• Published 10th Jun 2017
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Twilight Spun... - Starscribe



Twilight Sparkle didn't consider what might happen when she used an "Object Possession" spell to check on her student. Now she has to live with the consequences. Forever.

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...Around and Around...

Twilight spun.

She'd been spinning for a long time now—hours? It felt like hours. There was a clock in her room, and she could hear the ticking as it echoed. Unfortunately it was facing away from her, so she had no way of knowing how long she'd been here. Was Starlight's insane plan to help Celestia and Luna working? She could only hope so—for the sake of all Equestria. She told herself this was why she hadn't yet cast the spell to return to her real body, asleep even now in her castle back in Ponyville. She told herself that, and she almost believed it.

Not that she minded the music. It wasn't just coming from nearby, as Starlight might've thought. In many ways it was Twilight, as much as the spinning, pony-shaped ballerina with her face was Twilight. She could feel every inch of the music box as though it were her own body. Knew every amethyst gemstone set into the sides, all four. The mother-of-pearl and gold trim were her skin too, as well as the spring mechanism that allowed the ballerina to emerge from within and spin while gears and clockwork played music.

She was thankful the possession spell allowed her complete control of the object's ordinary function, or else it might've wound down with her facing a wall, unable to see anything but paper and not able to offer her student useful advice.

The dancing was nice—the music was soothing, melodic, reverberating through her hollow wooden body, echoing through the room. She didn't mind that her natural position was such a tense pose, or at least it would've been for a living pony. But for Twilight it was her natural resting position, and so she could relax balanced on one hoof and spin, smiling contentedly to herself even if she did not feel content.

She told herself it was because Equestria was in danger. Luna and Celestia had struggled with their relationship before, and Equestria had suffered for it. Why had the map chosen Starlight instead of her? Twilight's head might be going a little fuzzy right now, but she was quite certain that she wouldn't have done something as stupid as switching the Diarch's cutie marks.

A maid came in. The whole world felt like it was suddenly back in-focus again, and Twilight could think straight. The ticking of the clock stopped blurring together and resolved into the steady flow of seconds again. Unfortunately she had to use her new lucidity to hold perfectly still (at least with the ballerina) and pretend that she was an ordinary music box. It wasn't as hard as it would've been for a living pony at least. Her body wasn't alive, didn't need to breathe, didn't have muscles to twitch or wings that got cramped if she didn't flex every now and then to get the stiffness out.

The maid spared her a glance as she passed over Starlight's desk, and for a second Twilight felt a few feathers pass over her body. She kept spinning, ignoring the sensation, her smile a little more genuine as the maid hesitated to appreciate Twilight's craftsmanship. When she left, the maid was humming quietly to herself to Twilight's melody.

Time blurred a little after that. Occasionally someone would walk past the hallway outside, startling Twilight out of her melodic reverie. More often than not she was alone, alone with her own thoughts, and the worry she had over her student's success. I hope she's okay. I hope Equestria's okay with what she did. If something went wrong, it was Twilight and her friends who would have to fix it, somehow. That's usually how those things worked out.

She could hear voices coming from down the hall, and she hesitated in her spinning to listen. One of them sounded like Starlight Glimmer. The other one was familiar too, though she couldn't place exactly who. Thank goodness. Twilight thought to herself. She sounds like she's a little tired, but not like she's guilty she just broke Equestria or something. It's all going to be fine. Twilight froze in place, preparing to hide herself from whoever Starlight Glimmer's guest would be. One more conversation, then she could teleport back over here for real with some sort of excuse or another. Maybe she could bring spare quills, or a manebrush—any pretext would do.

Starlight Glimmer came in, and Twilight almost didn't recognize the pony who was walking along beside her. Didn't recognize her, because she couldn't believe what she was seeing. The lavender Alicorn was, of course, herself.

"Now I need you to tell me everything," Twilight was saying, levitating a scroll and a quill in the air behind them. "Even the smallest detail might be important. I want to keep good records of every mission the map sends us on, so we can figure out how it works."

"You already know most of it," Starlight said, pointing over her shoulder at Twilight, still frozen on the music box. "You transformed my music box, remember?" She sounded annoyed, worn-out, and for once Twilight found it difficult to care.

"Oh, this?" said the gigantic copy of herself, striding over. Her hoofsteps shook the ground, like with every other pony. She walked right up, extending one hoof towards Twilight. "I didn't actually—"

Twilight realized what was about to happen a split second before it did, and she called out in fear and pain. "Wait, don't!" but not fast enough, or loud enough for them to notice. A gigantic hoof pressed down on her, a hoof with familiar contours, a hoof she knew as well as she knew anything in the world, and Twilight was pressed flat against the mirrored floor she'd been dancing on, immobile as it rotated around her and the sky vanished from above. Now her eyes were inside, pressed up against the gears and wheels of the music box, and she was powerless to move.

Well, not completely. The music box couldn't spin in this position, the ballerina couldn't dance, and only a lock from the outside would open the music-box again. But she could still move her hollow balsa-wood body, pounding on the mirrored surface of the "floor". "Wait!" she called, her voice seeming so tiny and feeble in her little wooden cell. "Let me out!"

She tried to dispel the possession. Tried to teleport out, tried to levitate the lock open, anything. She kept banging on the floor that was now the ceiling, but she was only hitting herself, and the pain soon overwhelmed her.

Worst of all, she could still hear her own voice from outside, so big and far away. "I couldn't get it to work. I think the transfiguration part must've done something, since it looked like me, but... I couldn't get the possession part working."

"You must have a pretty high standard for working," Starlight said, sounding even more annoyed by the second. "Because you talked to me. You weren't very helpful, though."

"Really?" Twilight felt herself lifted into the air—all of herself, though she couldn't actually see outside. Only a few cracks of light made it past the top of the music box, made to keep the delicate ballerina from being accidentally damaged when she wasn't being used. "That's weird. I wonder if... maybe my intention got through and kept it moving? Like a come to life spell?"

"No," she whimpered, still trapped inside. It hurt too much to struggle, and apparently her voice was too small to hear, but Twilight moaned anyway. "Not like that. I'm still in here!"

"Could be," Starlight grunted. "I'm going to bed. You can figure it out."

"Or!" big Twilight said, sounding so cheerful it hurt. "Now that you're done with the map's assignment, you're ready for another one from me. Magical research assignment, yay!"

Twilight felt herself falling again, though only for a split-second. Magic caught onto her again, though the aura was slightly different, less familiar. Starlight's magic.

"Sure," said a tired voice from outside.

She went tumbling suddenly through the air, and Twilight screamed, screamed with all the fear left in her terrified little body. If Starlight had dropped her...

But no, a second later she landed on something soft—the bed maybe, or the inside of Starlight's suitcase. Twilight couldn't tell, since she didn't have eyes. She could see when the last light from above her was covered up, feel cloth or fabric piled on top of her, muffling the voices from outside.

"I'll get right on that." Starlight said, very faint and far away.

Twilight heard a zipper, then absolute darkness descended, trapping her.