//------------------------------// // 50. New Knowledge // Story: Good Things Come // by Sweet Tale //------------------------------// "Think of all the fun you could have..." "No...no...I couldn't." "You could do anything... I woke up feeling more refreshed then ever. Last night's sleep was the best I'd had in a long time. I suppose telling everyone about mine and Luna's engagement was a huge weight off both of our shoulders. Rolling onto my side, I booped Luna on the nose, waking her up. "Morning beautiful." Luna made one of those cute little yawns she did; stretching her legs whilst doing so. "Good morning Sweetie." She leant forward and kissed my cheek, snuggling into me. "How'd you sleep?" "Like a log. How about yourself?" "Mmhmm, the same." She yawned again. "What time is it?" I looked over at the clock. "Just gone 6:30." I sat up and swivelled my legs over the bed, setting them on the cold marble. "I'll just send a quick note to Cheerilee about today. Surely she won't mind if it's just half the day." I picked up a quill and a piece of parchment with Luna's cutie mark imprinted at the top. Cheerilee, Sorry for the early message but I am letting you know that I will be unable to attend the morning part of the class due to certain royal duties. I will arrive at the school at around Midday so I can attend the afternoon class. Owen. "Can you send it for me please?" Luna took the note in her magic, rolled it up and sent it on it's way. "Thanks." I grabbed my clothes and started to dress myself. "You sure you and Twilight want to do this today? I mean, it's so soon." "Of course! Owen, you found out yesterday that you could use magic. We are going to find out it's potential. Who knows, maybe you'll learn something out of it!" she said with a smirk. "With you and Twilight teaching me? Course I'll learn something. When have I not?" I slipped on my shoes and walked to the mirror. "Bed head...perfect." I took one of Luna's many brushes and started to straighten my long-ish hair. "Swear I need to get this cut. Right down to a grade 2 at least." The brush was levitated out of my hand by the approaching Luna. "Let me." She slowly started to brush my hair, untangling the knots out of it. "I like your hair like this." "Mmm..." Although it was a bit odd, it did feel nice having my hair brushed. "I tell you...I feel great about this. Everyone knows about us now. We don't need to keep it a secret anymore..." "The crowd seemed to react so well." She tugged on a know which refused to untangle, causing me to grunt in pain. "Sorry. I did see a couple of surprised faces...a couple of disappointment." "Really? Disappointment?" I looked in the mirror to see my hair was perfectly straight. "Beautfiul...but really, what's wrong with us getting married. Surely there isn't racism in this world." I said with a chuckle. "Well..." "No...seriously?!" Surely she couldn't be telling the truth. "I'm sorry but even you have read up on the wars from Equestria's past. Even though the bad blood between species has lowered to almost nothing in the past five hundred years, there are the certain few who still despise other species." "That sucks." I straightened out my clothes and turned back around, seeing Luna levitating her regalia onto her body. "So...breakfast?" A grumble from both of our bellies answered for us. Opening the large doors in front of us, we walked into the magic training room. The last time I was in here was back when I found out the truth about my parents. Just walking into this room gives me the chills. The training equipment had remained untouched and more dust had settled. The doors closed behind us and were sealed with a magical spell, cast by Twilight, who had kindly come to Canterlot to help me during this time. Her and Luna walked up to me and led me to the large circular room where we sat last time. "Please sit down Owen. You will need to be as calm and relaxed as possible for this." Twilight instructed. I sat down on a nearby chair and watched as Luna levitated a table in front of me and set it down. Twilight placed a small wooden block on the table. "Training your magic is going to be tough. The first thing we need to do is measure how much magic you can actually use." Luna pointed her hoof at the wooden block. "Show Twilight what you did yesterday. We will start with levitation and work from there." "Right." I held up my hand but stopped as I noticed Twilight's horn glowing. "What are you doing?" "I will be measuring your magical output and recording it. Each time you use the levitation spell, we will compare the results." she explained. "Alright then." Once again, I raised my hand and began the procedure of focusing my magic to travel down my arm and into the ring. Soon enough, the block was engulfed in a light blue aura and lifted off the table. This was becoming much easier to use now that I had done it three times. "This is so cool..." Twilight summoned a notepad and started jotting notes down. Luna looked over to her. "What was the reading?" "0.7 CMU. With more training, it could improve." Twilight answered. "Sorry but...CMU? What's that?" I asked. "A CMU is a Celestial Magic Unit. It's the unit we use for measuring magic." Luna explained, watching the block move left and right. "Is it still the same when he moves it?" she asks Twilight. "It's fluctuating between 0.7 and 0.8." She looks up at me. "OK Owen, stop casting for a moment." I did so and the block dropped back onto the table. "What I want you to do is try and lift that block as fast as you can. See if you can do it faster than last time." "Okie dokie!" I breathed long breaths as I prepared myself. Before I got too nervous, I quickly lifted my hand and fed the magic through my arm as fast as I could. The block lifted once again but a bit more forceful this time. "How was that?" "4 seconds. And you measured 1.05 CMU. You're improving already!" I smiled greatly at this. "But please remember. Levitation is a simple spell to cast..." She immediately put a hoof over her mouth. "Not that I'm saying it's hard for you!" "It's alright, I knew what you meant." I replied, turning the block over and over. "What's next?" "Keep practising levitation." Luna mumbled. I groaned and stopped casting the spell. "I know it's repetitive but we need to make sure that you know how to control your magic. And we also need to know how much you can do." "Alright, alright...let's just..." I sighed again. "Let's just keep doing this." LATER "So...how heavy was that?" Luna took the item out of my magical grasp and set it down on the floor. She turned to Twilight as we waited for her to respond. "That chair was 16 kilograms and you measured at 2.8 CMU." She looked up from her notepad and smiled at me. "You're progressing much faster than we anticipated." "And that's good...I hope?" They both nodded. "Awesome. As fun as this has been, I'd love to try some new spells. What else do you think I could do?" Luna put a hoof to her chin and hummed to herself. She slowly approached me and leant her head down to me - her horn resting on my head. "Close your eyes for me." I did so and heard the familiar tingle of her magic being used. "Princess...what did you just do?" asked an inquisitive Twilight. "I shared my knowledge of an offensive spell that Owen may be able to conjure." There was a gasp, followed by a small pause. "Owen, open your eyes now." I did so and saw that Twilight looked a bit uneasy. "You now know a spell which can be used to either defend or...if needed...attack." "A-attack?" The possibilities in my mind were endless...but I only thought of one question. "What's it called?" "This spell acts as a knockback towards another creature or if used strongly, it can create a small energy burst which can harm." Luna walked over to me and sat herself down on my right, facing the same way I was. "You see that orange over there?" I looked in front of me to see a table about ten feet away. Twilight was placing an orange onto the table towards the middle. "Yeah, I see it." "Remember what you did before. Think of the spell you want to use and aim at that orange. Remember, this is a difficult spell to cast so please be careful." she said, leaning into me. "Good luck." added Twilight. "Thanks." I held up my hand and pointed towards the circular fruit. "Just think of the spell right?" I did the same procedure again. I focused on my magic, I channelled it and thought of the spell. "Hang on...what's the spell called?" "Repulsion." Twilight stated. "Hang on...repulsion...burst of energy...it's like a bitch slap!" I focused once again and thought of the word 'repulsion' over and over. The ring on my finger began to tingle and before long, the orange became lit in the light blue aura and levitated off the table. "Ohh...damn it..." Luna placed her hoof on my shoulder. "Don't worry. Just try again." I placed the orange back down on the table and re-positioned myself. I lifted my hand again and pointed towards the citrus fruit again. The magic once again travelled down my arm, into my ring. I thought the word 'repulsion' over and over and over. Sweat started to glisten on my forehead as my energy was being sapped by my focus. "Come on...come on..." "Just relax...you can do it..." Luna quietly whispered. And I believed her. It took all of my focus but I felt something new. My arm felt like I was holding it over an open flame. I couldn't hold this up any longer and my arm began to shake. It was about to-- *WOOSH* The orange was pelted back against the wall with a good bit of force. I felt like I had used the force - midichlorians for the win! "Whoa! Did...did I do that?" I was overcome with what I had just done. "Surely that couldn't have been--" "4.2 CMU! That's amazing!" Twilight's gaze kept switching between the orange on the floor and my hand. "You performed the spell perfectly!" The giddiness in her voice really made me feel happy. She levitated the orange back onto the table and looked at me. "Again?" She nodded vigorously. "Right...let me just..." A sudden thought came to me. "Hang on...what's the time?" Luna flashed her horn quickly. "11:52." She immediately noticed why I asked. "You're going to be late!" I got up from the chair and ran towards the door. "I've got to get to Ponyville! Gotta get my scroll from your chambers!" I shouted back to Luna. Opening the door, I sprinted out and began to retreat back towards Luna's room. I did not want to be late for school - I just can't, it wouldn't set a good example. Reaching the navy blue doors, I pushed them open and picked up my scroll which I had left on the bedside table. The sound of hooves got louder as Twilight and Luna had reached the doors. "Did you find it?" asked Luna I held up the scroll. "Sure did. I want to thank you two for giving me a great lesson. I can't believe I made that spell!" Luna giggled and pulled me into a hug. "You're welcome. I'll see you soon, yes?" "Very soon." I looked down at Twilight. "To be taught Magic by Twilight? I'll be back as soon as possible." Twilight gave a girlish squeal and shuffled her hooves. Me and Luna broke the hug and I stepped back from her. "See you...Owen to Ponyville!" In a flash, I was back home. I quickly grabbed my jacket and dashed out of the door and towards the centre of town. I quickly arrived at the schoolhouse where Cheerilee was watching over the children. "Hey Cheerilee. I'm not late am I?" She looked over to me and smiled. "I got your message. Did everything go alright?" "Better than I ever imagined..." *4 Hours Later* After a successful afternoon at the school, I started to make my way back home after bidding farewell to the various children and parents. There was the odd spat of name-calling and mean faces between the crusaders and the resident bullies but that was sorted pretty quickly. Walking past Twilight's library, I started to think about my magic. Doing levitation was amazing but that knockback spell was something else. The feeling of that new magic going down my arm was something I didn't want to do again any time soon. I reached my home and put my hand in my pocket to fetch my keys. "Hang on..." With a smirk, I took my hand out and placed it in front of me. "I can do this." It was a long shot but I wanted to try it. Focusing carefully, I imagined the keys in my pocket. Feeling that surge of energy again, I looked down at my pocket to see that the internal of it was glowing. Slowly but surely, my keys raised out of my pocket. "Yes! Now for the tricky part..." I moved the keys forward towards the lock and lined up the key with the slot. Ever so slowly, I nudged the key forward and straight into the lock. With my smile now even bigger, I turned the keys to the right, unlocking the door. Focusing on the handle, I forced the handle down and pushed the door slightly. "Wow...I did it..." Dropping the spell, I took the keys out of the lock and entered my home. I kicked my shoes off and lounged down on the sofa. I slouched down and slid out of my jacket, making myself more comfortable. "Oh sofa...why you so-- *SMASH* "WHAT THE?!" Quickly jumping up from the sofa, I scanned the room to find the source of the noise. One of my windows had been smashed by something. Looking around for said item, I found a small rock next to the back of my sofa. "Who the..." "Once more!" "Huh?!" *SMASH* *SMASH* Two more rocks found there way through my windows. I immediately ducked for cover to protect myself from harm. Once the glass had settled, I slowly got to my feet and peeked out of the window. There, in a group, were around 5 or 6 cloaked ponies with more rocks in their levitation. Their manes and coat colours were obscured by the fabric so I had no way of identifying them. Not wanting to seem fearful of them (which I bloody was), I stood right near the window and glared at them. "What the hell did you do that for?!" One pony stepped forward. "You are a danger to Equestria, soon to become Royalty and now able to use magic!" came his voice. It was male. "And? What's wrong with that?" I replied. "You've never been able to use magic before. And no creature can suddenly gain magical powers just like that!" he retorted, stomping his hoof. "One last time!" Another barrage of rocks was coming my way. "Use it! Use your spells!" "I...I shouldn't..." "Just do it! Look what they're doing to you!" I held up my hand and managed to cast levitation just in time. Three rocks stopped in their projected flight and I quickly placed them on the ground. "Will you stop that?! What good will rocks do!?" I shouted at them. "LOOK! He can use levitation on THREE separate objects! Use something stronger!" the same pony shouted. A pony behind him held another rock but then wrapped it in some type of cloth. A third pony placed her horn on it and cast a quick spell, setting it alight. "THROW IT!" The pony did so and I now had a flaming rock coming at me. "AGAIN! Use something stronger!" "NO! It's not good to harm others!" "But look what they're doing. Doesn't it make you...angry?" "It..." I clenched my fist. "It does..." I gave an angry grunt. "IT DOES!" I raised my hand and forced it towards the flaming projectile. *BOOM* The rock exploded with immense force, sending a wave of flame back towards the offending group. Their robes were singed by the flames and they all winced and cried in pain. "You...YOU'RE A MONSTER!" the male pony screamed before he and the others ran from their spot and out of sight. I stood stock still, processing what I had just done. I looked at my hand, which was shaking profusely. "What did...how..." I had no idea how I did that. But I did know one thing... It felt good.