//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Magic Control 101 // Story: The Element of Hope // by Shootingstar212 //------------------------------// Today is April 19th, so that means it's my fourth day living in town. That also means it's been a while since I've been with Twilight by ourselves. I really hope she's not angry or anything about me doing things with Rarity and Applejack, instead of her... I approach the door to the Library and give it a good couple of knocks. After a few seconds of waiting, the door opens. Instead of it being Twilight like I expected, it was actually Spike. Spike looks like he's in a hurry to go somewhere. "Oh, hey, Travis." Spike greets me. "Hi, Spike. Is Twilight there?" I try to look around the Library but to no avail. "Yeah, she's just upstairs. You can just call her and she'll probably come running if it means she gets to learn more about your species," Spike says in a half-joking tone, "Well, you two have fun doing whatever it is you two are doing," Spike runs past me, he's heading into town. "Hey! Where are you going in such a hurry?" I shout at Spike as he runs away. "I'm going to go see Rarity! I told her I'd help her out today!" Spike yells out without turning around, "I'll see you later!" I cross my arms, "Well... Alright, I guess I'll see you later too," I was somewhat hoping Spike would be around today, I feel like we hit it off nicely last time we were together. I walk into the Library slowly, getting a good look at all of the books that are neatly organized. It would be a pain to do all of that... "Hey, Twilight!" I call out. After a few seconds of waiting for a response, I decided to call out again, "It's me, Travis! I came over because I was with Rarity and Applejack yesterday. I felt kind of bad for not being with you after what you did for me." I wait a few moments for a response. What I got instead was a bunch of hoofsteps from upstairs quickly move. "Travis, you're here?" I hear Twilight call from upstairs, her volume is slowly getting louder as she leaves her room, "Sorry, I was just caught up in reading something," Twilight walks downstairs, her mane has been freshly straightened. She is wearing an excited grin on her face, her and I both know what I'm here for. "Don't worry about it. I just wanted to come and see you because I felt a little bad for skipping out on our deal." Twilight has a confused look on her face, I think she even forgot about the deal for a second, "Don't feel bad about that, I said you can come over anytime. That doesn't mean it has to be every day. On the note of that deal, I said I'd help you with your magic. Would you like to do that now?" "Absolutely!" I accept the offer excitedly. It's a very exciting feeling that one of the best Unicorns in Equestria is going to be my teacher, "What are we doing first?" "We're going to start with the most basic step I can think of. We're going to be working on your magic control first." "Working on my magic control? You mean like... How strong it is or something?" I'm confused, I already know how to level how strong the magic would be, for my air gust spell at least. "Not that. I'm talking about using your magic to manipulate objects. Have you learned how to do that yet?" Twilight raises an eyebrow at me. I shake my head. Twilight smiles, "Well, for our first lesson, we're going to be going on a little field trip." Twilight begins to trot upstairs, "I just need your help getting some things together." Twilight and me or walking through town. She said that we needed somewhere peaceful to practice, so I can keep my concentration. Twilight suggested somewhere outside of town, just so I don't accidentally trash her Library. We've got a few things with us from the Library, Twilight asked me to carry a flip chart for her, I never got to see what was on it exactly. "Are you sure we need all of this stuff?" I ask Twilight while I try to get a better grip on the flip chart. "I'm positive. You see, I'm not sure if your magic will be the same as a normal Unicorns because you're... Well, not a Unicorn. With the information I gathered from the scan of your magic we did a couple days ago, my hypothesis is that your magic is different than ours. I'm just not sure how different it really is, we did find out that you're pretty much invisible on the magic spectrum when you're not using it though. Usually, a Unicorn is always visible on the magic spectrum, that's how the Royal Guard are able to sense threats or unfamiliar magic," Twilight dumps a lot of information on me at once, expecting me to follow it. She may be overestimating my ability a bit. "You said 'Usually' has there been a case where that's been proven wrong?" "The only magic that I know would fly under the radar is magic from Discord," Twilight puts a hoof to her chin while we walk. "Discord... That name sounds pretty familiar. Wasn't Discord the god of chaos? He was sealed away over 1000 years ago by the Elements of Harmony, right?" I'm pretty sure that's how the story went. "You're both correct, and missing some information still. Almost one year ago, Discord managed to escape his prison. He managed to disband the Elements of Harmony momentarily and take control of Ponyville. We managed to seal him back away, but this time it could be forever. But, that's not the point of bringing him up. Discord was one of the few to slide under the magic radar, it could be because his magic isn't Unicorn magic... Maybe we can't detect the magic of other species? But I know for sure that it can be scanned with that machine I scanned you with, as it picks up its data from the inside of your body, right down to the brain activity," Twilight begins to mumble to herself. At this point, she's completely lost me. I hear a familiar voice to my left, but it's not talking to me. I recognize it almost immediately and turn my head to see if my assumptions are correct. It's just as I thought, it's the mare that was talking to me at the party, but this time she's flirting with a stallion outside of a shop. I can tell by the way the stallion is reacting that he's being roped right into her charm. I guess she moves on quick from rejection, a little too really quick... There's a new eye-catching thing about this mare, it's the fact that she now has a cutie mark. When did she get that? I'm sure it's not an overnight process. The cutie mark is a pink heart, I'm not sure what it's supposed to represent. It looks a little cookie cutter, almost generic in a way... "Travis?" Twilight interrupts my train of thought. "Huh? Sorry, did you say something?" I turn to Twilight. If she did ask something, I hope it wasn't too important. "I was just wondering what you were looking at? You seemed really out of it," Twilight says with concern in her voice. "It was nothing..." I say to Twilight. I take a quick glance back to where the mare was standing, to find out that both the mare and stallion have disappeared, "I just had a strange feeling. It was probably nothing." "Alright, this is the spot!" Twilight says excitedly. We're standing on an open plain surrounded by trees. There's nopony or even animals for that matter in sight. I guess this is what Twilight meant by "no distractions" it's peaceful here, I wouldn't mind taking a nap on the grass if I'm being honest... "Travis, may you please place the flip chart over here," I follow Twilight's orders and place the flip chart on its stand, beside her. I back up and get a good look at the front page of the flip chart, "Magic and you, by Twilight Sparkle," I read aloud. The text is accompanied by a crude drawing of a Unicorn with the horn lit up, the unicorn has a smile on its face. In fact, the unicorn almost looks like Twilight. "The drawings were Spike's idea, he wanted to make the lesson more 'fun' but I think it's plenty of fun just learning," Twilight explained to me. "I think the drawing really adds to it," I chuckle. Twilight uses her horn to flip over to the second page. "Step one," Twilight smacks the title with a pointer stick, "Understanding your magic. Let me ask you a question, Travis. What do you know about magic? I'm not talking about spells, but magic as it is." It takes me a second to remember what I was taught by Grandpa, "Well... Magic is inside everypony. Unicorns are able to use their horns to access their inner magic and manipulate it so they can perform spells. Pegasi and Earth ponies don't have access to their magic, but it's why they have their own special talents. The former being able to walk on clouds and manipulate the weather. The latter being naturally stronger than both of them." Twilight smiles, "Correct, but do you understand how Unicorn magic works?" "Um... No, sorry," I answer honestly. ' Twilight giggles, "There's nothing to be sorry about," Twilight slaps her pointer against the first drawing of the Unicorn, "As you can see here, this is the standard Unicorn body. As you already know, Unicorns use their horns to harness the magic inside of them," Twilight slides her pointer to the second picture of the Unicorn, the horn has been parked with a highlighter, "When a Unicorn desires to use their magic, it's focused up into the horn. Think of it like an antenna for a radio. Without the antenna, the music won't play. In this case, without the horn, the magic wouldn't be accessible." "I have a question," I raise my hand slightly, "What would happen if the horn were to break? Does that mean there would be no magic at all?" "Incorrect. The horn would still be attached to the body, but the Unicorn would have a difficult time trying to control the magic output that they might as well not use the magic at all. Think of it like your cassette player," Twilight says. "My cassette player?" I scratch my head at the comparison. "Imagine if the nob used to control the volume were turned up to the maximum output. It would be really loud, right? Now, imagine if the volume was always set to maximum output, but you couldn't turn it down," Twilight finishes. So she's saying that no matter what the Unicorn will always be producing the maximum amount of magic at a time? "Would there be any way to control the magic if something like that were to happen?" Twilight rubs her chin with her hoof, "This is mostly just speculation, but I guess if the Unicorn were to spend years trying to tame the magic, they could." "Alright, is there anything else I need to know before we get started?" I really want to move on to the next step at this point. "There's still plenty of things left to tell you," Twilight sticks her tongue out in a teasing way. Twilight slaps the pointer on the final picture of the page of the Unicorn's horn glowing, as well as another object, "You see, basic spells aren't ones that require a Unicorn to expend a lot of magic. That's why you see almost everypony use the Levitation spell on small objects. More advanced magic, such as anything combat focused, requires expelling a lot of magic from the body to be used for damaging something. For example, your air gust spell could technically be classified as combat magic. You're using a lot of magic from your body on the oxygen around us to push yourself or others. So your body won't be able to make enough magic to replenish the lost magic immediately, unlike the levitation spell. The levitation spell doesn't take a lot of magic to lift small objects, but the bigger the object, the more magic it'll take to lift it." "So that means the body won't be able to replenish the lost magic fast enough to lift two heavy objects one after another. After lifting the first one, you'll be too low on magic to lift the second one immediately. So in a way, it's kind of like sprinting." "Exactly," Twilight says a little impressed, "You catch on quickly. Remember when I scanned your magic a few days ago?" I nod my head, "Well since it detects the amount of magic you currently have, you've got a little more than a filly unicorn right now. This means if we decided to throw an advanced spell at your right away, you simply won't have enough magic to pull it off, even if you completely understand how it works." "So what you're saying is we need to build up my magic if I have any hope of doing anything more advanced?" "That's correct," Twilight nods. "How would I even build it up?" "That's where today's lesson comes into play," Twilight flips to the third page of her presentation, "We need to start off at the basics if we want to get an understanding on how you learn." Twilight's pointer slaps the title of the page, "Using magic to manipulate objects, also known as 'levitation'" "Levitation, huh? I've seen every Unicorn use this spell all the time, I was getting a little jealous that I was the only one who couldn't do it." "Today's the day that all changes," Twilight says proudly while at the same time using her magic to retract the pointer. She uses her magic to levitate a blanket out of her saddlebag and lay it on the ground, followed by an apple, "Alright, Travis. This spell is a little tricky to get right at first, so don't get frustrated if you can't get it right now. "Okay," I understand what Twilight is saying. If I get too frustrated it'll only lower my chances of getting this right. I take a seat on the ground and stare at the apple. Twilight sits on her haunches right across from me. "I want you to levitate this apple over to yourself," Twilight's horn and the apple become covered in a purple glow. The apple gently floats from the blanket, over to Twilight's face. My eyes are locked onto the apple, studying it, "Just like that," Twilight says. "It looks easy enough," I say trying to hype myself up. "Well, if someone thinks that they're a prodigy, why don't you show me?" Twilight teases. I sit there awkwardly for a few seconds, "Can you... please tell me what to do at least." Twilight giggles, "Alright, I guess I will. I need you to close your eyes," I follow Twilight's order and close my eyes, "You need to visualize that apple in your mind. You need to make sure that the apple in your mind is the one on the blanket, not some apple that you thought of randomly. You need to see that exact apple in your mind and only that apple, no blanket, or me," Okay, an apple. Think of nothing but the apple on the blanket... I visualize the entire scene before myself. Maybe I should work from there. It feels like the area around me is beginning to vanish slowly, the flip chart is gone, the trees are gone, and Twilight is gone. Only me, and the apple, "Do you got it?" Twilight's question breaks my thought a little bit, but I manage to keep it to only the apple. I don't even want to answer the question, "Yes" I whisper out as an attempt to keep concentration. "I need you to reach out and grab the apple, with your mind's eye," Twilight whispers in response, "Don't reach out with your forehoof, just reach out with your mind," Twilight is too into it to remember I don't have hooves, "When you've done that, only use a little bit of magic from your body. Let it flow through and grab the apple for you," So that's what she meant by it would be tricky... If I try to reach out with my mind, I might reach out in real life. That'll break the concentration if I'm interrupted by any other feeling. I clasp my hands together while I sit down, the feeling of skin touching is a little distracting, but I need to focus. I need to reach out... I need to reach for the apple... I see my own hand in my mind begin to move towards the apple. I slowly close my hand around the apple, there's no sensation of doing so. "Okay..." I whisper. I just need to use my magic to lift it, right? My magic just needs to wrap around this apple, not too much, only use a little bit. I sit there for what feels like hours, waiting for my magic to move over to the apple, but there hasn't been any sign of it doing so. I open my eyes with a look of frustration in them, "Damn, this is harder than I thought it would be." "Travis, the trick is to not think about anything. I heard you mumbling to yourself, I can tell you were feeling anxious," Twilight says, looking me in the eyes. "I was mumbling to myself?" I didn't even know I was doing that... "You just need to relax and clear your mind of everything don't worry about anything going on right now, just sit there in peace." Twilight tries to give me some tips on how to get better results. If I'm going to learn this spell, I'm going to need to listen to Twilight. I just need to clear my mind and focus on the apple in front of me, which is a little harder than it looks considering I can hear the pen scribbles coming from Twilight's end...