“Do witches really ride these?” asked Starlight, gesturing to the broomsticks set upon the wall.
Trixie looked about the cabin with distaste. Dust had settled on everything, and there were cobwebs in every corner.
“They certainly don’t use them to clean.” she said, drawing her finger across the surface of a table and leaving behind a clean streak in the film. She rubbed her fingers together in disgust.
Meanwhile Twilight peered inside cupboards and rifled through drawers until she found what she was looking for.
“Aha!” she said, unfurling a scroll containing the fundamentals of the practice of 'brewing spells.' She held the scroll up to the light from the window while the others gathered to her side, each of them scanning the aged scrawl as quickly as they could manage. The handwriting was small and difficult to read, but was accompanied by simple sketches that helped get the point across.
Twilight let the others finish reading before rolling the scroll back up and tucking it away in her satchel. “Looks like we're going to need a cauldron.” she said.
“There’s one in the hearth.” said Starlight, pointing to a heavy pot of black iron suspended above a pile of ash.
“Are we sure we can trust that creep in the hood?” asked Trixie. “I mean, they didn’t even want payment for the scroll’s location.”
“Maybe they were just being generous?” Twilight replied, not really answering Trixie's question. “Either way, we don’t have much choice. This sort of magic is forbidden by the Academy.”
“And that doesn’t bother you, even a little?” asked Trixie.
Twilight thought for a moment. It did bother her a little, but what bothered her even more was that it bothered Trixie. Even so, she had her instructions. There was no turning back.
Trixie sighed and unhooked the shovel and pale from the stand near the hearth, then began removing the ash.
“I was just about to…” began Twilight.
“Ask me to do it?” Trixie finished for her.
Twilight blushed, but said nothing.
Meanwhile, Starlight was smiling to herself, happily listening to her roommates’ banter as she examined the brooms. It struck her as odd—ironic even—that they of all the things in the dusty old hut were kept so neatly. There were three of them, each with the bristles tied together by a length of twine. The handles had been stained and varnished so as to be glossy and smooth to the touch. Etched into the side of each of them was a word she had never seen before, unique to each broom.
Trixie finished sweeping the fireplace and dumped the ashes outside, returning with an armful of chopped firewood.
“Where did you get that?” asked Twilight, surprised.
“There’s a bunch of it just outside.” said Trixie as she knelt to stack the wood beneath the cauldron.
“So you just took it?!” Twilight said.
Trixie laughed. “So it's fine to steal a magic scroll to brew a spell using pillaged ingredients, but taking a bit of firewood to help us along is crossing a line?"
Twilight stiffened, placing the bottle labeled ‘basilisk venom’ she was holding back on the shelf. “Right, well, I suppose the hut is abandoned…”
“Umm, how sure are we about that?” came Starlight’s voice from the far wall.
“What do you mean?” Trixie asked, standing up and dusting off her skirt.
“One of the brooms is missing.”
Twilight and Trixie exchanged glances, then made their way over to see for themselves.
“See?" said Starlight. "Three broomsticks, but four sets of hooks.”
The three of them glanced around in silence, as if the owner of the missing broom might return any moment.
“We’ll just have to work quickly." said Trixie before long. She filled the pale with water from a pump outside, having to make three trips to fill the cauldron.
Twilight read off the ingredients and Starlight fetched them from the cabinet or one of the shelves and passed them on to Trixie to put it in the cauldron.
The final ingredient was a bottle of 'Winter Wind' which Trixie didn't want to risk opening, so she dropped the whole bottle into the brew, causing a small explosion that knocked her on her backside. The liquid began to swirl and the cauldron rattled on its hook while the air began to circulate, catching papers and snuffing out the flame.
"What's wrong with it?" shouted Trixie, holding her hat in place. She struggled to stand, but Twilight caught her under the arms and lifted her the rest of the way to her hooves.
"Well, at least we know the scroll is legitimate." said Twilight, barely audible over the racket.
"Come on!" shouted Starlight, grabbing one of the brooms and running outside.
"Wait!" shouted Twilight, but Trixie had already made her way over and grabbed a broom of her own. "Hurry up!" she said before stepping outside herself.
Twilight fought against the wind to reach her broom, then took her place beside the others in the field outside, each straddling their broom's handles.
"Does any-pony know how to fly with one of these?" asked Trixie.
"There's probably a keyword that activates the enchantment." said Twilight.
"Abracadabra!" shouted Starlight, and suddenly the broom jerked upwards, hitting her in the crotch and nearly knocking the wind out of her. She wrestled with the handle, slowly drifting upwards.
"What? How did you know the keyword?" shouted Trixie.
"The handle! Carved into the side!" Starlight shouted back down.
Trixie and Twilight twisted their brooms and found their own unusual words.
"Alacazam!" shouted Trixie, wincing as the broom lifted suddenly, digging into her privates.
Twilight struggled to make out the carved letters in the fading light as storm clouds were pulled into the vortex created by the spell. "Shazam!" she said as a bolt of lightning struck the cottage and reduced it to rubble.
Then they were off, dragged awkwardly through the sky by magic brooms, the spell raging behind them.
"I hope it was worth it" said Trixie.
Author's Note
I began this eons ago, but couldn't really think of what direction to take it in, so it sat unfinished until now. 
I have a lot of scraps like that, and hopefully they too will one day become stories of their own. 
Too bad I couldn't get this out in time for Halloween. Oh well. 
