A Different Kind of Spell
The wind blew cool that day, carrying precipitation that landed on the waving leaves of the trees. The town was lively, some browsing the shops, others just going for a trot. The hooves colliding on the gravel covered paths created a symphony of crunches, accompanied in part by the chirping of the birds that perched on the roof tops and scavenged the ground for food. Among all of the commotion in these streets, there was a group of hooves that stood out; those orange hooves that were owned by none other than the country pony, Applejack.
She herself was slowly making her way through the crowd that wandered the streets, pushing past some as she almost ran into them. Her hooves ached from walking every which way trying to navigate the maze of stallions and mares. She had not expected for the town to be bustling with this many ponies, and the scene had given her a shock, the plethora of colors bending within each other.
It was early this morning when Twilight had sent her a message. From the look on the writing of the parchment, it was written with a shaking hoof. The sprawling letters formed a letter that told Applejack to meet the purple pony at the crystal castle to test out a new spell. This truly concerned Applejack. Knowing Twilight, she normally studied her spells alone, which worried Applejack. If Twilight needed an "assistant" for this spell, then it was something completely new.
Applejack had finally pushed her way through the crowd, making her way away from the lively town. Applejack continued down a winding path, finally going down a slight hill where the castle loomed over the entrance, casting a shadow that could intimidate even Discord. She made her way up the stairs, the sound of the clop evaporating into the misty air. She raised her hoof and pounded the door, an echo running through the halls inside. She stood there, waiting for the door to open. Eventually, when not so much as a crack had filled her ear, she hit the door another two times.
Finally, the door was cast aside, revealing the purple alicorn in it's wake. Her eyes were opened to their biggest extent, revealing the excitement flowing in them. Her mouth was curled up into a grin and her mane was in a frazzle, wisps of hair extending in random directions.
"Applejack! You're finally here," Twilight spoke, her voice a bit raspy from the countless hours of unrest she was carrying.
"Yeah," Applejack replied, "Ponyville's a bit crowded at the moment. I had to push my way through."
"Wonder why it's so busy," Twilight spoke. "Anyways, you ready to get started?"
"I guess," Applejack responded, "what exactly are we doing?"
Twilight motioned for the pony to enter the building, to which she complied. The pair started to make their way up the stairs that lead to the second floor. "Well, I don't exactly know. Luna sent me this spell, apparently as requested by Celestia. It is a kind of spell I have never seen before. I can't even make out a single thing." Twilight faced the orange pony climbing the stairs beside her, the smile even wider and her eyes almost sparkling. "This makes me so giddy! Who knows what it does?"
"Hopefully Celestia, otherwise we are in for a special kind of experience."
The two continued, finally reaching the top of the stairs, which merged into a long hallway, doors lining either side and finally receding to the end, where a door much larger than the others resided. They clopped their way down the hallway, the hallway that really only Twilight and Spike had walked along. The place was so new to her. Imagine how many other places they didn't know about in this castle.
They proceeded towards the large door at the end. It was a slightly lighter blue than the walls, making it stand out well. It was laden with purple jewels that carried the light that was cast from the sun above the skylight and the torches that perched upon the walls. Twilight pushed the door inwards with some force, resulting in the door swinging open slowly yet smoothly. Inside the room was a bed, presumably Twilight's, which was adorned with vibrant blue sheets that flowed off the edges of the mattress. To the right and left of the bed were doors, the one on the left open, revealing a small scene of a large walk in closet, which, by the look of it, contained no actual clothing. On the walls perpendicular to the wall in front of them were bookshelves, lots and lots of bookshelves.
"I thought all of your books were downstairs," Applejack spoke, breaking the silence that had been endured for a few moments.
"Oh goodness no. Even that library can't hold all of my books."
"I can tell," Applejack acknowledged, taking sight of the differently colored book spines that occupied the wooden shelves, the wood contrasting with the smooth crystal of the walls and floor. "So, where's the spell?"
Twilight followed Applejack into the room. "It's on my pillow, a slightly yellowed paper."
Applejack walked to beside the bed, spotting the crusty paper that had, like Twilight said, yellowed over with age. Upon the paper was a spiral pattern which provided a unique border that trapped the main words inside. Applejack studied the words on the paper, not understanding any of it. It was in a language that, apparently, only those who could use magic could read, sort of like an instinctive trait. "What does it even say?"
"That's the problem, Applejack. I don't know. I can read it, yes, but the words are some I have never heard of."
Applejack continued to scan her eyes over the clear writing. "You said Celestia sent you this?"
"Well, Luna sent it from orders given by Celestia, but technically yes."
Applejack rolled her eyes. "So, uh, when should we start?"
"Are you ready to get started?"
Applejack considered the question. "Yeah. I guess we should get right into it."
Twilight levitated the parchment over to her, floating it right in front of her face. "From all that I can tell, I know it is a proximity spell, which means it will most likely affect us both."
Applejack nodded for Twilight to continue.
Twilight stared at the paper for a few moments, then looked around it to the orange pony. "You sure you're ready? You can avoid doing this if you want to."
Applejack shook her head. "I wouldn't let you test a spell alone, especially if you don't know what it does. I am accepting the consequences."
Twilight revealed a small smile, her heart warmed by her friend's gesture. "Alright, let's do this!" She returned her attention to the paper hovering in front of her face, scanning through it. She closed her eyes and scrunched up her face, exerting all of her will into performing this spell correctly. If she didn't know what it did even when performed correctly, who knew what would happen if she did it wrong. He horn started to glow brighter and brighter. The magic aura continued to expand around the horn, sparkling with magical brilliance. It continued to grow and get brighter, to the point where Applejack had to avert her eyes, raising a hoof to block the light. Finally, after the aura had grown even brighter and stronger, it shrank fast, returning her horn to normal, the sparkling fading away. Applejack slowly turned to look at her friend, worried it didn't work, though Twilight was still showing signs of using magic.
Suddenly, the horn exploded once again, enveloping the room in a violet light bright enough to burn retinas. The castle walls reflected the light, making it all the more powerful. It grew exponentially, backing Applejack into the closet. The light remained for what seemed like hours, but then eventually receded. Applejack, even slower than before, looked at her friend again. Twilight was exhausted, sweat trailing down her coat, leaving lines of matted down hair. Her eyes hung low, obviously tired. Applejack was the first to question what had actually happened, though once she spoke she think she knew that answer.
"Twilight, what the fuck happened?" Applejack quickly moved a hoof to her mouth, embarrassed for letting that word escape her mouth. Twilight had noticed too, and stared at her friend.
"Why the fuck did you cuss, Applejack?" Twilight stopped, her eyes growing big. "Oh shit."
"Twilight, what the hell did you do?"
"I don't fucking know!" Twilight walked to her bed and raised herself up to sit on it. She covered her face with her hooves and stared at the ground.
Applejack considered what this would do to her. Applejack had always tried her hardest to stay away from using those words, but she know involuntarily spoke them. From what she knew, only Vinyl Scratch cussed everyday in Ponyville. Now, though, there were three who would be cussing every time they spoke. "We need to fucking reverse this, Twilight."
"I don't know how to fucking do it though." Twilight had rolled onto her back, wings extended.
"Is there nothing on the fucking paper?"
Twilight shook her head. "At least there's no other shit side effects, right?"
"I fucking hope not."
The two stood in a pool of silence, each considering what to do. "Maybe we can get Princess Ass Face to help us."
"You think Celestia will be able to fucking reverse this?"
"She fucking better," Twilight rolled on her side, facing Applejack, "after all, she is the one who sent this shit to us."
"That is true, she fucking did."
The two stared at each other. Applejack nodded towards Twilight, urging her to contact the princess. When Twilight didn't even so much as flinch, Applejack brought herself to push Twilight into contacting her former superior.
"Twilight, contact the fucking princess. Nothing will get reversed if she doesn't perform some magic shit."
"I don't want to see her fucking face, Applejack. What if I fucked up the spell and she was disappointed in me?"
"Then we'll deal with that shit when it comes, but I can't be stuck cussing every which way Twilight."
Twilight's eyes drooped. "I just fucking can't Applejack, I just can't."
"Well, you have to Twilight, considering you're the one that fucked up the spell." Applejack caught herself. "That's not-"
"At least I only fucked up my element once." Applejack stared, not knowing how to respond.
"You want to play dirty, you little shit?"
Twilight looked up at the "slightly" irritated Applejack. "Maybe."
Applejack frowned. "You want to fucking go? I am not the one who fucking caused this."
"You're the one who accepted the fucking costs of being with me."
"I didn't know you would fuck up the spell! If I would have known you would, I would have stopped you from doing the shit in the first place!"
Twilight raised herself up, taller than Applejack. "It's not like I fucking wanted to fail!"
Applejack rolled her eyes. She really didn't know why she was getting so angry. "At least I don't fail at doing spells."
"At least my parents aren't fucking dead." Applejack started to burn up. She was now perfectly ready to pounce at Twilight. No body insulted her parents.
The sound of the collision rang through the halls, followed by a chorus of grunts and the sound of hooves being swung against skin.
"Luna," Celestia asked her sister, who was sitting behind the white alicorn, "have you seen my troll spell? There's a relationship I really want to mess with." Celestia thought about the two ponies getting angry at each other. Even a princess had to have a little fun, right? At least she was able to reverse it, otherwise she would definitely be considered a tyrant.
"No sister, I have not." Luna looked up above the book she was reading. "Do you really have to be so cruel to mess with your own subjects?"
"Hey, if I can reverse it, I think it's perfectly fine." Celestia continued to scan her shelf of rolled up spells. "Where the heck is it?"
Luna shrugged and returned to her book. "You're the boss."
The two swam in silence, the only sound being from the crinkling paper of the spells. Celestia perched her head up as she looked at a scroll. "Uh, Luna?"
"Yes?"
"Did you send that spell I told you to to Twilight?"
"Yes, why?"
"Which shelf was it on?"
Luna looked above her book once more, pointing a hoof towards the shelf about four feet from the floor. "That one."
"We've got a problem then."
"What is it?"
Celestia turned, a spell in her hoof. The spell was titled "Food Summoning Spell." Underneath the main title, there was a note written in sprawling letters that read "Send to Twilight."
Author's Note
Just a quick write. Don't really know where it went, but mainly just doing it for a bit of fun.
