"101 Basic Spells for Adolescent Unicorns?" X went over to Spike and inquired about the book.
"What's this?" Spike flipped through a few pages of the thick text. "Oh, I remember now. Twilight was teaching Sweetie Belle with this book."
"Sweetie Belle? Who's that?"
"Oh, you probably haven't met her yet. She's Rarity's sister. See?" Spike walked over to a shelf and retrieved a photo of Rarity and Sweetie Belle posing and handed it to X.
X took the photo and looked closely at it. "They do look similar, marshmallow body and all," thought X. "By the way, why would you have a photo of Rarity and Sweetie Belle on your shelf anyways?" X asked as he handed the photo back to Spike.
"Err... no reason. I should really get back to reorganizing the shelves!" Spike appeared to be sweating profusely, despite the fact that dragons probably don't sweat, and raced off.
X paid Spike no attention as he picked up the book and began flipping through the first few pages.
"Light shows...color changing spells...basic levitation?"
Usually the first spell learned, the basic levitation skill is a must have for all unicorns. This necessary spell lays the foundation for nearly all other spells and is a necessity for daily life. The unicorn should first empty his/her mind beforehand, and focus the magical energies in the horn on the desired object. Then the unicorn should focus the magic upwards to lift the object up and about. Practice should help with focusing the magic, which is a problem that most young unicorns have. More experienced unicorns can empty the mind quicker, levitate multiple objects and levitate objects while in motion, and grab objects not in the unicorn's direct line of sight, as long as he/she knows the approximate location of the object behind an obstacle.
For a moment X thought, what if he could really pull this off? Well, for one, he didn't have a horn, and he didn't think he had any magic inside his body that he could focus. But he wouldn't know unless he tried. And then he realized something very important, a detail that might have been missed if it weren't for his first day spent in the Everfree Forest.
I've been running purely on sunlight ever since I came here...no machine could harness solar power at 100% efficiency back on Earth. My micro-fusion reactor hasn't run at all for a while. The sun here really is magical. Maybe if I could harness it...hopefully Celestia won't mind.
X scooted next to a window where the sun shone through. It was a clear day, and the sunlight radiated brightly over Ponyville. He positioned himself in such a way that the light shone on most of his body. Almost immediately, the sunlight began to power his systems with no wasted energy, and allowed his auto-repair systems to operate at maximum output (not that he needed it right now). X pulled the spell textbook over and read through the instructions once more. What really bothered him was the fact that he didn't have a horn to focus magic with.
Instead he tried to focus the light energy in the red gem on his helmet. It cast a dim red glow as X tried pointing his hand at the magic book he had purposely left on a nearby desk. His eyes narrowed as he focused completely on the book, his hands slowly gaining a distinct blue aura, deep as the midnight sky. As X moved his hand upwards, his helmet gem glowed noticeably brighter. He shifted his position again to match his position with the sun slowly moving across the sky. The book was surrounded by a blue-red aura as X willed it to fly upwards. It flew up, and floated into his hand. X sat in silence for a few moments, then focused his magic on the Z-Saber sheathed on his back. The blue-red aura grabbed it and spun the handle into his hand, activating the blade before dissipating.
X stared at the extended saber in his hands for a few moments, then he really laughed, for the first time in centuries.
---
"Hmm...that is quite intriguing. I must really study this more."
Twilight was discussing the magic of Equestria to the good Doctor Light, who was giving Twilight his full undivided attention. Being a man of knowledge, the Doctor aspired to know everything he could about the magic that made up this world.
"So tell me, Twilight, what is the difference in the magic of the three races?"
Twilight put a hoof to her chin and thought for a brief moment. "Well, the pegasi, the ponies of the sky, have their own magic of controlling the weather and being to walk on clouds like a solid object. Unicorns have a cloudwalking spell that can be cast on non-pegasi, but it's not permanent and has to be regularly recasted to reinforce the spell, or else the results can be...ugly. Also, the pegasi magic allows them to fly, even though their wings may appear to be small, but their innate magic generates much more lift than you might expect. If their magic is interfered with somehow, it could seriously hinder their flying and cloudwalking abilities."
Dr.Light was furiously storing the information into his capsule for later reference.
"Next, we have the earth ponies. The earth ponies have superior strength and stamina compared to other ponies, and their special ties to the earth and nature make them the only race to be able to grow plants."
"So they're the only race that can produce crops and food?"
"You could say that, I suppose. The other races have tried to grow food many times in history, but they were mostly ineffective, so they eventually gave up and mostly depended on earth ponies for food."
"I see..." said Dr.Light as he busied himself with storing the information.
"And lastly, we have the unicorns. The unicorns can actively use magic by focusing it on their horns. Their magic can be used to manipulate objects, telekinesis, teleportation, walking through walls..."
A few minutes later...
"...heat objects and mind control!"
Dr.Light was scrambling to capture everything Twilight had said onto a data file. After a few more moments he managed to finish.
"Whew...that sure took a while. And...my goodness, look at the time!" Dr.Light looked up at the sky. It was already late in the afternoon.
"Sweet Celestia! I better get back to the library! Spike is still watching the library!"
Dr.Light laughed. "I suppose we can talk another time. But before you go, could you do a small favor for me?"
"What is it, Doctor?"
"Could you just levitate something into the capsule and leave it floating for a few moments?"
Twilight gave an odd look at this request, but complied anyways. She levitated a cube of wood that X had left behind the other day and gently floated it above Dr.Light's holographic hand. He placed his hand around the magenta aura surrounding the cube. The capsule closed up and a bright flash of light was all Twilight could see from the outside. After a few seconds, it opened back up, and Twilight levitated the wood cube back where it was beforehand.
"Thank you, Twilight. That was all that I needed."
Twilight smiled and nodded. As she trotted back towards town, Dr.Light's capsule closed and folded up into its dormant state again.
"I wonder what that was all about?"
---
Later that day, ponies reported odd lights coming from the strangest of places. Some saw a strange capsule-shaped object glow briefly around Canterlot. For some odd reason, nopony had been able to reliably locate the strange glowing capsules. A certain yellow pegasus with a pink, curly mane saw a bright light shine in the deeper parts of the Everfree from her home. She decided to tell X after he returned from the library later.