Author's Note

So this story does have an anthro tag so I feel at this point I should explain how I envision that. To me they are basically people with fur and pony ears like when the Rainbooms ‘pony-up’. Basically, an ‘earth pony’ is a regular human with fur and pony ears. A Pegasus is a human with wings, fur and of course pony ears. A unicorn is a human with a horn on their forehead, fur and pony ears. Any questions about that feel free to ask.

Second note: I’ve looked this chapter over a couple of times and I know there are typos somewhere but every time I go back to correct it I can’t find it anymore. It’s super frustrating so if you spot them let me know. I don’t need any grammar Nazis but I’m open to improvement. That being said if something is suggested that may change the intended message the suggestion will be ignored sometimes this are phrased certain ways on purpose and other times it was simply the only way I could think of to express the thought.

Third: what do you guys think about referring to the anthro characters as ponies? Should I stop? If I do what should I then refer to them as.

Chapter 10

The sister’s weren’t sure who to trust at the moment. It could be that one, or all of the guard had betrayed them. Reluctantly, they called for a doctor. The doctor would be able to tell them what the spell they were dealing with was if they could tell him what to look for. That being said with the guard compromised for all they knew all of their staff could be either effected by the spell or in on it willingly. They were however, confidant that the spell was no longer active. The proof of this was that they had been able to remove Twilight from her cell and continue to focus on her.

“It must had been that alicorn. What he said.” Luna concluded. “After he told us the truth we were able to get Twilight. The truth must have been the trigger to end the spell.”

“But how was he able to put one on us without us realizing?” Celestia questioned.

She was certain Luna must be right but she felt as though they only had one piece to the puzzle and they weren’t even entirely sure how many pieces there were or what the picture was supposed to look like. The alicorn had said that he had wanted them to execute Twilight but they hadn’t so it hadn’t been a full mind control spell. Why not? Clearly he had been in a position to do so and the skill to avoid being caught doing so. What about the guards? Were they spelled? Were all of them? Just a handful? Was it just the guards? To what end? How had someone ascended without their knowledge?

“I think it was the entrance.” Luna supplied after some thought. “I was fine at breakfast as far as I know.”

“The entrance to the court room? I’ve never heard of something like that happening before but it would make sense if it is just the guards. No one besides the cooks have access to our foods or drinks.”

“Or someone who disguised themselves as a cook and it just took time for the spell to activate.”

“I just wish I knew what the point of it all was.” Celestia lamented. “I feel like we’re miles behind him, stumbling in the dark for whatever scraps he left behind.”

“I think as soon as we finish testing ourselves we should move to test the Night Guard, they’ll be more discreet in looking into this, in the mean time we work on healing Twilight.”

“And try not to get flayed alive by Spike and Cadance until we can prove it wasn’t our fault.”

**
After a few minutes of circular conversation, where neither made much progress on figuring anything more out, they were joined by the head doctor in the castle, Bleeding Heart.

He had reddish brown fur, a white mane that fell to his shoulders in a windswept manner, parted by a horn (he kept saying that it was in style even if it wasn’t), and kind green eyes. He wore a traditional white lab coat most doctors wore but underneath, his regular clothes mismatched just as much as the rest of him. His shirt was a bright, blinding orange t-shirt covered in pineapples and his pants were a pair of loose green jeans. All in all he sometimes caused ponies to stop and stare at his bizarre appearance if they didn’t know him well. Despite this he was the best doctor in all of Canterlot and so everyone ignored his rather eccentric choices in clothing.

Initially, he assumed he was there to look over the one in the bed since it was clear she was not at all well however he was quickly corrected.

“You will look Twilight over in just a moment Dr. Heart, at the moment we need you to test the two of us for certain spells that may have effected our judgement,” Celestia stepped in quickly.

“Very well,” Dr. Bleeding Heart agreed with a bow. “If you will just describe your symptoms I will have a better idea of what to look for.”

So the two sisters listed everything they had noticed that hadn’t seemed right ever since Twilight’s trial. Their refusal to allow anyone to check on Twilight, how they had simply forgotten about her, how quickly her trial had gone and how they had focused more on what had happened than the actual truth of the matter. They told him how they had given orders that she not be spoken to by anyone and had, for the past hundred and fifty years, brushed off any mention of her.

Bleeding Heart frowned. He knew how to look for mind controlling spells, but he had never encountered one that behaved in this way. The only change in behavior they were describing involved the former princess. In his (admittedly limited) experience, mind magic effected several behaviors regarding situations not specific people. He cast a general spell to detect any kind of mind magic residue. It wouldn’t tell him what spell had been cast or by who (they’d need a sample to compare it to) but it would tell him if it had been used on the person in question and how long ago it had been cast.

As soon as the spell left his horn the two princesses glowed a brilliant white. The white color indicated that mind magic had been cast on them but been broken and the brightness indicated how recently the spell had been cast, unfortunately it couldn’t tell him how many times they had been put under the spell or what it was.

He immediately informed them of the results and the limitations of his findings. Unable to do anything else for the two rulers he turned his attention to the one in the bed.

Casting several rounds of spells informed him that she was malnourished, dehydrated, anemic, had severe muscle atrophy, numerous scars (possibly self inflicted), and perhaps most worryingly a serious build up of magic at the base of her horn below the magic inhibitor she still wore.

Of all the problems his newest patient had this was the most concerning. Most of her symptoms could be fixed with some TLC, steady meals, exercise and the like. He wished she was awake so he could assess her mental state but perhaps some time with a psychiatrist would help with that.

All ponies possessed and used magic, currents that ran through their entire bodies that were pure magic much like veins. The concentration of those currents often determined what you were born as just as much as genetics. Earth ponies had no concentration point and so used it passively, meaning they had little to no control over it with no way to direct it, mostly it augmented them, making them stronger and increased their stamina and endurance.

Pegasus had their concentration points in their wings which enabled them to fly. Those who possessed both high concentration points and high magic were able to use their magic to increase their speed and to throw lightning through their wings. That’s not to say they had no magic concentration else where, they also had it I. Their feet allowing them to walk on clouds and control weather.

Unicorns were the only ones (besides alicorns) who could actively use and control the magic running through them. The concentration points where most of their magic led was in their horn allowing them to cast spells, however just like energy, magic replenished itself.

To most it would be explained to young foals in a similar manner as running a race. At the start of the race you have a lot of energy but at some point you’re going to start getting tired. How quickly you tire depends on a lot of various factors but regardless of when it happens, if you stop to take a break you slowly get your energy back. It was the same with magic. Earth ponies and Pegasus all used their magic near constantly in various ways that applied to them.

Unicorns were different. They consciously used their magic but not not constantly. They didn’t use magic all the time but their magic was always trying to replenish itself. When a unicorn used more magic than they replenish it resulted in magic exhaustion. Much like if a pegasus flew too fast for too long or an earth pony worked too hard or too long. They could increase the speed and amount of magic they could hold in their core by practicing their spells and using their magic often but that led to their horns releasing ambient magic.

It was simply magic that was just there and couldn’t be held by the unicorn because their core was full. The amount of magic released depended on the unicorn in question. The more a unicorn used their magic the faster their magical core regenerated magic and the larger and more demanding the spells cast the larger their core.

Inhibitors worked by blocking all magic from flowing out of the horn. This meant that a unicorn couldn’t use their magic but also meant that the ‘excess’ magic or run-off magic that ran through the horn that wasn’t used to cast magic but allowed for the use of magic was also cut off. The core didn’t stop generating magic though and so if a inhibitor was placed on a unicorn it could lead to a dangerous if not deadly buildup of magic to both the unicorn in question and the people around them. Thus it was common practice to simply cut off the horn of a unicorn convicted of a violent crime in which magic was used. Both to protect the convict and those around them.

“Have either of you tried to remove the inhibitor?” Bleeding Heart asked cautiously.

Luna and Celestia exchanged a sheepish glance. “Not yet.” Celestia admitted. “We wanted her to be awake and aware when we did it.”

“I see. Well I recommend you replace the inhibitor with a limiter. I can do that for you now but you need to try and get her to start using magic as soon as possible. The limiter will help keep her magic from essentially exploding out and allow her to release her excess magic slowly so as not to harm her or others. We can start small so that we can build up to larger bits of magic without harming her.”

“Please do so.” Celestia requested.

Magic was a large part of who Twilight was, maybe granting access to it once more would help bring her back.