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Don't Try This At Home1,135 words
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Back At Home With Mom And Dad1,134 words
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Support Your Local Alicorn1,754 words

Don't Try This At Home

One – Don’t Try This At Home

For just a brief second, the interior of the Ponyville Library was completely covered in a bright magenta light. When the intense flare faded, several books had been knocked from their shelves and there was a smoking black star scorched into the floor.

Spike cautiously poked his helmeted head out from behind his pillow-and-book fort on the far side of the room. “Twilight? Did… did it work?”

“Aargh…” The groan came from somewhere upstairs. “Spike…? Don’t ever let me try that spell again. Promise?”

“I promise.”

“Do you Pinkie Promise?”

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” He stuck his hand over his eye and watched a magenta bolt streak to the floor. Twilight Sparkle reappeared over the scorch mark. She ruffled her wings, tossing scorched feathers and black soot into the air. When she folded her wings back in, she did so carefully.

“Ow, ow, ow… okay!” The Princess of Ponyville summoned a roll of paper and a quill. She scribbled down a few notes. “That’s the sixth spell test this morning! Now we’re onto age spells!”

Spike had been dreading this one. He hesitantly took off his helmet and stepped out from the safety of his fort. “Are you sure this is going to work?”

“I’ve been practicing with fruits and flowers,” Twilight insisted. “Not to mention Fluttershy let me practice on a few squirrels. They seem fine.”

“But what about that one that disappeared?”

The alicorn rolled her eyes. “He didn’t age back into nothing, Spike. He just ran away when I started the spell.”

Spike felt like running away himself. He was glad to help out Twilight, but he had no interest in either being turned back into an egg or blown up into a giant, mindless rampaging dragon.

On the other hand, he thought with a happy sigh, if I could be just a few years older, just enough to catch Rarity’s attention…

That might be worth a few aches and pains. At least they were practicing indoors, where nopony else could see them if something went wrong. Well, more like when something went wrong.

“Now, hold still.” Twilight quickly turned away to consult one of the magic scrolls that Princess Celestia had sent her after her coronation. “This will only take a second…”

“Just don’t make it too strong,” Spike warned. Then he closed his eyes and braced himself.

Twilight took a deep breath in, held it, and released it. Spike allowed himself a quick peek right as her horn began to glow magenta. Then it turned white-hot and unleashed a massive stream of energy right at him.

Searing white heat washed over him. Spike felt himself being lifted off the ground. His limbs were hurting, but not terribly.

When he looked down at himself, he grinned. He’d gotten a few inches taller and had filled out nicely. His joy only increased when he saw that he was eye-level with Twilight.

“Well, how do I look?” he asked. Then he gasped at how deep his voice had gotten.

“Like a very princely dragon,” his sister replied. She pointed him toward a mirror in the corner. When he rushed over, Spike noted the slight addition of muscle in his arms. His abs could have used a little more toning, but that was fine. He flexed his muscles and bared his fangs.

“Hey there,” he said to his reflection. “Come here often?”

“You should probably be careful,” Twilight warned with a laugh. “I made it a low-power spell, so it might not last very long. I doubt it’ll feel good when you revert back to your true form.”

“How long do I have?”

“I don’t know. Maybe an hour, maybe a few seconds—”

“Right, see ya!” Spike turned and dashed for the front door—only for a magenta-colored lasso to tighten around his ankles and yank him down.

“I know you want to impress Rarity, but let’s stay focused.” Twilight dropped the magic binding him to the floor as she trotted over to her spellcraft notes. “If there are side effects, we don’t want anypony else to get hurt.”

Spike sighed. And right on cue, the age spell wore off. His body shrank back to its original size, and when he sighed again, his voice had gone back to normal as well.

“Horse feathers,” he muttered.

Twilight turned away from her notes and books with a sly grin. “Okay. You should take cover. It’s my turn now.”

“Is it safe to cast an age spell on yourself?”

“Why not? Star-Swirl the Bearded did it a few times when he was just an old stallion. I don’t see any reason it couldn’t work on me.”

Spike wanted to argue that Star-Swirl had lived for over a century as the most powerful unicorn in history, but he knew better. Besides, he still felt fine after the age spell, so maybe Twilight really would be okay.

He raced back to his fort and pulled on his helmet. Twilight moved back to the center of the room, going through the same breathing exercise as before.

The air around her head began to swirl and glow with a soft white light. That light became a vortex, blue ringed with magenta, spreading out from the tip of her horn. Her wings extended as she was slowly lifted off the floor, hanging in midair in the heart of her own tiny storm.

Spike ducked when the vortex collapsed, engulfing the entire library in a white flash of light.

As the light and noise faded, Spike hesitantly stuck his head out from the pillows. He groaned and blinked his eyes.

He heard Twilight sniffling. “Hey, are you okay?”

As he pulled himself free from his ruined shelter, Spike hobbled over to the pile of books that now lay on the library floor. The spell had almost been as powerful as that last one. On a hunch, Spike checked the ceiling to make sure Twilight wasn’t up there.

He began to pick through the books. “Twilight? Are you hurt? Did it work on you?” When she didn’t answer, his breath grew short as he frantically tossed the books over his shoulders. “Come on, talk to me! Where’d you go…?”

“I’m here, Spike,” a very small voice called out. The dragon reached down and pulled a large encyclopedia away. Then he almost dropped it on his foot in shock.

A lavender filly stuck her head out from the pile of books. Her tiny wings fluttered as she tried to lift herself into the air—only to crash down onto the books.

“I think,” said Twilight, “we might have a problem.”

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Tast

Tast #1 · Apr 6th, 2013 · 1 · ·

Ok, going places. I like it so far, and I'd like to see where you take it. I had a critique, but upon further review it was just two incidence in rapid succession that made me think you did it through the whole chapter.

Worked well as a prologue; it'll hook people that like the concept.

DPheonix