The Spell
Twilight concentrated her magic, sweat rolling down her forehead as she lifted the water of the lake into the air. She twisted it up into a ball, swirled it around, and performed various other tricks as her friends cheered for her success. Spike gawked at the water.
"Wow Twilight, that's pretty impressive! You should learn new tricks like this more often!" he praised. Twilight smiled as she shaped and formed the water around Rarity, turning it into a beautiful gown, still not getting her friend wet. The others clapped and cheered as she water moved away again.
Next it came to Applejack, and twisted around her, forming two saddlebags full of beautiful apples onto her back. She smiled brightly as it lifted away again, and came to Pinkie. She giggled and bounced as she water formed balloons all around the group, more and more balloons appearing as Twilight pressed her magic. Two left, she didn't know how well she could hold up the water though.
The balloons lightly faded away to mist and then reappeared as a large blob of water. Then, it split into many little balls and formed into beautiful birds and butterflies, dancing across the sky. Fluttershy smiled wildly as the beautiful scene appeared. She flew lightly up into the air and flew with the water creatures until they all flew away back to the ball. Then, the water changed, and formed into some awfully familiar ponies to Rainbow Dash. She gasped.
"The Wonderbolts! Twilight, can I fly with them? Please?" she begged. Twilight gave a weak smile and nodded as sweat dripped into the empty pond. Rainbow took off into the air and the Waterbolts flew up behind her. Twilight glanced at Spike with a pained expression on her face. He saw this and nodded.
"Ok Rainbow Dash, you'd better get down now, Twilight's getting tired." he called. Rainbow stopped and raced back down again, the Waterbolts dissolving and all the water falling back into the pond as Twilight collapsed beside it.
Spike ran and helped her to her feet. Twilight turned to her friends and smiled weakly.
"Sorry guys, that's all for now. I think I'll go home and rest for a bit." she told her friends.
"Twilight, you're exhausted, let us help you!" Fluttershy smiled and clapped her hooves. Within seconds, a large group of butterflies had flown under Twilight and was flying her home. She closed her eyes and relaxed, and as a result, fell into a deep sleep. Spike waved to the others as he walked away, following the butterfly swarm.
As Twilight woke up, she found herself in her bed, snuggled up with the covers up to her chin. Either Spike or the Fluttershy's butterflies had put her to bed. She rubbed her eyes and looked out the window beside her bed. The moon was high is the sky, it was about midnight by the looks of it. Spike was curled up in his bed, with the covers pulled up to his chin like Twilight's had been. She smiled, it must have been him who put her to bed. She wasn't very tired, so she decided to lie in bed and think. She thought about how well she had amazed her friends, how happy they were to see the water floating.
What else would impress them? She hopped out of bed and trotted down the stairs to her bookshelf. She picked out a large book called, "Fun Tricks for the Eager Unicorn", and began to read under the advanced section. She read for hours, inspecting titles like, "How to turn wings into apples", and "How to fly Using Magic", until she finally came across a spell that she instantly fell in love with. It was pretty tricky, and labeled "How to make magical illusions.". She could put on the show of a lifetime with that kind of trick! She practiced all night, making books look like birds, and making the floor swirl into rainbow colors.
When morning finally came, Spike awoke and looked around the room. He gasped as he realized that the entire room was spinning, everything but his bed and Twilight, standing there with a glowing horn.
"Twilight, stop! What are you doing?!" he shouted.
"Spike, look a little closer, concentrate extremely carefully on the spinning." Twilight informed. Spike gulped and did as he was told. He was shocked to see that there was no spinning. It was all an illusion. Maybe he was still asleep, maybe this was a dream. But it wasn't. Twilight's horn grew calm again and the room returned to it's normal state. Spike smiled.
"Wow Twilight, that was amazing!" he gawked.
"Ok everypony, this is going to be amazing! But I need you all to be patient, I have to do you all one at a time." Twilight explained to her friends. "Pinkie Pie, do you want to go first?" she asked.
Pinkie nodded cheerfully and bounced over to Twilight. "What are you gonna do?" she asked.
"I'm gonna do the best I can!" Twilight smirked as Pinkie's eyes lit up at the scene around her. It was the biggest party she had ever seen, balloons, decorations, and lots of cake. She squealed as happy ponies piled in to welcome her, and thank her for the great party. Suddenly, it all vanished, and Twilight smiled at Pinkie.
"DId you like it?" she asked.
"Oh, Twilight, I loved it!" Pinkie grinned and giggled. Next up was Rarity. She bit her lip as she nervously approached Twilight. She clenched her eyes shut and prepared.
"No Rarity, your eyes have to be open! Look at this!" Twilight pleaded. Rarity opened one eye, and then both practically popped. Piles and piles of gemstones and gold coated the ground. A handsome young stallion approached her with a seductive smile.
"You can have it all if you marry me, Rarity." he offered, kissing her hoof. She gasped.
"Yes!" she screamed. Suddenly, it all faded away, and her friends stared at her awkwardly. She blushed as she stepped back into line.
Fluttershy smiled a trusting smile as she approached Twilight. She looked around, she was suddenly in a beautiful garden of amazing flowers. She gasped, slightly taken aback. She watched intently as the petals all popped off the flowers and formed into beautiful butterflies. She smiled as they circled around her, dancing happily, and lifting her up. Suddenly, it all disappeared, and Twilight smiled at her expectantly.
"Oh Twilight, it was lovely!" she smiled
Twilight collapsed into bed, exhausted from today's spell. How was she going to keep this up? She levitated a book down from the shelf and tossed it open. The pages were old and stiff, some were even cracking. She decided that she should probably spray it with some of the new spray she had just invented. It was made of pure magic, it was basically a bottle of magic, and it did wonders on books. She trotted down the stairs and into the kitchen, ripping open cabinets to try and find the spray. Then, it hit her like a spark. What if she sprayed her horn? Magic would be so much easier!
She began to look for it more urgently, until finally, she found it. She ripped it from the shelves and sprayed lots on her horn, giggling and smiling with anticipation. She then proceeded to trot back up the stairs and spray her book. The pages instantly grew stronger, and she could flip through them quicker.
The next day she gathered up all her friends again.
"Now, I need a volunteer!" she asked. Fluttershy silently stepped forward and gave a very quiet cough. Twilight smiled and her horn lit up. A simple blast was all it took for the spell to take affect. The four others gasped at what they saw, and Rarity screamed.
Fluttershy gasped as she looked up at her horn.
"Twilight, take it off, take it off!" she begged, snapping her eyes shut. Twilight was slightly offended, but did as she was told.
"Next? How about Rarity?" Twilight pressed.
Rainbow Dash very carefully and quietly looked around Ponyville to check for Twilight. The coast was clear. She silently slipped into SugarCube Corner.
"Guys, lights on, it's me, Rainbow Dash." she whispered.
"What's the password?" called a british accented voice. Rainbow rolled her eyes.
"Magic." she whispered flatly. The lights flicked on and there stood Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Spike.
"Ok." began Rarity. "Let's go around the circle and everybody can say why they think we should convince Twilight to stop showing us her tricks. Rainbow Dash, why don't you go first."
Rainbow cleared her throat. "It's getting really annoying having to take breaks from my life to go watch Twilight do her tricks. She's getting too worked up about this!" she explained. Next was Pinkie Pie.
"I think Twilight's tricks are super duper fun, but yesterday while she was changing Fluttershy's wings into a horn, I missed Orange Box's birthday super party!" Pinkie choked out. Fluttershy quietly cleared her throat.
"I like my wings." was all she said, but everybody got the message.
"She cast a spell on my barn that made it float! She said It'd come right back down in an hour, then went home! It came down yesterday! YESTERDAY!" Applejack hissed.
"Why would I even need a floatin' barn?! That doesn't make any sense!". Rarity tossed her hair over her shoulder and took a deep breath.
"It's simple, really. She came into my boutique while I was working for a client, and turned all my clothes inside out. Why? I don't know." she muttered.
Spike's eyes began to well with tears. "Twilight's really sick right now. Her magic isn't working because her horn is swollen and she can't move. All this magic has taken a toll on her, it's not healthy." he choked. Rarity frowned and passed him a tissue, he wiped his eyes and put it in his lap.
"That settles it then, she has to stop." Rarity huffed.
Sweat rolled from Twilight's head, she had a terrible fever. Where was Spike? She called for him, but he obviously had left the house. Her whole body ached. But she was craving the feeling of magic, just one more spell. Just a simple one, a shrinking spell. She stressed and focused all her energy, and a spark began to form. She screamed at the pain that this spell was petting her through, but she was craving it so badly. Then, a huge blast of magic shot from her swollen horn, and bounced off the mirror. It came barreling at her just as Spike burst through the door. Twilight's body lit up, and then, shrunk. Spike couldn't believe what he had just seen. Twilight was still on the bed, but she was the size of a ladybug, and she was unconscious.
"Oh Twilight, what on earth did you do!?" he asked her, concerned. He picked her up and took a close look, she didn't move. Was she dead? No, still breathing. Spike bit his nails as he grabbed his bag off the shelf and carefully placed Twilight into it. He strapped it onto his back, and began to run back to SugarCube Corner. desperately.
Twilight felt herself being shaken awake. She didn't feel sick anymore, but she did feel a little colder. She looked around. Where was she? She definitely wasn't in bed anymore. It looked kind of like the inside of Spike's bag, but this also meant there was a hole in the bottom. She gasped as she felt herself fly up, and land at the edge of the hole. How on earth did Twilight even fit in Spike's bag? Then, it all hit her at once. The shrinking spell. It had bounced off the mirror, and it had hit her. Spike must have come home, found her there, and now he was taking her to find help, Twilight recognised the path below as the edge of the Everfree forest, Spike was obviously hoping to go see Zecora, but afraid of the Everfree. Twilight gasped as her thought was broken.
She felt her hoof slip, and out she fell. She hit the ground hard, hard enough to knock her out. And with that, Spike swallowed, and ran into the Everfree without looking back, and lost Twilight.