//------------------------------// // Instruction // Story: Gilded Sister // by Kind of Brony //------------------------------//      It’s time for practice during Tuesday’s class and the rest of the students have moved onto spelling their names with their quills, the last one graduating the first lesson a few minutes after practice started. Blueblood and a few other foals are on the third lesson, Mr. Scatter having seen they were ready.      I’m left out again, but instead of reading like usual, I’m observing the others, though not exclusively with my eyes. Boredom breeding creativity, I’ve decided to see how many distinctions I can make between the magic of the many different foals. Bluey’s is the most prominent to my pseudo-sense, followed closely by Moondancer and my other friends, but I’m starting to pick out other little nuances between the foals.      Twilight, for instance, is very strange. Her magic feels, for lack of a better description, feather light, yet unmovable, like a boulder suspended just over my horn, barely tickling it.      Buttercup’s magic, on the other hand, is sort of the opposite. There’s not a lot of heft to it, but she bounces it around the room like high-grade rubber whenever she makes a move with her two quills. Maybe that’s why she takes breaks more than the other foals? Bluey was doing the same exercise, after all, but his magic was much more contained around his quills, only radiating slowly as he moved them about.      “Why aren’t you reading, Pure? Is something bothering you?” Mr. Scatter asks, getting my eyes to snap open. At some point they must have drifted shut so I could better focus on my magic observations. Guess it’s not a perfect replacement for sight, though, seeing how I completely missed the teacher’s approach.      “No,” I answer, sitting up straighter, “I was just… thinking.”      Remembering yesterday, I perk up. “Oh! But I was hoping to talk to you about something. I think maybe I’ve found a better way for me to do magic, and I wanted to know if you could help me.”      “Really, what’s the method?” the stallion asks, sounding genuinely curious rather than condescending, like I sort of expected. He is a perfectly nice teacher, but I’m just a foal, so I thought maybe he was going to dismiss me straight away.      Surprised, but pleased, I begin to explain my experience at my grandparents' theatre, focusing on the magic used and the interesting, if failed, demonstration by Fogger. Mr. Scatter rubs his chin ponderously.      “Ah, that’s an astute observation, and very clever idea you have there,” he says finally, placing his hoof on the ground and giving me a smile. “I’m ashamed the thought never occurred to me before, especially because the theory behind it has floated around magic circles for ages.”      My ear twitches at that. “Really? Has it been done before? Can you teach me? Is there a book on it?”      “Calm down, calm down.” Mr. Scatter chuckles as he gestures for me to sit, as I had placed my hooves on the desk to stand in my excitement. I do so a little sheepishly when I realize some of the closer foals are giving me looks. “Now, from what I recall, It’s always been a point of debate whether or not it’s possible to cast a spell with absolute efficiency, though ponies on both sides at least agree it’s technically possible. The real question is if a pony could actually master their magic to the point where they could pull it off.      “There are different kinds of spells out there, though they all fall under two branching categories. The shapeless spells, such as levitation, low-level shields, or the basic offensive spell, magic missiles, are performed by manipulating one's mana in its purest form.      “This is different than the branch of structure. See, while the shapeless arts allow you to interact with the physical world directly with your mana, structured magic requires a go-between in the form of a spell matrix. Now, a matrix is what the laypony probably thinks of when they hear the word spellcraft, and can be compared to the modern day mana engine.      “Just as the engine converts raw mana from storage crystals into kinetic, electric, or even heat energy, the spell matrix can refine the caster's mana into a more complex state, allowing for a much wider variety of results than mere shapeless spells can produce. It can also be more efficient, as well.      “For instance, an anti-gravity spell requires less mana to lift a heavy object than base levitation, similar to how a pulley system makes lifting heavy loads easier than if you were trying to do so directly. This is actually quite an apt comparison, as it also highlights the disadvantage to structured magic, which is the set up.      “Just as you’d have to take time and energy to configure a pulley system, structured spells require the caster to create a spell matrix before they can cast the spell.”      “Uhhh… What’re you talking about?” Minuette interrupts with a flummoxed, slightly dull gaze.      The impromptu lecture was actually so interesting that I didn’t even notice the growing attention Mr. Scatter was getting from confused foals, and judging by the nervous chuckle from the stallion, he hadn’t either. “I’m… sorry. I get carried away sometimes.”      “Oh, okay, I thought maybe we were doing nap time and you were reading a really weird bedtime story,” Minuette chirps, energy returning as she levitates her quill. “Hey I think I’m ready for another feather, Mr. Scatter!”      “Oh? Show me your progress, and we’ll see,” says the teacher before looking back at me. “I’m sorry, Pure, but if you’d like, we can discuss this more during lunch. I’ll try not to let myself get sidetracked again.”      “That’s fine,” I answer, “And I thought the stuff about how spells work was really neat.”      “Suck up,” a voice calls from behind, poorly disguised as a cough. I turn and send a glare towards Buttercup, who, in turn, acts totally focused on her quills.      Returning my attention to Mr. Scatter, I see he’s already moved onto helping Minuette, and I can’t help but feel a little agitated. Did he seriously not hear that? Buttercup wasn’t exactly quiet. The scowl on Lemon Heart’s face shows that she heard it too, and Twilight is sunk into her seat, trying to hide behind her single quill.      With a sigh, I open my book and settle down for some reading until lunch. At least my Mr. Scatter is good at teaching, even if he is a little scatter-brained…      “Ah, Pure, I’m glad you decided to come finish our discussion,” Mr. Scatter comments as I come around his desk.      “Of course, you were telling me about whether or not a unicorn can do magic without wasting magic and what made it hard.”      “Ah yes, I was getting to that, or I’d at least have made it there eventually,” Mr. Scatter says with a chuckle. “Where was I though?”      “I think you were saying that structured magic was like pulleys,” I offer, getting a spark of recognition to appear in the stallion’s eyes.      “Yes, that’s right, structured spells require setup before casting, and no small amount of concentration when compared to the shapeless arts. An experienced caster can make the process seem instant, but it’s something all young unicorns struggle with at first.      “But I suppose that is a topic for later. Right now, you want to know how to perform efficient magic, yes?”      I nod excitedly, and Mr. Scatter continues. “Well, if I weren’t a teacher, I’d probably just say something like you need to have perfect control of your magic to do perfect magic, but it’s what you need the perfection for that’s important. And it’s different for both branches.      “For shapeless magic, we unicorns instinctively do something that, while useful, is also quite wasteful, and that is called form insurance.” He picks a cup up from his table and gestures at the aura. “You see this, the thick glow now holding my cup? Well, the truth is, it’s not holding my cup at all. Beneath this blob of mana, there is a thin but strong coating that’s holding the weight.      “This coating has a property comparable to water, however, in that, just like a thin layer of water, it is apt to evaporate with exposure. That is what the glow is for, a mere covering to protect the precious, load-bearing coat. Without a layer of raw aether, that’s mana in a nebulous state, covering it, the solid magic beneath would disintegrate. In continuation with the water metaphor, I suppose you can say this aether works as a pocket of high humidity atop a sheen of water, preventing evaporation from occurring.      “But as you can see here, that pocket is quite large when compared to the paper thin layer of mana it’s protecting, so why not pull it back some?” He begins to demonstrate and the aura shrinks, continuing to do so until the cup falls into his waiting hoof. “And therein lies the problem.”      “What happened?” I ask, tilting my head. If I understand this correctly, all he’d have to do is not take the aether away completely, and he would still be able to hold the cup.      “What happened is the undulating form that aether wishes to take creates dips and bulges, the former of which let a small part of the solidified mana holding the cup come into contact with the non-magic environment, which in turn caused a catastrophic breakdown of the entire hold from that point. Think of it as how a balloon rips apart in response to a single pin prick.      “That's where the perfect control comes into play.” Grasping the cup once again in his magic, Mr. Scatter narrows his eyes in focus, and the roiling aura begins to calm, though never completely stop. “If you can get your aether under control, then you can begin to leech it away without fear.” The aura begins to shrink again; going past the point where it failed before. “So, in theory, if you can make it perfectly still, you can remove all but the minimum amount of aether needed to cover the working mana beneath.”      At that moment, the cup falls once again, and Mr. Scatter sighs. “Ah, it’s worth noting this failure was up here.” He points at his horn. “I neglected to mention it, but around your horn is a similar solidification of mana when casting spells which serves as a conduit between your inner reserves and the world around you, and just like how the one around the cup needed a protective layer of aether, so too does your horn.”      This was starting to sound quite difficult. “So, is it even worth it in the end?” I find myself questioning. “How much magic does it save with no glow?”       “Well, for shapeless magic, it varies,” he begins, “The amount of working mana tends to increase much faster than the amount of mana used to maintain an aether, so for picking up small things, like my cup, removing the bulk of the aether probably reduces the cost by close to half. Double the cup's size however, and comparatively the aether would only account for maybe a quarter of the levitation’s mana cost. These numbers aren’t exact, though I hope you understand the point I’m trying to make.”      “I think so, like, the smaller the thing you’re trying to do with magic, the more wasteful the aether is, and the bigger the thing, the less it matters,” I answer with a sigh. Well, it looks like perfect control isn’t going to be my key to casting big spells like the stuff Bluey could do when he was surging.       The teacher nods approvingly. “Very good, though this isn’t quite as true for structured magic.” My interest renews, eager once again as he explains. “Now we’re getting into some more complex discussions, but I think you’ll be able to understand. You’ve proven yourself quite bright, after all. Just ask if you need clarification.”      Blushing a little at the compliment, I nod and Mr. Scatter smiles. “Now, as you remember, structured magic requires a spell matrix to perform, but the standard method taught and used by most unicorns requires an excess of mana for the purpose of spell integrity. Though you won’t find it in many current day spellbooks, spells used to be taught in their simplest, most efficient forms, and aspiring wizards were encouraged to adjust the spells to their needs.      “You see, a spell can be cast with this base matrix, but it is very fragile, like a tower made from toothpicks; as you build the tower up, placing the toothpicks with even the slightest bit too much force will cause the whole thing to topple.      “And in the case of spell matrices, every bit of extra mana used will quite literally blow up in your face, meaning if you overshoot by enough, you can end up doing yourself some serious harm. Fear of such failure is why there are two methods used when constructing spell matrices to make them safer, but at an increased cost.      “The first is simple redundancy, repeating parts of a base matrix to make it more stable. So, kind of like using extra toothpicks to build up each layer of the tower, using more material, yes, but making the tower less prone to falling than a mere skeleton structure. In the case of the spell, this means that, while increasing the minimum cost, you also increase the upwards limit of how much extra mana can be used before things begin to break down.      “The next is the inclusion of fail-safes, of which entire books on the subject have been written. There are many kinds to choose from and place into your matrices, varying in cost and how much out of control mana they’re designed to mitigate, but rule of hoof is that, the bigger and more costly the fail-safe, the more explosive mana it can handle.      “Now, what can be taken away from all this is that the fewer redundancies and fail-safes placed into a matrix, the less mana it will use, but the more control will be needed to perform the spell correctly. Perfect control then, would allow a caster to use none of these, and thus cast the spell with absolute minimum cost.      “Also, since a matrix is built over the surface of the horn similar to the sheet used in shapeless magic, its cost can also benefit from aether reduction, though it’s worth noting that bigger spells will need more coverage. See, as I’ve already said, a single matrix is only designed to convert so much mana, and thus have only so much of an output, meaning if you want to perform larger versions of the same spell, you have to stack multiples of the same matrix on top of each other.      So, let’s say an anti-gravity spell consisting of one matrix can lift one to five stones, you’ll have to add another matrix to allow you to lift six to ten without causing the spell to fail, and so on and so forth. This thickens the mana on the horn, which then has more surface area to cover with aether.”      Head swimming, I lean back. “That… sounds like a lot to manage.”      “Oh, it is, which is why I don’t know any unicorns who have ever pursued the casting of a truly minimalist spell. The mana saved simply isn’t worth all the effort that goes into it, and thus, doing so is seen more as an exercise or challenge to test one's skills instead of having any practical, everyday use.      “Hitting that sweet-spot of just enough, but not too much mana flow, smoothing your projected aether and pulling it back, and maintaining this all through the duration of the spell, let alone a multilayered one, is all just too much for a pony to bother attempting when they could just use some extra mana and not give themselves a migraine.”      We are both silent as he watches me and I mull over the conclusion. “So… it’s really hard.”      “To say the least, yes.”      “But, not impossible.”      “Theoretically, I suppose.”      “Then I’ll try,” I state, looking up at the teacher with determination. “Will you help me, Mr. Scatter?”      He smiles kindly. “Of course, Pure, you are one of my students, after all. It’s my duty to help you with your magic.” Looking at the clock, he adds, “Though, perhaps a different day. You came straight here at the start of lunch break, so I know you haven’t eaten yet. Why don’t you go have a bite with your friends, and we’ll pursue this later.”      Smiling in return, I say my goodbyes and head towards the door, only to almost bump into a big book as I turned the corner. “Oh! Twilight?”      The purple filly maneuvers the book so her eyes are peeking over the top. “Um, hi, Pure, I was just going to ask Mr. Scatter some questions about something I read today. There’s stuff in this book that he was talking to you about during practice, so I figured he could help me too.”       Nodding in understanding, I step out of her way. “Well, we just got done talking, so go ahead.” As an afterthought, I add. “And if you finish with some time to spare, why don’t you come sit with us while we eat? Maybe we can talk about your book.”      Twilight usually did sit with the group during lunch, but she was hardly present, usually too enraptured by the pages of whatever tome she’d brought to pay attention to the other ponies. Maybe discussing something she's interested in will draw her out of her shell a little.      Her eyes dart away and she gives a noncommittal shrug before entering the classroom and approaching the teacher’s desk. I sigh, but don’t pursue the topic any longer. As much as I’d like to be friends with Twilight, real friends, I know it can’t be forced. I’ll just have to keep trying, just like with my magic.      Speaking of which, maybe I’ll start practicing while I eat. Mom cut my sandwich into quarters, so I might actually be able to lift one. Or, more realistically, one of the spinach leaves from the sandwich. Baby steps, Pure, baby steps.