Author's Note
Written for EQD's Writer's Training Grounds #4 (5000 word limit; prompt: "What's it like to fly?")
My first attempt at a piece that relies almost 100% on rich descriptions, or "painting the scene". For a first attempt, I think it turned out okay, but there's definitely room for me to improve.
As always, feedback is welcome and appreciated. Thanks for the read, and I hope you enjoyed the story!
A Wish Fulfilled
"Well... I think that's enough for today." Twilight stood from the well-worn couch near the fireplace, doing her best to stifle a small yawn as she closed the book that she had been reading from. "I think I'm going to call it a night."
Spike's mind nearly tripped over her words, the momentary lapse in concentration nearly sending the stack of books he was carrying flying out of his claws. "Um, Twilight? Are you feeling ok?"
"Yes, Spike, I feel fine," she replied. "Why do you ask?"
"Because you just said that you're going to bed, and unless the clock is broken again, it's not even nine yet."
Twilight's eyes followed Spike's gaze to the far wall, where the clock did indeed read five minutes to nine. Swallowing a small lump in her throat, she put on the best poker face that she could muster before turning her gaze back to her usually very observant assistant. "You're right, it is barely nine o'clock. But, what's the problem with going to bed early?"
"Because you never go to bed early." Spike waved his claw in the air to accentuate his point. "I've known you for my entire life Twilight, and have been in this library with you for nearly three years." His eyes narrowed a bit as he continued. "And the only times I can recall you going to bed before midnight are the few times you have been sick."
"Ri... Right again, my number one assistant!" Twilight flashed a quick smile, hoping her display hid the growing nerves in her mind. She had been toiling over her latest and very personal side project for weeks, and she finally felt ready to put her theories to the test. Midnight or later was her normal bedtime, but the anticipation had been chipping away at her resolve all evening, and it was now on the verge of exposing her plans. She racked her brain, mentally fumbling for something to assuage her now annoyingly observant assistant.
"I promise Spike, I'm not ill. I, uh, just want to try and get some more sleep. You and Rainbow are always taking naps and sleeping in... And, uh, now that I think about it, the two of you do drink a lot less coffee than I do. I... I just thought that maybe if I got more sleep, I wouldn't need so much coffee!"
"Coffee, huh?" Spike gave the unicorn an appraising stare as he considered her explanation. "Well, I have been telling you to stop drinking a pot of coffee every day... Ok, whatever Twilight. Just don't turn this into another 'how long can a pony sleep at one time' experiment; we all know how that one ended."
"No experiments this time," replied Twilight, a sense of relief washing over her body as she spoke. "Don't worry about the extra books, you can take care of them in the morning. Good night, Spike."
"Good ni—" Spike's words were cut off by the sound of the upstairs bedroom door closing and locking with an audible click. "I'm not even going to ask..." he grumbled to himself.
'Whew, that was close... Too close.' Twilight thought to herself as she locked her bedroom door behind her. After double-checking the lock, she padded quickly over to her desk and rummaged through the bottom-right drawer, eventually pulling out a slim notebook. A gentle magical grip enveloped the book, levitating it behind her as she slipped into her bed. After arranging the covers just so, she leaned back against the headboard and brought the notebook to rest in her lap. Tightening her magical aura, she gently flipped to the last page in the well-used notebook, where the final pieces of her theory had come together late last night.
Glancing over the organized chaos on the page, Twilight's mind raced through the runes and invocation formulas that she had mapped out over weeks of sometimes mind-numbing research, dozens of theories being developed and ultimately discarded before reaching this moment. She took a few deep breaths to steady her mind, silently reciting the invocation in her head as she did so. After about a minute, she closed the notebook and levitated it onto the bed-stand. A quick flick of magic snuffed out the desk lamp, plunging the room into near darkness, save for the gentle glow of Luna's moon. Slipping further down into the sheets, Twilight found a comfortable position on her back, and after another deep breath, she closed her eyes and began channeling magic into the base of her horn, quietly reciting the invocation as she did so.
"These earthly bonds I wish to slip, and join the stars for just this trip.
Skyward I'll climb, reaching heights oh so high; the moonlit sky will be my celestial guide..."
Twilight didn't need to open her eyes to know the spell was taking hold of her, her magical aura gently enveloping her entire body as magical runes took shape above her bed. She smiled inwardly, projecting calm into her mind as she reached the end of the spell.
"Grant me this wish, till the new dawn is nigh..."
The runes coalesced around Twilight, forming a tight circle above the tip of her horn; her magical aura glowed like a hot coal, bathing the room in a gentle magenta glow.
"For just one night, let me fly like the pegasi."
'Did it work?'
Twilight opened her eyes to a still-darkened room, the light of the moon still gently shining in through the window above her. Looking down her muzzle, she was still laying on her back, the dark blue sheets still covering most of her body. Raising her forelegs, she tapped her hooves together a few times, humming a tuneless melody as she did so.
'Hmm... I can see, hear, and feel, but did the rest of the spell work?'
Shifting her weight off of her back, Twilight rolled to her left and began slipping out of her bed. "Perhaps I should get that spell book out again. I may have miss—"
Pomf
The sudden motion nearly toppled Twilight over as her balance shifted wildly to both sides of her body. Flailing a bit, she managed to land a hoof on her bed-stand to steady herself.
'Whoa! What was th—' Her words died in her throat as she looked back over her shoulders to find two long, purple wings extending out from her back. Twilight's face lit up like a foal on Hearth's Warming Day.
'It worked! Dear Celestia, it actually worked!!' It had taken weeks of well-concealed research, but she had finally found a way to combine commonly used therapeutic magic to create a spell that would allow her to remain 'awake' in her dreams. Her body was sound asleep on her bed, but her mind's eye was wide awake, able to fully sense and record whatever dreams the mind could conjure. For Twilight, this was literally a dream come true.
Ever since she met Rainbow Dash nearly three years ago, she had developed a secret obsession with flying. Despite her intentionally busy schedules, she made it out to the fields outside of town to watch Rainbow practice her routines as often as she could. At first, she spent most of the time taking notes and trying in vain to get Rainbow to agree to specific tests and experiments to aid her research. But as time wore on, she cared less and less about the intricacies of pegasi flight mechanics, and more and more about the act of flying itself. She had taken many trips in her hot air balloon, and had flown on chariots dozens of times to and from her studies with Princess Celestia. But physically flying in the air, with no baskets or chariots underneath her, became a distant, yet constant dream. Magic was her calling, and her life's work, but she yearned deeply for just one chance to see the world the way that Rainbow sees it - from high above the ground.
She quickly stepped over to the large mirror near her dresser, bringing the desk lamp along with her for extra light. She took a few turns in front of the mirror, slowly looking at the wings' reflection with a look of pure awe.
'Oh, wow... They're so beautiful.'
Wrapping one wing around to her front, her eyes were mesmerized by the sheer depth of the wings' color; innumerable shades of purple weaved through each feather, the darker and lighter tones mixing in an almost perfect harmony. The sea of purple was broken only by the tips of the secondary feathers, which blazed in the brightest shade of magenta that she had ever seen. She slowly raised a hoof to the wing, gently brushing it through the incredibly soft, almost down-like feathers. The feeling reminded her of the few times she had touched Fluttershy's wings in an effort to tame a stray feather or two for her. Turning to face the mirror directly, Twilight extended the wings to their fullest, flaring them up and back a bit at the same time.
What she saw nearly took her breath away.
The wings were those of a fully grown pegasus mare, with well-defined primary and secondary feather lines that projected power and grace in equal measure. The leading edge of each wing curved away from her body in one seamless, perfectly symmetrical line, punctuated at each end by a slightly flared tip. Perfectly spaced secondary feathers left no visible gaps in the sea of purple feathers, their magenta tips forming an unbroken border on the back edges of the wings that no artist could ever hope to recreate.
'This is simply amazing!' she thought to herself, her inner filly dancing for joy inside of her. 'Super soft and multi-colored? Rainbow would be so jealous...'
A quick glance at her clock told her that it was now nearly ten o'clock. 'Assuming time moves at the same pace here, I have a few hours before sunrise,' Twilight mused as she gave her wings a few experimental flaps. 'Time to see what these wings can do.' She cast a final glance at her reflection, then turned towards the bedroom window, throwing it open with a burst of magic. Sizing up the window opening against her approximate size, she broke into a brief run, and using her bed as an extra spring, launched herself through the open window and into the clear night sky.
Normally, Twilight hated getting a strong wind in her face; it only served to get her mane tangled up and frazzled. Now though, the wind wasn't just welcoming, it was exhilarating. In fact, Twilight had never felt more alive in her life.
A grin wide enough to impress even Pinkie Pie was plastered across Twilight's face as she zoomed above the streets of Ponyville. She squealed in delight as she flew a few more circles around the library before darting back towards the center of town. Though suppressed by the sheer joy that she felt in the air, the analytical side of Twilight's brain marveled at the agility that her wings afforded her as she darted around corners and between every alley and side street that she could find. She let out a loud whoop as she looped over the sign that hung outside of the Quills & Sofas store, flattening out into a downward swing that took her past Bon Bon's candy store, her mane and tail barely grazing the underside of the pink awning that adorned the front of the store.
She picked up speed as she headed towards the town square, the light from the few street lamps bouncing off of her majestic wings as she zoomed through the main streets of the sleeping town. A devilish grin crossed Twilight's face as she darted between two rows of hedges, rapidly closing in on the fountain that dominated the center of the square. Banking hard to her left, she began tracing a circle around the base of the fountain, letting the forces on her body do the work for her. As her speed increased, she dipped her wing further, cackling with glee as her wingtip grazed the top of the pool that comprised the base of the fountain, leaving a plume of water in her wake. Driving more speed into her wings, she turned her body almost perpendicular to the ground, the increased forces turning the plume of water into a moving piece of art. Her joyous laughter continued unabated as she zoomed around the fountain, kicking the wall of water higher with each loop.
After driving the liquid wall as high as the fountain's peak, Twilight completed one final loop before snapping her wings back to the right. She darted away from the fountain with all of her pent-up speed behind her, her fore-legs blasting through the impromptu water-feature like a hammer through glass.
As she banked up and away from the square, Twilight marveled again at the sight before her; on this clear night, she could see nearly all of Ponyville laid out before her, from Filthy Rich's mansion on the far north side of town to the fairly new apartment complex on the southern edge of town, where Ditzy, Roseluck, and a number of other ponies had recently moved.
'So this is freedom...' Twilight mused to herself. 'Nothing in your way except for the ground below, and the edge of the atmosphere above. Everything else is wide open.' The words 'wide open' caught in her mind, and Twilight's eyes widened as a thought struck her.
'Speaking of wide open spaces...' She drew her wings back behind her, and with a mighty flap, shot off toward the outskirts of Ponyville.
The wind splayed her mane and tail out behind Twilight as she quickly gained altitude, the homes and shops that comprised central Ponyville growing smaller by the second. With nothing in front of her now, Twilight locked her wings in a flat position and surrendered herself to the whims of the gentle night air. Pure ecstasy coursed through her mind as she slowly carved the sky, her body painting brilliant purple and magenta streaks across Luna's nightly canvas. The subtle changes in the air flow around her resonated through every hair on her body as she turned into a series of figure-eights, banking into each long curve to pick up additional speed before rolling into a graceful loop. The world became a blur as she ascended, and as she rose to the top of the loop, the stars and constellations filled Twilight's vision in a way that her telescope could never equal. In that moment, Twilight felt as if she could simply reach out and grab the stars with her hooves.
Swinging down the bottom side of the loop, Twilight caught sight of a very familiar place off to her left. 'Hmm... Well, it's on the way, so why not?' she mused. Her next move decided, she flared her wings out again, rapidly gaining speed as she hit the bottom of the loop and shot off towards the only other tree-turned-house in Ponyville.
As she closed in on Fluttershy's quaint cottage, Twilight pointed her nose towards the ground, rapidly descending towards the creek that crossed in front of the home of Ponyville's resident veterinarian. Leveling out just above the creek bed, the downward force produced by her wings created another plume of water in her wake as she sped along mere inches above the creek. As she closed in on the footbridge that connected the dirt path to the cottage, Twilight stretched out her hooves and lowered her head, slimming her profile as much as possible without the aid of a flight suit. At the last possible second, she snapped her wings to her sides, and with a loud whoop, slid underneath the bridge with mere inches to spare. Once she cleared the underside of the bridge, she turned her nose to the sky, and as her body rose at a near right-angle, she twisted into a spin that would have made the best ballerinas in Equestria jealous. The world became a blur as she tucked her hooves to her body, letting her momentum spin her into the air like a top. As she neared the top of the spin, Twilight snapped her wings out, emerging from the spin as if she were a Phoenix rising from its ashes.
Twilight hovered in place as she caught her breath; now that she wasn't moving faster than she had ever gone in her life, she noticed a few beads of sweat dripping through her mane, and her back muscles began registering their need for some relief as well. Glancing over to the East, the first subtle changes in the horizon confirmed for Twilight that the night was indeed waning. 'Just enough time for one final thing...'
Her legs and back were now clearly registering their discontent, but Twilight would not be denied. She had no idea if the spell she was under would be safely repeatable, to say nothing of recreating the exact same dream on command. Furrowing her brow a bit, she blocked out the protests of her muscles as she drove herself higher and higher, her magenta wing tips turned up to catch every bit of extra lift that she could from the mostly calm night breeze. Straining against the increasingly fervent protests of her back, Twilight increased her climb, soaring up to a layer of alto-cumulus clouds that were drifting lazily through the night sky.
Twilight's hooves touched down gently on one of the clouds, and she peered over the edge to check her surroundings. The entirety of Ponyville was but a series of ants far below, with the Everfree Forest forming a solid-looking canopy over a huge swath of land. Far off in the distance, she could barely make out the lights that framed Canterlot's majestic royal castle. Looking straight up, Twilight's jaw nearly fell through the cloud that she was standing on; if the stars were close enough to touch before, now they appeared to be mere inches in front of her, just waiting for her to pick them up and cradle them in her hooves. 'And to think that Rainbow and Fluttershy can see this each and every night if they wanted to...' she mused to herself. 'Who needs a telescope when you can just fly up and look at the stars?'
Looking down again, Twilight caught sight of Rainbow Dash's cloud house calmly hovering in its usual space outside of Ponyville. Focusing her eyes for a second, she spotted a lone light on in the back corner of the house. 'Still up reading, I bet. Probably going through the entire 'Daring Do' series again too.' Twilight let out a small chuckle as her mind pictured Rainbow hiding under her sheets again, reading by the light of a lantern. 'She'll probably sleep right through weather duty tomorrow too,' she thought to herself.
'Unless she gets an early wake-up call, of course...'
A devious gleam in her eyes, Twilight backed up to the far edge of the cloud and charged forward, diving headlong off the cloud as if it were the world's highest diving board. Wings tucked and hooves outstretched, she let gravity work its will, diving straight down like a rock. Confident that her path was stable, she slowly flared her wings a bit, flapping them in rapid, smooth waves to gain even more speed. The wind quickly transformed from a rush to a thunderous roar, flattening her ears to her mane and her eyes to the corners of her head.
Driving more and more speed into her dive, Twilight blew by Rainbow's cloud home, her body cutting through the night sky like a falling star. Her muscles' protests turned into screams in her head, but they were drowned out by the screams of delight that the wind ripped from Twilight's lips as she continued her free-fall. Her speed increased with each fervent beat of her wings, and as Rainbow's home receded into the distance, Twilight began to notice the air forming a cone around her forelegs. Recognizing it immediately, a triumphant smile crossed her mouth.
'Almost there...'
A high-pitched whine began to assault her ears, and her eyes struggled to adjust to the sudden white-hot light in front of her. The strain on her wings was increasing nearly as fast as her speed, but still she drove more speed into her body.
'C'mon...'
The scream of the air in her ears was now matched by the scream of nearly every muscle in her body; the force of the wind was hard enough to nearly blind her. Twilight responded by closing her legs even tighter, lowering her head as much as possible.
'Eergh... C'mon Twi... Faster!!'
The ground was closing rapidly, the high-pitched whine morphing into an ear-piercing wail as the white cone around her grew in intensity. Still, she poured on the speed, the adrenaline pumping through her veins like a tidal wave.
'Faster, faster, fa—'
Suddenly, the world around her went silent. The humming that was reverberating through her body was suddenly cut off and the roar of the air around her reduced to nothing, as if the entire universe paused for a split-second.
'Oh Celestia...'
The words had barely crossed Twilight's mind when the world exploded around her.
A deafening roar erupted behind her as she broke through the sound barrier. A white light as hot as Celestia's sun lit up the sky and just as quickly exploded, painting the night sky with alternating purple and magenta rings that spread outward for miles in every direction.
Snapping her wings out to their fullest, Twilight arced her body upwards, arresting her dive with only a few hundred feet to spare. Pulling up into a nearly perpendicular climb, she twisted into a barrel roll and quickly flattened out into a level path; the ethereal purple and magenta trail that followed in her wake lit up the sky with a neon glow that was only matched by the look of unbridled joy etched into her face.
Banking over the edge of the Everfree, she glided back towards Ponyville, letting the speed slowly bleed off of her body. Slowing her speed further, Twilight glided to the ground about a hundred feet in front of the library, hitting the ground at a moderate trot. Once she came to a stop, she turned around and looked back to the sky, which was still glowing in shades of purple and magenta.
As she watched the colorful rings stretch further and further out, the smile on Twilight's face only grew wider as her mind caught up to what she had just accomplished. She had flown; she had touched the sky by herself, reached speeds and heights she never thought possible for her, and best of all, had experienced first-hoof the joy and freedom that her pegasi friends counted as a part of their very existence.
"Twilight?"
'Wait, is somepony calling my name?'
"Hey, Twilight!"
'I don't see anypo—' Her thought was cut short as something bumped her legs. Turning her head, she saw Spike standing next to her, a frustrated look on his face.
'Sp... Spike? What's he doing here? I'm the only one in this dream... Hey! Stop shaking my leg! Whoa, why is it so bright in here all of a sudd—'
"—en?!" Twilight awoke with a start, her eyes snapping fully open and immediately closing as the morning light overwhelmed her vision.
"Good morning to you too, sleepyhead." Spike gave her a look that only mildly hid his frustration at the situation. "When you said you were getting more sleep, you didn't tell me that included sleeping in late, you know."
"Late? Oh no, what time is it?" Twilight asked, fighting the still bright light to look at her clock.
"It's nearly nine o'clock in the morning," Spike replied. "But don't worry, I already setup the library for the day, and I left some breakfast out for you."
Twilight sighed in relief. Spike had saved her flank - again. "I'm sorry, Spike, and thank you. I'll be down in a minute."
Rolling his eyes in amusement, Spike left the room and headed back downstairs. Twilight quickly extricated herself from her bed and made quick work of her mane and teeth. She stopped on her way towards the door and looked at her reflection in the mirror, hoping in vain to still see a pair of magenta-tipped wings attached to her sides. She allowed herself a small pout when they did not materialize, despite her wishes to the contrary.
'Alas, it was only for the night. Still, it's something I'll never forget.' Twilight smiled as the memories rushed through her mind. They were memories of a dream, but they were still memories.
'And if that's the best I can do, that's fine by me,' she added to herself.
Trotting out of her room, she was halfway down the stairs when she heard a knock at the door.
"Coming! Who is it?"
A slightly muffled voice called out from the outside. "Ms. Sparkle? Mail pony here with a package for you that you'll need to sign for."
Twilight hurried across the main room of the library, gently opening the front door with a flick of magic. "A package? From whom?"
"Umm... It looks like it's from Princess Cele—"
"From the Princess?!" Twilight nearly knocked the mail pony over as she grabbed the package in her magic and closed the door, completely ignoring the form that she was supposed to sign. She unclasped the padded envelope and pulled out its contents - a book and a letter. She then picked up the letter and began to read.
"Dear Twilight Sparkle, the spell contained on the last page of this book..."
