Twilight - Ch1 [SFW]

Twilight Sparkle sat pleasantly in her study, with her nose deeply buried in the faded pages of an ancient tome. The sunbeams afforded by Ponyville's dusk-time sunset bathed her room in a brilliant orange light. Occasionally, she would nod absentmindedly, turn a page with her magic, and smile to herself as she absorbed the books dense knowledge. It had been a peaceful afternoon of intense studying for the talented unicorn, the first time in months she was free to read without interruption.

Spike had committed to help Rarity fill a large order of finery for a client in Canterlot, and he had not been in the library since morning. Twilight chuckled, thinking of how little "work" the little dragon would actually accomplish in the presence of their stunning fashionista friend. It was quiet days like these that Twilight would spend in the company of her precious texts, studying and practicing the secrets held within.

Magic. Twilight had an utter fascination with all things arcane. It was her special talent, after all. She had a knack for just about every flavor of magic conceivable to ponykind. She had blazed through elementary magic years ago, and the only knowledge that would satiate her appetite was buried deep away in antique libraries. The more obscure, the better, she often found. New techniques and ideas abounded in these under-appreciated texts. Starswirl's Third Commentary on Obscure Magics was just the thing she craved.

The book covered everything from voice-alteration enchantments to spells that caused fits of uncontrollable laughter in pegasi. She made a mental note to test the later spell on Rainbow Dash the next time she came careening into the library. These and many other spells noted in the text were happily included in Twilight's already impressive repertoire with relative ease.

She took a moment to scribble a few notes on paper before turning the page once more, mumbling to herself as she read. A section clearly labeled Size Alteration greeted her eyes.

"Interesting..."

Diagrams beside scribbled writing showed in minute detail exactly what the spell was designed to do. She understood that the book intended to cover the obscure, but this was a stretch, even for that lofty categorization, she thought. She couldn't imagine why anypony would want to do such a thing. The text described methods of alteration alongside all the various magnitudes of growth or miniaturization. All of it gibberish, she concluded. She had to remind herself that Starswirl was notorious for being cryptic, and that the haziness would soon clear with a bit of persistent reading.

... Or, she soon found, an awful LOT of reading. She had dissected the same passage several times, becoming none the brighter for it. Twilight let out a frustrated huff before closing the book with a heavy thud. It wasn't every day she was bested by mere words, and seeing herself so easily defeated caused self-dissapointed bitterness to well up within her. It was all a mix-matched blur between methods of performing and reversing the spell. Was it like this..? Or...? Did he mean to say..? The questions flooded her mind more liberally than they had before. Through the mire, she resolved to perform the spell at least ONCE before retiring for the night.

After a pregnant moment in deep thought, Twilight's determination returned. She poised herself, training her horn on one of the many quills scattered across her study table. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the few spell-techniques that she had made sense of. Slowly, a brilliant lavender light began to glow around her horn and envelop the quill. Through gritted teeth and furrowed brow, Twilight caused her horn to erupt in a blinding flash that lingered in the air around her. Hesitantly, she opened her eyes, for fear of what abomination she may have inadvertently created.

To her surprise, the quill had completely vanished! Although that wasn't her intent, she was relieved to see that she didn't transform it into some terrible monster. Slowly, she crept up to the table, peeking over It's edge. The table was disappointingly void. What had she done wrong?

She huffed, folded her forehooves across her chest and leaned against the table in defeat. Never had she been bested by a spell like this! A mix of embarrassment and shame crept into the back of her mind, taunting and teasing her dwindling confidence. Before she slumped into deeper self doubt, her attention was caught by the strangest tickling sensation on the tip of her muzzle.  She inhaled sharply before daintily sneezing, sending the source of irritation into the air. Twilight sniffled and blinked for a moment, surprised to see something utterly miniscule floating beside her. She narrowed her vision, focusing on the tiny, sinking tuft of what looked like down from a pegasus' wings. Lowering a hoof to catch it, Twilight was able to make out exactly what it was. Although it had been much larger only moments ago, it was unmistakably her quill!

The excitement that welled up within her was uncontainable. She had actually done it! The sheer thought of it caused her to bubble over with delight. Yes! yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes! She found herself literally bouncing around on the tips of her hooves in elation. It was only the faint sound of hoofknocks echoing down the hall that grounded her back in reality.

As if on a cloud, Twilight floated over to answer the door.  She asked in a sing-song voice

"Who is iiiiiit?"

Before a voice could answer, she enthusiastically opened the door, beaming at the  pony standing on her doorstep. A shocked stallion with three blue hoofprints on his flank stood before her, taking a few hesitant steps backwards in surprise.

"Oh, erm... Hello Twilight. It's Caramel."

Twilight opened her eyes, and spied Caramel cowering slightly. She giggled and offered him a hoof.

"Hey there, Caramel! I hope I didn't scare you. I just had a breakthrough with a spell I've been wrestling with all afternoon! If you couldn't tell, I'm just a LITTLE bit excited"

By now, the sun had set entirely, and the only light in the darkness was afforded by the lanterns lit around town. Their dim, yellow flames flickered majestically, casting long shadows on the ponies that walked to and fro. It was rare for Twilight to have any visitors, let alone at this hour. The stallions presence puzzled her.

"I wasn't expecting anypony this late... What can I do to help you?"

Caramel warmed up to the mare, taking her hoof and standing to speak.

"I hope I'm not bothering you, Twilight, I was just hoping... maybe..."

He hesitated, and began searching for words to finish his statement

"... you could help me find a book? I've uh... I've been looking for something to help me around the farm, you know..."

The only thing more betraying of his embarrassment than the blush on his cheeks was the cheesy grin plastered unconvincingly on his muzzle. Twilight nodded congenially, oblivious to those striking cues .

"Oh don't worry at all! I'm bound to have plenty of books for something like that... Follow me!"