game the Princesses conferred very briefly, then Celestia addressed Goodie and his parents.
“It has been wonderful to meet you all, especially you Goodie. However, we will not be taking you on as a student, nor will we mentor you. We feel it is best if you go home with your parents. Careful, Pensive, you have been outstanding parents. Please continue as you have been. Take your son home and enjoy him. Raise him as normally as it is possible with a child as extraordinary as Goodie. We hope to see you all again. Thank you for your time.”
The interview over, Goodie and his family were dismissed.
“I don’t understand! I simply do not understand!” fumed Pensive.
“Let it go, Dear. We have to assume the Princesses know what they are doing,” soothed Careful.
“But they acknowledge that he’s an alicorn, so they should be grooming him to become a Prince of Equestria. This makes no sense.”
“They know that isn’t the way to my best destiny, Daddy.”
“What? And how would they know that?”
“Alicorns can… see things, Daddy.”
Pensive took a moment to absorb this. “The future? Alicorns can see the future?!”
“Not exactly. What we see is more like… potentials. It’s like your experiments, Daddy. A particle fires off one of those teeny-tiny light bits…”
“They’re called photons, Son.”
Goodie laughed. “I know, Daddy, I just like ‘teeny-tiny light bits’ better. Anyway, maybe the photon goes to the left, and maybe it goes to the right. Pretend one way makes something good happen and the other way is bad. Alicorns see which way is good and which way is bad. Not all the possibilities, but we see the extremes. The greater the difference the clearer it is. The more important the outcome the clearer it is. And things are very clear if the alicorn really cares about what they are looking at. But we can’t see how to make the best outcomes happen, we don’t know anything about the path to the outcome.”
“So the Princesses have to be cautious about how they influence things,” mused Careful.
“Yep. And this bothers them a lot. I think Princess Celestia worries all the time, but she won’t let on how she feels.”
“What was it Celestia said about not telling ponies what you see?” asked Pensive. “It was right after Princess Twilight commented on my theories.”
“Oh, never mind, Daddy,” Goodie answered, innocently.
“Anyway, I don’t understand what this has to do with our being dismissed. Why doesn’t Celestia want to mentor you?”
“The Princesses can see that I’m not meant to become a Prince, Daddy.”
“What?! Why do you think that?”
“Because I see that, too, Daddy. When I look in a mirror.”
Time passed, and it seemed that the Princess’ had made the right decision. The best place for Good Fortune was indeed at home with his parents. He thrived.
Goodie grew taller and stronger, growing like the healthy, happy foal he was. He became the toast of the town, and he made friends everywhere he went. He soon came to the attention of every important pony in Canterlot. The Palace was flooded with politely worded letters inquiring as to Goodie’s status as royalty, letters Princess Celestia largely ignored. A novelty company asked for permission to print “Good Fortune for Prince!” tee shirts; Pensive and Careful quietly declined.
There was never, ever again any suggestion that Goodie should be on display in a sideshow.
To Careful and Pensive’s relief it wasn’t hard to keep all this from going to Goodie’s head. Goodie just wasn’t like that.
In every way that was important, Goodie did not change at all.
Good Fortune’s potential appeared unlimited.
Nothing lasts forever.
“Goodie, please stop rubbing your forehead.”
“But my horn itches, Mommy.”
“Try to leave it alone anyway, Dear. That’s a bad habit.” Careful stopped suddenly when she realized what she’d said. Goodie didn’t have any bad habits. “Goodie, please come here and let me look at you.”
“Yes, Mommy.” Goodie flapped his wings to go to her side. In mid flight he gasped and fell to the ground.
“Goodie!” Careful ran and knelt beside her son. “What happened?”
“My wings went stiff for a second. But I’m fine now.”
“Has this happened before?”
Goodie nodded. “Only a couple of times. It started yesterday.”
“Young colt, you should have told me the moment this first occurred. I’ll make an appointment to see Dr. Well as soon…” She didn’t finish.
The look on his mother’s face actually frightened Goodie. “Mommy, what is it?”
“Goodie, you’re bleeding!”
The floor near the examination table was littered with black feathers. An itch made Goodie flutter his wings, and he shed another cloud.
This didn’t seem to bother Goodie, as he sat on the table enjoying his lollipop (because even alicorns deserve a lollipop when they behave for the doctor).
Dr. Well led Pensive and Careful aside. Then he thought about how hypersensitive little alicorn ears are and led them further away. "Dr. Daydreamer, Dr. Measure, I don’t know where to begin…”
“Oh, my!” gasped Careful. She began to weep. “Be, we’ve been friends since Goodie was born, you only get formal when it’s the worst news!”
Pensive held his wife tightly. “Be, the only way to say it is probably just to say it.”
“Very well. His horn is detached. It’s not connected to the skull anymore, it’s just floating. The bleeding was merely from Goodie worrying it.”
“What does that mean?” Pensive already knew the answer.
“If Goodie stops playing with it, and if he doesn’t bump into anything, the horn will still fall off like a baby tooth. Probably within a week.”
“But… but surely the horn can be graphed back on…”
“There’s nerve damage, Careful. The horn may have already lost all function. You haven’t seen Goodie cast a spell in the last two days, have you?”
Careful shook her head. Only the fact that her son would hear her kept her from sobbing hysterically.
“What of his wings, Be?”
Dr. Well sighed. “The muscles are atrophying, beginning at the joints, but spreading everywhere. It spread visibly during the examination.”
“What’s happening to him?”
Dr. Well couldn’t look Careful in the eyes. “These are his only symptoms. There’s nothing else wrong with Goodie. Nothing at all. Careful, you know your son’s medical history better than I do. It was part of your dissertation. Well, except for his horn and his wings, Goodie is in the same extraordinary shape as at his last physical. Even his spirits are sky high, which is typical of him. I have nothing to treat.”
“No! I won’t accept that! We’ll find specialists! I’ll go to the Palace and beg for healing spells...!”
“It’s the process that changed him, it’s reversing,” whispered Pensive. “He’s regressing.”
“No! We can fix this! We know the best magic theorists in Equestia…!”
“Stop it, Careful. Look at Goodie.”
Goodie had finished his lollipop, and was playfully balancing the stick on his nose.
“He knew this would happen, he knew it all along. And he’s fine. Goodie is regressing, but he’s regressing into the foal he was meant to be before my experiment. Let it be.”
They cried. But it was only to get it out of their systems before it was time to take Goodie home.
“Hurry along, Goodie. We don’t want to be late to meet your mother,” called Pensive.
Goodie had his nose glued to a shop window. “But, Dad, Captain Equestria number one is finally out!”
“Your copy is pre-ordered, Goodie. We will pick it up after lunch. We don’t want to keep your mother waiting.”
The very notion that he might be being rude to Careful was enough to get Goodie to run and catch up to Pensive.
Good Fortune’s charcoal coat had faded to a soft grey and his mane was now a ginger orange. All that remained of his horn was a white blaze below his forelock. There was no scar. If there was anything left of his wings it did not show above Goodie’s coat.
“There is something, before we get there.” Pensive had been looking for a chance to ask this one question. “Your mother still does not want to talk about it, but I need to know. Do you miss it? Being an alicorn, I mean.”
“Not really, Dad. I’m still special. And not just ‘I’m your son and you have to call me special’ special. Really special.”
“Of course you are.”
“The magic was fun, but there are lots of things that are fun. I do miss the flying, but we can still ride the airships. We can take an airship ride someday, can’t we?”
“Certainly. Or we can take a balloon to Cloudsdale. I think I can handle a ‘walk on clouds’ spell…”
“Dad! Stay back!”
A potted plant fell from a window sill, and landed where Pensive would have been had he not been warned.
“Goodie, how did you know that was going to happen.”
“I just had a feeling, Dad.”