//------------------------------// // A New Spell // Story: Trapped With Ponies // by Andy Soshal //------------------------------//             Princess Twilight Sparkle perused the levitating checklist before her, squinting her eyes against the purple glow as her quill floated past each bullet point.                     "Okay, let's see…Checklist? Check…Quill? Check…" She trotted around the large clearing in the field, looking out at each item as she put a mark next to its name on the parchment.             "Table, check, beakers, check, extra parchment, quills, and ink, check-check-check…" Twilight stopped. "Very large steel cage with chains…check."             Content with her itinerary, Twilight Sparkle blew out a breath, puffing a stray lock of hair from her eyes. She plopped down on her rump, taking a count of the time, and eyed the large circle outlined in salt on the ground.             "Spike?"             The diminutive dragon immediately stepped up, a long roll of blank parchment and quill in hand. "Ready, Twilight!"             "Good. A-hem…T. Sparkle's Experimental Spell Log, number four-three-two dash bee, continued. After covering every last detail I could find in Starswirl the Bearded's notes concerning this particular incantation and being unable to find anything to prevent it from being used, as in the case of his peculiar 'Big Red Button' spell (please make a note to destroy that one later, Spike), I have decided to utilize one of Sweet Apple Acre's unsown plots of land for the purpose of its activation.             "This spell…is a strange one, to say the least. It appears to be a summoning, as the circle of salt would suggest. However, the notes Starswirl made on this spell don’t make any mention as to what it brings here. As such, I have decided to enact certain precautions.             "I have mentioned the location, which, while being out-of-the-way enough to avoid bringing harm to anypony should the summoned creature prove dangerous, or the magic prove to be unstable, is close enough to civilization that help may be brought within short order. I have also memorized a tranquilizer spell and am prepared to quick-fire it at a moment's notice. Also at hand are several restraints, and my first and best assistant, Spike the Dragon, is present with his own secondary measures."             Spike jotted down the last few letters and smiled at Twilight, pointing at a large baseball bat lying nearby.             The Princess of Friendship winked back at him. "The time is now…12:57 in the afternoon, Equestrian Standard Time. I will do a final inspection of the summoning circle, and the incantation will take place."             Spike inscribed and added a period, looking up to the Alicorn now trotting a slow pace around the salt circle. "Uh…Twilight?"             Twilight Sparkle leaned down, hoof nudging a few granules of salt back into place. "Yes, Spike?"             "Uh…are you sure this is a good idea?" The small drake absentmindedly rubbed a loose scale on his belly.             "What do you mean, Spike?"             More absent scratching. "Well…I guess…if Starswirl didn't want to use it, why are we?"             Twilight studied the circle more closely. "Just because Starswirl didn’t activate it doesn't mean that it's inherently dangerous. Remember Celestia's Puppy Rule, Spike."             He sighed. "Every puppy is harmless until it bites you, yeah, yeah. But a spell isn’t a puppy, Twilight; maybe he had a reason not to cast it!"             The Princess of Friendship glanced at him. "Maybe he did. Maybe he was afraid of it. Maybe he wasn't sure what its effect would be." She shifted her head in a "so-so" fashion. "Maybe he just ran out of time to experiment with it. He was pretty old when he wrote the spell…"             The dragonling sighed and finally pulled the itchy scale from his body; it was almost time for his annual molt, and the newer scales were pushing the old ones out. He knew better than to try and argue or reason with Twilight when she got like this—only Princess Celestia could talk her down, and even she had a difficult time of it.             Twilight Sparkle finished her circuit and plunked down on her hindquarters, wings fluttering a bit in satisfaction. Somepony had once written that only a true artist could draw a circle and, while she had used magic to lay the salt down, she always had this sense of satisfaction from laying the perfect circle.             She realized that Spike had more than a point about this particular spell—the only reason that the aforementioned "Big Red Button" spell had gone unperformed was because she had sent off a quick letter to Celestia (how odd it was to not say "Princess" Celestia, since she was now considered something of an equal...) due to the slightly-foreboding name, and Celestia had immediately rattled off an urgent return request to leave it well enough alone.             This spell, though, had merely been marked "Summon Creature", no notes on danger level, or on what it summoned, or whether or not it even functioned correctly.             It was untried, untested, a blank slate of knowledge.             And Twilight Sparkle utterly hated…loathed not knowing something.             She shot a look at the sun, simultaneously checking her internal clock. Many, many years ago, Celestia had taught her how to synchronize her inner sense of time with the positions of the heavens, both the sun and the stars, and it had yet to fail her.             1:00 PM.             'Okay,' she thought. 'Time to rock.'             "Spike, are you ready?"             Spike, ugly little face set in a somewhat worried expression, gave a thumbs up, edging closer to his baseball bat.             Twilight nodded, as much to herself as her assistant, and levitated the tatty old journal over to rest in front of her. She cleared her throat, and began the chant, allowing her natural connection to Magic itself to flow through her. "Through the mists of space and time, Pierce the veil betwixt the realms; Flow of tides, meter and rhyme, Let my summons take their helm."             The wind began to pick up, and the sun seemed to dim slightly, though there were no clouds in the sky. Spike swallowed hard, setting his writing utensils aside and bending at the knee to pick up Ol' Slugger. Twilight ignored him, eyes screwed shut in concentration as she poured more magic into the spell. "Bring to me that which I call, Creature of flesh and bone and soul; Submit yourself to my thrall, To my words, to my control!"             Twilight Sparkle stood, opening eyes that glowed with white fire. Lips curling into a snarl of effort and mane flying in the wind, she threw her head back and roared into the sky.         "COME!!!"             Spike dropped to the ground as a peal of thunder split the air, responding to the undercurrent of command in his friend's voice. The ground seemed to shudder, and a bright flash light the field, dazzling his sensitive eyes.             He couldn’t see for a few moments, and he brought his fists to rub frantically at his stinging eyelids.             When he opened them up seconds later, it was to see Twilight Sparkle standing at the edge of the circle, looking bewilderedly at the large scorch mark inside of it.             "Uh…what did it…?"         Twilight shook her head. "I…don't know…" She plunked down on her hunkers again, a hoof absently scratching at her chin. "Huh…" The old notebook was scrutinized. "Large open area…circle of pure salt…fifteen feet in diameter, three inches wide…" A brow was cocked. "I don’t get it…I did everything it said to do…"             Spike, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief, walked over and patted her on the flank. "Don't worry, Twi'. Maybe that was why it didn’t have any notes—it was just a dud spell."             Violet eyes scanned the notebook again and again. "No, it couldn’t be…Starswirl wouldn’t have left it in here without a note saying it was a failed spell…"             Spike shrugged. "That's true…"             The lavender alicorn slumped. "I was sure I did everything right…" she said forlornly. "I didn’t overload the spell with magic, my rhyming meter was perfect…" She perked up. "Unless…"             "What the…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—"             Her assistant swallowed hard. "Unless what?" His ear-fin twitched, and he glanced about, distracted for a moment.             "Unless I did do it right, and whatever it summoned was microscopic!!!" Twilight excitedly trotted into the circle, nose to the ground and carefully scanning the dirt. "Spike! Run home and get my microscope and eyepieces! If I remove the base from the main body, I should be able to use it like a mini-telescope!"         "—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—"             Spike nodded, once more glancing around. "Yeah, sure thing…" He stopped. "Uh…Twilight?"                     "—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—"             She did not look up from her study of the ground, having reached the far side and stepping carefully lest she trod on any infinitesimal organisms. "Yuh-huh?"                     "—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—"             He turned slowly, ear-fins twitching this way and that. "Do you, uh…do you hear something?"                     "—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—"             Twilight Sparkle opened her mouth to dismiss his question…and paused herself. She looked over to him, her own ears turning this way and that. 'You know…now that you’ve mentioned it…"                     "—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—"             Spike gulped, renewing his grip on Ol' Slugger. "W-what is it?"                     "—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—"             The Princess squinted warily, horn lighting up in preparation for any hostilities. "…I don't  know…but it sounds like it's getting louder…"                     "—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—"             And indeed it was, louder by the second. Both alicorn and dragon looked left, then right, then behind. Not seeing anything, they both decided to look up…                     "—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH—!!!!!"             Just in time to recoil in horror at the thing that fell screaming from the sky and slammed face-first into the dust…where it lay, silent and still.             Twilight Sparkle slowly crept forward, her face a mask of shock. She cocked her head to the left…and then to the right…and then left again as she struggled to take…whatever it was in.             "What…what the hay is it?" she asked, not truly expecting an answer.             Spike had also stalked toward the thing, bat at the ready, also looking at it dumbfoundedly. "I…I don’t know…"             Carefully, he extended the end of his bat and poked it in the side.             It groaned! "Wh—"             CLUNK!!!             "SPIKE!!" Twilight fixed him with her best glare as it fell back into unconscious stupor.             The drakeling shot her a nasty look. "What?"