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// 17 - Awards 
// Story: What Follows Hugs 
// by David Silver 
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Luna stepped forward, gravity behind every somber step. "It is with great pleasure that I bequeath this unto you." In her horn's magic, she held the medal that Toby had found in the dreamworld and floated it towards him.

Toby glanced around curiously. There weren't many ponies present. Quick Stroke and Sombra sat closeby, watching. "Excuse I. I thought many more ponies?" From the way Luna had spoken before, he was confused. "If only two, why wait?"

Luna's teeth clenched a moment. "You are growing... clever, Toby."

"I sorry!"

"No, do not be." She gently slipped the medal over Toby, even if she had to work it on over one horn at a time. "Celestia insists that you may keep the medal you found, but it does not... technically... qualify." She adjusted it on his chest so it sat properly. "But know that I think you are deserving of it."

Sombra sat up tall and proud. "It is but one medal among many more you will earn. The world will speak your name in reverence." As part of his kingdom, he left unsaid.

Quick Stroke rolled a hoof at Toby. "Now that you have been properly decorated, what news have you?"

"News? Oh! I is still practicing. Can read whole book now!" He beamed with sublime pride. "Have favorite about little pegasus that try to catch rainbow." He let out a heartfelt sigh. "She catch it someday."

Luna gave a warm smile. "I fear, while Quick Stroke is surely gladdened by your education, he is more curious about your magical progress."

Toby's expression faltered. In a small voice, he reported, "can glow..."

Luna set a hoof on his shoulder. "It remains just as hard?"

"Toby... not want talk about it..."

Quick Stroke rose to his hooves. "It was, perhaps, too good to believe." He strode off without looking back.

Sombra was not so hasty. "Luna, is there an expert available in helping... unconventional magic users?"

Luna perked her ears. "I will investigate, a fine idea. There is clearly magic in here." She gave Toby a pet along his back that brought a little smile back to him. "We just have to get it to come out, and shine."

So they did just that, arranging for an appointment for Toby to see an expert. He was given an address and a time, which was more than enough.

With timid hope, he bounded easily above the streets of Canterlot, making his way unerringly. He came to a soft landing in front of a small house and tilted his head one way and the other. It didn't look like a grand place. It looked kind of run down, really. Was someone who could help him really living there? He raised a paw and gave a light knock. There was only one way to find out.

"Yes?" came a female voice before the door opened to reveal a unicorn with thick glasses, broken and repaired in the center. "How can I help you?" She looked Toby up and down cautiously, then started. "Wait, are you Toby?"

Toby bobbed his head. "Yes! Toby is I name! Are you expert?"

"I'm Moondancer." She opened the door the rest of the way with her magic. "I've studied magic talent and displays in other species before, but I didn't think I'd be hired for that. Did you know that dragons have intense magic, but it is almost entirely internal?"

Toby blinked as he stepped inside. "I not know that. You are expert." The one little fact was enough to convince him. "Know Tsuki magic?" He reached up for one of his red horns. "I practice real hard, glow, hard... Can barely glow before real tired." He felt extra sure she was the right one. Moondancer? Moons had been really good to him so far.

She grabbed a book off a sagging shelf with her magic and pulled it closer. "It's not commonly known, but horns are a natural tuner for magic. Two is actually less optimal than one, if one is attempting to focus and shape magic." She sat as the book flipped open beside her. "Still, if you can glow at all, it means you have some ability to externally manipulate magic." She began to show diagrams of animals with odd lines in them. "Every species has different thaumic patterns. What we need to know is what are yours."

Moondancer may as well have been speaking a new and terrible language. Toby shook his head slowly, trying to sift through it. "How... know?"

"I'm glad you asked." She put the book aside. "This may tingle a little." Her horn lit up as that 'tingle' came, like a full body pricking with thousands of tiny needles.

Toby squeaked and jumped, bumping his head into the roof and coming right back to the ground, dazed. Bits of wood and plaster rained across his limp form. At least the pricking had stopped almost as soon as it had begun.

"Fascinating..." Moondancer circled around her prone patient. His body glowed with lines, brilliant with Moondancer's magic. "Not like a pony's at all." She stepped up onto Toby, following a line along. "You don't seem..."

"That hurt," whined out Toby as his senses began to return. "You say tingle, not tingle!"

"Oh?" Moondancer leaned over the side of Toby from above. "I never cast it on myself. I'll bear that in mind for the future. Now, as I was saying, you don't seem to have any collection or thaumic generation organs, that I can see." She shook her head. "Your horns aren't even very attached to your network. I don't even grasp how you managed a glow with this."

Toby sat up, the motion sending Moondancer tumbling to the ground. "T--I glow. Want see? Is hard, but can do."

Moondancer sat up and readjusted her glasses carefully. "I would like to see that. With the spell active, we can see exactly where the energy moves inside you to cause the effect and gain a greater understanding of the situation. Proceed."

Toby tilted his head down at the little unicorn that had hurt him. He decided she rated maybe a three on the scale from one to Best Princess. Still, Best Princess had said she could help, so he tried to be patient. He closed his eyes. Even if she was only a three, she still glowed, so he tried to use that, to glow with the expert's magic.

Moondancer's eyes danced over his form, watching as different lines glowed brighted or dimmed. "Interesting..." Then the glowing began, and she adjusted her glasses to make sure she was seeing it correctly. "Fascinating..."

"What see?" asked Toby, eyes still closed.

"You are not glowing."

Toby blinked his eyes open, the glow ceasing. "What? Toby felt like glow. Toby can glow! Toby promise!" He only realized after he frantically defended himself that he had failed to speak properly. "Um, I. I glow."

Moondancer nodded. "You did, indirectly. That wasn't your magic. Your magic never reached your horns. Your magic was moving elsewhere while the glow was happening. Your glow did not match the frequency it should have, either."

"What?" Toby blinked at her, struggling to understand what he was being told.

"Your color."

Toby bobbed his head. "Why not say in first place? I glow like moon. Silver and pretty."

She shook her head. "That is not what I saw. You were more of a light pink, like my magic." Her horn lit up, displaying the color easily. "Are you certain you were silver previously?"

Toby inclined an ear lightly before it fell back into place. "Yes. I silver with Best Princess."

"Which princess is best?"

Toby blinked. "How not know that?" Some expert! "Luna. Luna is Best Princess."

"I... see. Can you glow again?" Moondancer adjusted her glasses idly. "I have a theory I wish to test."

Toby wasn't sure what that meant, but he closed his eyes and focused on shining. Once he had it, he felt something change, ever so subtly. He couldn't say what. Oh, it changed again, and once more! He giggled a little. It tickled in ways he hadn't felt before.

"Enough." Moondancer tilted her head up at him as his eyes opened. "Verified. If I modulate my frequency, your glow follows it." Toby stard at her, blank and lost. "When I changed the color of my glow, your glow changed with it."

"Oh!" Toby bobbed his head. "Why no say in first place?"

"Are you doing it on purpose?" Moondancer tapped at her chin. "Are you reflecting my magic?"

"I glow with light. You glow. I glow with glow."

"So, yes?" She hiked a brow, bushy and thick. "I think we can approach your situation intelligently now. You are approaching this in a fundamentally flawed way. Let's try this. Try to glow, but don't think about your horns. They're not part of this."

Not part of this?! "But horn make magic..."

"For unicorns, yes. You are not a unicorn." She sat up. "You are a... Tsuki was it? Tsuki are not unicorns. Your magic is different. Glow, but don't focus on what's glowing."

Toby tried to have some faith. He held the image of glowing, reflecting that light, but he did not pull it up towards his horns. He just let it bounce off of him and shine. Shine it did. Toby began to emanate a soft light in all directions. More importantly, it didn't feel like he was running a marathon while he was doing it. Reflecting without purpose felt... natural.

"Fascinating." Moondancer adjusted her glasses as she looked over Toby. "You will note that the fr--color of your efforts is different depending on the direction." She pointed. "From me, you can witness my thaumic signature, but I see many other colors. You are redirecting external magic, instead of internal. That was your mistake. You were trying to focus internally, which your network does not seem designed to do."

Toby was at once excited and dismayed. "Does this mean I do magic, or... no?"

"Not unicorn magic," said Moondancer, crushing Toby's dreams without hesitation. "You will need to develop your own magic." She pointed at herself. "Unicorns work by focusing internal magic and projecting it onto the world. You can redirect, with practice, external magic. Can you shape it? Undefined. I presume we'll be attempting to discern that."

Toby frowned, trying to decipher the words Moondancer was using. "Can say with small words?"

"Discern means to figure out," Moondancer provided with a little smile. "We'll be finding out what you can do, right?"

"Yes please." Toby bobbed his head. "I change mind. You now four."

Moondancer blinked softly. "Four?"

Toby smiled joyfully. Learning to count had benefits.