Twilight - Ch4

Her expression suddenly became a great deal more desperate. This caused Caramel considerable anxiety, as he blurted with great alarm

"You DO know how to change me back, right, Twilight?"

She simply replied

"Oh no. Ooooohhh no. Nononononono. This isnt good."

She rose to her hooves, and began trotting pensive circles above Caramel, nearly oblivious to him.

"I never did try out the growth spell... I don't even know how to do it, really. It cant be that complicated can it? Oh I'll start working on it right away, I promise Caramel! I'll get you back to normal as soon as I can!"

The stallion desperately ran out from underneath her hooves as she paced above him, having more close calls than he would have liked. Twilight gasped as she realized her recklessness, and stopped dead in her tracks.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry! Here, let my help you up off the floor."

Twilight's horn illuminated in a familiar lavender glow, as a strange sensation overcame Caramel once more. Much to his horror, he felt himself being lifted high into the air by some unseen force. Being so high off the ground caused the stallion to elicit what sounded, to Twilight, like a squeak as she gently guided him through the air with her magic. He came to rest on the nearby table, next to a book that dwarfed him nearly as much as Twilight did. She released her magical grip and leaned in closely to speak.

"I'll start reading right now, Caramel, you just stay put. You'll be much safer here than on the floor."

She managed an artificial smile through her own flustered embarrassment. Caramel fared little better. The aerial ascent to the table took him completely off guard, and left him shivering and disoriented. Still, he wasn't an unfortunate smear under Twilight's hooves, and he was, at the moment, relatively safe. He took long, full breaths to calm his nerves as Twilight began flipping through the pages of the neighboring book with determination in her eyes. The fluttering of pages caused staggering gusts of air to blow through Caramels mane, nearly causing him to loose his footing. Twilight finally stopped as she read the familiar heading labeled Size Alteration. Through squinted eyes, she poured over the ancient text.

Caramel finally found some degree of solace beside Twilight, to which his palpitating heart graciously slowed It's cadence. He watched her hastily scan sentence after sentence, occasionally stopping to scratch her head with a hoof before turning the page. He took a seat on his haunches, staring up in absentminded wonder at the studious mare. Even at his new found size, she was alluring as ever. Her eyes reflected the faint candle light in her study like two brilliant amethysts suspended high in the heavens. Twilight blinked and turned to look at the miniscule pony beside her, catching  him off guard. Embarrassed, Caramel quickly averted his eyes, running his hoof through his mane in an attempt to play it off. Twilight tried her best to smile, despite the severity of the situation.

"Is something wrong Caramel? I promise I'm reading as quickly as I can!"

Caramel replied with his cheeks flushing crimson

"O-oh, It's nothing at all, Twilight, don't m-mind me!"

Twilight managed a playful giggle before turning to read the tome before her

"I still cant hear you... I hope to fix that soon, don't you worry! I just need a little while longer to study this"

Caramel nodded, making a mental note not to get caught in such an embarrassing situation again. He instead sat, shuffling his hooves beneath him halfheartedly. Thoughts of the mare pleasantly danced around in his mind, a cheerful laugh here, a warm smile there. His twitterpation only grew as he waited for Twilight to reach an epiphany.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she closed the book with a dull THUD that startled Caramel to attention.

"Alright! I..."

Twilight paused, biting her lip

"I think I've got it. But before I cast the spell on you, I need to try it on something else... You know, just to be safe."

Another pause. She looked down at her hooves in obvious apprehension.

"I... I really hope I can do it."

Her eyes expressed a tinge of nervousness as she spoke. Caramel nodded, though Twilight's demeanor did little to set him at ease. Despite her own fear, Twilight nodded back. Her eyes darted about trying to find an appropriate item to test the spell on. After some thought, she finally settled on the lonely ink-well that lost It's companion quill in Twilight's last magical escapade. Quietly, she lowered her horn to touch It's brim. Caramel watched, wide eyed, as a familiar glow began to emanate from the tip of her horn. He was soon forced to cover his eyes to protect from a blinding flash that accompanied a very familiar magical popping noise. Slowly, he opened his eyes to behold the ink-well, unscathed and, sadly, unaltered.

Twilight's hopeful expression turned to one of disappointment as she backed away slowly, sighing dejectedly to herself. However, before she could turn to speak to Caramel, she was interrupted by another pop that caused her ears to perk up. Both she and the miniscule pony beside her turned to look at the ink-well, as yet another popping sound echoed off the walls of the room. Before their eyes, the ink-well began to diminish in size. Each subsequent pop brought about further shrinking, which continued for a few moments, pop after pop, until it dwindled into nothingness.

Twilight turned to the miniaturized pony on her desk with deep apology in her eyes. Despite this, it did little to ease Caramel. Watching the ink-well shrink into virtual nonexistence mortified Caramel beyond belief. What if he was stuck like this? What if he wasn't done shrinking? Would he continue to shrink just like the ink-well...? Thoughts came pouring in all too quickly for the little stallion. All Twilight could do was watch him bury his face in his hooves to hide the tears that began to well up in his eyes.

Twilight didn't know what to do to comfort the stallion. If anything, she should be apologizing with every fiber in her body for putting him in such a predicament in the first place. Yet she only stood,  solemnly looking down on the broken pony.