Something Halloween

Twilight cast the spell the next morning. The book specifically said that her tiredness and wakefulness would persist from the moment the magic happened, so she wanted her sleepless months to feel as good as possible. She got up late, feeling only a tad guilty when she saw it was nearly nine in the morning. Beside her, Anon didn't even wake up when she stirred. Twilight crept quietly out of the room and very gently shut the door behind her, so any extravagant magical effects wouldn't wake Anon. Some old wizards simply loved to put sparks and mystic lights into their spells because that made them somehow more impressive.

She could remove these superfluous things, yes, but only after studying the spell for a while and knowing it inside and out, and Twilight simply didn't have that kind of time. She shut herself in the bathroom, book held in her magical grip and looked in the mirror.

"Here goes, Twilight. Say hello to a month of not sleeping!"

Of course she would still catch some cuddles with Anon when she had time. Those were always nice and this way she'd be able to enjoy them for longer, since she wouldn't fall asleep after five minutes.

There was no sense in further delay, so Twilight read through her spell a few times to fix it in her mind. It wasn't too complicated, but it was beyond the skill of your average unicorn. Good thing she was anything but average, Twilight thought smugly. A moment later her horn began to glow. It still wasn't completely healed and the very tip was still a bit flat from where it had been sawed off - she winced as the memory crept back and tried to push it out of her mind. She had thought she would die just from the pain alone. That those were her last moments. Worse than that, she'd thought all her friends would die with her. Even after having saved them all, thanks in no small part to Anon's efforts, she still sometimes dreamed that they were dead and blaming her.

A shudder ran through her and Twilight wrenched her mind to the job at hoof. The magic had begun wobbling uncontrollably and it was a bit of a struggle to get it back under control. She grunted with effort and concentration, but she managed to save the spell. A slow smile played across her muzzle. There was a reason she was the best, even with a busted horn. She forced her mind to stillness she had trained over years and years. No more stray thoughts, the mare told herself.

From there it was a simple thing to finish the binding. She had been right and the spell was kind of flashy. It was a good thing she'd closed herself behind two doors from Anon, or she would surely wake him up. Magical symbols floated in the air around her for a moment, then slowly and gently settled onto her body. They tingled as the passed through her fur, but after that she didn't feel them anymore. One by one the sigils vanished until the air no longer sparkled with light. The final symbol floated down atop her head and bound all the others in place. She could feel them working, but she didn't have any other feeling to compare it to. The closest thing she could think of was the sensation of warm sunlight on her fur, except it was on the inside!

Not unpleasant, though. If she'd done it all correctly - and Twilight knew she had - this meant she wouldn't have to sleep until she removed the spell. She looked at the book again and examined the undoing magic, or at least the start of it. The spell continued on the next page and it looked way more complicated than the binding for some reason. Twilight gave up after a few lines and snapped the book shut. She could still do it, of course, but it was strange why the reversal spell would be harder to cast than the original one. Despite that, Twilight was confident in her ability to perform the spell when she needed it.

Shrugging a little to herself, the mare left the bathroom, floated the book to a nearby table and went back to bed. She had her eye on a few more spells in there, but only as curiosities. Of course, now that she wouldn't sleep she also wouldn't dream, but after this stressful period of her life was over she wanted to try some of those lucid dreaming ones. One of them even allowed her to bring a 'guest'. She could give Anon a pony body and have him feel what it was like to fly around Equestria! Having that to look forward to was a good thing, Twilight decided. It would give her additional motivation to get her work in order soon so she could revert the no-sleep spell and try the lucid-dream one with Anon.

She giggled faintly in excitement as she crawled back under the blankets. Anon murmured: "mmm, 'ove 'oo," but didn't wake up.

"I love you too," she whispered back and gave the tip of his nose a gentle kiss. Anon's arms encircled her and she snuggled down. Of course she was fully awake, but she could close her eyes to rest them and simply enjoy Anon's presence. The notes before the spell said it was important to keep her eyes closed for at least thirty minutes in every twelve hour period, otherwise the strain would risk permanent damage. That probably didn't apply to alicorns, but Twilight had decided to play it safe anyway. She snuggled closer to her warm human and listened to his breathing. It would only be about forty more minutes anyway! Anon rarely slept longer than about ten in the morning, even on weekends.