The ringing of a bell was a sound of freedom for most creatures. "Yona, let's go." Gallus was headed for the door, but looking over his shoulder at his larger friend.
"Nuh uh." Yona was, instead, focused on Comforting. "Why you not going? Can be with us." She nodded confidently. "Better than alone."
Comforting smiled up at the large yak that had, so far, proven to be full of good intention. "Thanks for the invite, but Miss Sparkle said to wait for her after the last class."
Ocellus landed lightly in front of Comforting. "Headmistress Sparkle? What for? You didn't--" She swallowed heavily. "--already get in trouble, did you?"
Sandbar shook his head quickly. "I doubt that. Comforting hasn't done anything bad all day."
"I'll be at Sugarcube." Gallus was not to be denied his chance to be free, and departed, Smolder not far behind him on the path to treats and not school.
Silverstream sat next to the desk Comforting was perched at. "I bet she wants to make your first day special!" She waved both her hands excitedly. "Maybe a party? No, that's more... Oh! Maybe she has a special welcome book."
Sandbar laughed at the idea. "Yeah, that sounds more like her. I wouldn't be surprised if she had one of those."
"That is not what I came for." There was Twilight with a gentle smile. "Now, I know the rest of you are past this stage of development, but, do understand, Comforting is not." She sat in front of Comforting, a book held in her magic. One could but assume it was not a greeting book. "So I'm here to help Comforting use her horn."
"Oh!" Silverstream peered at the book curiously. "That makes sense. I never had a horn before. Is it hard to use?"
"It can be tricky." Twilight willed the book open. "But so much easier with a helping hoof, which I am ready to provide. Now, this isn't a group activity, unless one of you has a need for horn practice?" She peered from student to student, finding no unicorn horns to qualify.
Comforting giggled softly at the idea. "She could have one." She thrust a hoof at Ocellus.
Ocellus joined the giggle. "I could! But I know how to use my horn." She dipped her head at Twilight. "Thank you for offering."
"You're quite welcome. Thank you for welcoming our new student, all of you."
Yona bounced once with a heavy thump. "Welcome! See you tomorrow?" She was looking at Comforting directly.
"Sure!" Comforting began to clap excitedly. She had made friends, good friends! "Thank you all for caring so much about me, it's really nice. Now I should listen to what Twilight has to say. She's taking time out just for me. I'm... sure she has other things she could be doing."
"Right now, there is only you." Twilight casually booped her young student as the others wandered off. "Let's learn the basics of magic." A rolling green board approached, glowing with Twilight's magic. "As you already are aware..." She paused. "Actually, I'm not sure what you are aware of. You have knowledge that continues to surprise, so I'll ask."
She gestured at Comforting in a rolling wave. "What do you know about magic, and a unicorn's horn?"
"Um." Comforting considered that, looking at Twilight's horn. "Well, the magic comes out of that." She pointed at the long horn. "It glows with a special color, each unicorn having their own color."
Twilight inclined her head faintly. "Bright glows are usually a sign of strong magic being used. Or the unicorn specifically wanting to glow."
Comforting squeaked in surprise. "Really? Um... Can you do something small then?"
"Certainly." Twilight lifted a bit of chalk in her magic, glowing with her power. "See? No glow."
And yet, Comforting certainly saw it glowing. "Um..."
Twilight set the chalk down, brow slowly raising. "Do you mind if I perform a little experiment? It will be harmless."
"Sure." Comforting set her hooves together, leaning forward in her student desk. "If I can help."
"Thank you." She grabbed something. "Now, tell me what the most magic thing in the room is."
That Twilight had grabbed something, obvious to Comforting, or at least she was doing something. Twilight's horn was glowing in Comforting's eyes. But she ignored that. That wasn't part of the test, or so she figured. She instead scanned the room slowly, spotting an abandoned apple on the teacher's desk glowing the same color. She pointed at it. "That apple."
The apple jumped in time with Twilight's jerk of surprise, her magic fading from it and horn going still as she released it. "You really can see magic that faint? Remarkable. Your talent, perhaps?" She leaned to the side for a peek at Comforting's bottom, but no mark was there yet.
Comforting swirled her hooves together in a circle, hooves touching the entire time. "I'm guessing I shouldn't see that?"
"It's not..." She aborted the sentence with a frown. "One thing that makes us ponies wonderful is that many of us have talents and abilities that others do not have. This is a special talent, but it's not wrong." She set a hoof gently atop Comforting's head. "Understand?"
"Yes." She did not sound like a worried little foal being consoled. Comforting seemed more curious and amazed. "Do you want me to go ahead?"
"With? Oh! Yes, please." Twilight bobbed her head. "Tell me what you know about magic, and horns."
"Right." Comforting sat up, her swirling motion calming to a halt. "Most unicorns just glow, or grab things. Some of them can do spells, like you." She nodded at Twilight, one of the most powerful wizards around that she was aware of.
"For now, we want you to be able to do those first two things." Twilight reached up to tap at her own horn. "Those are the basics. All unicorns are expected to do at least that. Many are happy stopping there. Learning more than that is a matter of discipline and desire, not special ability, though that can help." She turned the same hoof back at her rump. "My special talent is magic! So that makes magic a much smoother process for me to learn and do than most. Special talents, a pony thing." She sounded like she was still trying to assure the un-frightened foal. "Understand?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Comforting burst into giggles. "This is exciting. Alright, so how do I grab that?" She pointed at that abandoned apple across the way.
Twilight turned in place to face the bright red fruit. "It does look delicious, doesn't it? A pity it's so far away." She reached a hoof for it, but it was across the room, and her faked sounds of effort didn't bring her any closer to it, or it closer to her. "I can see why you'd want some magic. Now, imagine your horn. Put yourself in there. From inside the horn, reach for it. Grasp it."
Comforting slowly blinked at that idea. "Drive my horn like a mecha?"
Which got Twilight to blink. "Um. Oh, do you read comics? Yes, that analogy works." Fortunately for her, she had been exposed to some of that via Spike. "Imagine you are a pilot of the mecha that is your horn."
"Okay!" Comforting began making little mechanical noises, a silly grin on her face. "I'll form the head," she cried, mentally dropping a little imagined Comforting into her own horn. "Lights are green." She swiped at buttons that weren't there. "Target in sight. Let's move!" Her horn tingled and she squeaked, her imagined scene disrupted instantly. "I felt it!"
"Very good." Twilight nodded with a proud smile. "But you can't be distracted by your own work. That was you. Go on."
"R-right!" Comforting blushed at such a silly mistake, trying to put her thoughts back in order. The tingle! She didn't flinch away that time, trying instead to lean into it, and it got stronger, like her horn was buzzing faintly. "I... think it's on?" She looked up at her horn awkwardly, able to see its magic sputtering and sparking a little, but it was on. "That doesn't look right?"
"Untrained unicorns often have to practice." Twilight nodded without doubt. "You have to do it many times before the magic flows smoothly. You're doing just fine. Reach for the apple when you're ready."
"Reach." Comforting extended a hoof, even if it could never make the distance. "Reach." She imagined herself as the pilot in her horn. Surely there had to be a button for that. Oh! A grappling hook fist, of course! Her imagined self smashed down on the bottom, and a strange spike ran through her. The apple Lurched an inch in the wrong direction, flaring with her magic only briefly.
"Very good!" assured Twilight despite the apple going the wrong way. Her magic appeared, setting it back where it began. "I know it doesn't feel like it, but you made a very important step. You moved it, yourself. It was a conscious decision, and it happened. It's just a matter of practice before you get better at it."
Frustration bubbled in her, only to compound. It was good news, darn it. Why was she upset? Stupid young brain and it's stupid hormones! She shook herself out vigorously. "Y-yeah! Thank you, Miss Sparkle. I just have to... practice." She resumed staring at that apple, her magic glimmering fitfully around it as she tried to get a better grip on it. It would take a lot more practice to get it right.
The apple suddenly lifted, but it had Twilight's glow around it as it came closer. "Take this, and keep practicing until you get hungry and eat it." She chuckled softly. "Which is a fine end to an apple. You can practice on just about anything, but I recommend nothing alive just yet. We don't want to hurt anything, right?"
"Right!" Comforting clapped her hooves in on either side of the apple, working it into her pocket. "Thank you again. Are we done for today?"
"I'd love to discuss more, but... There's no point without time to actually practice." She pointed at where the apple had vanished into Comforting. "You let me know when you feel comfortable moving small things around, or if you run into any troubles. I've started you on the path, but I am not abandoning you, promise. You can always come to me."
"Got it, teacher." Comforting hopped to the ground and turned back to Twilight. "For your first horn student, you're good at this."
Twilight glowed at the praise, her cheeks darkening a little. "Thank you! It's... rare to have such a young student that can appreciate teaching techniques, but you are a specific case. Not in any bad way." She tapped at her chin. "Now... You should head home. Fluttershy will be eager to see you."
Comforting clapped and hopped up to all fours, ready to go, but she stopped. "Um. Do you have a book?"
Twilight blinked at that. "I have many. What-- Oh! Do you mean a book for you? I do! Several, in fact, depending on how this goes. For now, just practice what you've learned today." She leaned in. "Unless you prefer reading?" That smile on her face implied she might have been hoping Comforting said yes.
At Comforting's nod, Twilight began to clap eagerly. Her horn glowed as she drew a book from a nearby shelf and pressed it gently against Comforting. "Then I suggest this. I read it when I was a filly about your size."
Comforting pushed the book back just enough to read the front of it. "Your Horn and You, a primer for young foals." She began to grin at it. "Perfect! I'll read this, and keep practicing, promise."
Student and teacher shared gentle waves at one another, the smaller of them dashing out of the room with clear excitement in her eyes.
"Did I look that way when I was her age?" Twilight's thoughts turned that way, but it was too far to clearly remember. "I hope I did..." She got to cleaning up for the next day of learning.