//------------------------------//
// Chapter 13: Faith in Others 
// Story: Harry Potter and the Prancing of Ponies 
// by The Guy Who Writes 
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Rule 2: Don't brag.

Silver had to remind himself of that rule many times the next morning, when Coach Formation was astounded by his sudden ability to, you know, fly. Not hop along the track and occasionally flap his wings. Not flap for a few laps and collapse afterwards. Normal, effortless flying, as if he'd been doing it all his life and never had any trouble at all.

He could now do laps. Mission accomplished.

Rule 2: Don't brag.

Silver had to remind himself of that rule every time Coach Formation asked about his improvement. Silver also had to remind himself of that rule every time he passed one of his old jeerers. Some had a change of attitude when they saw him flying, congratulating him and questioning him on why he'd been having trouble. Others didn't, pointing out in mocking tones that he finally stopped being a flightless pegasus. The difference between friendly ponies and mean-spirited ponies seemed to be cartoonishly black and white. But regardless of who was asking or why, his answer to the many variations on the "How'd you do it?" question was the same to everypony: "Hard work and determination."

Mr. Book had once told him to compose his hints at leisure, not in the midst of conversation. He'd composed that one yesterday, when he envisioned in advance the questions he'd probably be asked today.

Rule 2: Don't brag.

Silver had to remind himself of that rule every time he thought about how easy this knowledge was to implement. How easily it could probably be taught.

Rule 2: Don't brag.

He had to remind himself of that rule even as he discovered, in real time, that if he  took a determined mindset to push the air with his wings (improving lift and thrust) and combined it with a liberating mindset to be free of the air's resistance (reducing drag and possibly weight), he could fly faster than other ponies his age. Still couldn't do any maneuvers though, and he quickly fell out of the track's guidelines whenever he tried it, so he shelved that technique for later.

Rule 2: Don't brag.

He had to remind himself of that rule every time he was tempted to air-buck. He would keep that particular gem a secret until he thought of a reveal that would best promote the common endeavour.

Rule 2: Don't brag.

He especially had to remind himself of that rule whenever he thought of how much the pony condition – or at least the pegasus condition – could be advanced by these two discoveries. He was currently a colt after all, and it would probably damage the theory's credibility to hear it was discovered by an eleven-year-old. Worse, there are plenty of unicorn scholars who don't have ears for theories proposed by other races, especially if those theories conflict with established unicorn wisdom.

He'd read a few books recommended by Mr. Book which hammered this point home.

Rule 2: Don't brag.

Silver had to remind himself of that rule many times this morning.

On the plus side, one of his former tormentors (though that term is a bit of an exaggeration) asked Silver if he was going to join the Best Young Flyer's Competition now that he was so fast, which gave him (1) something to look up in independent study, and (2) an idea.







"He what?" Twilight uttered into the telephone.

"He can fly now," summarized the superintendent of Silver's school. "It's almost like I'm teaching a new student. Well, not personality-wise, but definitely when it comes to ability. Do you know what changed over the weekened, Ms. Sparkle?"

"No..." Twilight tried to think back, beyond the friendship lesson that took priority in her memory. "Nothing seemed all that different. I guess he did see his mentor, but..."

Her eyes widened when she remembered.

"Wait a minute! When he got home yesterday, he said he 'figured magic out on his own'."

"Did he elaborate?" 

"No, he didn't explain what that meant."

"Well whatever he did, it's working," said the superintendent. "I think I can end the private lessons much sooner than I thought I'd have to. He breezed through half of the first-grade curriculum just this morning, and he was already doing well in weather class. At the rate he's going, Silver should be caught up with his classmates in no time."

"How soon?"

"It's too early to tell. At his current pace, maybe two months? Actually, he doesn't have any muscle memory for any flying maneuvers, and advanced maneuvers build on simple ones, so it might be longer. Still, this is a very good sign. With the way things were going, I thought it would take at least a year to get to this point. I'm extremely surprised it didn't."

"So am I..." said Twilight, eyes distant. A recent memory tugged at her mind.

Look after him, but do not coddle him, and you will be surprised by what he can do.

That's what Mystery Book had said.

She hardly noticed the superintendent say some pleasantry and end the call.







"Silver."

Silver sighed. Was this going to be a regular thing? Him getting back to the library, Twilight immediately saying his name, and him responding with...

"Yes, Twilight?"

"I got a call from superintendent Flight Formation. You... um, impressed him."

"I know," said Silver distractedly. "Twilight, do we have any books on the Best Young Flyer's Competition?"

Her inner-librarian seemed to kick in automatically. "Yes, they're- no. Silver, you aren't going to distract me." Darn. "Flight said you went from barely getting off the ground to flying like you've been doing it all your life."

Silver looked Twilight in the eyes. "And?"

"And I'd like to know how you did that in a single weekend."

"Why?"

"Flight Formation informed me about your magic problem."

"What about it?"

"I want to know how you fixed it."

"Why? Coach Formation didn't ask."

"He might not care, but I do. Magic is my special talent, Silver. I have to know."

Silver looked at her for a long moment.

Twilight couldn't have described it using words, but being under his gaze, in that moment, felt like... like she was being evaluated by Princess Celestia. And not in a good way. It felt like those times Princess Celestia thought Twilight still had a long way to go.

Finally, Silver spoke. "If what I learned contradicts existing theory, do you still want to know it?"

Twilight felt her eyebrows furrow. "Huh? It contradicts existing theory? Are you sure?"

"Yes," Silver said with complete confidence.

"Um... how?"

Silver took a deep breath. "In order to overcome my magic problem, which wasn't explained in any of the books I read, I had to make a few original discoveries. Some of them go against the current scientific consensus... not that it was very scientific in the first place," he grumbled. "It's not like the unicorn 'scientists'-" she could practically hear the quotation marks "-ran any experiments to prove their theories."

Twilight felt her eyebrows furrow further. "Silver, I don't understand. Are you saying that unicorn scientists are wrong about magic?"

"About unicorn magic? No. About pegasus magic? Absolutely."

"But... but that's..." Twilight couldn't seem to find the words that would logically refute the claim. All she could say was, "That can't be right."

"Why not?"

Again, Twilight couldn't find words.

"You've already seen the proof of my improvement," Silver continued. "I'm saying outright that I improved when I figured out where they went wrong."

"Are you sure that's it?" Twilight automatically asked. "Maybe you just missed a book, or a chapter." It had happened to her more than once, when she got overeager and skipped a sentence or two to get to the important parts. "Or maybe one of the author's had a writing style that was easy to misinterpret-"

"Twilight," Silver interrupted. "I get it. If you don't want to hear how I did it, that's fine."

And Silver began walking in the direction of the staircase.

"What?" Twilight asked, suddenly shocked. "No!" She dashed in front of him. "No, I do want to hear!"

"No, you don't," said Silver, stopping to look up at her, even though it was like he was looking down. "You're already making excuses, and you haven't even heard my explanation yet. You're leaping to the defense of the scientists that your mind has deemed authority figures, trying to cram their words down my throat, which means you're already not listening. I'm not letting this conversation go any further until you acknowledge the possibility that they could be wrong. Otherwise, end of discussion."

"Okay," said Twilight. "I can admit that it's possible."

"No, Twilight. I need you to truly acknowledge it. Admit to yourself that if you can get things wrong sometimes, so can other researchers. Remind yourself of the time nopony believed you, even when you were right about Nightmare Moon. Until you do that much, it would be worse than pointless to tell you my findings, just like it probably felt pointless when you were telling the townsponies about Nightmare Moon."

There was a long pause.

"I... I guess that's..." And then the magical discovery was shoved aside, a friendship lesson aggressively taking its place. "Wait, are you saying you don't think I'll believe you?"

"More or less," Silver shrugged. 

Twilight didn't expect that answer to hit her so hard. Part of being a good guardian... no, a good friend, was that you believed in them- no, not just that you believed in them, but that you believed them when it counted. You trusted them.

Silver and Mr. Book had done it for her. They took her seriously, even though they were skeptical.

It was only right that she be there for Silver. Especially now. She could tell this really mattered to him, even if he sounded just as jaded as he usually did. And she wanted to fix that.

In the heat of the moment, she was already on the defensive, but at least she managed to focus on the important thing. "Why don't you think I'll believe you?"

"Because I know how you feel about books, Twilight, and how you feel about ponies who disagree with the books. Look, I'll put it this way. If I could've found the solution in a book, Coach Formation would have taught it to me day one and I never would have had trouble in the first place. But he didn't, because there aren't any books like that. Unicorns are the only ones who write research books, and unicorns aren't as diligent about magic that isn't their own, so none of them did any scientifically rigorous studies on pegasus magic. A few wrote down untested theories to explain their observations, then all the other unicorns accepted those theories because they sounded all sensible and scientific, using words like lift and drag and thrust and what not. And that was that. No experiments. Nopony trying to disprove their theories. No peer review. No rigorous testing with a control group... or any testing at all. None of the authors even thought to consult an actual pegasus. It was just a bunch of professors churning out publications and calling it a day."

"Silver, that can't be right!" Twilight said a bit more firmly. "Nopony would be that irresponsible. Especially not professors!"

Silver seemed to consider her for a moment, then said, "Alright, I'll play along. But first, I want us to play a game. It's called the 'two, four, six,' test...







Twilight was rather embarrassed at the result of the test, and further embarrassed by Silver's explanation afterward.

"What you just discovered," Silver concluded, "is a very common mistake. Eighty percent of adults fail that test, including scientists, because of something called positive bias, where you look for evidence to confirm your beliefs, rather than falsify them."

"Don't you mean confirmation bias?"

"No, that's slightly different. Confirmation bias is when you choose information sources that agree with your current opinions. It usually comes into play with politics. Positive bias comes into play with problem solving and the scientific method. It describes the kind of scientists who try to confirm what they believe, instead of doing what science actually requires of them. If you don't try to disprove your own theories, you'll never come up with realistic, rigorous answers on your own. Like the difference between a student who’s so confident in his answers that he turns in his paper as soon as he's done, and a student who doubts his work so he triple-checks EVERYTHING. Which is the better student?"

Twilight's eyebrows were furrowed again. "I... see what you mean. But what does that have to do with unicorn theories on pegasus magic?"

(Silver felt like he was going in circles at this point, but he soldiered on.)

"It has to do with how those professors reached their conclusions. My knowledge didn't come from one of their books. In fact, I had to dismiss a few of their theories as mostly false before my mind began searching for the actual answer."

"Silver, that can't be right," she repeated. "There have to be good books on the subject. I've read good books on pegasus magic."

Silver shook his head. "They weren't good. Or at the very least, they weren't helpful. That's what I'm trying to say. If you don't believe me, I can prove it Socratically."

Socratiwhat?

"You say you've read good books on pegasus magic. What did those books say about weather manipulation?" Silver asked in a mild, neutral, and slightly inquisitive voice.

"Pegasi manipulate weather with the magic in their hooves," Twilight answered at once. "That magic lets them direct lightning, release rain, and stand atop clouds. It's influenced by emotion, and it takes skill and practice to improve."

Silver nodded. "What about the magic in the other parts of their bodies?"

"The magic in their eyes lets them see great distances and not get distracted by wind or water. The magic in their wings generates lift and thrust. The magic in their skin and fur reduces weight and drag, respectively."

"Yup," said Silver. "That's what the books say alright. So, Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic, if its just hoof magic that lets a pegasus manipulate weather, why is it that Rainbow Dash can use her entire body, not just her hooves, to sleep on clouds all day?"

"She-" Twilight began, and then, just like when Silver revealed the answer to the two-four-six test (any three real numbers), her thoughts came grinding to a halt. 

How... did Rainbow Dash do that?

When she failed to come up with an answer, Silver shook his head sadly.

"What's going on here is even worse than positive bias. At least with positive bias, scientists are still testing their beliefs, even if the tests aren't that good. In this case, it's... I don't even know if there's an official name for the problem. Assuming? Speculation? Theorising without testing? Heads-up-their-own-behinds syndrome? Whatever's going on, I know the university unicorns don't spend nearly enough time testing their ideas against the real world."

This statement didn't help Twilight's scrambled thoughts. Mystery Book had told her that Silver would appreciate a unicorn friend who didn't put the other races down, but it was hard to be that pony for Silver when he kept putting unicorns down. The only thing she could think to say was, "Silver, could you please stop speaking that way? I'm a unicorn, you know."

"I didn't say all unicorns have the problem," said Silver. "Only university unicorns."

"I'm a university unicorn, too!" Twilight exclaimed, exasperated. "Well, I mean, I didn't go to Canterlot U., Celestia gave me private lessons, but I know plenty of unicorns that did go there, and they're not like that at all!"

"I'm also not blaming the students," Silver said with a shaking head. "They can't help what they're taught. It's the ponies that are in charge of research, or who decide what subjects and conclusions make for acceptable theses... or who decide what ponies can get admitted in the first place. They're the ones in charge, and therefore they're the worst offenders. For example, do you know when the last time a non-unicorn was accepted to Canterlot University?"

"Swift Flight the Swift Thinker made it in three centuries ago," said Twilight at once, naming the pegasus who had pioneered many modern weather practices.

"She's the exception that proves the rule," Silver said. "Three centuries and only a single non-unicorn? Really?"

Twilight's cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

"Unicorns remember her because she's the only non-unicorn who made it in," Silver continued. "And she wasn't even much of a scholar, more of an engineer. She didn't tread on any established theories. She didn't get outstanding grades. She simply did things with clouds that nopony had ever seen before. For the most part, she let her professors figure out how she was doing it, with a few personal contributions to the theory here and there. Other than that, her grades were above average, but she didn't rock the boat. In every subject except pegasus magic, she answered test questions and interacted with professors in ways that didn't step on anypony's hooves. Weather manipulation was the one place where her professors allowed her to contribute in any meaningful way, and even then they domineered the theory, forcing their own ideas into accepted literature while hers were largely ignored."

"How do you know all this?"

Silver shrugged. "I read her memoir."

...as recommended reading from Mr. Book. It had, apparently, been difficult to locate in the archives of the Canterlot Public Library. He'd thanked Mr. Book, telling him it had been well worth the effort, and Mr. Book told Silver not to say things he already knew.

"Anyway," Silver continued, "the point is that I'm not Swift Flight, Twilight. I have a theory that will rock the boat, that will step on ponies' hooves. Two theories, actually. Two proven theories. I've already tested and confirmed them. And now that I have, there are two paths I can take from here. Option one: I can keep them to myself, use them for my own personal benefit, and avoid the annoyances of trying to prove them to an unreceptive audience."

"That's a bad option," said Twilight, and Silver knew she was thinking the words 'selfish' to herself.

"It's better than option number two."

"What's number two?" 

"I can bang my head against the brick wall known as Canterlot University, give myself a concussion because they'd never listen to a colt, wait a few years, then keep banging my head against the wall when I grow up because they'd never listen to a pegasus. Ultimately, I'd give myself so much brain damage that I forget why I'm even bothering in the first place. You tell me which one sounds more appealing."

"Silver, I'm sure it won't be that bad!" Twilight said. "Ponies will listen to the truth!"

"Just like they listened to you about Nightmare Moon?"

Twilight froze.

"Twilight, you have too much faith that others think like we do," Silver said seriously. "Most ponies don't, and it's simply something you have to learn how to deal with. Some ponies can be taught with the right lessons. If you get to them early enough." (Like the Chaos Legion soldiers.) "But most will never learn. And that's alright. Not everypony has to be able to think critically. But you've got to be able to acknowledge that many ponies prefer to avoid thinking when they don't have to."

"But it's their job to think!" Twilight protested. "The university professors, I mean."

"No, it's their job to lecture and write publications. In order to get to that point, they had to memorize test answers when they were students. At no point along their career paths was actual thinking necessary."

Twilight had no words.

"Look, I've already got a plan for how to get other pegasi to accept the more important theory. If you really want to help the universal pursuit of truth, help me make sure that plan doesn't go wrong. And if you want to try to convince the unicorns at Canterlot U. after that... I'll tell you the theory when the plan is over, then let you bang your head against that wall."

There as a very long pause.

Again, Twilight remembered something Mystery Book said. If you wish to help, you could ease the annoyances that lie between him and his goals.

"You promise you'll tell me the theory if I help with your plan?"

"Yes," Silver said at once.

"Pinkie promise?"

"'Pinky' promise?" Silver echoed. He looked at his hoof. "Ponies don't have pinkies. Is there a spell that temporarily gives us hands or something?"

"No, it's-" Twilight began to say, then shook her head. "Never mind. I'll tell you later." She locked gazes with her young ward. "Do you mean your promise?"

Silver equably returned it. "I swear," he said solemnly, "to tell Twilight Sparkle my underlying theories on pegasus magic if she helps me succeed."

Twilight nodded. "Okay, Silver. I'll help. What's your plan?"

Silver grinned. "You know, you should have asked that before promising to help. That's the sort of thing that can trip up a good pony- making an advanced commitment before knowing what you're agreeing to, and then you're forced to either break your promise, or do something bad." Before Twilight could respond, Silver said, "Don't worry, I don't think you'll think my plan is evil or wrong. It's just something to think about for future reference."

"Silver..." Twilight said, hoof on her forehead. "Your plan?"

"Oh, right. Could you help me research the Best Young Flyer's Competition?"