//------------------------------// // Chapter Five: Illusion // Story: Grounder // by JustAnotherEarthPony //------------------------------// There’s a few key details that separate magicians from wizards. For one, wizards do actual magic while magicians give the illusion of doing so. For two, wizards tend to be willing to explain how their magic works while a magician would never reveal their best trick. Unicorns are wizards. They can have pointy hats, can somehow grow beards and know all sorts of things about magical theory that they are willing to explain to anyone curious enough to ask. This being Equestria, that meant something as simple as ‘What are you reading?’ could lead to an incredibly lengthy explanation provided by studious purple fillies. However, there is one unicorn who isn’t a wizard, at least when it comes to her cutie mark: Trixie Lulamoon. Now, don’t get me wrong. Trixie is a unicorn, she can still perform magic like any other. But unlike other unicorns, her cutie mark is for magician tricks, not wizarding powers. This means she can do fireworks, displays of lighting and control ropes to perform tricks. Humans are magicians. Of course, we don’t have actual magic, but that doesn’t stop us from pulling off all sorts of impossible things. From dramatic escapes while chained to simple hand tricks that are more difficult than you really think, the amount of things that we could pull off without actual magic was always pretty impressive to me. Back when I was a human, I was a magician aficionado. I did all sorts of things from card pulls to fake shuffles and everything inbetween. The obvious reason that I didn’t ever go for a magician career is that I was no Houdini. I wasn’t going to pull a fast one over anyone who’d seen my tricks after the first time and I certainly wasn’t going to make a career out of it. But in Equestria...Magic was real. Any strange phenomena was simply explained as ‘magic’, and that was that. No one would wonder if one could accomplish the same effect with no magic at all… That was my realization in the middle of another boring History class about Discord’s ultimate defeat. Suddenly wide awake, I immediately lifted my hooves into the air and screamed, “EUREKA!” I was saved from detention by my rapid explanation of the ancient mathematician Archemanedes, who discovered that the volume of water that rose when he inserted his hoof into his bathtub was the same as the volume of his own hoof, and who upon discovering this screamed out the famous phrase. Luckily for me, this somehow was historically accurate in Equestria, so it ended up with the teacher only reprimanding me for going completely off-topic before getting back on subject. It might be a bit difficult to understand how I could do magicians tricks without any hands, but it has to do with the way hooves work. That was one of my first questions when I arrived at Equestria, because from the very beginning, I noticed that other ponies had no difficulties using hooves to open doors, hold teapots and even play chess, which from the point of view of someone who has touched a hoof on Earth is completely ridiculous. In one particularly insane occasion, I had seen a pegasus ‘grab’ an earth pony's hoof and pull them up into the air as if they were Wall-E and Eve blasting off into space! If I had to compare the way hooves work to anything on Earth, I’d say the closest thing is a marshmallow. You might think that is incredibly ironic considering some common fan nicknames for Rarity, and you’d be entirely correct. There’s two ‘states’ for a hoof. It’s normal, decently solid form in which you can walk on it, buck things and break doors...And then there’s the soft, marshmallow-like form in which the hoof seems to gain the ability to hold objects by touching them lightly. It’s almost like how a hand can grab things with it’s opposite thumb, except there is no opposite thumb which just makes the whole experience bizarre. Nevertheless, the only important thing to note is that I can hold cards using my hooves, I can hold different attention-attracting objects with my hooves and I can move my hooves very, very fast if given enough concentration. Back when I was a human, this was one of my few actual abilities; like any semi-successful magician, I could move my hand faster than the eye can process images, which is what allows for the best tricks and illusions. But all of this talk about illusion leads to a single, overarching question: why? Why was I so enthusiastic when I figured out I could do magic tricks in Equestria? Why did I feel I had to go in this long ramble about the difference between a wizard and a magician? Simple: Knowledge. Unicorns, despite ponykinds best intentions, have a lot more information on spells, the rules and even the fundamental principles in which magic is build on than the average pegasus or earth pony does. What this meant was that Nightmare Moon understood how magic worked. Queen Chrysalis had that same knowledge too. Even Discord probably knew the limits of unicorn and alicorn magic, perhaps even his own. All of my future enemies, the threats to this world had a much deeper understanding of magic than I did. The only way for me to even have a shot at facing any of those, Elements or no, was to get on the same level as them and find a weakness that they had overlooked, something that would make magic not the insurmountable wall that separated those born lucky from those who were not, but rather a challenge to be overcome by the few willing to undertake it. And sadly, there was only one place in Canterlot where one could learn a deeper level of magic... It had been quite a boring year, if I was going to be honest. Oh sure, I learned a little more at history and of course Magical Theory was about as fun as Hogwarts Charms class, but at the same time I knew that the teachers were already preparing the unicorns for their own classes in later years. The most obvious example was Twilight Sparkle, who had become a sort of not-friend study partner of mine when it came to Magical Theory. Apparently, I was the only pony she knew who came even close to keeping up with her, and that was only because of my own personal interest mind you! So about a week until the end of the school year, I noticed that said filly seemed a tad more excited than usual, even by her standards. I decided to visit her at the library despite the potential risk of the librarian hearing us because it seemed to be the place she was most comfortable inside the school. Since this is Equestria, the smallest question as to what was up led to her telling me the whole story. “Well… you see, Hope…” she hesitated, then squealed out. “My parents told me that based on my recent grades on Magical Theory, they enrolled me into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns!” she told me in an excited whisper, seemingly not wanting to invoke the wrath of the bookkeeper, which I more than understood. “Really? That’s not too surprising if you ask me, you’re the best in our class! I’m sure you’ll fit right in.” I said, attempting to not look like it I knew it was a foregone conclusion while still being encouraging. She blushed lightly at the praise then said, “I can’t say I won’t miss this place though. The teachers are nice and I’ve learned a lot here, I almost wish I could stay here longer just to read all the books!” I did notice how she avoided mention of having made friends at school, which made sense considering this moment in the timeline. “Well, at least you won’t miss me, right?” I said, winking at her in a teasing manner. She narrowed her eyes at my words, then said “What do you mean?” in a tone that seemed more curious than irritated at my brashness. “This is a little secret of mine at the moment, so I would appreciate it if you didn’t spread it around…” I warned. She nodded, curiosity plastered on her face. “I’m going to Celestia’s School.” I told her with quiet confidence in that tone of voice used by every movie actor ever trying to get their one-liner to be the next “Clever girl”. For a moment her eyes widened, then she seemed to break through her shock and go straight into worry. “What do you mean you’re going to Celestia’s School?!” she almost shouted, then quickly became silent from embarrassment. “You heard me. I’m going to the school for truly gifted unicorns to learn more about magic.” “But it’s a school only for unicorns, they’ll never let you in! It’s against the rules!” She whispered desperately trying to persuade me not to go through with my crazy plan. “Hey Twilight, don’t worry about it, m’kay? Worse case scenario, I don’t make it in and come back right back here, right?” I tried to reassure her, knowing how much she valued the rules established by teachers and other authority figures. “But, I still don’t understand. How could you possibly get in Hope? I know that you could do the written exam, considering how well you do in our Magical Theory class, but there’s a practical examination too! How are you going to pass a magic test when you don’t have any magic?” she seemed to be getting to the crux of the problem, the main reason why she thought my plan wouldn’t work. For a moment, I considered telling her what my plan was...But then I realized that there was no way that she’d believe I could pull it off...Or even worse, perhaps she’d think I was “cheating” because I wasn’t actually going to do any magic… “I’m sorry Twilight, but you’ll just have to trust me on this one. I can assure you this, if everything goes to plan, we’ll see eachother at your new school.” I started to walk away, giving her a wave before making my escape, trying not to feel the librarian’s cold gaze on my back as I ran out of her establishment. I hoped that would be the last time I ever saw or heard from that mare... So you might think that it was smooth sailing from there. Just a quick little sign-up to fill, a few written exams and I’m done and good for school, right? God no! The bureaucrats for the school were, excuse my french, complete assholes! Apparently, I couldn’t sign up for CSGU without a certificate to prove my ‘guardians’ were both able to pay the school fees and allow me to attend the school. Alongside that, I needed identification documents, proof of my magical capability OR potential, and finally, it was also necessary for some guardian of some kind to be present during the practical test. All of that not only took way too long to set up, but also required me to make all sorts of trips around the city to get to the proper offices to get my papers, since being abandoned at birth does all sorts of fun things to your status as ‘citizen’. At least the papers were easy, since as soon as you mention the word ‘abandoned’ and ‘orphan’ together, all sorts of pity doors and windows suddenly swing wide open. The guardian part… well, let’s just say I had a very educated, level-headed argument with a certain headmistress… “Absolutely not! Are you insane? I understand that you are talented Hope, and I know that your grades are sufficient to meet the requirements, but you have to understand that Celestia’s School is for gifted UNICORNS!” she screamed in such a way that I was sure that half the orphanage heard her. “I know that. I also know that it’s probably the best school in Equestria, a place where I can utilize my full potential without being held back by other ponies around me.” While I had been trying not to think about it, the fact was that I was being held back by the other colts and fillies. It wasn’t their fault really, I just had years more education than they did, so any group project that was challenging to them was not difficult for me. Same for any difficult class or concept, which made school hours go by agonizingly slow. Who knew being a genius sucked? Wait, no, half the movies about geniuses talked about how they all wished to be normal. Huh. Not that she would know that. Luckily, ‘child genius’ has been a good excuse to have children be story protagonists since Matilda did it. “You shouldn’t be so isolated from your peers Hope. These are the early years of your life, it should be the time you learn about the magic of friendship and form powerful bonds that can last a lifetime…” she trailed off, apparently having seen something in my face that I hadn’t managed to hide. She wasn’t entirely wrong. Sure, making friends was the easiest thing ever in Equestria, but that didn’t mean I spend a lot of time with them. I played hoofball every once in a while, since that sport is timeless once you learn how to kick the ball with hooves, but in general I kept to myself and mostly interacted with my purple study partner. That wasn’t because the other ponies were bad colts and fillies of course...But rather the fact that they were mentally probably a decade younger than me. Simply put, we had very different interests. Twilight, being the prodigy she was, acted more grown-up than all of them combined, which helped me relate to her better. “I know that. The problem is that I’m too smart.” She appeared taken aback, lifting her eyebrows at my unexpected answer. “Other foals, they like playing silly little games and the fillies will not stop messing with their manes and I’m just...not interested in any of that. I like reading books, and learning more about Equestria!” I decided that this was the moment to play my trump card. “Please Ms. Emerald… this is my calling.” She sighed at that. Then, she nodded. “I see that I cannot dissuade you. But I want you to make sure you understand what you’re getting into Hope. I studied at Celestia’s School. Unless you manage to truly impress the examiners, there is no possible way they’ll let an earth pony into the school.” she paused for a moment, judging my expression to see if this convinced me to give up... I scowled at that, then nodded. “And…” she seemed to hesitate, then continued, “you have to understand Hope; all of the students and staff are unicorns. In such a closed space with only other unicorns to judge them… certain political positions are more prone to appear… I don’t think that it would be the safest place for an earth pony to walk around in on their own.” Now she looked really worried, apparently torn between her desire to not show the ugly truth of the world to a child and warning me about the potential dangers ahead. “Don’t worry about me, Headmistress Emerald. I can handle myself.” I tried to reassure her then continued. “Besides, a friend of mine is already going to be attending at the school, so I’ll have a friendly face alongside me!” I flashed her a quick smile. A brief moment of silence, then a sigh. “Alright Hope, you win. I’ll be your guardian for the practical test… which I still have no idea how you plan on passing. Surely, you thought about that before making all of these preparations?” she inquired, maybe curious or maybe hoping for me to realize the difficulty of the challenge ahead so that I’d give up early. “Oh, come on Ms. Emerald. Surely you know me better by now?” I told her, a lopsided smile on my face. “I can’t tell you the end of the play before it begins! Where’s the fun in that?” I couldn’t tell her the truth. After all, if I told her right then and there that I had no idea, she probably wouldn’t have let me give it a shot!