It had been several days since I illegally acquired the Grand Galloping Gala ticket. Since then, I have become proficient at the inspiration manifestation spell. I've ventured into the Everfree multiple times and brought back flowers, leaves, and branches to use for decor. A golden chandelier dotted with a rainbow of gemstones lights up the living room. The seventh element of harmony, however, does and doesn't exist. It exists; it's there on my desk, where it's been for the past few days. But it has no readings; I can't find a single speck of magic anywhere on it or in it. It's essentially just some boulder with a cool carving in the center.

While waiting for the gala, I've been entertaining myself by messing with Twilight. Naturally, when I discarded my mud minion in her library, the earth core was left as well. She freaked out at it, assuming it was some new deformed breed of timberwolf. It wasn't anything major, a vine tripping her in the market, sounds of howling outside. Besides that, I've started going into town on a regular occasion. The townsfolk seem friendly enough; I'd almost swear I've made some friends if I required them.

I know, I know, friendship is magic and all that. As a member of the royal family, I was always taught to hesitate before growing attached. You never did know when one of your subordinates would need to be put down for treason or insubordination. When one must lead troops into battle, betrayal isn't an option. It also provided an excellent message to the other soldiers when one stepped out of line. Besides that, what good do friends do anyway?

Realistically all friends do is hold you back from achieving your personal goals. Instead of focusing on getting the job done, you're worried about how your actions will affect them or why they're staring at you like that? Anyway, It had occurred to me that I hadn't seen Pinkie Pie at all. I expected her to be a thorn in my side, but she never did prove to be a bother. I knew I would need to fix my mistake eventually, and what better time than the present?

After washing up and having a muffin, I left the house and made my way to town. The gravel crunched under my hooves as my eyes took in the beautiful scenery. I never mentioned it before, but I loved the flora here in Equestria. Its beauty is matched only by the campus back at the college. The campus had to be maintained by expert gardeners. Equestria, however, was just naturally this beautiful. Even the houses looked nice; the four-hand tribe was the only one to use thatch roofs back home. Their huts are nothing compared to the places here though, some of these homes even have two stories.

The winding pathways of the town continued to perplex me. It was never entirely clear what was where in the show, but I know I would eventually find Sugarcube Corner. I must have spent nine minutes trying to find my way around; at least the town hall and the library stood out. After turning what must have been the thirty-first corner, I saw something I hadn't expected. Twilight Sparkle was quietly sobbing behind a building. To find the element of magic crying was entirely inaccurate to the show. She didn't cry behind houses; she cries surrounded by friends. She wasn't even supposed to be crying now anyway; nothing has happened yet. Biting my tongue, I knew I had to at least check on her.

I quietly teleported a box of tissues from a nearby market stall and offered her one. She thanked me but never took a tissue. "I'm sorry, I just couldn't stand being in the library anymore." Twilight Sparkle -- not feeling at home in a library? What is the world coming to?

"What's wrong with the library? It isn't infested with termites, is it?" I asked the sniffling mare.

"It's my assistant, Spike; he's sick. His condition isn't getting any better. He's stopped eating; he can barely move -- I just couldn't stand seeing him like that." She had started crying again.

So something was wrong with Spike? He only got sick that one time around Winter Wrap-Up and never bad enough to warrant Twilight in tears. I had to know more.

"Couldn't you check him into the hospital? I'm sure they could help."

"We already have; they can't figure out what's wrong with him. They said they've never seen anything like this before."

A disease the local doctors can't figure out? You know I had to see this for myself. My pride couldn't allow it otherwise.

"I know a little bit about medicine; can I see him?" I asked with a friendly smile.

"Would you? I don't even know your name."

"Lively Hollow. I'm not from around here."

She reached out a hoof, and I shook it as if I didn't know who she was.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle. I'll take you back to the library."

With that, we walked to the library, which was currently closed. Likely because of Spike being ill. The lights were off, save for the lights in the upstairs bedroom.

"Thank you for taking a look at him; It means a lot." She said, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"I'll see what I can do for him." She opened the door to reveal Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness, whispering something into Spike's basket, seemingly trying to feed him some type of red soup.

"Fluttershy, I met a doctor in the market. He's here to see if he can help." Twilight said.

The yellow mare turned away from the drake and hid behind her hair. "I haven't been able to get a reaction out of him." She mumbled over to Twilight.

"We'll be downstairs so you can focus. Come back down when --" She couldn't finish the sentence as the tears welled back up in her eyes. I could hear her crying as she and Fluttershy walked down the stairs.

I hesitantly walked over to the basket the diseased whelp was lying in.
By Hades, the whelp looked horrid. He looked as if he'd been starved; his ribs were visible outside his scales. His eyes were a pus color instead of their usual green. His scales were falling off in some places and a sickly purple shade. The only noise that could be heard in the room was his wheezing breath. Casting a spell on my eyes allowed me to see into his body and find the cause of his disease. If the local doctors couldn't find it, they were either incompetent or caught off guard. I figured I could prove myself the superior healer, though I knew that already.

Scanning his mouth revealed a few brown particles of fluid under his tongue, hiding behind the red soup Spike was recently fed. Anyone else likely would've missed such a small detail. Removing the brown particle, I brought it closer to my eyes and put it under a magnifying glass-like spell.
It's a mixture of Everfree dirt and water, magically enhanced in some way.
My constant pursuit of knowledge led me to begin scanning the mud's magic field immediately. The magic was revealed to be an earth spell lightly tainted by ... shadow .... magic.

It had finally hit me.

I slowly brought my gaze back to the ... to Spike. I was the one who gave him this illness. ... I'm likely going to be the cause of this dragon's death. I felt a tear in my eye for just a second before wiping it away. I've killed dragons before, yes. They were all trying to either kill me, rob me, or oppose me, but Spike? He never did anything to me. I've just killed an innocent kid ... over a ticket to a party I wasn't even really interested in attending. I covered my face with a hoof and tried to muffle my crying.

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The screaming inside hadn't stopped. It's been an hour, and the screaming hasn't stopped. I was sat in the fetal position outside the doctor's office. I didn't know what to do with myself; I couldn't stand being inside watching the surgery. At the same time, I couldn't stand to leave. My family's always had trouble with bandits, but as long as we paid up, they tended to leave us alone. This gang wasn't like the other raiders I had met, though; they came to our farm in a big black and green ship—the picture of what looked to be a laughing dog on their sail. In just a few hours, I'd lost my home, my mom, and likely soon my dad.

I hated feeling this way. We were just farmers. We grew corn, potatoes, carrots, and sold our produce fairly. Why couldn't people just leave us be? Unbeknownst to me, my eyes and hands had begun to glow a beautiful shade of green never seen in this small desert country.
Go to him. I heard a voice sweet and strange inside my chest. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the 'him' he meant.

I bolted into the doctor's office and saw my dad sitting on the operating table. Blood was splattered everywhere as the doctor continued to pull lead out of dad's chest. Before the doctor could force me out, I shot a green beam of light out of my hands and into my dad's still injured body. To both mine and the doctor's astonishment, my dad seemed magically cured of his wounds.

"You're quite talented for someone so young." A voice behind me had said. A wrinkled, bearded man with blue piercing eyes had entered the room during all the excitement. He clapped his aged hands together, and in a puff of crimson magic, a letter had formed. "I can't force you, but if you want to get better at magic, we have a place for you back at the College of Wizardry. He handed me what appeared to be instructions on how to join this college. "Never lose that healing fire inside, and you'll never have a problem with bandits again."

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That old stranger would eventually become my headmaster at the college, and I've always held those words to be true. Never lose that healing fire. I haven't lost it yet, and I certainly wasn't going to lose it now. Building up magic in my horn, I levitated the young drake into the air and cast what some would consider 'healing overkill.' Numerous streaks of healing magic entered into him, bringing him back to his usual self, if still a bit underweight. Scanning him again revealed that he was seemingly completely cured of the illness I caused.

After lowering him back down into his basket, he looked up at me with his now healthy and exhausted eyes. "Who ... are you?" He asked.

"I'm Lively Hollow; Twilight brought me here to see if there was anything I could do to help you get better," I said as I tucked the young drake back under his blanket.

"I don't know what you did, but I feel better already. You must be really good at your job." With that, Spike went into a peaceful slumber, no longer hindered by illness. With the events of the day I moved away from Stag Valley, still playing in my head. I remembered what I fought for. I will have my revenge.

Author's Note

constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.