Chapter 6- First Lesson
With tea finished Twilight cleared an area in the center of the library for training, leaving only a table in the center and some random objects. She thought about having the practicing outside where it would be more opened and less prone to accidents, but seeing that Sweetie Belle didn't have a problem with wild surges in magic, this place would work for now. The filly waited as Twilight moved about, eagerly awaiting what was to happen next.
“Okay,” Twilight said levitating a piece of chalk, “I'm going to take this as simply as possible so that to help you as best as possible. So let’s start with what magic is itself. Now as I said in your class everypony has magic in them, a force that allows us to in some respect slightly change the way the world around us works. For unicorns like you and what I was, we tap into the more mysterious arcane forces, allowing us to move objects, teleport, or transform things into something else to name a few. Now for most unicorns, their talent and what their cutie mark is often relates to their magic. Take for example your sister. Her magical ability to find gems contributed to her talent of creating beautiful things. Now there are some ponies that have a talent but may struggle with how to use it to help other ponies or for a certain career, but in time all unicorns and other pony types find their place.”
“Does this mean that in learning magic I may get my cutie mark,” Sweetie Belle said with a grin.
“While I can’t guarantee anything, but learning more about magic will help you find your talent. Every little bit of learning helps!”
It wasn’t quite exactly what Sweetie Belle wanted to hear, but she still held onto hope that maybe if she learned how to do magic she would succeed. She just nodded to Twilight in recognition of what the lavender Alicorn had to say.
“Now aside from your main magical talent, unicorns also know a hoof full of other spells. These include telekinesis or the moving of objects magically, a light spell, and some shielding spells. So what I am going to do is to help you learn those basic spells and go from there. How does that sound?”
“Great,” Sweetie Belle replied, “I’d love to learn anything I can!”
“Glad to hear that. So now that we covered some basics, I just want to go over a few ground rules. First, as I said, please only read books about magic that I say are okay. If you have any concerns about that, let me know. Next, please only practice spells that we have gone over together. I know you’ll see other unicorns doing different things, but we just want to stick to a few spells at first. That brings me to my next point; my teaching you won’t do anything unless you practice. I know you are doing this already which is great so keep doing that safely and routinely. Above all, and this is the biggest rule, never use your magic to harm others. Magic is a powerful force, and with great power comes great responsibility. So do you understand these rules?”
The white filly’s eyes glazed over for a moment while Twilight read the rules. It wasn't that Sweetie Belle was a rebellious pony, but to her rules were boring, like somepony speaking gibberish. Still she didn't want to seem uninterested so she listened as much as she could.
“I understand them,” the filly replied knowing that like in school following rules was part of the task.
“Very well,” Twilight said, “now I am going to perform a spell on you to see your magical power. It may feel a little funny, but I promise it will not hurt. Oh, and please hold still while I do this.”
Sweetie Belle nodded and prepared herself for whatever plan Twilight had. The Princess stopped in front of the filly, and bending her head low touched her horn to Sweetie Belle’s. The filly knew why Twilight wanted her to stay still with such a sharp horn hear her face. She watched as the lavender unicorn’s horn had a purple aura around it and felt a tingling sensation move from the white unicorn’s horn down through the rest of her body. It was like the same sensation of having her hoof fall asleep but it was throughout her entire body. Soon the tingling sensation ended as Twilight raised her head.
“Well the good news is that your raw magical power is similar to other unicorns your age, perhaps slightly more,” Twilight replied as she took a few notes on a sheet of paper.
“What are you writing?”
“I'm going to be keeping track of your progress through each session. Today we’re just establishing a few benchmarks to see where you are now and go from there. Don’t worry, I'm not writing anything bad, just some notes to help me help you. Now see those items there on the table?”
Sweetie belle looked at the nearby table and saw that there were three common items, things that she had seen in school and at home. One was an ordinary book, next was an unlit candle used for reading, and the third was a quill.
“Okay, so for now you are going to try to move any of these items if you can, starting with the feather. What I want you to do first is to stop and clear your mind of anything else, focus your intent on moving the feather and then pour your passion into your task as you send out your energy. Whenever you are ready you can begin.”
Sweetie Belle positioned herself in front on the book on the table and tried to clear away every thought, including her own doubts and fears. She then mentally focused on the item and began to imagine the feather floating in the air. She closed her eyes as she poured her energy into the spell, devoting her entire being into the task.
“Sweetie Belle look,” Twilight said with a hint of excitement in her voice.
“What,” the filly said as she opened them while still trying to focus on the task. She gasped as she saw that the quill was floating a few inches off the air! Sure it wasn't anything large or heavy, but it was better than no results like she had countless times before.
“I did it! I did it,” Sweetie Belle exclaimed when suddenly her concentration was diverted just enough to cause the feather to float back to the ground, “Awww come on!”
“That’s okay Sweetie Belle,” Twilight said, “You did great. See, you can use magic like other unicorns. I know it may not seem like much levitating a quill, but this is the first step to your magical progress.”
“So is that going in your notes?”
“That is definitely going there,” the lavender Princess replied with a smile as she took the quill she was writing with from the ink-pot and jotted a few notes, “Now how about we take a little break and next you can try moving the candle.”
“Great,” Sweetie said having a renewed interest in her magic now that she proved herself with Twilight’s help.