Misty stared at the two letters she had written. It had been ten long years since she moved from Ponyville to Los Pegasus and the prospect of returning flooded her with many conflicting thoughts and emotions.
"Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I know it has been three years since my last letter but my research has finally panned out. There are now FIVE pegasi who can do magic beyond yours truly. We have kept it under our hat so to speak but I think the time is right to share this gift with the rest of the pegasi. I can think of no place I would rather share this knowledge than Ponyville.
Your Friend and Colleague
Misty Midnight, Pegasus of Insight"
---
Misty retreated back into thought.
"Twilight — I can still remember the night when I sat quietly in her library, concentrating for over an hour straight. At that time she thought I was a lunatic, but the literal sparkle in her eyes when she first saw my magical focus come into view is a memory I will never forget. She was always a proponent of the idea that magic should be shared and was very supportive of a magic using pegasus. Celestia on the other hand was less enthused, and when she received a friendship letter from Twilight about me, I learned that every castle does indeed have a dungeon."
---
"Dear Captain Rainbow Dash,
Just sending a note that I am going to be in Ponyville. I know you aren't there as often as you would like but I am going to be doing something special over the next month. It has just been too long since I have seen you and I figured I would add a reason for you to drop by.
Your Friend
Misty Midnight
---
"Rainbow Dash — I was at the time just a low level pegasus being tasked with collecting supplies for rainbows. I had not even met you yet, but your loyalty to any pegasus of Ponyville in trouble brought me to your attention. The letter you wrote to Princess Celestia, along with Twilight's and Pinkie Pie's were enough to convince her to release me. The welcoming home party was the icing on the cake."
---
"Dear Misty,
Are you sure you want to go ahead with this? You know that Princess Celestia doesn't exactly trust you. Having hundreds of pegasi learn how to do magic will shake the social order and put her in a tough spot with the nobility. Your plans would not work out well from a cell in the Canterlot Dungeons.
Twilight Sparkle"
---
Misty's eyes tracked back and forth over the letter. A shiver went up her spine from the mention of Canterlot. She felt the phantoms of the wing restraints she wore when she was on that sad train ride into Canterlot. But this was a time for action not retreat, and if the worst came at least she would see Luna again.
"Dear Twilight Sparkle,
How can I not share the gift of magic? It is the next best thing to moving clouds. Enclosed are materials for my anticipated class. Could I use the library on the 24th, 1st, 8th, and 15th? Oh, and how is Thunderlane and crew? Anything I should know?
Misty Midnight"
----
Misty received two letters the next day.
"Dear Misty,
Yes the library is free those nights and I will do as you asked. Thunderlane is handling the weather and all just fine. I doubt he will show up to your class but he wont dissuade the other pegasi from attending. Oh, and feel free to lodge here during your visit.
Twilight Sparkle."
----
This was a big relief to Misty. It showed her that the last letter was more a test of conviction than a challenge to the idea. She also looked forward to staying as a guest at the library — Spike was quite the cook, and she had nothing but admiration for Twilight Sparkle.
----
"Dear Misty,
Being awesome has its price. I am on tour for the next three weeks. Will try to drop by the week after.
Rainbow Dash (captain of the wonderbolts)"
----
Rainbow Dash was always very concise with her letters. The sole exception was if she was telling a story about herself — in that case it could be three pages. She was disappointed that Dash would miss the class but for Rainbow "Will try to drop by" was more certain than most mare's promises.
Misty thought to herself that all of the pieces are in play — just one last letter to write and it would be time to go.
----
"Dear Princess Luna,
It appears that my time in Los Pegasus has come to its end. Twilight has agreed to help with my class and a date has been set. Come the 24th I will be in Ponyville teaching Pegasi magic.
Friends Always
Misty Midnight
"
-----
Misty swooped down in front of Twilight's Library and knocked on the door. Hearing Twilight acknowledge her arrival, she entered.
Twilight turned from the book she was reading and addressed the middle-age dark blue pegasus. "It has been way too long — how was Los Pegasus?"
Misty approached. "Not too bad. It wasn't Ponyville though. I mean we both know why I left — I was never going to be on your adventures, and it was just too close to Canterlot, and then Fluttershy..."
Twilight saddened, "you know that wasn't your fault and she did recover."
Misty responded, "true, and I know she was thankful for the experience but I never did feel comfortable experimenting on ponies that were close to me, and here I simply couldn't keep that level of detachment for my research."
Spike started setting up the slide projector, and Twilight showed Misty how to operate it. A dais was set up in the front of the room with twenty-four school desks neatly arranged in front of it.
Misty stared at the set up and told Twilight, "organized to the end I see."
With that the first pegasus entered. It was a violet mare Misty recognized as Cloudchaser. Nods were exchanged as Flitter, Blossomforth, and other various pegasi took a desk. The last to enter was Scootaloo. After she was seated Misty began the lecture.
"Hello class. My name is Misty Midnight and this is Magic for Pegasi 101."
Misty started the slide projector. "We will start this lecture with a diagram showing how magic is distributed in a typical pegasus. This is from my book 'The magical anatomy of ponies' that I published 8 years ago. As you can see, most of the magic is located in and around the wings. This enables the kind of flight that we all know an love. Without this magic we would fall like a stone barely able to glide. This is something very important to remember when using magic as a pegasus. If you should be sufficiently drained you will fall."
Misty changed the slide. "This is a diagram of a typical unicorn. Note how most of the magic is concentrated around the head. Also note how some is actually outside the unicorns body in the horn itself. This is what enables a unicorn to cast spells. Without the horn to act as a conduit the magic would be trapped within its body."
She replaced the slide. "This is a diagram of me while practicing magic. As you can see, the magic is roughly split between the wings and the head and two units of magic are used in the ghostly horn itself. If I were flying at that point I would be impaired. You may have seen this with Fluttershy."
Misty changed the slide. "As you can see here, she is unique. Her magic is focused right around her eyes. If her magic were in her wings she would be second in speed only to Rainbow Dash herself. It was actually noting this pattern that gave me the idea to be able to do this."
Misty dimmed the lights. She concentrated for a second and a ghostly horn formed on her head. Her students were shocked and awed at the sight. Misty continued, "As you can see it is NOT a physical horn. In essence it is an extension of my magic away from my body allowing me to interact magically with the rest of the world. This is something that can be learned."
She raised the lights and dropped her horn. "However, magic is a lot more complicated for a pegasus. A unicorn only has to concentrate on the magic it is performing. A pegasus has to concentrate on the horn at the same time. A unicorn has all of its magic at its command at all times. A pegasus has to meter her magic across her body as she casts spells. But most importantly a unicorn doesn't have to worry as much about winding herself magically.
Misty changed the slide. "This is a picture of me falling through a cloud."
Gasps erupted from the audience.
Misty changed the slide. "This is a picture of me plummeting to the earth. Note how my wings are fully extended and yet I am still falling. Yes you can make a landing while magically depleted, but it is difficult and nothing like you have ever experienced. Do not make the mistake of burning through most of your magic while flying. A cloud is NOT a safe platform to cast spells from either."
Misty turned off the projector. "Also, do not expect to be able to levitate objects. While unicorns generally have a specific talent and the ability to levitate objects, pegasi in general just have the specific talent. Also note that most pegasi like most unicorns have weak talents. For every pegasus that can teleport there are five that can make bubbles appear or manifest clouds or phantom rainbows. Of course just like unicorns there are rare pegasi whose talent is magic in one form or another. In unicorns this is usually pretty obvious and they tend to get their cutie marks really early. Pegasi with such a latent strong talent tend to get their cutie marks really late and have marks that do not relate to weather or flying."
"Does any pegasus here besides myself have a non-weather non-flying non-obvious as to what it means cutie mark?"
Misty looked out over the class and three hooves shot up. She brought out her horn and called on the first pony, an off-white stallion with a grey mane. Misty watched as Milky Way got up from his desk but unfortunately saw nothing special in him and quietly said, "thank you, you may sit down."
Misty recognized the second pony who has their hoof up. The dark blue stallion was the second fastest flyer in Ponyville, Star Hunter. She scanned him and then said, "Star Hunter, I will need to see you after class."
The third pony was even more famous, but all the more tragic. The brown mare with pink-purple mane stood up and rang out "Scootaloo."
Scanning Scootaloo, Misty noticed just why she couldn't fly. The magical structures that normally allowed energy to flow freely through the wings were broken. Her magic was focused more in her legs like an earth pony's, but more than that, it flowed throughout the rest of her body as well. She said, "I will also need to see you after class, Scootaloo."
The last hour of the class was practical. Misty instructed the ponies to close their eyes and concentrate on their magic. While they were doing that Misty quietly walked amongst the desks and moved small amounts of their magic around. The occasional pegasus jolted out of their meditation only to have Misty say "Good job" or "Very good, you could feel that." By the time the class was over, half could at least sense their own magic and a few were already moving some of it around in a random manner.
"Okay, that was a short ninety minutes. Thank you all for coming. Thank you Spike for helping with the slide projector. And mostly thank you Twilight Sparkle for allowing us to use your library. Remember to practice sensing your magic and if you get good enough with that, try moving it around a little. Scootaloo and Star Hunter come over here by me and Twilight."
After the rest of the class left, Misty continued, "okay, if you remember from the lecture, I said some pegasi like some unicorns have a natural talent for magic. Well from this class Star Hunter, and Scootaloo: You are it. There is a lot more to magic than I am qualified to show and Twilight has agreed to help you in the future with some of the morals, underpinnings, and control issues that come with unleashing a significant magical talent. Scootaloo, you also have a different 'problem.'"
Scootaloo spoke up, interrupting Misty's speech. "Yeah I know. I felt it today. I just don't have any magic in my wings — it is all over the rest of me but not there."
With a tear in her eyes, Misty replied, "Very good. You already see all of that then? My natural talent encompasses seeing and manipulating the magic in ponies. You would be the first I have taught who could so quickly notice things at that level. Try this then — what you want to do is carefully move a small controlled amount of energy towards your forehead."
Scootaloo visibly concentrated as time passed. Misty watched in awe as the magics flowed and coalesced. Not five minutes later a small ghostly horn contrasted against Scootaloo's brown coat.
Twilight advanced and looked into Scootaloo's eyes. She said, "I still don't believe it every time I see it. Do you know it took Misty a month before she could do that so rapidly?"
Misty grabbed a mirror and brought it before Scootaloo. "Ten years ago you would have probably said 'Cutie Mark Crusaders Unicorn'."
Scootaloo focused on the shimmering horn. "Those certainly were good times. Sweetie Belle would have probably turned green as an apple if she saw this. But then again she has her own life to lead."
Twilight replied, "You knew it had to end someday. She has a wonderful singing career and a gift that has to be shared with more than just Ponyville."
Misty turned to a surprisingly patient Star Hunter. "I didn't forget about you. Very sorry for focusing so much time on Scootaloo. You also have a surprisingly strong gift, but unlike the others it is tied more to the night. At any rate, you will have more success working magic when Orion is out."
----------------
Diamond Tiara, hidden in some bushes behind Twilight's library, listened in on the course. It was just as her friend Prince Blueblood had feared. Misty was teaching pegasi magic. This was a tragic breach of the natural order of things and had to be stopped. She would pen a letter to that effect tomorrow.
Time passed and the pegasi left the library. She noticed that Scootaloo was not among them and continued to wait for her departure. When Scootaloo walked out with a horn, she changed her plans. She would be on the train for Canterlot tonight.