The Fate of Orion

In the examination room in the Canterlot hospital, Glitter Star, the local Pegasus mail-mare was getting examined by the doctor once again for her pregnancy. She’d been there twice before; once when she started to have morning sickness, the second as the foal started to develop inside her and now, deep in the last stages of carrying her child. Her unicorn husband, Bronze Dust, was fidgeting nearby.

"Well, you look to be in perfect health.” Started doctor Helpinghooves while examining Glitter Star, “your pregnancy shouldn't have any complications, just come to us if you need anything at all or if anything feels out of the ordinary."

"Er, doctor... there is one thing...". Bronze Dust trailed off, as if unsure that it meant anything.

The doctor paused, looking him in the eye. "Go ahead. I'm here to help."

"Well, er, doc... it's sort of weird really." Bronze Dust paused again, clearly nervous. “it’s just... well my darling Glitter is feeling weaker lately. Some days, she can barely stand up and I'm sort of worried about her health. I know you said she's perfectly healthy but I can't help but feel concerned." He shrugged again, shaking an unwelcome thought from his head.

"Oh, is that all?" the Doctor smiled, looked away and levitated Glitter’s chart up in front of his face. "Yes, well I had noted that your natural magic was a bit low currently, but I didn't want to spoil the surprise. Have you heard of Fetal Magic Drain? At this point in the pregnancy, a unicorn foal will subconsciously create his or her magical font from the natural magic found in the mother's body. For most unicorn mothers this means a slight dip in their usual magical font. In the case of non-unicorn mothers, this leads to general weakness in physical abilities.

“This is a normal response and you should be fine if you continue to rest and eat nutritious food. Your appetite might be slightly elevated from the norm for childbearing but it's nothing to be too concerned about. It's just your body making up for the magic being given to your foal."

Helpinghooves sighed at the blank looks.  "Look it's pretty simple really. You would know how your magical font works as a unicorn." Bronze Dust nodded and Glitter Star merely shrugged. "Well, it's simple enough. Pegasi and Earth Ponies have their own natural magical font as well; one that is for the most part unconscious. It allows them to do the things that they do. For pegasi it grants them the powers of flight and the ability to walk on clouds. For earth ponies it grants them remarkable strength and wonderful endurance. In your case, your foal is taking a part of your magical essence and using it to create his or her own magical font. It's natural and I would encourage this sort of growth anyways."

The young couple breathed a sigh of relief.

Helpinghooves nodded, "I can teach you to help if it gets out of hand. I know some non-unicorn mothers experience severe weakness and dizziness if the foal's font ends up being larger than expected. All it will do is transfer a little of your magic into your wife so that there will be more magic to go around. Of course, you should be careful with the spell because you can force yourself into magic exhaustion if you overdo it."

Some time later, the happy couple left, walking slowly down the street to their home after waving goodbye to the doctor. Luna's moon was starting to rise already and the stars shined brightly as if they were smiling down on them all. Helpinghooves walked back inside the hospital and found one of the nurses assigned to help his patients. "Nurse, have I got any other appointments today?" He asked politely, completely forgetting her name yet again.

"No doctor, that's all for today. You get to go home now, but don't forget, you're on call tonight.”

The doctor sighed tiredly. “I guess that means going to the bar for a quick one is out of the question then. Oh well, I guess I’d better get home.”

…………….

*bang**bang* *bang* The knocking of the door woke Helpinghooves from his sleep. “What?!” He shook his head free of the clinging drowsiness of the night and stood up as the banging at his door came once more. “I’m coming, I’m coming!” he shouted back at the person outside and he snagged his medical bag from where it sat beside the door purely out of habit. He opened the door with a half-yawn and glared at the young orderly standing outside looking aggravated. “What do you want n-“

“No time doc! Lets GO!” the orderly shouted and grabbed both the doctor and the medical bag before bodily heaving him down the street towards the hospital as fast as he could.

They were already halfway up the street by the time the doctor got his hooves under him and started running alongside the orderly. “What’s the emergency?!” he shouted, between pants for breath. “Who is it…?”

What the orderly said next shocked the doctor so much that he broke into a dead sprint and made as much as a full street’s distance on the orderly in a heartbeat.

“Glitter Star.”

…………..

The doctor burst into the room and didn’t even need ask what had happened. A simple glance at the nurses trying to restrain Bronze Dust, who had a severe nosebleed, was enough. He rushed to Glitter Dust’s side, who looked up at the doctor through fear-filled eyes. With a wrench, Helpinghooves turned away and started barking orders for medical supplies he didn’t carry in his bag.

At his order, the nurses dropped what they were doing and went running. The Doctor immediately realised his mistake. Bronze Dust had seen his chance.  Rushing to his wife’s side he began to channel more magic into her weakened body, causing his nosebleed to gush again.

The doctor grimaced at the sight of the stallion causing himself so much distress over his wife. “Stop it! You’re only going to cause yourself to go into magical arrest at this rate. I’m surprised you’re still conscious in the state you are in!  You can’t help her if you’re dead!” he said, pushing his way in front of the spell and forcing Bronze Dust to stop.

The unicorn woozily glared back at the doctor. “Doc, look at her! She’s dying from lack of magic. What I’m doing is keeping her alive. Either you tell me you have an idea to save her, or you shut the hell up and get out of my way!”

The Doctor grimaced again under the verbal barrage. “I can’t…. I just can’t let you kill yourself, not even for this.”

Bronze Dust, still dizzy, stamped a hoof and readied his horn. “Get out of my way before I make you.”

Helpinghooves glared back at Bronze Dust for a moment before the nurses came back at a run with everything he had demanded and allowed him a spare moment to take command of the situation. “Get her on the IV drip now! You! Start checking the foal’s vitals. If she’s in this much distress, he can’t be far behind! And you!” He turned and glared at the father. “You will get out of my way and let me do my job.”

“Doctor!” It was one of the nurses. That’s not good. He thought.

Helpinghooves looked back at the patient and stared in shock. “Not… good… at… all..” he muttered as he watched her wings.

“Doctor…” the Nurse had her hoof over her mouth, half in shock, half in terror. “Are her wings…”

Helpinghooves shuddered as the wings shriveled and dried out before their very eyes. “They’re being drained of their magic.” He said somberly.

The doctor looked up and closed his eyes with a sad thought in his mind. “Send for the princesses. I don’t know how long I will be able to do this.” He said as he lowered his horn and began to focus his magic. “Go! Hurry!” He yelled as his horn lit with intensity rarely seen by medical staff.

With a jerk he began to channel his magic into the patient much like the father had. Sweet Celestia! Whatever is eating all this magic is intense! He felt the torrent of magic being sucked into what felt like a vast endless void as he channeled more and more of his magic into the mother and her foal. The shriveling of her wings slowed but did not stop. “NO! I will NOT lose a patient!” he yelled, increasing the intensity and flow of his magic.

Nearby he heard a grunt as Bronze Dust forced himself to continue to channel his already empty magical font into his wife. Through sheer force of will, Bronze Dust red-zoned and began to drain his own life essence in a desperate attempt to save them. Helpinghooves barely noticed, and didn’t spare more than a glance as he struggled to continue his efforts.

……………

Night Court was in session and Luna was already bored out of her wits. Why did they always come to her with the boring cases? She shook herself slightly as two somewhat elderly unicorns (lawyers, of course) in drab grey suits argued with each other over a sack of beans while Luna was supposed to listen and make her decision.

With a yawn, Luna’s thoughts idly turned to prattle such as how this could not get worse should these lawyers try. She was wrong of course.

A soldier of the night guard rushed up to the princess and interrupted the two lawyers “Princess, it’s an emergency at the hospital, you are needed there immediately. The messenger said it was a matter of life and death!”

Luna grinned inwardly, thinking it a great way to escape having to listen to two lawyers drone on for hours on end. Especially since it sounded like all she needed to do was show a poor doctor how to do his job. This would be easy.

She rose regally and smiled a winning smile. “Gentlestallions. It would seem that We are needed elsewhere. Thou mayst continue this debate with our sister during the Day Court, time allowing.” She said.  Yes keep them off balance.  That should sort them out for bothering me all night with petty complaints.

She turned to face the guard “Thou sayest that We are needed at the hospital? Where is the messenger?  We shall depart immediately.”

The nurse looked up as the Princess walked out into the hall and immediately dropped into a deep bow. Oh dear, they always bow. thought Luna “Rise, loyal subject.  We shall head to the source of the emergency at once.” Stepping smartly forward she encircled both the very frightened nurse herself in her magic and immediately teleported the two of them all the way to the front entry of the hospital.

Everything was quiet. The nurse scampered off as quickly as her legs would carry her. Probably to go be sick somewhere it wouldn’t show. Teleporting does that the first time for most ponies.  Luna thought.  Ignoring the nurse, she felt out life essences and headed towards the ones in most distress. Two of them recently ended, a third, very weak and a fourth one that was abnormally large.

Luna entered the room where she sensed these life forces and stared at the scene before her. It was bizarre. In the middle of the floor lay a Unicorn stallion, his fur and mane plastered to his body by his own blood. His muzzle was completely covered in a mixture of sweat and fluids best left undescribed. He was clearly dead from overuse of magic.

On the table lay a Pegasus mare. She too, seemed to be dead, but not by natural means. Dead by what appeared to be… draining? How could that be possible? Her body was shriveled and ruined and her wings had already begun to crumble to dust where she lay. Next to the two dead lay a panting unicorn doctor, blood also streaming from his nose as the early onset of magical exhaustion took place. His horn was still glowing.

“Doctor, what has happened here?” She asked as she leaned close to him to hear his voice.

“Saved… the… foal…?”

Luna blinked and looked quickly around the room. On a nearby table was a bundle of towels, wrapped firmly around, on closer inspection, a foal. It cried fitfully as Luna wrapped it in her telekinesis and examined the newborn closely.

“H-heh… that’s… one for the record books… princess…” the Doctor panted from the floor as his magic finally gave out. “Had to… had to do a c-section while channeling magic into the mother to feed the foal’s magical font…” He coughed, spewing a bit of blood onto the floor next to where he lay.

Luna was staring at the foal and didn’t say a word. She looked up and smiled at the ceiling. So much for getting out of trouble tonight.

“Is… is the foal alright? I…“ he coughed and spat more blood into the floor, “I did everything I could to save the foal…”

Luna laughed. It sounded harsh through the migraine punishing the doctor. “Oh doctor, thou hast saved this life on this night. Thou shalt be famous for this.”

The doctor smiled. “As long as he’s safe. I… I’m glad…”

There was a rustling of cloth as Luna re-adjusted the towels around the foal, revealing its silver coat and blond mane, streaked with red. “The foal lives. He is an Alicorn.”