“What have you guys been working on?” Ingar asked, as they waited outside the gym for their second group lesson.

“Eh, same old, same old,” Gallus shrugged. “Still mostly target practice. But I’m starting to understand birds! And check this out!” His friends crowded around. "Count the arrows in my quiver," he said, then pulled one out. To their astonished eyes, the number remained the same. He put it back in; nothing changed. "Professor Fluttershy got Headmare Twilight to help with it. She called it the Infinity Charm--if I understood the egghead talk right, it locks the quiver into the exact state it was in before the charm was cast, so it can't change at all. You can take as many arrows as you want out of it and there'll never be any fewer in it. Ponies use the charm on trash cans so they never have to empty them!" Laughter spread through the group.

Silverstream bounced up and down. “Professor Pie and I are working on my very own party cannon! It’s gonna be able to go on land or underwater, just like me!”

“Rarity’s started teaching me hoof-to-hoof,” Sandbar said. “Maybe next time we get in combat, I can do something about it.”

Smolder shrugged. “I have an idea for a pretty simple design,” she admitted, “but it’s taking way longer than I thought. We still haven’t even started building the thing yet! Silverstream, your party cannon must be taking even longer!”

Silverstream shook her head. Ingar noticed how her feathers ruffled a tiny bit in the breeze she created. “No, actually, it’s almost done! Pinkie says party pony stuff doesn’t work the same way as regular stuff.”

Smolder tilted her head in confusion, but Yona spoke up before she could ask more questions. “Yona still not carve well. Professor Applejack get upset when Yona smash shield, but shield must be perfect!”

“You destroy your work because it’s not perfect?” Sandbar asked, then laughed awkwardly. “If I did that, I’d never get anything done! My sewing is terrible, but I’m almost done with this big cape thing. It doesn’t have to be perfect, right?”

“Yes it does!” Yona objected.

Ocellus’s wings buzzed eagerly. “Scootaloo is teaching me to swing on my webs! I’m not sure why, since I can fly, but if something bad ever happens to my wings, I guess it’ll be useful?” It sounded more like a question than a statement.

“Ingar?” Silverstream asked.

“Oh, yeah! Check this out!” He looked around and saw a small, blue and white vase on a ledge. He concentrated hard, extending his hands in front of him. A wavery, pale blue aura surrounded it, and it lifted unevenly into the air, wobbling only a little.

“Woohoo!” Silverstream cheered. He turned to look at her, and his concentration wavered. The vase slipped through his grasp and shattered on the floor. “Oops,” she muttered, drooping.

“That is okay, I am- I’m just still learning. Headmare Twilight says I’m making progress fast, but I don’t know if I believe her.”

“Well, duh." Smolder patted him on the back. "Yeah, you're not making a ton of progress, 'cause you only have an hour a week."

The door opened, and Headmare Twilight peeked out. “We’re ready for you!”

Inside, they found Applejack waving to them. The other professors stood behind her, but she was clearly “in charge” this lesson. “Howdy, y’all! With my help, y’all are gonna work on your strength. Let’s get started!”

On one side of the room, full trees had been planted in the very floor; on another, a strength game from a carnival was placed against the wall. A set of weights completed the room. Applejack rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. “Ah… might have taken the idea of havin’ multiple stations from Twilight’s last lesson.”

“Yeah, but…” Smolder waved vaguely. “Isn’t all of this kind of Yona’s thing? Maybe Ingar’s?”

Applejack snorted. “’Course not! Ah talked to Twi about it, and we realized something each of you can learn here.” She gestured to them each in turn as she named them. “Yona and Ingar are really strong already, but they can learn technique, hittin’ the right place at the right time with just the right amount of force. Sandbar too—Rares says precision is the name of the game in hoof-to-hoof combat. That’s what the trees’re for. Now Silverstream and Ocellus, y’all ain’t the strength players here, but you can always improve. You’re on the weightlifting.”

“Uh, Professor?” Gallus interrupted uncertainly.

“Ah’m gettin’ to you, just hold your-”

“No, look!” He pointed to the center of the room. Everyone turned to look, and a gasp ran around the room.

It looked like a flame was spreading over the floor, but it wasn’t growing naturally—it was like it was pulling itself forward. It was tracing a straight, even line. And that wasn’t the strangest thing. The fire was green, a bright, shocking green. As it moved, it began to seem more like an entity all of its own than anything else; the flames it left behind disappeared when it got far enough away, like it was leaving behind nothing but a train or a streak, like Professor Dash, not like fire. But it was undeniable that it was growing, and fast.

Even as everyone was noticing all of these things, the fire lifted off the ground and hovered in midair in a single bright green flame, about the size of a pony. And then they could all see clearly that what could have been sparks or embers were simply white sparkles, hovering there inside of it like stars.

Smolder gave voice to the thoughts of every student. “Uh… what?”

Headmare Twilight’s eyes were wide. “It’s the Nightmare,” she whispered. “This is just what it did last time, it took an incorporeal form. It’s hiding its host’s identity!”

“Ha!” Professor Dash snorted. “I’ll give it in-core-photo-reel!”

“That’s not even close,” Headmare Twilight muttered, as Dash’s wings wound up. Then she gasped. “No, wait-”

Professor Dash charged, leaving a rainbow streak and a gust of wind in her wake, right into the Nightmare with the kind of force that could level buildings (and had). She passed right through the cloud and hit the ground on the other side with a pained “Guaahhhhhh.”

“Rainbow!” Twilight shouted, charging her horn.

“I’m fine!” Rainbow called back. She was already standing back up. “I just felt really weird for a second.” The sound of her wings blurring back into action came through the hovering blob of fire. “Just let me hit it again…”

“No!” Twilight shook her head. “No more touching it! We don’t know what it’ll do!”

The Nightmare had had enough of waiting. It charged towards Twilight, but she threw it back with a shield. Fluttershy leapt into action, loading and firing three arrows in quick succession, but they passed right through it, embedding themselves in the walls and floor behind it.

“Don’t touch it,” Rarity grumbled. “Great advice for the hoof-to-hoof fighter.”

“Blind it with your cape!” Applejack shouted.

“Darling, it doesn’t have eyes!”

One long flame, like an arm of fire, lunged out towards Applejack; Yona beat it back with the shield. “Yona not think this real fire,” she commented, examining the wholly unburnt wood.

“Well, yeah,” Rainbow said. “It didn’t feel hot, it felt like ice water.”

Twilight blasted the cloud of flame with magic, which only passed through. She turned to look at Rainbow. “Ice water?”

“Yeah. Like it was freezing my blood or something.” Rainbow shivered. “Not fun.”

“Gh-ack!” Rarity screamed, as a limb of green fire passed through her. She almost fell, but held herself up with a concerted effort. “I see what you mean, Rainbow.”

Gallus, hovering near the ceiling, loaded and fired an arrow, more to feel useful than from any expectation of accomplishing something. It whistled through the Nightmare harmlessly, but he’d neglected to note what was behind; only the shield, still firmly held in Yona’s grasp, prevented it from reaching Professor Applejack.

Sensing opportunity, the Nightmare crept a tendril of fire around Yona and behind the shield, reaching through Applejack like a ghost. “Ghhhhh!” Applejack shivered, as a shudder passed through her whole body.

Smolder whistled overhead, raining fire from above on the Nightmare. And for the first time, something happened; it recoiled away from the heat. “Huh,” Smolder chuckled. “The fire is afraid of fire.”

“Of course!” Twilight shouted. “Fire is combustion, heat, pure change and energy! The Nightmare is sameness and stagnation! Keep it coming!”

Smolder gave a salute and dove over the Nightmare again, but the green flame suddenly seemed to become more solid, like a real arm and not a ghost’s. A tendril whipped out and struck her aside, and she hit a wall with a grunt.

Headmare Twilight’s horn sparked with a new spell, producing a gust of brilliant orange fire. The Nightmare flinched away, shifting down and to the side.

Smolder picked herself up, preparing to dive back in, and noticed Gallus hovering right next to her, nocking an arrow. “Mind if I borrow a light?” he asked.

The Nightmare whirled and charged towards Fluttershy, but was stopped by Twilight casting a wall of flame between them. It turned and changed its target, heading for Scootaloo, with the same result. An arrow blazed towards her, tip crackling with fire, and passed right through it. Something akin to a gasp of pain came from it. The hole the arrow left was blackened on the sides, singed, but the Nightmare reconsolidated quickly, as if it had never happened.

Walls of flame pressed against her from every side. Flaming arrows rained towards her, gusts of fire came from Smolder, and Ingar had picked up two dropped arrows, swinging them at her like firey swords. She rose into the air, spiraling, and seemed to grow smaller. It was as if she was consolidating herself into as small a mass as possible. Then she dove through a hole in the flames and out an open window.

As Twilight galloped to the open window, there was a flash of green light, but when she looked out, she couldn’t see anything but the usual landscape, the rocks and trees and bushes.

She turned back to the room. “I think we’d better cancel the lesson for today,” she said. “Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, put the school on alert. We’re looking for a pony with a mane that looks like green fire; shouldn’t be that hard to spot.”

“Should we assemble all the students?” Fluttershy asked. “Keep them in one place where we can protect them?”

“I doubt it,” Twilight said. “The Nightmare is looking for us. When you’ve alerted the school, go someplace with fire handy. Scootaloo, you too. Stick close to Starlight if you can, she’s another magic user and she can cast flames. You three are the ones who haven’t been hit yet, you need to stay safe.”

Pinkie Pie tilted her head. “But you didn’t get hit either! Why aren’t you coming with us?”

“I’ll be looking at what the Nightmare did to the other three.” Twilight turned to look at them. “No matter how much Rainbow protests that she’s ‘fine,’ I’ve got this feeling there must be something going on there.”

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy nodded firmly and left with Scootaloo and the students. With a sigh, Twilight turned to Rainbow. “I’m going to perform a magical scan. This is probably going to tickle.”

“Tickle?” Rainbow snorted. “I’m not ticklish.” A magenta field ran up and down her body, like a solid plane moving through her. Twilight frowned in concentration. Rainbow’s mouth twitched, then she fidgeted, and then a tiny giggle slipped out of her. She tried to stifle it, but it only got worse, until finally it burst out. “Bwahahahahaha!” She rolled over on the floor. “Stop it- st- haha- stop it!”

“Ah thought you weren’t ticklish,” Applejack called from the sidelines.

“Sh- hahaha! Shut uhuhup!”

Twilight’s brow furrowed with focus. “Hold still and it’ll be over faster.”

Rainbow Dash’s limbs waved. “Easy for- bahaha! Easy for you to say! Hahaha!”

“Just… give me a minute! I’ve almost got-” Her eyes snapped open. “There!”

“What is it?” Rarity asked, her voice tinged with concern.

“A spell of some kind. It’s inert right now. It can be activated at any time, it looks like. I can’t figure out what it does, but if the Nightmare went to that much effort just to leave behind a spell on all of you, it can’t be good.” She paused. “I might be able to remove it… but it won’t be a pleasant experience. For any of us.”

Rainbow puffed out her chest. “Bring it! I can handle it!”

“If you’re sure…” Twilight’s horn, which had barely been flickering while she held the location of the spell, flared brighter again. Rainbow didn’t show much reaction at first, then suddenly winced. “Are you okay?” Twilight asked immediately, her corona dying down slightly.

“Fine! Keep going!”

Reluctantly, Twilight nodded, and her horn brightened. She watched Rainbow’s face carefully as it winced again, then was pulled tight with pain into an awful grimace. She paused. “Should I-”

“Don’t stop!”

“Okay…” She closed her eyes in concentration. A groan of pain escaped Rainbow Dash, growing slowly in volume.

“Nnnnghhh…”

“I can stop!”

“No!”

Applejack and Rarity watched the back-and-forth with wide eyes, bracing for their turn.

“Are you at least-” Rainbow gasped, “-making progress?”

“Not much,” Twilight murmured apologetically. “It’s really tightly bound to you. I’m worried I won’t be able to get it off.”

Rainbow closed her eyes and clenched her teeth against the pain, but it came through anyway. “Nghh… Nnnnnnn…. AAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!”

Twilight froze, dropping every bit of magic from her horn. “No. I can’t keep going.”

Rainbow was panting heavily, shivering. “You’ve gotta get it off of me, Twi.”

“I can’t do that to you!”

“We don’t even know what it does! What if it’s worse than that?” Rainbow stared Twilight in the eyes. “Twilight, I can handle the pain!”

“I’d barely started,” Twilight mumbled to the floor. “It would have gotten so, so much worse before it got better.”

“I can take it!”

“And what if I did get it off?” Twilight snapped, staring down Rainbow Dash with just as much intensity as Rainbow was staring down her. “Then what? There are still two others I’d have to remove it from. Can you tell me, honestly tell me, that you want me to put Rarity through what you just went through?”

Rainbow looked down first. “No,” she said. “No, I can’t.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Twilight whispered. “I don’t want to hurt you. I can’t do that to you. But it’s just as dangerous to leave it.”

“Well, maybe-”

There was a knock on the door. “Knock knock!” a singsong voice exclaimed. “Class time is over, right, Twi?”

Color rose to Twilight’s cheeks. “Flash?” she sputtered.

The door creaked open. “Come on, you can’t tell me you forgot! We were supposed to go get coffee together when your classes were over!”

“Oh,” Twilight whispered, the blush deepening. “This… isn’t really a good time.”

“Why?” Flash trotted into the room, looking around. “What happened?”

“An attack,” Applejack said flatly. “One of our oldest enemies is back, and it means business.”

“She,” Twilight said. “We don’t know who the host is, but the Nightmare is a she.”

“Whatever. Important thing is, she left some sorta spell on us all to use later, and it’s gonna hurt like Tartarus to remove the dang thing.”

“If we even can,” Rarity added gravely.

Flash’s hoof came up over his mouth. “Sweet Celestia… uh, that is what you guys say here, right?”

“Yeah.” Twilight was digging at the floor with her hoof. “There’s a distinct possibility that, if I try too hard to remove the spell, I might actually kill them.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened. “WHAT?”

“You think I was afraid for no reason?” Twilight snapped.

Flash put a hoof on her shoulder. “Hey. You did what you could. There’s no shame in admitting a problem is insurmountable.”

“Or that you’re coming at it wrong,” Twilight retorted. “What I was doing is like yanking a lock off the door, and if the lock is strong enough, it’s no wonder you could damage the door, right? But maybe there’s a way to pick the lock instead, to undo the spell with finesse.”

“Why didn’t you try that in the first place?” Rainbow whined.

“Well, there aren’t any obvious exploits,” Twilight defended. “On first examination, it looks impenetrable. Every spell has a chink in its armor somewhere, but it might take a lot of research, and a lot of studying you guys, to find it. I’m not giving up… but I can’t keep going the way we were.”

“And the research can wait for a little coffee with a friend, can’t it?” Flash pushed with a wink.

“Well… I guess,” Twilight admitted. “It’s not like it’s urgent.”

“So… that’s it? We’re just stuck with some mystery spell in us, and it could go off at any moment?” Applejack asked.

Twilight sighed. “I guess so. I can’t get rid of it right now. There’s no reason I can’t work on it with a relaxed mind after a break. You guys go find Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Scootaloo. Help them with anything they need.” Rainbow snapped a salute; the others just turned and trotted out. Twilight sighed, looked at Flash, and smiled. “Yeah,” she said. “I think a little break is exactly what I need.”

“Don’t worry,” Flash smirked, as they trotted out the door. “I won’t keep you too long.”

Author's Note

Me, hitting "Publish": Nah, I don't think the voice sound effects in this chapter are too over-the-top, why?