Spritelight

by Makitk

Spritelight 1, Chapter 5

The storefront was empty, dark, and had about a year's worth of dust covering every surface. From the empty shelves to the register, to the rat's skeleton in a corner of the room - there was dust everywhere.

The employee lounge in the back was not much better off, although the mice and rats had had a feast on whatever had been left in the storage cabinets long before we arrived. There were droppings everywhere, and it wasn't long before I felt one fall apart under my forehoof.

"Ew," I said, lifting my hoof and using my magic to get the gritty material out from under it.

"Yeah, it may need a bit of cleaning, Spritey," Turkey offered, "but that's easily done with your magic, right?"

I glared at her and took a step back, poking her left wing with my horn. "How about I open the door, and you use your wings to blow all of this stuff out through it?"

Turkey blinked and looked back at her wing, tentatively lifting it from where it had rested against her side. "Oh, hey, forgot I had these things..."

"You also forgot my name is Spritelight, not Spritey," I smirked, walking over to the front of the store again and opening the door. "Go on, flap them. Get a storm going. Should be easy for a Pegasus like you."

Turkey stood in the opening of the employee lounge, just looking at me in confusion.

"Your wings. Flap them," I repeated.

Turkey looked back at her wings and slowly unfolded them. "Just flap them?"

"Yeah. Just flap them," I told her.

Turkey slowly moved her wings up and down, looking very uncomfortable at the motion. Even with them moving at such a slow speed, it was enough to cause the dust in her immediate area to move and drift up in a small cloud.

"Ok, so just flap them a bit harder, and don't breathe in," I warned, placing my hoof to my forehead - just beside my horn - as she did just that.

"Ha..." Turkey started, her wings moving up a bit, and I took a step back out of the store.

"Haa..." Turkey continued, and I took another step as her wings rose up higher.

"TCHOOO!!!" Turkey finally sneezed and, with a massive flap of her wings, launched herself deeper into the store!

The fast movement of her wings was all the dust needed to blast out of the open door like it got shot from a cannon, and I had to jump to the side to prevent getting it all plastered over my coat! Laying there off to the side, I heard Turkey prepare for another sneeze, and quickly used my magic to keep the door open.

Another blast of dust flew past as she did, and I shook my head at the poor Pegasi inside. "I told you not to breathe in," I muttered as a third sneeze followed, then a fourth, with considerably less dust following after the sounds.

When Turkey finally calmed down I chanced to look into the store and saw her laying in a crumpled mess in the far corner of the employee lounge, somehow having turned herself upside-down with her rear up against the wall and her wings drooped to either side of her. She was still sniffling and her eyes looked red from the dust that had gotten into them.

There was little dust still floating around, the majority of which having been ejected through the open door, or forced in a thick layer up against the glass panes to either side of it, so I trotted back inside and closed the door behind me, pulling the curtain down to keep prying eyes out.

"I told you not to breathe it in, Turkey," I muttered, walking calmly into the employee lounge while the mare rubbed at her muzzle with a hoof.

"I don't think I've ever sneezed this much when I was still a human," Turkey muttered from her upside-down position.

"I would imagine human noses aren't as sensitive as ours, considering how small they are," I chuckled, using my magic to pick her up and turn her right-side up. "You have some powerful wings there, hun."

"I thought my name was Turkey?" Turkey wondered, trying to get her wings to fold again.

"You may want to preen those before you fold them. I see some misaligned feathers here and there," I warned her.

"Preen them? Are you serious?" she returned, letting out a whine after as she turned her head to look back at her wings. "Aww, man... I don't know the first thing about preening."

"Well, don't look at me. I'm a Unicorn," I sighed. "Ask me about magic, and I know what to do. Wings, not so much."

Turkey sat down on her rear, moving her wings a little awkwardly. "Oh, great."

"Hey, you used to be a human, right?" I asked, prancing about a little.

"Until you bumped into me, yes," Turkey muttered, trying to get at her wings with her hooves and failing miserably.

"I think Pegasi use their teeth," I commented. "Do you know of anything that could get rid of this headache I've been having? I've tried to find some in the last few houses I stayed at, but I haven't been able to find any."

"Yeah, it's called aspirin," Turkey replied absentmindedly, reaching down with her head to bite at the rogue feathers sticking out of her wings.

"Asprin?" I repeated, and raised an eyebrow at her humming an answer.

"Asprin," I said to myself, looking around the empty room. "I won't find any asprin in this place. Where do humans usually keep it?"

"Drugstore," Turkey mumbled, her eyes focused on nothing in particular as she was putting her feathers back in place.

"Hey, are you ok?" I wondered, lowering my head to look at her. Her eyes looked a bit glazed over, and it took her a moment to realize I was staring at her.

She pulled back with a flush on her cheeks, blinking her eyes heavily. "Huh? What?"

"You zoned out there a moment, didn't you?" I realized.

Turkey blinked some more, then lowered her ears and nodded with a dumb smile on her face. "Y...yeah."

"So, asprin?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Er, well, can I finish this first?" Turkey asked, and I sat down with a sigh.

"Yeah, sure, don't mind me..." I muttered, watching with some annoyance as Turkey returned to straightening out her wings with a look as if she was in some kind of trance.

"Heh, Turkey Trance," I chuckled to myself.