Level Flight

by RandomGreymane

Chapter 4

Level Flight - Chapter 4 by RandomGreymane

“It’s not that I can’t balance the inner circle,” Twilight remarked to Alabaster. “but it’s the outer circle that's taking more effort.”

“Have you looked at the connection subsections?” Alabaster replied. “Those could be causing the outer circle to bleed off into the inner one.”

“Hmm...” was Twilight’s only response as she focused on the minute curves between the boundaries of the casting circle. The fine Equestrian lettering littered the spaces between the inner and outer portions of the circle until almost every available space was filled. “I just don’t want to get this wrong. Celestia has that ‘big empty’ to help transformations in. The rest of us aren’t that lucky.” Twilight half expected to hear the tinkle of royal laughter in her head but there was only silence from the connection.

Alabaster nodded from within the inner circle. “I appreciate the effort.” she said with slight amusement in her tone. “I mean it’s not like I couldn’t go back to being a statue or anything. Or maybe a scarecrow-pony out on the edge of the orchard. As long as someone would clean off the bird droppings I wouldn’t mind. Oh! I know! I could take my ‘rightful place’ in the Royal Gardens!”

“Oh buck you.” Twilight replied without looking up. “The spell is difficult enough without the cart-bed driving. I still don’t see what could have caused your hooves to become frozen in place like that!”

Well at least nopony else is around to hear myself argue with...myself. Twilight thought. I wonder...

Ugh. It’s got to be the spell feeds! Alabaster thought. What’s taking her so bucking long to figure it out??

What is making this not work? Twilight pondered internally. I mean everything is textbook perfect! Why in the hay is the spell just stopping halfway through?

Twilight briefly powered up the outer ring of the spell and observed the slight shifting of the characters that occurs sometimes.

“How’s it going?” Spike said. Looking to her right, Twilight could see he was holding a basket and she could smell the aroma of warm pie from it. “I brought us a snack!” he announced.

“I’m not sure I could eat anything until I solve this Spike. Sorry.” Twilight said politely. Her face betrayed her frustration though as she looked intently at the spellcraft before her.

Spike stepped up and placed the basket next to the circle. “No problem. I’m sure I can give Miss Jubilee a hand with something.” he said as he started to step away.

“Spike!” Twilight exclaimed. “Don’t. Move.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked as he froze in place.

“Take one step back please.” Twilight instructed. Spike obeyed obediently. “Now step away again. YES!”

“What?” Alabaster asked. “What is it?”

“I found the problem!” Twilight said as she clapped her hooves together. “The problem is Spike!”

“Say what?” Spike replied. “Come again?”

“Oh I didn’t mean it in that way Spike.” Twilight said as she peeked inside the basket to observe the cherry pie within. “When you stood next to the outer ring of the circle the characters abruptly stopped moving. It’s got to be something with your ‘dragon magick’ that’s interfering. It’s dampening the spell circle!”

“But I wasn’t even that close to the circle when you did the spell the first time.” Spike responded.

“You didn’t need to be.” Twilight replied.

“The overflow field.” Alabaster said.

“The overflow field.” Twilight echoed. “What most ponies don’t know is that there’s a field that always surrounds every spell. For most spells it’s small enough that it never comes into play - an inch at most!”

“But what we have here...” Alabaster continued. “...is a complex spell that is using a TON of power and probably has a field extending...well...I don’t know how far...wow.”

“Wow indeed.” Twilight replied. “The only reason I caught it this time was because you were standing so close. If you’d been further away I wouldn’t have seen the effects because I wasn’t putting a lot of power into the spell.”

“So..what?” Spike asked. “I have to be out of the way while the spell is taking place? How far? The barn? The house?”

“In town just to be safe.” Twilight stated. “We are working with somepony’s life here.”

“Oh...” Spike replied.

“It’s okay Spike.” Alabaster said with a chuckle. “I’ll make sure to keep an eye on myself for you.”

“Very funny.” Spike intoned grimly while shuffling his feet slightly. “Twilight isn’t there any other way? I mean you’ve always called me your good luck charm...”

“Spike.” Twilight said as she placed a hoof gently on his side. “It’ll be all right. Just this once. I don’t want to take any chances.”

Pondering his feet for a moment Spike then inhaled deeply. “All right then mom. I’ll head out. Send me a signal when it’s all over k?”

“Will do!” Twilight said, a warm smile on her face.

Mom thought Alabaster. Wow. I’m suddenly extremely envious. I know I shouldn’t be but still...

Twilight watched Spike explain to a farm hand that he needed to get to town and then get in the nearby wagon. Before too long, the wagon headed off through the orchard until it was obscured by the trees.

“We’ll give it another 30 minutes or so before we start up again.” Twilight said as she materialized a sand timer out of thin air. “Just to be safe.” She levitated the newly created timer and set it carefully on top of a nearby post with the full end upright.

“You know...” Alabaster remarked. “Spike seemed a little put out that he couldn’t be here. He has been at our...your...side for most of your life.”

“I know but this time it’s unavoidable.” Twilight said as she turned to position herself in the proper casting location. “I’ll make it up to him...later...” She stopped.

“Wow.” said Alabaster. “I always wondered what that looked like.”

“Huh?” Twilight muttered in reply as she shook her head to clear it.

“Our...your...’I just realized how stupid I’ve been.’ face.” Alabaster replied.

“Seriously?” Twilight responded. Her voice contained all sorts of emotions. “I just realized again that I’ve always been making him wait. I’ve always put him second to the needs at hoof, most times anyways.”

“It was always difficult to include him.” Alabaster pondered. “At first he was a true baby, then as he grew he was still too small to be included in most things. And he had no magick really, until now that is. But he’s always been there. Trying. No matter what.”

“No matter what...” Twilight echoed.

Alabaster turned her head to face Twilight directly. “So what are you going to do Princess Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight looked up. “I...I don’t know. For once in my life all the things that I’ve read and learned don’t seem to make any sense.”

Good answer. Alabaster thought before she continued. “When I got here I thought I knew what it was all about. I’d buck the trees as hard as I could just because I thought that’s what it took. It was obvious that I was damaging the trees and Miss Jubilee, while patient, was none too thrilled. In time though I learned just the right amount of force to knock as many of the cherries off the trees in one buck as could be done.”

“What’s this got to do with Spike?” Twilight asked.

“Balance.” Alabaster replied. “There is a balance to everything. The relationship between you and Spike is no different.”

“But...” Twilight said.

“Nopony is born knowing how to be a good parent.” Alabaster continued. “It's something that is learned as you go. You can read all the books in Equestria, take all the classes, have all the tools and spells ready, and still...well it’s something that’s taught on-the-job.”

“When did you become so...?” Twilight asked.

“Pony?” Alabaster rebutted. “Because right now I’m not. It affords me the luxury of a different perspective.”

“So what should I do then?” Twilight continued. “I can’t include him in everything! I mean there’s all sorts of stuff I’m not supposed to tell anypony, and that’s just princess related!”

“You’ll figure it out.” Alabaster said. Twilight could have sworn she heard a smile in the stone pony’s voice. “You’re good at learning on your hooves.”

Twilight pondered this as she watched the sand continue to empty into the bottom of the hourglass. “I think...” Twilight said. “I think the problem is that until recently I’ve never truly considered him my child. Intellectually I know I hatched him and he imprinted on me...but until now it’s never sunk in before.”

“I don’t have many memories of mom any more.” Alabaster replied. “But one of them I do have still is one time she was punishing Shiney for staying out late. I believe it was when he started seeing Cadence behind our tails, before they were openly dating. He was angry and shouted ‘You’re the worst mom ever!’ at her.”

“I remember that.” Twilight said, facing Alabaster again. “Mom didn’t seem too upset by what he said at the time.”

“Eeeyup. And remember what she said when we asked her why not?” Alabaster said.

“’A mom isn’t always the nicest pony all the time, but she has to be the mom-est pony all the time.’” Twilight recalled. “I never really understood that until just now.”

“Speaking of time...” Alabaster said, nodding towards the hourglass which was just about empty. “We need to get this done because I REALLY have work to do. You’re making me LATE! Princess. Twilight. Sparkle.”

Twilight could hear the open mocking and amusement in Alabaster’s tone and chuckled herself. “I’ll TRY not to hold you up much longer. Don’t you have a statuary to stand in?”

“How’s the flying lessons?” Alabaster countered. The two ponies broke into laughter as Twilight watched the sand empty it’s remaining grains into the bottom of the hourglass.

As the remaining sands slipped past the neck of the glass Twilight took her place along the edge of the circle and, as before, she began to power up the diagram. This time the magick flowed through the fine tracery, the glow slowly lighting the area as the sun started to set.

As the power flowed through the circle a stillness settled within it’s confines. “Alabaster?” Twilight asked with a note of caution.

“Still here...” came a soft echo from within the quickly forming dome. “I can’t move the proverbial muscle though.”

“I’m still not rushing.” Twilight replied. “You KNOW what could happen.”

No reply came from the stone pony.

Twilight extended her wings and her eyes began to glow as she poured her consciousness into the weave of the spell.

Wow....this is... Twilight thought ...a lot more complex than I expected.

Focus Sparkle! Alabaster’s voice echoed in Twilight’s head. I’m holding steady here but if I slip...

Working on it... Twilight thought back. There’s a lot to deal with.

And you wondered why it took Celestia a whole day to put you back together. Alabaster replied. Her mental voice was more than a little snarky.

Twilight had to admit to herself that she was having trouble keeping the complex spell structure straight AND maintaining the required power levels.

Reach. a voice said in her head. The voice sounded strange to her mental ears. Like a number of voices combined into a single chorus. Reach. it said again.

With the spell teetering on the brink of collapse, Twilight had no choice. She reached out in the direction of the voice and was startled to find her alicorn sisters. Our power is yours. they said.

In moments Twilight was flooded with more power than she’d imagined possible. I can...I can remake anything! she thought to herself.

Caution. came the calm reply within her.

Mentally nodding, Twilight drew the sea of power within, and aligned the world around her...

=========================================================

She could have shielded me or something. Spike remarked to himself as he sat on the bottom step of the general store. I mean it’s not like she couldn’t have. She just wanted the simple solution. And once again I lose out. I really wanted to see this one.

He kicked a rock out into the street and watched it bounce into the distance, almost hitting the building across from him.

His eyes lit on a piece of scrub near the path the rock had taken. He looked away then quickly back. Wait...is the shadow on that bush MOVING?? What the buck... he thought to himself.

Shading his eyes he looked up to see the moon passing in front of the sun. In moments the eclipse was total and only the sun’s outer edge was visible. Unlike during Nightmare Moon’s return there was still light seeping out around the edges of the moon.

“Twilight what the hay are you doing?” Spike asked aloud. He watched the town as ponies slowly came outside to see what was going on. Strangely they didn’t seem to be panicked in any way, more curious than anything.

Spike addressed the growing crowd. “It’s all right everypony. Nothing to worry about. It’s just an artificial...twilight.” He groaned inwardly. I’m going to give her so much crap for this one.

The eclipse lasted for nearly an hour and Spike spent most of that time making sure the town remained calm. Celestia’s going to have to send out a flankload of letters explaining what happened. he thought. If I know Twilight she’ll want to send apology scrolls to everypony. Yeah...I’m not doing that. He grinned slightly at the thought.

In time, and slowly, the moon moved to resume it’s normal space below the horizon and full daylight returned. Spike wasted no time locating a cart and ponies to take him back to the orchard.

As soon as the cart arrived in front of the orchard, Spike leaped out and ran down the dirt road between the trees.

Rounding a bend he saw a familiar purple form collapsed next to the spell diagram. “Twilight!” he exclaimed.

“She’s fine.” came a voice from the nearby barn. “She’s just sleeping it off.”

Spike looked up as Alabaster emerged from the barn. “Whoah.” he said then whistled in appreciation. “Not surprised really. Twilight always does good work.”

“Don’t I know it!” Alabaster said happily as she bent slightly to look at her flank and tail.

The once white pony was now a tanner color and Spike could see that her stone looked more like marble than her original alabaster. Most interesting of all was that her face was now more alive. The lips moving while she spoke, and the large green eyes tracking the movement around her.

“Looks like she also reduced your size a bit.” Spike remarked. “You’re not quite the height you were by a long shot.”

“I know, and I’m super grateful.” Alabaster replied. “Now I don’t have to duck to get into the barn and other places. I am even able to fit through a normal sized door!”

Spike nodded and smiled before turning his attention to Twilight. He carefully reached out and stroked her mane. “Ya did good mom.” he said quietly.

Carefully, Spike lifted Twilight and walked to the house. He made sure to keep light on his feet with every step so as not to awaken the sleeping pony.

Miss Jubilee saw him coming and went inside to prepare one of the spare beds. She returned just in time to hold the door open for Spike, who entered and carried Twilight to a back room. Smiling again, he tucked her into bed.

Alabaster was waiting for him when he exited the house. Her bobbed tail flicking slightly. “All bedded down?” she asked.

Spike simply nodded and sat himself on a nearby boulder that for all of Equestria seemed placed there for the purpose.

“Good.” continued Alabaster. “She’s earned the rest. You have no idea what she went through to get this one done!”

“That’s...not strictly true...” Spike said as his eyes wandered to the stone pony’s eyes. “When she was first transformed...I had a dream.”

“You never told me...her...that!” Alabaster exclaimed.

“And I likely never will.” he replied with a note of hardness in his voice. “Here’s the thing...” he began. “When Twilight didn’t reappear I immediately panicked. I panicked so badly that I exhausted myself very quickly. And...I fell asleep.”

“You told us about that part.” Alabaster said in a slightly soothing tone. “What else happened?”

“I...dreamed...” Spike said. “I dreamed I was in a purple fog that was violently swirling around me. I could hear voices. One of them sounded like Celestia. It said something about me being linked to Twilight because she hatched me. Then...”

“...then?” Alabaster asked softly.

Spike took a breath before continuing. “Then...there was pain. Quite a lot of it actually. I could hear Celestia repeating the word sorry over and over. She said at one point that she couldn’t break our bond and wouldn’t if she could, but that I would end up with some of Twilight’s pain because of that. The pain of her ‘being born’ so to speak.”

“Oh Spike...” Alabaster said.

“It went on like that for some time.” Spike continued. “Eventually it went away and Celestia appeared. She cradled me in her wing and all my fears and upset vanished. ‘Sleep now.’ she told me. ‘Twilight will be back to you soon.’ And it wasn’t long afterwords that I woke up. I felt refreshed and ran out and Twilight was just landing.”

“So why didn’t you tell us..er..her about it.” Alabaster asked.

“I don’t know.” Spike said. “I think it’s because I felt strangely proud to share some of her pain. To help her without her knowing. I got the impression that it would have been much worse if I hadn’t been involved.”

“Very likely.” Alabaster replied. “You should probably tell her eventually.”

“Yeah I know.” Spike said as he shuffled his feet in the dirt in front of him. “It’s just hard to find an appropriate time y’know? I mean it’s difficult to frame a ‘Hey you remember back when you were transformed?’ conversation. Not really an easy starter.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something.” Alabaster said. “You’re one of the most clever beings I know. She probably wouldn’t tell you but I do recall being amazed constantly at your in-the-moment problem solving. You’ll figure it out.”

“Thanks.” Spike said as he looked up and smiled. “You’ve changed so much. You want to know how I know?”

“How’s that?” Alabaster asked.

“I wouldn’t have told Twilight all this.” he replied. “You aren’t her any more. You’re your own pony. Glad ta meetcha.” Spike held out a claw.

Alabaster reached out her hoof and shook with it. “I’m glad to meet you as well Spike the Dragon.”

Spike just grinned in response.

“So with all this excitement over...” Alabaster started. “...I’m pretty tired of being stuck in one place. Want to take a ride with me in the desert?”

Spike looked back at the house. “Well, I don’t see Twilight waking up any time soon so, yeah, I’ll take you up on your offer!”

“Hop on!” Alabaster said, turning a side to him.

Spike easily lept onto the back of the stone pony. Alabaster wasted no time before poking fun. “Ooof! You’re heavy!” she exclaimed. “You gaining weight? Eating gypsum crystals again?”

“Oh and this from the pony that is literally several stones worth of weight!” Spike yelled as they set off at a high speed.

“Hah!” Alabaster retorted. “At least I’ll never get fat!”

“No fair!” Spike said with a laugh.

Alabaster rounded the corner at the entrance of the farm and picked up speed when she hit the road. “Let’s see what this baby can do!” she shouted.

Spike, still laughing, hung on for dear life.

Author's Note:

Well Rich Text cut/paste seems to be working properly from Google Docs so most of the formatting looks good. The word count has dropped. Focuswriter still shows a clear 3333 words but this shows 3307. Not sure what's up there but I'm okay with it.

Let me know if the formatting is borked somewhere. At least it appears to be properly keeping Italics this time.

Comments

[ILikeFanfiction1234]

i really like this fanfictinon series i hope this story continues/finishes.