NaNoWriMo2015 Oneshot Colletction

Doctor Neutral Charge jerked his head up at the sudden blast of magic that washed over him. While that level of magic was not unheard of in Canterlot, let alone Equestria, that level of magic and a magical signature that he recognized were far lower. For it to be Starlight, a pony he knew to have an output of about half that of the average unicorn, should have been impossible.

He looked up across the room and met another pair of eyes asking for confirmation, and receiving it in kind. Doctor Thermal Flux, a coworker of his and Starlight’s, had felt it too. “Was that-“

“Yes,” Flux answered.

Confirmation received, the three of them took off at a run towards where the signature was coming from, not one of them willing to risk making the problem worse through a badly timed teleport. The magic seemed to be pulsing almost, getting more and more powerful.

That only drove the trio faster. There was no way that spell was going as planned. Perhaps wrong, perhaps horribly, horribly right, but that kind of output was risking mana poisoning. Death or worse. “Starlight!” Neutral yelled as a particularly powerful pulse was accompanied by a blood curdling scream.

That got everypony’s attention in the area, and Flux quickly began clearing ponies out while Neutral and Event began to put up barriers around the hallways and doors clearly labelled with orders to keep the buck out. While the task was needed, it took way too long in Neutral’s opinion, and it was almost three minutes later that the hallways were clear. It was hard, but monitoring the pulsing magic let Neutral know that Starlight was still alive within in the spell.

As soon as the work was done, though, Neutral led the way into the room. It was one of the testing rooms for when a spell might end up devastating a room, though never the caster—those spells were not to be cast until they were safe for the caster.

Neutral slammed open the door, leading the way in. What he was caused him to freeze in shock. Starlight was floating within an array. One he’d seen bits and pieces of before, but seeing the physical aspects having been put together. “Starlight!” he yelled, trying to get her attention. She opened her eyes and looked towards him, though it was clear she wasn’t truly seeing him.

Then, before he could do much more than stare and prepare to try and get her to answer something, she whipped back her head and screamed once more. Seconds later, there was a sort of red mist that extended from her shoulders, shortly followed by wings of pure light.

In a way, that kind of power, pulled into that kind of structure and spellcasting was beautiful. In another, it was horrifying. That kind of power was never meant to be channeled by ponies. Controlled, sure, but never channeled all at once. He tried to begin interweaving his own magic with hers, to try and cancel the spell, or at least ease her pain, but instantly knew he was out of his depth. This was the sort of things ponies spent years working on, and Neutral had to wonder just how long Starlight had been working on it. And how exactly she’d kept it a secret.

He still tried his best to interweave a sort of nervous system numbing spell into it, the closest he could get to a magical or medical anesthetic in the current situation. It didn’t seem to work, however, and there was another massive pulse of magic and the dome began to dissolve.

It started slow, though rapidly began to speed up, until Starlight was about halfway to the ground. Then the spell abruptly cut out. “Starlight!” Neutral yelled as he caught her. “STARLIGHT!” He watched as, without seeming to hear him, her eyes fluttered shut and she exhaled softly. On her face was a peaceful smile. Not daring to give up, Neutral’s hoof flew to check for a pulse at her throat and he sighed in relief when he found one.

He glanced up at Event and Flux, who were giving him a dumbfounded look and knowing smile respectively. “Yes?” he asked, suddenly sounding a little nervous.

“I knew it,” Flux said smugly. “I totally knew it!”

“Knew it?” Neutral asked nervously, as he looked up, cradling Starlight’s head in his hooves.

“Knew it. You’re sweet on her, aren’t you?”

Neutral instantly went red. “Can we focus on what’s important?” he squeaked, standing up quickly and lifting Starlight up in his magic. “We should get her to the hospital.”

“Agreed,” Event said, finally seeming to find his voice. “We can talk to Neutral about his soon to exist sex life once we know the damage this spell did.”

“You mean besides the wings?” Flux asked with a nod.

Both stallions paused, before looking over at Starlight’s back. The wings of magic and light seemed to have solidified into the real deal. Event blinked dumbly and Neutral’s eyes rolled back in his head before the timid stallion up and fainted.

Flux caught Starlight in her magic easily, then glanced at Event. “Come on. Grab Neutral, he was right, we really should get her to the hospital as soon as possible.

Event nodded, quickly picking up Neutral and following the diminutive unicorn out of the room and nearly running her over as she paused. Pressed right up against the safety barriers was a veritable mass of students and faculty trying to rubberneck at what was going on. “Risk it?” Event asked.

“There’s no way we’re going to make it through that mass in a timely manner,” Flux answered. He nodded and there was a flash of light as they teleported themselves and their loads to the entrance of the University and the wards that prevented teleportation over the boundaries. They then took off at a run towards Canterlot general hospital. There was only so much they were willing to risk at once. They just had to get Starlight to the hospital. Maybe they could help or tell them what the back had happened and what kind of forces Starlight was playing with.  Come to think of it, once Starlight was conscious, they’d be having a long, long talk about magical safety and when to get your coworkers help on whatever the hay that was so that one did not get themselves hurt of worse!

On reaching the hospital, they were admitted with a minimum of fuss, the doctors not even raising an eyebrow as they brought Starlight into the Emergency room. Well, not until Flux had to deal with the secretary. Then, while the tone and questions were standard and professional, the eyebrow of the secretary seemed to be bound and determined to escape.

However, it wasn’t long until all that was left was to sit in the waiting room and wait. And wait… and wait some more. During this time, Neutral awoke from his fainting episode and

It was almost three hours later when a Doctor came out of the back, the medical kind of doctor. “Neutral Charge?” Neutral stood up quickly. “Come with me please,” the doctor requested. Neutral complied and they went into the back.

“It’s about your friend, Miss Starlight Dancer,” the doctor began…