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// Chapter 15 How do you magic? 
// Story: The Slow Mo Stallions 
// by gamershot 
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Meanwhile across town, Twilight, Rarity and Dan were all heading over to the library, after picking him up from the barn.
"So what kind of things can you do with magic?" asked Dan, curious.
"Lots of things dear, you can levitate, teleport, freeze or heat things, time control in your case, and like Princesses Celestia and Luna, control the sun and the moon." replied Rarity, happy to help.
"Wait, wait, wait, so the Princesses control the sun and moon?" he asked.
"Why yes, of course! How is it done where you’re from?"
"Well, our planet, Earth, orbits the Sun, and the Moon orbits the Earth. The only thing keeping them there is gravity." he answered casually.
"This just gets stranger by the minute, your world must be very different from here." said Twilight.
Dan nodded, it was nothing like here.
"Next thing you'll be telling us that the clouds move and form on their own!" giggled Twilight.
"Oh, or that the animals take care of themselves!" laughed Rarity.
"Uh... yeah?" the two laughing unicorns snapped their heads round to look at Dan. "Yeah, the clouds move on their own and the animals take care of themselves." he added, getting very confused.
"Gosh, it must be like one big Everfree Forest." shuddered Twilight.
By then they'd arrived at the library, and trotted in together. Twilight had set up a few objects on a table that Dan could use to practice on and some notes for him to read too.
"Dan, I intend to teach you like princess Celestia taught me." said Twilight proudly, taking him over to the table.
"Now, first things first: levitation. That's one of the simplest spells." added Rarity with a warm smile.
Dan looked at the objects on the table: An apple, a bowl of hot soup, a block of ice in a bowl, and a flower.
"How do you magic?" he asked with a sheepish smile.
"Well, I could talk you through it." suggested Twilight.
"That sounds good." agreed Dan, smiling happily now.
"Ok, stare at the apple really hard. Concentrate and clear your mind of anything other than the apple."
Dan lowered his head to the apple's level and scrunched his eyes up to concentrate. He hardly even blinked. Once Twilight saw that he had completed her last instruction, she continued.
"Now in your head, imagine the apple floating, or levitating. Then all you need to do it project that through your horn." She added. Dan continued staring at the apple, imagining that it was floating, but it wasn't moving, his horn wasn't glowing either.
Rarity decided to see if she could make it simpler.
"Some unicorns just need to get a feel for their horn Dan. Try tensing your horn, or just anything to feel anything in it, while still concentrating on the apple floating." she explained. Dan gave a slight nod and did so. His horn began to glow a dim chocolate brown colour that grew brighter as time went by. "Dan your doing marvellously, simply marvellously!" exclaimed Rarity for support.
His smile widened as the apple began to glow faintly too, also growing brighter as his focus grew more and more. Sure enough, the apple started to move upwards slowly, until it was completely in the air. Dan lifted his head up, still focused on the apple and turned to the mares.
"I'm doing it!" he yelled happily, barely managing to keep the apple in the air.
"Well done Dan! You did great." encouraged the purple unicorn, surprised that he caught on so fast; it only took about ten minutes.
Dan became a little more adventurous then and started to move the apple in small circles.
"Whoa, this is pips when you get the hang of it!" exclaimed Dan moving the apple around the room. He swirled it around, moved it up and down and all around the perimeter of the room, Twilight and Rarity applauding him.
"Hmmm... I wonder if I..." he mumbled to himself as he changed his vision from a floating apple to an exploding one.
The apple stayed dead still in the centre of the room as Dan increased his focus on the explosion. With one zap of his horn, the apple was obliterated. Pieces off apple shrapnel flew all over the room, coating almost every surface. A few pieces hit Dan directly in the face, making him stumble backwards and trip over a pile of books.
"It wasn't me!" yelled Dan, scrambling up to four hooves. He looked at the two mares, completely coated with apples and chuckled sheepishly.
Rarity was close to tears, looking at the bits of apple in her mane. It was sticky, slimy and hung from her head like a wet fish.
"Dan, I don't know it I can forgive you for this." she said, dramatically turning away from him. Twilight giggled.
"Don't worry everypony, I put a protection spell on the room, it coats everything, protecting it from mess." she explained happily. Her horn glowed brightly and slowly the apple peeled away from the walls, books and ponies, collecting into an apple sized ball.
"Dan, would you be so kind as to levitate this into the bin?" asked Twilight with a smile, "Just don't make it explode again!" she warned.
"No problem!" he said, grabbing the ball with his own magic and putting if into the bin.
Rarity was busy examining her coat and mane.
"Am I clean? Am I clean? Am I clean?" she asked, trying to look at her tail and flank.
"Yes, you look fabulous!" yelled Dan, standing up on his hind legs and flopping his hooves over, getting giggles and laughs from the girls.
"I think that's enough magic practice for one day, lets go and see how Gavin's getting on." suggested Twilight.
"Yeah, I don't want to miss this!" agreed Dan, trotting through the door.