//------------------------------// // 22 - Page // Story: First Hoof Account // by TCC56 //------------------------------// Moondancer 451 Hemming Way Vanhoover, Equestria Sunset Shimmer 1 Celestial Road Canterlot, Equestria 14 November, 988 Dear Sunset Shimmer; I will begin by expressing my gratitude for lending me your copy of Stellar Alchemy: The Secrets Of The Sun. While it is extremely difficult reading, I found it very enlightening. The book is included with this package along with a dozen cookies that I assisted my mother in making as thanks. Also I am working on practicing the spell you sent at the same time. It's easier, but I still can't keep it up for more than a few minutes. Forcing color changes in objects is really draining. I did manage to cycle through the entire color spectrum twice before my magic gave out, though! Even if it left my oatmeal bright violet. On a more personal note, I want to extend my congratulations to you. There was an article in the newspaper yesterday about your new relationship with Princess Cadance. You both looked very happy in the picture. I hope you will introduce me to her when I arrive at the school next autumn. Everypony says that she's very kind and pretty. Cordially, Moondancer Sunset Shimmer 1 Celestial Road Canterlot, Equestria Moondancer 451 Hemming Way Vanhoover, Equestria 17 November, 988 Dear Moondancer; I'm pleased that you finished Stellar Alchemy. And of course it was difficult! I wouldn't have assigned it to you if it was easy. You're the smartest six year old I've ever met. I'm sorry, smartest seven year old. Happy birthday, by the way. It's easy to forget you're still so young. You're very articulate for your age. It just goes to show you how some ponies will underestimate you just because you're smaller or younger, but we'll overcome that. I did pass along your congratulations to Cadance, and she's looking forward to meeting you when you arrive. She said she regrets not getting the chance when you were in Canterlot before, but that there will be plenty of time to make up for that later. For your next assignment, I've included a copy of Starswirl's On the Order and Harmony of Natural and Mystical Matters, which sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is. He wrote it as a primer to teach his students about advanced practical spell mechanics, but he also considered all of his students to be idiots so he wrote it using the smallest and simplest words possible. I figure you're at least as smart at seven as his students were at twenty, so let's see how well you can do with it. Sincerely, Sunset Shimmer 20 November, 988 Dear Sunset Shimmer; Thank you for the book, and you were correct. Starswirl's writing is educational, but it isn't nearly as complicated as the book's title sounded. I have completed the first two chapters already, though the exercise show on page 17 is still confusing me. The formula doesn't seem to make sense. Doesn't it violate Haysenberg's second principle? Beyond that, it has been an acceptable autumn so far. I find myself eagerly looking forward to next year and the start of school rather than focusing on this empty time, but my parents insist that I should enjoy it and my youth while I am able. It seems wasteful, but I admit that I lack their experience with the subject. Did you have similar experiences when you were my age? What sort of things should I do? Cordially, Moondancer 25 November, 988 Dear Moondancer; Your instincts are mostly correct. Haysenberg's second principle wouldn't be discovered until six hundred and fifty years later, so Starswirl couldn't have accounted for it. But the interesting part is that it actually does work! The second principle can be overcome by sufficient power: while it states that there is always magic lost in the conversion from raw thams to finished spell-form, Haysenberg was wrong in the scaling. He stated it was an exponential growth rate, but it actually levels off at both ends of the scale. At sufficient magical output, the loss reaches a cap because the surrounding environment can no longer absorb the excess. Essentially you saturate the world around you and reality has no choice but to direct the magic where you want it to go, even if that violates Haysenberg's theories. (This isn't an issue for 99.9% of unicorns because they can't generate that much power, but from personal experience it's still true.) But good eye spotting that inconsistency! Now, as for what I did when I was your age? That's a little harder to answer. I don't talk about the life I had before becoming Princess Celestia's personal student but it wasn't very normal. After I became her student, I didn't have time to waste on frivolous things. Living up to Princess Celestia's standards is difficult and even now I can't always satisfy her. I think you should stick to your principles with your parents. You're smart, you know what you want out of life better than they do. It's your life, after all. If you don't have a choice, I suggest finding somepony else nearby who's being forced to do stuff too. If you work together, you can each pretend to be with the other and then do what ever you want. Being around Cadance has taught me that having somepony to help you can come in handy. You just have to choose carefully who's worth trusting. Sincerely, Sunset Shimmer 28 November, 988 Dear Sunset Shimmer; Princess Cadance did that for you? She always seems more restrained in the newspaper interviews. To clarify: since our conversation, I have been attempting to learn more and follow your actions from afar to better understand the responsibilities and contexts of your role (and mine by extension.) Unfortunately despite being the Princess' personal student, very few newspaper or scholarly articles mention you and you are rarely the focus when they do. Articles about Princess Cadance are much more common, so I have been hoping you would appear in them with her. It isn't as good as getting to know you in pony, but I have to make due with what I have. I hope that didn't sound creepy. My parents have warned me several times that I can be too aggressive when seeking information and that ponies don't always like it. But they also said I ask too many questions sometimes, so I don't understand how I'm supposed to learn if I don't ask or read. Did you learn things differently? How does Princess Celestia teach you? Cordially, Moondancer 4 December, 988 Dear Moondancer; How Princess Celestia taught me is a good question, but I don't think it would help you. Everypony learns differently because everypony is different. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses and goals. Cadance is a great example of this: I'm teaching her magic, too. When I give you a lesson, it's about spell construct forms and theory. That's because you're really smart for your age and the second best way for you to get better at magic is to understand the underlying ways that magic works and interacts with the rest of the world. (The best way is through practice, which is why you should still be doing those exercises I told you about in my first letter.) Cadance, on the other hoof, doesn't learn that. She's an alicorn with an alicorn's strength, so she doesn't need to understand how magic works, she just needs to do it. It's like you're trying to get through a locked door. You're a ring of keys to open up the lock, and she's a hammer to break the door down. So I have to teach you a different way than her for it to be effective, just like how the way Princess Celestia taught me won't work for you. Now, as for the rest of your letter: never let anypony tell you that asking questions is bad. The only ponies who don't want you asking questions are the ones trying to hide something. And also no, Cadance doesn't do that for me. Not exactly. She's too much of a good girl to do that. Instead we sneak off places together when we've got free time. It helps that she's really different than other ponies here in Canterlot and that she's very good at encouraging me to try new things. Yesterday we spent two hours watching the geese fly south. I never would have done that on my own, but she made it fun. Sincerely, Sunset Shimmer 7 December, 988 Dear Sunset Shimmer; I really like geese. I read a book about their flight mechanics and it was fascinating! Maybe once I move to Canterlot, you and Princess Cadance can take me with you to watch them. But for now, you're right. I shouldn't let anypony tell me to stop trying to learn and I need to learn in my own way. I was just hoping that how Princess Celestia taught you would give me some extra insight because she's so smart and you're so smart, so it had to have been very good. I think sometimes what I need most is help to understand what questions I need to ask. The answers are all out there if I look in the right place, but I don't always know where that is. Libraries are a great help, but there's more books there than I can read in a month. Can you teach me how to find the right questions? Also, I finished the fifth chapter of Starswirl's book and I don't know if I'm ready to keep going. I know that you said it was for beginners, but there's so much of it that's too advanced for me. The last chapter was really difficult, and the sixth's opening is about transmutation and I just don't understand any of it. I'm sorry. Cordially, Moondancer 12 December, 988 Dear Moondancer; First of all, you do not want to learn the way Princess Celestia taught me. She's very smart but she's a terrible teacher. Second, don't feel bad about having trouble with Starswirl's book. I gave it to you specifically because I wanted to see how far you could get before you failed. I may have said it was simplified, but no matter how smart you are you're still a beginner. Now I know where you're at and where I should start when you get to school next year. Just remember that you're really young, Moondancer, and there's nothing wrong with having a hard time. You aren't dumb, you're just inexperienced. That can be fixed. And asking how to ask the right questions is an excellent first step. I don't think I can summarize it, though. Figuring out what to ask to learn what you're after isn't a lesson, it's a major part of a proper education in general. Teachers will have a lot of lectures about telling you what things are, but the good ones will try to teach you why they are instead. I guess that's the best advice I can give you: always dig deeper. The answer you get is never the last answer, and you should always be asking a follow-up question. Even if it seems dumb, ask anyway because you never know. Even a silly answer can open up unexpected doors. Sincerely, Sunset Shimmer 15 December, 988 Dear Sunset Shimmer; Okay, I understand. So because you said to dig deeper, why is Princess Celestia a bad teacher? Maybe if you can tell me why she's bad, I can learn what not to do as a student. (That makes sense, I think?) Or maybe you could tell me more about yourself as a student so I understand how to approach my education better. I guess really I just want to know more about you. Because I live all the way out in Vanhoover, there isn't a lot of information about you. All I really know is that you're the Princess' personal student and that you're very smart and very powerful. If I'm going to be your student, I want to know as much as I can about my teacher. If I know that, I can learn how to grow up to be just like you. Also I'm still trying the exercises in the sixth chapter even if I don't understand all of it. Maybe by the time I get to school, I'll be on the seventh chapter! Cordially, Moondancer 20 December, 988 Dear Moondancer; Okay, for starters do not continue with those exercises. I know you want to learn more, but casting spells you don't understand is extremely dangerous. You should never try casting spells that you aren't prepared for because all kinds of things can go wrong. When you get here, I promise I'll help you learn but for now please be careful. I don't want you to get hurt, my student. Now, as for why Princess Celestia is a bad teacher? That's a harder question to fit into a letter. Probably her biggest problem is that she regularly refuses to help because she wants you to learn things for yourself. She stays hooves-off while you stumble around blindly until you figure out her lesson, and then she smiles and says she knew you could do it. That's not teaching, it's taking credit for somepony else's work. And when you ask her why something is the way it is, she never gives you a straight answer. She just smiles and tells you something empty like "That is a story for another day" or "You are not yet ready." Trust me, you don't want to learn that way. I've basically had to teach myself for the last few years. I'm sorry if that hurts how you see the Princess, but it's the truth. Sincerely, Sunset Shimmer 23 December, 988 Dear Sunset Shimmer; I understand on both points. I'll stop practicing without supervision because you're right. It probably is a little dangerous and I'll have plenty of time to learn once I get there. But I'm still going to keep reading and try to understand the book in the meantime. Reading can't be dangerous, after all. And I see what you mean about Princess Celestia not being a good teacher. I don't think I could learn like that, even with all the books in the library. It says a lot about how smart you are that you succeeded! But that goes back to my other question in the last letter. I really want to know more about you. Knowing about Sunset Shimmer would really help me learn, like how knowing the name of a food can help you guess what ingredients are in it. (I have to ask that a lot because I'm allergic to nuts and they're in a lot of things you wouldn't expect. I also ask about cabbage but that's not because I'm allergic, I just don't like it.) I want to learn more and if I can't learn more from the book you gave me, I'd like to learn about you. Sincerely, Moondancer