Motes of dust hung in the air of the library and glittered in the shafts of late-afternoon sunlight from the upper windows.
Spike looked up from the library's catalog as Pinkie Pie sauntered through the open door. "Just another unscheduled Reshelving Day", the little dragon excused the sorry state of affairs. "We had the magic private coaching session Twilight offers for the unicorn foals in Ponyville this morning. It got a bit ...", he paused, looking for an adequate description for 'Dinky, Snips, Snails and Sweetie Belle together in one room', "hectic in the end, but Twilight managed to put out all the fires in time and we have spares for all the windows. It's actually not worse than the usual fallout."
"School? What a way to spend a Sunday morning." Pinkie Pie blew a raspberry. "But that explains the wave of exhausted colts and fillies that hit Sugarcube Corner today. Say, is Twilight around? I have a question for her."
"She's down in the basement where we hide the more dangerous artifacts. Believe me when I say that Snails and a High Thaumic Accelerator are not a good combination. Took me a day to get that stain out of the carpet."
"Okay, I'll just wait for her to come back up then." Pinkie Pie sat down on one of the reading couches and shortly after she started to hum a tune.
Spike looked up again. "What's that song? It's catchy but I think I never heard that one before."
"Oh, sorry Spike. That's a song I learned from my Granny Pie. I'm trying to remember the lyrics, but I just can't get the rhymes the way I want them to. Maybe I'll make up a little dance once I get it right. It's still a work in progress."
Spike nodded. "If you need help with those lyrics, just say the word. That sound's like the setup for a really great song."
"Thanks for offering, Spike. You're a great friend!", Pinkie smiled back at him.
A few minutes passed and she started humming again, singing what few lines she could remember, clapping her hooves in the rhythm. In the meantime Spike had completed his chores and left for the kitchen. It was getting late, and it was his turn to make dinner today. Another few minutes later Pinkie started dancing and twirled over the library floor until she was forcefully stopped by the basement door that swung open in her face.
"Oh, I'm sorry Pinkie! That must have hurt. Let me help you, please!", Twilight Sparkle put the collection of glass tubes and Erlenmarer flasks in her magical grasp down on the ground.
"It's not your fault, Twilight", the party pony rubbed her nose. "I shouldn't have practiced my dance in the library after all. But it's good that you're back from the basement, I have a question on magic."
Spike peeked from the kitchen. "You have a question on magic, Pinkie? That's a new one, wait a second I'll note that down."
Twilight looked a little annoyed at the dragon. "Spike, you don't have to do that."
"Oh yes, I have to. This is for science!"
Twilight rolled her eyes, but said nothing. She looked at Pinkie. "Don't mind him, just ask."
Pinkie blushed a little under her pink coat. "Oh well, but it might be a really strange question. You see, today a group of foals visited the Corner and talked about the stuff they learned. Spike just told me that you teach magic for little unicorns, so I figure those were your students. They talked about visualizing, mental images and spell matrixeseses. From what I understood, magic is just knowing the right spell and wishing really hard. Is that true?"
Twilight frowned. "That's overly simplistic Pinkie, but if you caught that from my pupils it's what is to be expected." She pulled a chalkboard to her side. "I talked about basic thaumic theories today, and while your statement is not actually wrong, it’s not correct either. You see, for magic you need to know the spell’s matrix and fuel magic, what we in the business call thaumic energy, through your horn. I’m afraid I can’t explain what a spell matrix is to a non-unicorn. It’s what the sound of the written spell, the rhyme if you will, looks like." She drew a few diagrams and magic symbols. "But you also need to know what exactly you want the spell to do. For some spells, Simple Telekinesis for example, the matrix is very, very simple, but you need a visual of the object you want to move. Others, like Greater Teleportation have a complex matrix and require great concentration on the visualization of the target-location and it's thaumic alignment in relation to the local ley lines. And then there are unguided spells, commonly known as AoE-spells, those are usually extremely complex and require a long time to cast, but need no perceptual aids, but strong and strategic ... "
Spike poked the unicorn into the shoulder and smirked. "You can stop now. I think this is a new record." He looked at his hourglass. "Two minutes and twenty five seconds to total shutdown." He scribbled into his notebook, then pointed at Pinkie Pie. Her eyes were rolling in their sockets and both came up TILT. Spike waved a cupcake under her nose. Pinkie came to and ate the treat in one bite.
"I see, so magic is knowing the right spell and wishing really hard, in a complicated way.” Twilight Sparkle groaned but Pinkie did not react to that. ”Thanks Twilight! Oh, and I think I remember another line of my song. This is great!" The pink pony hugged her friend, even if Twilight did not seem very happy with her. Pinkie Pie waved her goodbye at Spike as she left the library in her usual bouncy gait, humming her song again.
When she reached the marketplace a group of ponies joined her on her way to Sugarcube Corner. "Unicorns have it really tough with their magic", she thought. "How lucky for me, I just have to get a song in my head, sing it right and everypony will smile for me. That makes life so much easier." Then she started singing, skipped a few steps and found herself at the front of another one of those impromptu dance routines that seemed to follow her around inexplicably.