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// 11 - The Basics 
// Story: Amber Starts, Comforting Endings 
// by David Silver 
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As it turned out, the entire city had suffered the attack. That it hadn't been restrained to the library helped ease the minds of the visitors that day, at least. The library wasn't the problem, and most returned to what they were doing, even if many of them were missing their marks.

In most of the city, they had been quite visible rooty tendrils. Amber asked about that to the one creature she knew might have an answer.

Comforting rubbed a hand along a leg. "I don't want ponies getting mad at the tree. It's not their fault, I'm sure of it. I don't know what's going on, exactly, but don't be mad at the tree, please." She had hidden them, making them appear as shadowy tendrils.

"It is time." Comforting orbited around Amber, looking at her the entire time. "I've kept you waiting long enough. Are you ready to try something new?"

Amber inclined her head as she tried to keep turning to keep Comforting in view. "Whatever it is, will it be hurt because I'm missing my mark?"

Comforting went in for a firm hug. "I'm so sorry about that. But I don't think so? Only one way to find out."

Amber looked down at her empty flank. "What do I have to lose?" She gestured with her hooves. "Take me wherever we're going."

Comforting hopped back, letting gravity have a say for a change. "We don't need to go anywhere, but, let's get a little privacy." She pointed to one of the little offices to the side of the library and took off at a determined walk. "What I'm showing is for your eyes only, at least for now."

"That's a little scary." Despite that, Amber was smiling with a little anticipation. "What are we doing, exactly?"

"Did you forget?" Comforting casually placed a desk down. It was the same desk, at least in appearance, as the desk she had perched on, so many years before, when Twilight Sparkle had taught her in turn how to cast magic. "Have a seat, and be ready to learn something lost to unicorns."

"Unicorns, huh?" Amber settled down in the offered chair, smiling. "I like where this is going. What can I do, magic wise?"

"You can't." Comforting flicked the lights out, standing on the desk across from Amber. "I will teach you how to cast magic, the spells everypony used to know, but are forgotten." Comforting went over to the chalk board and began making marks. "These are the old letters, each one dripping with meaning and magic." She tapped at them, "But they also have a very specific meaning, physically, for you, up here." Comforting tapped at Amber's horn, despite being across the room.

Amber leaned forward in the desk, examining the markings. "Wow." She smiled at the drawings. "Those are pretty."

"Aren't they? With practice, you'll be able to see the meaning of a spell in that picture." Comforting clapped her mismatched hands with a grin. "But we have to start up here." She pointed to Amber's horn anew. "You have to be able to make each of these inside."

She pointed to the first. "Simplest one. Imagine your horn is a flute, a magic flute. Imagine the sensation you feel when you float things. There's a little buzz, right? Something's vibrating in there, and you're doing it."

"Yeah?" Amber grasped an abandoned pencil and picked it up in her magic, eyes closing the moment she had a grip. She focused on that sensation, that mild effort. "I can feel that. How does that relate to that symbol?"

"Everything." Comforting grinned, already seeing the potential ahead. "Take that vibration, that shiver, and try to push up in the middle, clench it. Just like any muscle, or, oh, your eyes when you force the focus a bit. Imagine you're focusing on something really close, but with that shaking."

Amber started with surprise. "Like my eyes?" She hadn't thought of any part of her horn like an eye before. The idea felt so alien and new, and a little exciting. "I can do that?"

"Try." Comforting relaxed into floating on her back. "I have every confidence that you won't get hurt trying. Magic isn't complicated. It's you, channeling energies already there." She twirled with a giggle. "So try. I'll tell you if you get it right."

Amber did so, squeezing tightly. "Oh. That feels funny." She shuddered and shook. "I have a headache now. Did I do it?"

Comforting pointed to that first letter, the rune glowing gently, though fading away slowly. "You had it, but you let it go. This is going to take practice, but you did it, and that's the really important part. You did your first unicorn letter. The first letter in who knows how long."

Amber took a slow breath, the weight of that sinking on her shoulders. "I did do that." She stared at the board. "I can do it again, I know I can. Show me the next one."

Comforting felt the urge and surrendered to the heart song with a peaceful expression. "Oh Amber, dear, you have been so smart." She made notes for Amber's personal reference. They worked together, getting about one fourth of the way through the alphabet, one letter at a time. "You are soaking this right up." Comforting zipped in for a fresh hug. "Learning the secrets of the ancient art," she sang, continuing the lines with a smile.

Amber hugged back, giggling. "That's high praise. I'll make you proud of me more often." She broke the hug. "Where did this all go? Why was it lost?"

"Big questions." Comforting put her hands on her hips. "and I was sleeping for most of that. So, couldn't tell you exactly even if I wanted to." She shrugged. "Besides, learning is half the fun. I don't want to deny some brave archaeologist pony. But, for whatever reason, maybe related to magic being gone for a while, unicorns forgot how to cast spells. It's terrible, and we're fixing it, at least for one special unicorn."

She leaned in with a grin. "You may not think you're ready, but you're here." Her song, sung for nopony. It wasn't like even Amber seemed to hear it, at least not consciously, but Comforting kept weaving the lines in.

Amber wiggled her ears with a smile. "At least this explains why I couldn't find any books on this. I did look, even if it wasn't specifically this." She turned to look at the chalkboard, smiling warmly at the runes. "Will those stay?"

Comforting considered the letters. "I could leave them, but then this has to be a secret room. No peeking!" She did a twirl, finishing the song with, "And the time to strike is just so clear."

Amber snickered. "Okay, okay." She hopped off the chair and stood beside Comforting. "And the more I look, the more they look like you. Huh."

Comforting blinked at the squiggles, then pulled out a mirror to look at herself. "I'm not a rune."

"Not literally." Amber reached a hoof up to rub at Comforting in ticklish way. "But you are a mysterious and wonderful thing of the past."

Comforting danced away from the tickle with a giggle. "Alright, leaving this here. Thinking on it, I doubt anypony could figure much out, just looking at these random marks without some instruction to go with it. But, be proud! You're learning magic."

"I can't wait to use it. Maybe not today." Amber flexed a leg. "I've had enough brain time for today. But soon." She paused, considering that. "Could you have shown Misty this?"

"Could, sure." Comforting rolled to her belly, floating along. "But she's dealing with things, her own things. It'd be unfair to dump this on her while she's in the middle of those, to start."

"Oh." Amber perked, processing that. "Does she need our help?!"

"Maybe." Comforting headed for the door, walking for a change. "But that's up to you, and asking her directly will probably make her nervous at best. Trust in her to figure through it."

"Okay." Amber followed behind Comforting, the two of them leaving the office. "But if she needs me, please tell me."

"Of course I will." Comforting reached to grasp Amber's hoof, holding it. "But I'm only working on hunches. Misty has to choose to open up to us, or not. I won't shove my nose into her business without permission." She drew Amber closer. "You wouldn't want me prodding into your affairs, would you?"

"No. I don't. But Misty isn't you." Amber snuggled in with Comforting, sighing with a faint wistfulness. "She's not a great mystery, and she's not as affectionate." For a moment there was nothing more pressing than their shared snuggles, but she did slide down to her own hooves eventually. "I should get back to work, and that goes for you too."

Comforting floated just over Amber. "Aye aye, boss. I'll get the returns put away." She promptly vanished, doing just that, one hoped.

She appeared elsewhere, the books put away. She had to finish the song, so she did. "Just believe in yourself, that's all you need to do." She conjured an image of Amber and blew a kiss their way.

"I'm teaching you all I can, and now it's up to you." She waved towards the board, still burdened with all the letters.

"Your path is not a straight line, but I'll be there to guide you." Comforting gestured to herself and let out a gentle sigh for the final line, "And no matter what happens, I'll be right beside you."

With the song properly completed, Comforting nodded, feeling the tension fading. She had completed the song and fulfilled that little harmonious urge. "Thanks, Together." She hugged nothing, hoping it'd somehow reach her distant friend. "I think I needed that reminder."





"Your sparkle..." Izzy inclined her head left and right. "It's different."

Amber started at that. "It is? How?" She examined her fellow unicorn curiously. "You're good at seeing sparkles."

"It's one of my specialties." Izzy buffed her chest with clear pride. "And yours is kinda funny. Also, different. I saw it before, but now..." She squinted at Amber suspiciously. "Did you do something?"

Amber snorted with laughter. "Yes. I did. But that's a secret for now. At least until I master this." She closed her eyes to imagine that hum, the little pulse of her magic flowing from her horn.

Izzy pointed firmly. "There! Whatever you're doing, that!" She pounced forward, just short of tackling Amber. "What are you doing?"

Amber giggled. "I'm doing a trick I learned. It's a secret for now, but it's amazing. I can do what you do. Well, maybe not as well, but I can do it."

Izzy recoiled. "What I do? What do I do?"

Amber laughed, reaching out to steady Izzy. "Relax! I've seen it before, in another unicorn. When we cast a spell, the results light up, but yours is so strong and unique, it glows instead."

For many, light up and glow would be the same, but Izzy seemed to understand the difference. "Oh, okay." She tapped at her chin. "So you learned a new way to uni-glow, and it's making your sparkle funny. That's neat! I wanna know how too."

"Secret," sang Amber, booping Izzy on the nose. "You already have so much magic of your own. You're the most magic unicorn I know. Let some other unicorns have some too."

"So not fair." Izzy stamped a hoof with a huff. "If it's so secret, why'd you show me?"

"Because I want to." Amber tapped at Izzy's chest. "And because I'm practicing. And, well, you did ask."

"I did." Izzy deflated a moment before recovering. "Well! We are friends, so when you're ready, you'll share." She winked."And I'll trade a secret of my own. Only fair."

Amber brightened. "Sounds like a deal to me. Oh, what are you working on today?"

"You haven't noticed?" Izzy held up a small, rounded tool. "I'm making more toys. My goal is to fill this place with all sorts of colorful trinkets. Now, if only I could get them to stay together. Anything you have to offer?"

Amber blinked softly. "This place is for books, not toys."

"But my toys are about books." Izzy gave a manic grin. "I'm hiding toys that go with the books they're next to. Ponies will have even more fun reading!"

Amber sank onto her haunches, stunned. "That is--" She put a hoof to her cheek. "Amazing. Um, but ask next time before you go putting things all over the library, okay?"

Izzy blinked owlishly at Amber. "Oops. I thought I already had." She patted her forehead. "My bad, I thought I asked." She gave a salute. "But if I didn't, then I sure am now. Can I continue?"

Amber giggled, pushing to her hooves again. "I'd love that, actually. Mmm, can you make a list of what you've made? We should add them to the things ponies can check out if they want."

Izzy perked. "Oh, that sounds like fun. I'd be happy to." She rocked her head to either side, her blue hair bouncing around with the motion. "Oh, um, how many is it okay to make?"

Amber blinked at that. "So long as you aren't--" She paused with a new thought and a faint cringe. "No more than one per two bookshelves to start. We'll see how popular it is after that."