The sun lazily drifted above the horizon as its light flowed into Canterlot’s library. The light spilled over dozens of tables, hundreds of shelves, and thousands of books slowly bringing them out of darkness. Standing at one of the windows was Princess Celestia. She watched her country wake from its slumber. The sound of ponies waking up and setting shop drifted into her ears. Early morning conversations and bird songs could be heard mixed with the sound. All of it was music to her ears. Behind her, she heard the sound of two large maple doors opening. She turned to the source of the sound and saw a small purple unicorn filly walk into the library. She carried a bulging saddle bag and had an eager smile on her face.
“Good morning Princess,” she greeted. “I’m ready for my first magic lesson.” A small laugh escaped the princess’ mouth. Seeing an eager student always made her smile, no matter how many times she had seen the sight.
“Good morning Twilight,” Celestia replied. “Sit down, and the lesson can begin.” Twilight sat down at a nearby table and opened her saddlebag. She pulled out a dozen pieces of parchment, four inkwells, and three quills. Twilight looked up at Celestia with a smile on her face.
“I’m ready,” Twilight chirped.
“I can see that,” Celestia laughed. “Now, your first lesson is going to stray from tradition. I’m not going to give you a lecture, not yet anyways. I’m going to ask you questions and you should answer them to the best of your ability. Understand?” Twilight nodded.
“Good. Now Twilight, what’s a book?” The unicorn in front of her blinked in confusion.
“I’m sorry?”
“What’s a book?” Twilight again blinked.
“A book is a large amount of paper that is bound together,” she answered. “What does this have to do with magic?”
“You’ll see my student. That is correct. What do books contain?”
“They contain knowledge meant to teach ponies reading them.”
“Very good. Where does this knowledge come from?”
“It comes from the ponies who wrote those books.”
“How did they discover this knowledge?”
“They had to do research.”
“Why?” Twilight stared at her mentor. The answer was simple and complex at the same time. Her mind could not grasp onto a question with that scope.
“I don’t know,” she replied in a defeated tone.
“That’s all right,” Celestia reassured. “I would be surprised if you had an answer for me. Do you want to know why those ponies researched?” Twilight gave a slight nod.
“It’s because they imagined something better. They imagined that there was something that other ponies couldn’t see. So they worked hard to prove that what they imagined was real, and not just a fantasy.” Celestia’s horn gave off a golden glow. Off in the distance was a faint version of the same glow. A book covered in a golden aura flew towards the pair.
“Imagination. That is what causes ponies to seek knowledge. It also causes them to create. Take this spell book for instance. It contains at least three hundred spells in it. Each one different from the next. But they all contain a common thread, imagination.”
“I don’t understand,” Twilight said. “How is imagination the common thread among the spells? Isn’t the common thread magic since they all require magic to perform?”
“In a way, both of our answers are correct,” Celestia answered. “Ninety percent of magic is imagination. Everything else is just a bonus. Tell me, how does a unicorn perform a magic spell?”
“They have to focus their energy through their horn. Then they have to imagine… oh.” Celestia smiled at her student.
“Exactly. Imagination is the very foundation that magic is built upon. Without it, magic as we know it would not exist. If imagination didn’t exist, there would still be things like telekinesis and violent energy spells, but things like this.” Celestia’s horn glowed gold once more. From the light, small golden butterflies flew away from it. One of them landed on Twilight’s muzzle. Her eyes crossed focusing on it.
“Would not exist. Do you understand what I’m saying?” The butterfly on Twilight’s nose faded into golden sparks. The filly looked at the dust as it blew away.
“I think so. You’re saying that magic is powered by a pony’s imagination. That without imagination, nothing new will be created. That without imagination, complex magic spells can’t be performed.” Celestia’s smile remained on her face.
“Well said,” she said. Celestia’s horn glowed and a different book flew towards them. This book was a thin blue paperback. On it were the words The Little Prince. “Always remember that the imagination is an essential part of magic. No matter how much knowledge a unicorn has on magic, it is useless unless they have an active imagination. Now, would you like some fuel for your imagination?” Twilight smiled at her teacher, her eyes filled with childish excitement. Celestia opened the book, and began to read.