The Dangers of Chalk

"Remember Spike, the circle has to be absolutely perfect for the spell to work." Twilight paced back and forth in front of her assistant as he painstakingly chalked a circle roughly three ponies wide, using an array of complicated looking instruments to make minor adjustments to the line he was drawing.

"Twi," Spike looked up from his work, "Couldn't you just, you know, magic it up?" He waved a powdery claw around in the air.

Twilight stopped short of her twenty third pace, not that she was counting, a gentle blush betraying her embarrassment. The alchemical chalk sparked slightly as her telekinetic grip materialised around it, quickly finishing the circle.

 Three blue circles were drawn at even intervals inside the rim of the larger, only about a hoof wide. Arcane chalk left behind gently glowing purple runes that bordered all circles. A glyph in golden chalk was drawn in the centre, before the chalks, instruments and open books were quickly flown back to their places, save one old tome.

"Remember," Twilight looked Spike in the eye, "If any part of me starts burning, singing or toasting in any way, pull the lever." The lever in question was rigged to pour a cauldron's worth of water over the circle, double enchanted just to be safe. Twilight wasn't taking any chances, especially after the last time.

"Don't worry Twi, no flames get past a dragon!" Twilight's mouth drew itself into a wry smile, as the spotless tome was opened to a bookmarked page.

Twilight reviewed her mental checklist. Circle? Check. Book? Check. Water? Check. Failsafe? Twilight near face hoofed at her blunder, quickly casting dozens of fire dousing, fire discouraging and fire proofing spells over the area, before adding another half-dozen as an afterthought. Just to be safe.

Standing firmly upon the eight-pointed golden star glyph in the circle's centre, Twilight opened a smaller one of her many magical pathways, causing a slight trickle of magic to pass into the world. In her mind's eye, she could see it spiralling down lazily, until it filled the magic pathways the chalk traced, a magical gutter of sorts.

The magic ceased to flow, but remained anchored to her horn by a sliver of purple aura. She gently tugged on each of the star's corners, firmly grasping the magic and folding it into the centre. A second thread left her horn, through another minor pathway, moving straight up, pooling into a ball and splitting into three lazy arcs, filling each blue circle. The purple glyphs glowed as the overflowing energy spilled into them, returning it to the vast well of power, before being pulled from it again to strengthen the enchantments.

Now, with enough power stored a third, almost solid, tendril of power left Twilight. Threatening to arc, snap or dissipate at any moment, Twilight threaded the raw, arcane power into the fabric of reality around her, linking it back to the three pools of power within the circles. The arcs of power pouring into them widened, forming a dome around Twilight. Taking the utmost care, she gently began to pull the arcane thread tight, anchoring it to the glyphs, completely independent of the magic pool.

Twilight could feel it happening, she was so close! Her excitement caused the spell to waver, becoming unstable. Twilight began to panic as the magical dome began to contract, like a ballon that had been untied. Bolts of lightning crackled and arched about the room, and a mighty purple blaze sprung up around her feet. Twilight stared in horror at the hungry flames around her.

'No. Not again.' she thought, lashing out at the lever with a blast of telekinetic energy. The wall was blown out behind it, but the effect was instantaneous. Twilight was engulfed by a veritable tsunami of tingling, glowing water that instantly dowsed the flames surrounding her.

Twilight stood triumphant among the wreck of her spell. Water may drip from her mane, but she had prevented a disaster! A crackling sound drew her attention to the marred chalk lines that crackled with arcane energy. Water-logged and super charged with arcane magic, the colourful slurry was spreading across the room, sparking and hissing

alarmingly. She had barely time to see the look of horror on Spike's face before the room exploded.

                                             >x<>X<>x<

Twilight sat in one of the pillowy sofas she had bought to make the crystal interior of the lounge room less harsh, but really just brought attention to how sterile and cold it was anyway. Spike was upstairs ('My own bedroom!?') nursing several bruises, while she sat in front of the roaring hearth suffering from a magical concussion. The excess feedback energy had obliterated her natural sense for background magic, like stepping into a bright light from a dark room.

A simple stone, straight from the garden, sat in the hoof dangling limply over the edge of the chair. She simply sat there, scratching away at the ground for a few minutes until she left a small impression, then watching the crystal slowly cover and fill the hole in a matter of minutes. Some rocks were better at digging, others not. She guessed she should be thankful for a treehouse that could grow back, after what happened to the last one...

Sighing, she stood, and adopted a casual pace as she climbed the stairs. The jewels suspended from the ceiling, blue, orange, yellow, pink, white and purple, glowed with a soft radiance that came with magic. The material beneath her hooves changed from blue diamond to smoky quartz as she approached the only door in the hallway.

Knocking gently, she slowly opened the door, allowing a billowing cloud of smoke to pool around her hooves, moisture coalescing on the cool surfaces, stained with ashy soot. Walking inside, a gentle glow emanate from the centre of the room, casting a dim light over the basalt furniture.

"Hey Twi." Spike arose from the gentle depression from which the light emanated, hot, glowing rock glowing dangerously. "What's up?" He clambered up a series of basaltic slabs, allowing him to reach the ceiling. Brilliant, finely polished gems sprung from the ceiling's corner in all their glory, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, twinkling gently in the half-light. Spike snapped one off at the base, choosing to roll it around in his mouth slowly. Twilight scowled.

"Get some light in here!" Beams of brilliant sunshine poured into the room as hidden blinds were wrenched apart. Spike gave a serpentine hiss, diving under his messy bedcovers. "Now Spike, you-" A bolt of arcane lightning hit Twilight square in the chest, flinging her across the room.

"Twi?" Spike peeked out from under the sheets, as the smell of singed fur filled the air. "TWILIGHT!" He rushed towards her, swerving around crackling purple bolts. Twilight stirred groggily.

"Ugh... what happened?" She said, hoof to forehead. Spike extended a shaking claw.

"That happened!" The bubbling, pulsing ball of white light hovered only a few metres off, shaking in a volatile manner. Purple bolts of arcane lightning regularly issued from it's depths, leaving scorch marks on both quartz and basalt. Sounds could be heard issuing from it, heavily garbled speech, mutilated from  it's journey through space-time.

"It looks like a portal of sorts..." Twilight reached out towards it intrigued, only to receive a quick jolt from the orb. Still staring into it, she fancied she could almost see something moving within it's depths. So deep was her intrigue, she reacted too late when something shot out of the orb, clipping her horn and ricocheting off into the far corner.

Spike leapt into the air in surprise, attaching himself firmly to Twilight's face. A few seconds later, the bubbling ball of energy collapsed into itself, leaving no evidence of it's arrival save several scorch marks and the stationary object sitting inconspicuously in the corner.

Prying the drake from her face, Twilight cautiously approached the blackened object.

"Careful Twi, it could be dangerous! It could eat your soul! Maybe it's- *Gasp* -An evil artefact created by a crazy villain in order to DESTROY. THE. WORLD!" Twilight rolled her eyes, carefully scraping away the ashes.

"Don't worry Spike, it's only a mug." Twilight paused, halfway through excavating the remaining char. She carefully examined the picture she'd just revealed with a slight frown. "Spike, what do you see here?" she jabbed at the offending image.

"A cat?" Spike shrugged.

"A grumpy cat." Was her only response.