Chapter 1:Displacement
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"Are you sure about this, Twilight?" Spike asked, clinging to the purple unicorn in question as if she were a blanket, nervously looking around at shadows cast by the strangely foreboding trees.
"I mean," he continued, "Couldn't you do this somewhere... safer?" Twilight shook her head.
"I know it's dangerous, but the technique I'm going to try requires a lot of magic, and the Everfree Forest contains much more ambient magic than Ponyville. Plus, I don't want to risk Ponyville or the library being damaged if the spell goes wrong." She turned back to the path ahead.
"Besides, I'm in no danger; not with my number one assistant here to protect me!" She added with a smile. At this, Spike jumped up with a grin.
"Y-yeah! No monster stands a chance against me!" He struck a heroic pose that lasted until a twig dropped on his head from above, and he returned to his cowering. Giggling at this, Twilight continued to move forward.
She wasn't lying; she wasn't worried in the slightest. Twilight Sparkle, Most Faithful Student of Princess Celestia, was not the sort of pony to rush into things. She had prepared for weeks, arranging for every possibility, every danger. Not that she thought anything would happen, after all, she was not going to venture too far into the forest. Just far enough. But Spike was right, even with his judgment clouded from his recent clash with a dragon. This was still the Everfree Forest, and she should tread carefully.
A few more minutes of walking later, Twilight suddenly ceased moving, jolting the baby dragon who had remarkably managed to fall asleep.
"Here. This is the strongest place of magic I can feel, at least for as far as I am willing to walk." Spike jumped off of Twilight's back, looking around the area curiously. It was a small clearing, or at least, as much of a clearing as one could find in the Everfree Forest, surrounded by the strange trees so characteristic of the forest.
"Are you sure, Twilight?" Spike asked, doubt evident in his voice. "I mean, this place doesn't look any different from the rest of the clearings we've seen."
"Of course I am, Spike." Twilight replied, setting down the objects that she had been carrying in her satchel: two jars, one containing a small rock, the other, was empty.
"I can sense it; all unicorns can. Though it's easier for the more magically inclined." Spike watched her prepare the test with interest. "If you say so. But... what are you doing?" Twilight flicked her mane in a pleased manner, glad to have a chance to practice her second most favourite pastime: lecturing.
"Why, that's simple! You see this rock?" At this she gestured to the corresponding jar. Spike nodded. "I am attempting to practice upon this rock both transportation and transmogrification magic."
At Spikes lost expression, she simplified her explanation.
"The rock will be moved into the other jar, and changed into something else."
Spikes draconic eyes brightened with comprehension.
"Oooh. Well... that's cool and all, but... you've been practicing those spells a lot lately, and you can easily do that stuff. Why does this need so much magic?"
"Because, Spike, while the spells may be simple on their own, it is exceedingly difficult to gather enough power and concentration to cast them, or any spell, simultaneously. I will channel the high ambient magic to make up for not being able to summon enough magic, and I should be able to cast both spells at once. It may not seem all that impressive, but it requires finesse and timing. Once I do this, and practice it, I will eventually become accustomed to it, and be able to use it without the extra push. And then..." Her eyes shined for a moment, lost in fantasy. She shook herself out of her daydreaming.
"Well, the possibilities are endless." Speech finished, she set the jars roughly two metres apart, and took a position in front of both. Spike moved to a safe distance behind Twilight, and watched her begin casting.
It was simple. She knew how to do it, she'd studied the techniques, the tomes and texts. This would work.
She could do it.
Concentrating, she formed the transportation spell in her mind, her horn igniting in a purple glow, indicating a readied spell. Instead of releasing it, she began to form the other component: the transmogrification spell. As soon as she felt it begin to pull on the previous enchantment, she spread out her mind to the surrounding area, drawing in the magic she needed.
"Perfect." She muttered, merging the two incantations into one "Just the right amount of magic. Now to re-"
Suddenly, a burst of magic. It flew to the horn of the concentrating unicorn, connected as it was to the surrounding magic.
Twilight gasped, feeling her control falter as the ambient magic rose. The spell was becoming difficult to direct.
"I'll just... increase the spells power output..."
She felt relieved as the spell stabilized once again, accepting the extra magic.
Then another burst hit. And another. And another.
"Where is this coming from?" Twilight looked around desperately, attempting to locate the source of the ever increasing magic. An azure glow from near the trees to her left caught her attention, and her eyes widened as she recognized the origin of the light.
"Spellblooms! They must be reacting to the presence of my spell!" This was just her luck! Any other time she would be ecstatic to see Spellblooms-they were rather rare- but now of all times? She turned to her companion.
"Spike! Those flowers! Pick them, quickly! They're the source of the magic!" She gestured to the offending plant with a shaky hoof. Spike jumped up hastily, swiftly making his way towards the flowers.
Twilight was struggling to channel this new magic into a controllable form, but it was becoming harder as the spell took more and more magic from the surrounding area, and it was leaking.
Just as Spike reached the cluster of sapphire blooms, they were no longer there.
"Huh?" He looked about the area in confusion, and quickly caught sight of the plants again, and ran to fulfill his task once more.
But every time he neared them, they managed to jump away, or move something to block his path.
"Argh!" Spike growled in frustration, the fiddlesome florets once again narrowly eluding his grasp.
"Nevermind, Spike! You'll never catch them, they are magic flowers after all! It's too dangerous, the spell is becoming unstable!" By now Twilight was the very picture of concentration, eyes narrowed, brow furrowed, attempting to keep the knot of ever growing magic in line.
Spike ran to Twilight's side. "What do we do?" He asked desperately.
"It's fine! I just have to control it! I can do this!"
However, it was clear that the magic was anything but under Twilights control, the single horn that currently acted as a conduit for it sparking and fizzing with the effort of containing the writhing tendrils of energy.
"Too...much...magic!" Twilight forced out through teeth gritted in concentration. "Can't... hold it! I will try to release it...slowly. Control it."
However, this particular endeavor was swiftly cut short, as the Spellblooms started shining brighter than they had been before, and with the light came a high pitched whine that seemed to bypass the ears and head straight to the brain. One final burst of magic, greater than those that had come prior, slammed into Twilight's frayed concentration.
Which shattered like a wine glass in an opera house.
Objects flew around, changing and disappearing in the twitch of an eyelid, the ground beneath them buckled and roiled, with strips of it turning to blue glass. The wind tore through the clearing as the magic ran wild. Spike clung to Twilight for dear life as the maelstrom continued to tear the area apart. Overhead, an ominous black cloud formed, and Twilight felt her coat prickle as the cloud buzzed with power, lightning striking down to where both pony and dragon...
...Had disappeared.
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"-wlight? Twilight wake up! Oh pleasepleaseplease be alright."
Twilight heard the familiar and worried voice, and her eyes slowly opened in response.
Greeting her was the upside down face of her faithful assistant, whose expression turned from concerned to overjoyed as he noticed this.
"Twilight! You're okay!" He latched onto her in a tight hug.
The unicorn sat up woozily, the reptilian infant still clinging to her, and groaned in pain; every part of her ached.
Examining her surroundings, she noted they were back in the library. Her teleport spell must have kicked in, narrowly saving them.
She sighed. "Well, that could have gone better." It was not her fault, she knew. She could not have known about the Spellblooms. Although, if she hadn't gone to the forest in the first place...
She sighed again, but sounded more relaxed. At any rate, they were alive. However they were lucky that they weren't more seriously injured. She should have prepared for the possibility of something like this happening. She could have done... something. More than she did. Still, no harm done this time, they made it through relatively unharmed. Nothing for it but to continue to read up on things, to ensure that nothing like this happened again.
"Spike. Get me that copy of Arcane Alchemy, please."
The baby dragon stared at her incredulously. "Seriously? A near death experience and you're going back to studying?"
Twilight blinked. "Well, yeah." She said as if this were the most natural thing in the world. "I have to make sure I know what to do next time."
Spike couldn't argue with that. He rolled his eyes and climbed up to the shelf where the book was kept and tossed to the studious purple equine below, who caught it with telekinesis, setting it down on her desk.
"Have fun." said the dragon with more than a hint of sarcasm. I'm going to bed; I'm beat!"
Twilight opened it and turned to the chapter she wanted.
"Ah, here it is. 'Spellblooms and their effects'."
She began to pore over the volume, occasionally scribbling down a particularly interesting passage in her trusty notebook. For Princess Celestia's Most Faithful Student, work was never done.
Deep within the Everfree Forest, a creature lay sleeping in a lightning scarred clearing, its peaceful slumber at contrast to the frantic activity in the hollows between the trees of the forest.
Then, the creature whose like had never been seen before in Equestria, awoke.
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I groaned, turning over in an attempt to return to my slumber, but the hard soil had other ideas. And it was cold, too.
"Stupid heating, with it's stupid breaking..." I muttered.
"And someone aught to shut that owl up, it's driving me..me..." My complaints ground to a halt as I did a mental 180.
"...."
"Hard soil?"
My eyes snapped open, and I was greeted with a horrifying sight.
"Gaaagh!" I scrambled to my feet as I realised where I was. In the middle of a...a...
"A freaking forest! What? How? Why?" I was completely baffled as to my sudden change of scenery. Last I knew, I had gone to sleep in my bed, in my bedroom. Not in the middle of a dark... foreboding... I gulped as my eyes took in the shadows that seemed to shift as I looked at them, the gnarled bark of the trees that seemed almost like faces in a certain light. Scary forest.
Now that I was awake, I felt strange. My chest felt... tighter, fuller. My back felt slightly heavier. I was thirsty, so once I had finished freaking out (which took a good ten minutes) I went to find some sort of spring or river. I remembered something about a certain type of vine which held perfectly drinkable water, but I also remembered there was a similar, more poisonous type it could be confused with. Eyeing the tangled vines suspiciously, I decided I didn't really feel like trying my luck.
I didn't need to worry, anyway, as there was a small spring right near where I had awoken, and I eagerly quenched my thirst. Thinking about it, it also probably wasn't a very good idea to go drinking from a random spring in the middle of a forest, but I was thirsty, damn it!
Sitting up after drinking, I studied my reflection. I looked like the same girl I always did. The same greyish blue eyes, the same medium length brown hair, the same face that has, on occasion been called "pretty". I shook my head and got up from my kneeling position. As I did, I noticed that I was not quite my usual self, after all.
Namely, on my back, I now sported two pairs of insect wings.
"Wh..wha?" I was understandably, in shock. After all, this was-
"This is so cool!" I shrieked, turning round to take a better look at the translucent wings now adorning my back. They were reminiscent of a dragonfly's wings in shape and design, with colourless veins criss-crossing through them. I twitched the muscles that I now realised were the cause of the tight feeling in my chest I had noticed earlier, and my newly gained appendages mirrored the action.
"Wow! I'm like a...fairy! Nah, that sounds stupid... A pixie? A sprite? No, wait, a sylph! Yeah, now that sounds awesome!" I preened at my reflection, posing in the mirror to show off to myself and the forest. But, looking carefully, I noticed something. Everything seemed slightly...bigger than usual...
"Oh god damn it!" I cursed as I realised what it was.
I was now at least a head shorter. Perhaps not too much, but I had always been sensitive about my height, and this just added insult to injury.
At least I got a good trade for the loss of height. Some seriously awesome wings, and, now that I looked, my eyes were not as mundane as they had first appeared, different colours appearing at different angles. Damn, that was cool.
However, I suddenly realised my predicament: I was alone in a forest, with newly gained wings, newly weirdified eyes, and I was shorter than yesterday.
And I was still wearing my pajamas.
...
Darn.
I sat down and thought about my plan of action. I would probably need to get out of this forest, but, looking around, I had no idea where to go. I looked back at my wings curiously. I wonder...
But. First things first. And the first thing...was shelter.
And then I was so gonna try to fly.
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Author's note: Oh, still here? Then you just took time out of your undoubtably busy lives to read my little proto story! Daww, thanks! This is my very first attempt at writing, let alone a fanfiction, so reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated! (You know, whether you like it, should I continue, what should I change) Please don't be too heavy on the criticism part, though. I prefer construction! But, hey, whatever you want to do, you know?