on a lark

[alicornucopia]

She combs and combs the world aside and there is another world, just ahead, and she steps in.

The combed-away hole closes behind her. She puts her comb in her pocket.

Thanjen (Unbitwise)

Blueberry (kappa)

Hivers (Rockeye)

Comments

[or_coincidence]

"Not usually!"

[alicornucopia]

"I'll just stay here and read these interesting books then."

[or_coincidence]

"Okay. Have fun!"

Off trots Blueberry.

[alicornucopia]

Emily

(Clair)

sits and reads books.

[or_coincidence]

About fifteen minutes later, Blueberry comes back floating a little jewelry box. She sets it down within reach of Emily.

"See if you like any of those," she says. "I wouldn't mind giving them up to be amulets."

There are a variety of interesting pendants inside, all sized to be worn by little ponies and therefore more or less basically wearable by a medium-sized human. Some of them would actually be a bit big on Emily.

[alicornucopia]

Sort sort sort.

Her hands pause over a silvery chain with a blue pendant but eventually she picks up something gold and neutrally simple, long enough to mostly hide under her shirt.

[or_coincidence]

"All right," says Blueberry. "I'll just read over the spell a few more times to be sure I've got it right."

She pores over the relevant section of the artifacts book.

[alicornucopia]

Emily watches.

[or_coincidence]

"There," she says, when she's read the whole section through twice more. "All set. Goodness that spell is complicated. Just set your necklace down on the floor, please, and I'll cast the spell on it."

[alicornucopia]

Put.

[or_coincidence]

Blueberry trots across the floor to stand over the necklace, and lowers her horn, and concentrates very hard on casting the spell. Artifact creation is difficult in nearly every way a spell can be difficult - oomph, complexity, demand for precision - but this is a relatively simple artifact as these things go, and it's well within her reach as long as she... tries... very... hard.

And there.

The new amulet flashes once with pale blue light, and then settles down to a barely-there shimmer. "Oof," says Blueberry. "That was hard. All done! Enjoy your new amulet!"

[alicornucopia]

She almost picks it up, then hesitates. "Will it only work if I put it on, or if I'm just holding it too?"

[or_coincidence]

"It only works when you put it on, and even then it waits to turn you into your true form until it would be reasonably safe and comfortable for you to be your true form right then," says Blueberry.

[alicornucopia]

"Comfortable like not falling out of the sky, or..."

[or_coincidence]

"Like not falling out of the sky, or not being a sea serpent on land, or not being a dragon underwater."

[alicornucopia]

She bites her lip a little and picks up the necklace and puts it on. Nothing happens.

[or_coincidence]

"Well, I guess either that's your true form or your true form is something that has trouble moving around on land or doesn't breathe air or is too big to fit in the library," says Blueberry.

[alicornucopia]

She laces her fingers together -

Then abruptly turns into a griffin, with no more fingers to lace. "Ha!"

[or_coincidence]

"Neat!" says Blueberry.

[alicornucopia]

Flap, flap. Not enough to take off, just stretching the wings. To the somewhat limited extent griffins can grin, she is doing that.

[or_coincidence]

Blueberry giggles. "Were you stuck as a human for a long time? Do you want to go outside and fly?"

[alicornucopia]

"I've been stuck as a human for so long! Are - there griffins here, too, not just unicorns, will people think it's weird if I'm out being a griffin?"

[or_coincidence]

"There's griffins! Not very many of them nearby, but they're not unheard of. And Ponyville is a nice, friendly town, I'm sure nopony will pester you."

[alicornucopia]

"Ha. All right. I'm gonna fly. I might not be very good at it right away. Humans can't fly."

Door! The outdoors! Flapping!

[clearthestorm]

The sky is clear of both clouds and ponies, except for a far-off grey pegasus.