Ever Hungering Magic
Chapter 1: Library Hunting Party
Run!
A small form dodged the talons from the sky thanks to the shift in moonlight and then ran from the green flames that appear on the left.
Find cover!
The small creature ducks into the bushes hoping to avoid its flying predator. This won’t do for long as its companion could just burn the bushes away and even its primitive mind knows this. There, an opening into the deeper parts of the forest.
Escape!
Something purple looms before the creature just before it can get into the deeper darkness of the woods. It looks familiar like something it has seen before. It is saying something even as the creature feels a momentary pain in its back and begins to lose all awareness.
“Good going Spike. It looks like you are getting better at this.”
The hunted creature, which is now exposed to proper sight thanks to the moonlight, is a cockatrice. Its death was thankfully quick and relatively painless thanks to dragon claws severing its spine. Its body is surrounded by two purple creatures, one a dragon and the other a unicorn as a brown owl flies overhead.
“Thanks Twilight. So how much of it did you need for the experiment?”
“I only need its eyes Spike. You can eat the rest. I wouldn’t want you to have any health problems and it’s been awhile since I managed to get you any meat. Owlowiscious, we thank you for your help. Feel free to get you a snack while we are out here.”
The owl responds with a hoot before taking off into the deeper darkness to find some mice or a rabbit. As he swoops off to collect himself a meal Twilight uses her magic to remove the cockatrice’s eyes. “There you go Spike. The rest is yours.”
The young dragon proceeds to step back into the shade of a tree to prepare his meal for himself while Twilight takes the eyes and places them in a phial containing some yellow mixture she had brought with her. After a few moments she swirls the phial’s contents as the eyes dissolve into the fluid and turn the whole thing a reddish color.
Twilight opens up the phial again and drinks down its contents with a bit of grimace. Even though she had a reason to be doing this it didn’t remove her personal dislike for it. After downing the concoction her eyes flash red for a moment before returning to normal. “And there I finally have that stone gaze added to my list of magic. Spike, when you finish up we need to test this out on something.”
A few moments later Spike returns to Twilight’s side looking rather satisfied. “So what do we test it on? Its not like there are a lot of critters nearby thanks to that ruckus we stirred up and we dragons are almost outright immune to cockatrice glares.”
“I have something prepared to test it with at home. Owlowiscious, come back home when you are finished for the night!” Twilight sets back for home with Spike in tow. It would seem this night’s little hunting party has been a success and Twilight had managed to add to her magic.
Arriving back at the library around two in the morning wasn’t that strange for Twilight and Spike. A growing dragon had to eat right and that meant he needed meat occasionally as part of his diet. About once a month the two, now three since the owl joined them, would set out into the Everfree to hunt something for Spike. The fact that this also helped his development as a dragon for after Twilight might be dead and gone was also a plus as far as Twilight herself was concerned. Pony society probably wouldn’t approve of Twilight’s actions but she hardly cared so long as her son/familiar was fed.
“Alright, I ‘procured’ a test subject the other day just to make sure I had this spell right.” Twilight told Spike as they stepped into the basement of the library. As they set hoof and claw upon the floor Spike notes the cage with a bunny in it. He looks at Twilight and she nods as she steps up next to it.
“Spike, please start documenting what happens so I’ll know if my spell infusion worked.” Spike appropriates a quill, ink, and some parchment as Twilight looks at the test subject. “Test 1: Turning objects to stone.” Her eyes turn red as she glares at the bunny managing to catch it looking at her. For a moment nothing happens but then its body begins to turn to stone as it can’t bring itself to look away. Twilight’s eyes return to normal once it is completely stone.
“Test 1 successful. Looks like your research was spot on Twi.”
“We’ll know for sure in a moment. Test 2: Returning objects to flesh.” Her eyes once more flare to red and the process quickly reverses itself. They hold their breath for a moment until the bunny starts moving again as they weren’t sure if it would survive or not.
“Test 2 successful. So you’ve proven that this spell formula works at least in relation to cockatrice. What next?”
“Tonight we are finished with the experiments I think. Before we sleep there is time enough to clean up and leave a window open for Owlowiscious to return home.” Spike and Twilight set about taking turns in the shower cleaning up any evidence on their person of their trek through the Everfree in the middle of the night before going to bed. "Remember Spike, tomorrow I'm going to be checking in with Zecora and seeing if she can't help me. If nothing else I might at least finally get around to setting up some lessons with her to finish the training I started during all that mess Trixie started."
"Right. Got it Twilight. I'll dragon the counter for you while you are taking care of that. Good night."
"Good night Spike. Sleep well." The two of them settle into their beds to rest. Twilight, just before she fell asleep to peaceful dreams telekinectically opens one of the ovoid windows of the library. She knows that tonight, at least, she will not feel that growing hunger for more magic gnawing at the back of her mind. If only that would be true tomorrow or the next day she thought as sleep claimed her. Her consciousness swirled into the dream realm content in the knowledge that at least her friends were not going through a similar problem.
Author's Note
Hm.. well here we go. I hope I got this all done up right. Have a hook chapter assuming anyone is interested. We'll be seeing where this goes as time goes by. Thanks for your time reading this even if you didn't like it.
