The sterile room of the royal doctor’s office was unfamiliar to Irradiance. He’d lived here for so long and hadn’t ever gotten sick. Or rather, he’d never gotten so sick that he’d needed medical assistance other than one of Marigold’s remedies or one of Hibiscus’ spells for healing. Now, surrounded by vials that didn’t at all resemble those he had back home in the forest, he felt more anxious than soothed when it came to the medical care he was about to receive.

“So you want me to check out his… horn?” The nurse, Nurse Bluecross, asked with an uncertain expression. Irradiance could guess why she seemed hesitant to start her examination. Leviathan was oblivious to this implication.

“Yes! We were out and about and all of a sudden his magic starts fizzling out!” The Changeling stomped a hoof. “Is this common for ponies of Equestria? Because I’ve never seen it in any of my own citizens,” Leviathan looked between Irradiance and Bluecross nervously. It was sweet that he was so concerned about the stallion.

Nurse Bluecross, still unfamiliar with crystal horn anatomy, approached the subject slowly, adjusting her red glasses with a white hoof, picking up a clipboard with her magic, “Alright, Irradiance. So tell me in detail when this happened?”

Irradiance stuttered for a moment, “Uh, well, I went to open my door and my magic just… stopped working! Leviathan had to get the door for me after I walked into it.” His face reddened a little at the memory from earlier this morning. Nurse Bluecross wrote something down on the clipboard, adjusting a blue hair out of her face as she did so.

“And was that the only time this happened?” She looked up at Irradiance again, urging him to respond.

Touching the bruise blooming on his face, Irradiance shook his head, “No, we were in Canterlot when a colt threw a ball at me and I tried to catch it, but my magic just stopped working!”

“And it hit him in the face!” Leviathan finished, sounding almost heartbroken. “Can we get a bandage or something for his muzzle, at least?” Nurse Bluecross set the clipboard down and nodded, grabbing a bandage and levitating it over to her patient. There was soon a bright white bandage on Irradiance’s muzzle and no cure for his magic. Sounded familiar, if he were to be honest.

“Okay, Irradiance, has this ever happened before?” At the stallion’s confused expression, Bluecross clarified with a sigh, “As a young colt, or maybe right before you got your Cutie Mark?” She waved a hoof around, trying to get Irradiance to remember some time this had happened before, but she was out of luck!

Irradiance shook his head, turquoise hair shaking back and forth as he did so, “I’ve never had an issue with my magic. I went to the Magic Academy as a colt and I had this curse only a little while after I was accepted there. Ever since, I’ve only been excellent at magic.” It sounded so much like bragging but Irradiance was only telling the truth! He didn’t know if the staff knew about Princess Luster Dawn, or rather, what she’d become. Telling the nurse he had Alicorn magic would only confuse her!

Nurse Bluecross hummed, setting down the clipboard and tapping a hoof to her chin before sighing sadly and shaking her head, “I’m sorry boys, but I don’t know what could be wrong with you. Sometimes stallions and mares experience repeated puberty, but if you never dealt with magic issues in your youth, the delay shouldn’t be occurring at all.”

Leviathan was frustrated, “There’s no cure you can provide? Not supplements or anything?”

Nurse Bluecross just shook her head, “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. All I can do for Irradiance here is the bandage for his muzzle and a suggestion to speak to the Princess.”

The pair of stallions had wanted to ignore that option for as long as possible. Talking to Twilight about this meant admitting there was some issue beyond sickness ponies could handle alone. If no one knew what was wrong with Irradiance and his horn and his magic, it meant that this might have something to do with Luster Dawn or the Element Tree (or both!) and Irradiance would have no choice but to venture back into the Everfree Forest and hunt down the cause of the loss of his power.

“Thank you, Nurse Bluecross,” Irradiance sat up, excusing himself from the medical office, “We’ll speak with Princess Twilight.” Gesturing for his partner to follow, Irradiance exited and made his way toward the throne room, where Twilight would surely be.

“I can sense your nervousness,” Leviathan chimed, following the purple stallion closely. Irradiance groaned.

“I wanted to have a choice in whether we went back to the forest or not!” He exclaimed.

“You have a choice!”

“Not if the reason my magic is disappearing is because of Luster Dawn!” Irradiance turned quickly, halting his travels through the hall as he confronted the taller stallion. “If that’s the case then we have to go back into the forest! And I never got to choose!” He was frowning intensely.

Leviathan smiled softly, “Okay, well do you want to talk to Twilight?” Irradiance cocked his head, caught off guard at the question,

“Obviously I want to talk to Twilight! She was the Element of Magic! She’d know what’s wrong with me and my powers.”

Leviathan gestured with a hoof, “Well then there’s your choice! You want to talk to Twilight even though you know it might mean sending you into the forest. Subconsciously you’ve already made the choice, Irradiance. Don’t make yourself feel like someone’s forcing you into this.”

That was a surprisingly well-constructed analysis of the situation at hand. Or rather, at hoof. Irradiance had no words. He opened and closed his mouth a few times to respond, but decided to simply turn around and continue toward the throne room. Soon enough, he was upon two large golden double doors. Swinging them open with Leviathan’s magic (Irradiance didn’t trust his horn right now to open any doors), the pair entered only to find Twilight meeting with a familiar face.

“Amber?” Leviathan gawked, mouth agape as he saw his Dragon companion standing before Princess Twilight with a stressed look on her face.

“Hi, Leviathan,” The golden Dragon responded, waving simply, “Hi, Irradiance,” She greeted the other stallion, who sent a small wave back in response.

“Why is Amber here?” Leviathan asked the Alicorn, who twisted her mouth up before responding.

“She wanted to alert me of some issues happening near the Dragonlands,” Twilight said carefully, sending a glance at Amber, who got the hint and stepped toward her friends.

“There have been some issues in the forest surrounding the nest,” She started, resulting in a puzzled expression from the stallions before her. Amber continued, “My morning patrols have noticed some strange movement deep in the forest, and upon closer inspection, it seems there is some sort of creature haunting the trees that surround the area closest to Canterlot.”

Irradiance gasped, “Luster Dawn,” he breathed, looking up at Princess Twilight, who just nodded slowly. “But if she’s escaped, why isn’t she here? Didn’t you say she’d likely attack?”

Twilight shook her head, “I’m not sure. It’s possible that she was able to break out of the prison but lacks the magical ability since the Changelings have been feeding off of it for so long, and you’ve absorbed her power as well. I don’t doubt that she’ll regain her power soon, though.”

Leviathan made the connection quicker than Irradiance, “Your Highness, Irradiance has been dealing with issues regarding his magic. Is it possible that as Luster Dawn grows her magic, it’s sapping Irradiance’s power?”

“Yes!” Twilight exclaimed, wings flapping happily before she realized the implication and calmed herself with a cough, “Yes, that’s entirely likely,” Turning her eyes toward her student, Twilight looked upon the purple pony with concern, “How long have you been having issues, Irradiance?”

The stallion shook his head, “It just started happening this morning when I was with Leviathan, and again this afternoon in Canterlot.”

“We’ve only witnessed issues starting this morning,” Amber said, concern lining her expression. The golden Dragon looked between her two friends and then toward the princess. They were all on edge at what this might mean.

Twilight finally spoke after her long pause, “It is possible that your depletion in magic is related to the issues seen in the forest. In fact, as Luster Dawn becomes more powerful, she may be draining you of your magic, since it was hers to begin with!”

Irradiance scoffed and stamped a hoof, “That makes no sense! I was given additional magic when I touched that tree. At no point was I ever nonmagical before the incident when I was a colt!”

Twilight shook her head, clearly at a loss, “I’ve never witnessed this before. Element Tree magic is difficult to harness and the few ponies that have done it never lasted very long. There’s been almost no research on the subject at all, and the added fact that the tree you absorbed the magic from was the prison of an Alicorn?”

Leviathan finished the thought, “It’s unheard of, isn’t it?” Twilight nodded slowly, clearly sorrowful of the lack of a reason. She was one of the most studious ponies in Equestria prior to her coronation, and even now she was extremely well-versed on all topics concerning magic. If she lacked information surrounding this topic, Irradiance was out of luck. He huffed a sigh and lowered his head in defeat.

“I guess I’ll just have to find Luster Dawn in the Everfree Forest and see what she wants, huh?” He looked between the princess and his friends, who all had somber expressions on their faces, though Leviathan’s had traces of support in the sad smile. Irradiance always appreciated his positivity. Nodding in acceptance, the Unicorn puffed his chest out in mock confidence, “Let’s start preparing, then.”

Author's Note

short chapter sowwy :( but hey im writing what feels natural so if 1600 words is how it feels, 1600 words it shall be!