Three weeks later

William had been doing research for two weeks and had already made some small discoveries. He had quickly proven to be helpful and even though he was a virologist he had even began research on a device that could measure magic. The device would make it easier to find the difference between friend and enemy, but also identify changelings in disguise.

While he was studying one of the more common viruses in the land, the magic measurer prototype began going crazy as huge levels of magic was picked up on it's radar. However he wasn't quick enough to fully track down where it came from before the signal disappeared.

"What the..." he said as he looked at the empty radar. "What was that? How can that amount of magic just appear and disappear just as quickly? I need to investigate this." he said as he opened the lab door and began walking down the corridor with the device in one of his hooves.

He walked through the castle while pointing the radar in many directions in attempt to find the source of the strong signal for hours and he only called it quits when he noticed the moonlight coming through the windows.

"I guess I'll have to continue tomorrow morning then." he said with a sigh as he began walking back to his lab.

He put down the measurer and jumped onto his bed and quickly fell asleep.

"Dr. Birkin, you'll come along with us quietly."

"You think I didn't know you were coming? This is my life's work! I'm not handing over anything!"

"We have our orders, Doctor Birkin. I'll ask you one more time..."

*BANG BANG BANG BANG*

"Stop! Hold your fire!"

William woke up with start.

"Wh-what was that?!" he said to himself as looked over to the alarm clock on his counter, which he could barley see because of the darkness.

6:34 AM

"Strange. Isn't the sun supposed to be up by now?" he said as he climbed out of bed and picked up his device to investigate further for the mysterious surge of magic from yesterday.

He walked through the halls as the sun rose (albeit a little shaky).
As he began to close in on the throne room he heard commotion outside the gates and the radar picked up a signal coming from the same direction. Even though it was a weaker signal William decided to track it down. When he began to come closer he noticed that the signal was coming towards him, but a few moments later the device broke down and needed to be recalibrated. He sat down and began trying to fix the thing, but he stopped when a big shadow came over him. He looked up to see a giant centaur and a draconequus in front of him. He didn't have time to do anything before he got the feeling of his own life force being pulled out of him. After a few moments he felt incredibly weak as fell on his knees and the realization that his magic was gone came to him like a brick to the face. The centaur and the draconequus walked further down corridor and William realized that they were heading towards the throne room.

"Oh no you don't. I won't let you." he said weakly as forced himself up on his hooves and picked up the measurer and ran as fast as his hooves could carry him.

He rushed towards them and managed to get in the way.

"If you want the princesses you'll have to go through me!" he shouted as loud as he could and threw his device at the centaur.

Despite the lack of magic, William managed to throw the measurer hard enough to hit Tirek's eye. Although it was only successful in making him angry.

"You little brat!" Tirek said angrily before he picked up William and threw him onto the nearby wall, breaking it and opening a large wound that could be fatal without treatment.

"You are nothing compared to me." Tirek said as he and Discord continued down the hallway towards the throne room.

William lied on the floor bleeding heavily from his shoulder as questions began invading his mind.

'Is this it? Has my time already come?' he thought. The questions were endless. Then suddenly he felt something inside him react violently to him receiving physical trauma. The pain began getting worse by the second and it was beginning to focus on his right front hoof. The pain was becoming unbearable and he felt his vision beginning to blur. Just before he passed out he let out a bloodcurdling scream that turned deeper and more distorted until he blacked out completely.

Author's Note

Sorry for short chapter. The next one will be short too, but at least that means you don't need to wait that much.