Orange, Lemon, Lime

Part 1

Orange. Lemon. Lime.

Twilight was able to transmogrify apples into any other fruit she could think of. A bunch of grapes, a few strawberries. She grew tired of fruits. She started to turn the apples into vegetables.

Carrot, potato, onion.

At first, this was exciting. She had done this apple transmogrification before, but casting even the smallest spell was always a little satisfying. She popped them out fast and precisely - orange, lemon, lime. Orange, lemon, lime. Alone in her basement, though, deeply nestled in the Golden Oak Library's winding roots...these practice spells became less than exhilarating.

She thought back to earlier in the summer, when she had been practicing the same spells with Spike outside the Clover Cafe. , causing her to create a horrific orange-bluebird hybrid. Only moments later, she did the same thing to a poor, harmless frog. Could she turn an apple into a bluebird, or a frog, fully?

That would be...unethical, right? If an apple suddenly became a bird...would it act like one? Could it live like one? Would it have the power of flight and the instinct to flee from cats?

Her curiosity soon began to eat at her. If the bird behaved wrongly, in any way, she would just turn it back into an apple immediately. The apple would never remember it had ever been a bird. Discord has cast magic exactly like this hundreds of times. Thousands, probably.

It would definitely just be a regular bird.

Would it work if Twilight were to try to turn an apple into a cat, or a dog? What if she were able to turn a crate of apples into a pony?

She'd probably need more than just a crate.

No way would such a thing be allowed in any magical safety organizations. Twilight also supposed it wouldn't be very ethical, either.

Although...plenty of foals were already brought into the world with the help of magic. Magical fertilization, magical exo-wombs in hospitals...focus, Twilight.

A frog would be safer. If she were to cast such a spell.

Her horn subconsciously sparked to life, a glimmering, twinkling, flameless fire wrapping around itself, wrapping around an apple. Frog, frog, frog. Or, was it bird, bird, bird?

Twilight realized she was nearly spent from her exhausting spell-practicing. Her coat was slick with sweat and had dripped on the desk in front of her, as well as on the apple that was unconsciously alight with her magic. Her mane and her tail, curled behind her, were all fly-aways.

The Golden Oak Library's underground floor was silent around her, but the sorceress' world was so loud she could hardly focus. Her eyelids were almost sticking together when she blinked, tacky with fatigue. She finally forced them closed altogether, squeezing til she saw stars. Her horn crackled and a swirling, cascading whirl of magic poured out in waves, drawn towards the apple on the desk in front of her. She should have had her eyes open - she should have been focused on having a safer, more sterilized environment to attempt such a spell. Her spell resembled a crackling wormhole, dangerous, matter-eating, and unknown.

Frog. Bird. Pony. Frog, bird, pony. Focus, Twilight. Frogs, she said to herself, make a frog.

Don't think of birds.

Don't think of ponies.

Frog. Bird. Pony. A throaty growling came from her throat, angry at herself for being unable to focus. At the back of her head, a fond, familiar voice said, 'Don't push yourself too hard, sugarcube.'

Twilight let the spell fizzle out and blinked a couple of times. Her face was flushed - stars, what would Applejack think, seeing Twilight struggle over her apples like this? Twilight cracked her back and took a few deep breaths.

Then, she tried again.

Spike, snoring upstairs deep under his covers, couldn't hear the spell charging up the first or second time, but he could hear what came after it.

Twilight's spell got the best of her. It had happened to her a hundred times before, like slipping on a patch of ice. It's winter, and you know it's icy, you should have been more careful, but still.

Upstairs, Spike sat up in fear, awoken from hearing an explosion in the basement. Then he heard Twilight fall.