//------------------------------// // Chapter 19: Magic Tutoring // Story: Past, Present, and Future // by Bpkyle777 //------------------------------// Outside the window, the sun was just beginning its ascent, marking the very moment Tia raised it from Vanhoover. The light actually stung my eyes a bit and I had a crick in my back for some reason. Groaning, I sat up and looked around, realizing why I felt sore. That mare knocked me off the flippin' bed! I was sitting on the floor next to Luna’s bed with half the blanket and a pillow lying over a meter away. Luna was spread out across the entire bed, drool running down onto her pillow and snoring peacefully. And I thought I snored hard. Slowly, I stood up, trying to stretch my back and get rid of that annoying kink. I don’t know why I feel so bad this morning. I’ve woken up to worse but still always managed to be energetic. I snickered to myself. It’s good to be a morning pony if you’re dating Tia. I looked up at the clock to see that it was about six o’clock. Using my magic, I carefully sat the pillow and blanket back on the bed next to Luna, although my unstable magic nearly whacked her in the head. She turned a bit and I was afraid I had woken her up, before she stopped and started snoring again. I slowly crept to the bedroom door and creaked it open. Just as I thought I was home free, the snoring suddenly stopped. Turning around I spotted Luna sitting up and looking at me curiously. “Where art thou going?” she asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. I rubbed my head. “I sort of promised Trixie yesterday that we’d start her training today.” She looked upset for a moment. “But, thou also promised to Our sister that thou would stay by Our side till she returned.” “I know, I know,” I said defensively. “I just need to run to my study and grab a few materials, then tell Trixie to meet me here. That way, I can keep both promises!” I smiled at her. Luna stretched for a moment on her bed, seeming to think about it. “Well, it has been quite some time since We have learned your magic…” she mumbled to herself. “Perhaps if thou wouldst allow us to join Trixie in the lesson?” she asked earnestly. I chuckled. First the Element of Magic, then the Great and Powerful Trixie, now even the Princess of the Night wants to learn from me. I’m not that good. What could I possibly know that even a near immortal Princess doesn’t? “That should be fine,” I said, “although I don’t know what I could possibly teach you.” Luna giggled. “Why don’t you order some breakfast from the kitchen for us while I’m out? I shouldn’t be gone for more than thirty minutes.” She nodded as I stepped outside and shut the door. Alright, as long as she stays in there, she should be safe. I charged my magic to teleport to my room before I remembered my ‘problem’ and sighed. “Guess I’m hoofin’ it.” Down the steps, down the hall, take a right, through a doorway, down more steps, turn left, down a longer hall, turn right, bada bing, bada boom, I’m at the corridor that held Tia’s room and mine. Why the two sisters nearly live on opposite sides of the castle is beyond me, but it’s been like that since before I ever showed up. As I passed Tia’s room and the kitchen, I noticed something strange near my door. There didn’t seem to be any sort of visual cue, but I could almost feel something there. I kept a poker face as I approached my bedroom door and decided to take a stab in the dark. “Well, you’re up early, Trixie.” I smirked as I heard a gasp and Trixie materialized right next to me. “How’d you know I was here?” she asked as I pushed my door open. “I dunno,” I shrugged, still grinning. “Call it skill, talent, or even just dumb luck,” I chuckled as I entered my study. “I take it you’re eager to get started?” She grinned ear to ear and nodded. Carefully, I started searching through my assortment of books for anything I might have needed, pulling out each one to read the titles. After some searching, I collected the five that I found the most relevant into a stack, albeit a shaky stack that looked like a Janga tower that would fall at any moment. “Hey Trixie, you mind grabbing these?” I asked. “My magic is quite literally not what it used to be. I’d make a mess carrying these things.” She nodded and gathered the books in her light purple aura. “Are we not doing it here?” “No,” I answered, shaking my head and returning the rest of the books to the shelves. “Tia wanted me to look after Luna while she’s gone, so we need to do it in her room.” Trixie nearly dropped the books. “W-what? We’re going to Princess Luna’s bedchamber?” Who calls it a ‘bedchamber’? Well, aside from Luna. I nodded. “She- OW!” I stopped when a book I had just put on the top shelf fell back down and hit me in the head. Rubbing my head in irritation, I put the book back and continued. “She was even hoping to be included in the lesson,” I chuckled and grabbed my notebook from my desk. Trixie just stared at me, wide-eyed. “How… how powerful are you?” she asked, seriously. Laughing, I waved her off. “Not nearly as much as you might think I am. I think Luna just wants to reminisce in the old times,” I said, trying to calm my laughter. “Before she became the All-Powerful Alicorn Princess everypony knows her as today, she was just a filly with a serious magic block. I used to tutor her up until she got past her block and excelled well beyond my capabilities. After that, Tia took over teaching her.” Trixie slowly nodded. *CRASH* Before I knew it, my whole world turned dark. I knew I wasn’t unconscious since I heard Trixie gasp, but my head was hurting even more now. Digging through whatever fell on me, I poked my head out and saw that I was in a huge pile of my books. “What the-?” I saw Trixie hiding a grin behind her hoof and looked up at the bookshelf I had just straightened up to see the top three shelves entirely empty. Growling to myself, I pulled a glowing hoof out of the pile and pressed it against the bookcase to scan it. Not two seconds later I detected a very familiar magic behind it. “LUNA!!!” After I dispelled the prank shelves, I began putting all the books back, only doing one at a time so my magic would behave. A couple moments later, I saw Trixie put down the books I had her carry and help me clean these up. “What was that?” she asked. “Just another of Luna’s stupid pranks,” I told her. “Ever since I arrived, it’s been a constant prank war between the two of us to see who the better prankster is.” I laughed. “You should have seen her when I gave her Tia’s mane. I couldn’t breathe for nearly an hour!” Trixie giggled at the thought of what she must’ve looked like but stopped to look through one of the books she had picked up. “What’s this?” she asked. I looked over at her to see her holding my personal notebook and flipping through various pages. “Why is this book empty?” “That’s my notebook,” I told her, still putting books up, “and it’s not empty. I created a spell that only allows ponies I give permission to read it. Came up with it not long after the whole ‘Sombra’ thing.” I looked back at her in time to see her cast a spell. When she looked at the book again, her face contorted in confusion. “Why didn’t that work? It’s only an illusion that these pages are blank, correct?” I nodded with a smirk. “So why couldn’t I dispel it?” “I added a few extra security threads to make it so only I can change or remove the spell,” I explained. “Let me see it.” Trixie hoofed me the book and continued picking up the last few books off the floor. I held it out in front of me in concentration and probed it with my magic. I failed a couple of times since my magic wasn’t very accurate, but I eventually made it to the center of the spell and added Trixie to the list of ponies who could read it. After a few moments of thought, I decided to go ahead and add Twilight as well. After Trixie finished putting up the last few books, I levitated my notebook back to her and she looked at the cover surprised. “Oh! ‘Sapphire Knight’s personal notebook.’” She opened the front cover and read what was written on the first page out loud. “‘This is my personal notebook, containing my research, spells, and theories throughout my stay in Equestria. If you can read this, then I have given you my permission to read what's inside. Use this knowledge wisely. Sapphire Knight.’” She looked back up at me in surprise. “I… I don’t know what to say. I feel honored that you trust me this much.” I chuckled at her. “Why? You have yet to give me a reason not to trust you,” I said as she gave me my notebook back. “Regardless of what you’ve done in the past, you clearly want to change. And as an added plus, any friend of the Elements is automatically a friend of mine!” Trixie smiled warmly at me. “Thank you. It… means a lot to me.” I waved it off. “No problem. We should probably head over to Luna’s. She’s probably worried what’s taking me so long.” Trixie nodded and grabbed the stack of books on our way out. After we passed Tia’s room, she looked at the books she was holding and turned to me. “You said that your magic wasn’t what it used to be, and that’s because of your form, yes?” I nodded. “Well, why don’t you transform into a unicorn and regain the control you once had?” “It’s not that simple,” I shook my head. “If I transform into a Unicorn with the spells I’ve developed so far to gain a fake horn, that’s exactly what it will be. Fake. My magic will still behave as if I was still a Pegasus.” “But didn’t you say Sombra transformed you into a Pegasus? Can’t you just undo that to go back to your normal self?” Trixie asked. Wow. She is very analytical. That will probably make teaching her a little bit easier. “While I admire the way you think,” I smiled, “that won’t work either. Whatever Sombra did to my original spell, he made this a permanent transformation.” Trixie blushed at the compliment. “How do you know it’s permanent?” “The spell I used to reveal Light in Tia’s study was an Area-Of-Effect spell. If my Pegasus form were reversible, I would have turned back into Sapphire Knight right then and there.” She nodded solemnly. “I’m sorry.” I playfully patted her back. “No need to be! You’ve shown how well you do at critical thinking, which I find to be very important, both in being a leader and becoming an expert spellcaster.” Trixie smiled. “Thanks, I appreciate that.” “No problem,” I said as we turned down a long hallway. “Besides, with yours and Twilight’s help, we should easily be able to come up with a way to make my magic just as focused as it used to be, if not more so!” Trixie grinned and nodded, though she looked like she had something else on her mind. “What is it?” “Hmm? Oh, just… Why transformations?” she asked. “Come again?” “Well, why’d you decide to focus on transformation magic? Why not illusion or conjugation?” “Simple,” I grinned. “You recall that I said that I wasn’t always a pony, yes?” Her sudden look of realization told me she did. “That’s why! I was hoping to find a way to turn myself back into a human, even if only for a short amount of time. You can tell by just looking at me how successful I was at it,” I chuckled. She nodded as we continued to our destination. ---------------- “Phew! These ponies know how to cook for royalty!” I said as I patted my full stomach. Trixie and I had arrived to Luna’s room to see a rather large breakfast spread out on a circular table I didn’t realize Luna had. She must keep it stored out of the way for when she needs it. I turned to see Luna and Trixie both looking satisfied as well. “Five more minutes, then we’ll get started,” I told them. They both nodded and Luna teleported the mostly empty trays back to the kitchen downstairs. “So how didst thou enjoy Our little prank?” Luna smirked at me, causing me to growl. “We could hear you yell from our balcony.” She started laughing. “Not funny,” I growled. “If I wasn’t so hard-headed, or Trixie was under it, one or both of us could have been seriously hurt.” She stopped laughing. “But thou are hard-headed, although…” she glanced at Trixie, “We did not anticipate somepony being with you,” she said, rubbing her neck. “We apologize.” “It’s fine, Princess,” Trixie said. “As a street performer, I am well adept to an injury or two. And besides,” she giggled, “it was actually funny watching him tunnel out like some kind of mole.” Both mares started laughing at me and I crossed my forelegs in a solid humph. Once we were all able to move again, I laid my notebook down on the table in front of me, then grabbed one of the books in the stack Trixie left nearby. Having taught magic a couple of times before, I knew what my first step was. “Now, to get a general idea of your current levels in magic, I want you to pour as much magic energy as you possibly can into this rock without casting a spell.” I pulled a smooth rock the size of a hoof from behind my back. “Where’d you get the rock from?” Trixie asked. “Outside,” I shrugged. She looked confused for a moment. “What?” Trixie shook her head. “Nevermind. Anyways, won’t putting all our magic in it like that destroy it?” she glanced at the dark alicorn next to her. “Or make it explode?” I let the rock in my hoof glow for a few moments before placing it on the table. “No, it’s enchanted to harmlessly dispel whatever you put into it back out in the environment. I plan to use it as a gauge to see how strong your magic is,” I explained and turned to Trixie. “You first.” She nodded and lit the rock in her aura. I tapped into her magic through the rock using a spell most magic teachers use to help a student navigate their magic flow. After a minute or so, Trixie started sweating and her concentration began to falter. Eventually she had to release the rock and started panting like she had just gone through a five kilometer sprint. “Impressive,” I said, making a note toward the back of my notebook. “Not only is your mental strength relatively high, but your endurance is extraordinary. Well done.” Trixie smiled at me and nodded, still trying to catch her breath. “I’d say on a scale of one to ten, five being an average unicorn, you are a high eight!” I turned to Luna. “Alright, now you.” She smiled and grabbed the rock in her dark blue aura. As I tried to gauge her power, the room began to feel a little staticky. Probably from such a high amount of power dispersing in a tiny room. Once Luna released, I noticed she was sweating too, but was resisting the urge to pant, leaving me a little surprised. “Clearly well over a ten since you're an alicorn, but that felt slightly weaker than last time I had you do that,” I told her. Luna frowned after a moment and shook her head. “Ever since We have returned from banishment and Nightmare Moon was cleansed from Us, Our power has been weaker.” She sighed. “Some time after Our return, We managed to regain enough of Our power to return to Our Regal form and raise the moon, but it still returns to Us very slowly.” “Well, this is probably exactly what you need!” I smiled at her. “A little variation in your spell casting. Exercise of the mind and magic.” I playfully jabbed her with my elbow. “Before too long, you’ll be able to turn the entire moon into cheese if you wanted to! …Again.” Luna blushed and looked away. “Again?” Trixie asked. “Long story, I’ll tell it some other time,” I waved it away. “Back on topic! I’m gonna write down a spell, and I want you to show me your process in casting it.” I wrote down the formula for a simple transformation spell to turn the rock into a daisy on a sheet of paper I had nearby. Trixie gave the spell an inquisitive look as she gathered the magic necessary to cast it. Luna read it over her shoulder and smiled. As Trixie weaved the spell together, she told me each step of her process and I wrote it down. Once she was finished, she released the spell and the rock became a rather large and withered-looking daisy. It was nearly as long as my leg. “What happened?” she asked, looking at the ‘daisy’ in shock. “What happened is the failure to account for the conservation of mass,” I explained. “While your process in spellcasting is rather advanced, you were still unable to control the individual pieces of the spell,” I said as I started circling the different parts of the formula, “causing you to cast it mechanically and only for its sole purpose, turning a rock into a daisy. All that extra mass had to go somewhere, so the spell simply enlarged the output to compensate.” My hoof lit up as I turned the deformed daisy back into a rock. I started pointing out the pieces of the spell she needed to focus on. “While you could alter this in a way to simply dispel the extra mass into air, you would still end up with the daisy appearing wilted.” I circled a part of the formula. “If you refocus the energy gathered from here, and input it back into this,” I pointed at a separate section of the spell, “all of the excess mass becomes the nutrients required for the daisy to remain healthy.” “Oh!” Trixie said. “I was wondering why this piece didn’t seem to have a purpose.” She shook her head. “But this is still rather impressive. I’ve never seen a spell broken down any further than the individual threads required to cast them.” “That’s one of the perks I had of starting from scratch and thinking outside the box!” I said, grinning. “Following the analogy of the ‘threads’ that make up the ‘fabric’ of the spell, picture each thread as containing individual ‘strands’ of magic. If you are able to learn how each strand functions and supports the thread as a whole, you can find ways to weave those strands,” I pointed at the part I circled, “back into a separate thread,” I moved my hoof to the other section. “Not only does that strengthen the final product since the threads are actually connected to each other instead of just pushed together, but it also allows for more intricate outputs of the same spell.” “Wow,” Trixie breathed. “That’s… an ingenious way to picture it. And it makes perfect sense too.” She looked back at the spell and studied it again. After a few moments, she lit up her horn and attempted the spell again. After the flash that followed, the rock that was once on the table was replaced with an impressive looking daisy, although it was still slightly larger than average. “Fantastic!” I grinned at her. “Knowing how to balance the parts comes from practice and usually a bit of math, but very good, nonetheless!” Trixie blushed. “Alright,” I said as I reverted it back into a rock, “you take a shot, Lulu.” She smirked and quickly turned it into three small perfect daisies. “Oh, quit showing off,” I told her. “You can only do it because I’ve taught you this before.” I grabbed the paper and started writing down a new spell. “Now, I want you to find and circle each thread of this spell. Then I’ll ask you to find and point out each strand of each thread, and give me your best assumption on what it’s for.” I finished the rather simple formula and slid it to Trixie. Luna took one glance at it and was about to speak when I cut her off. “I know you already know this, but Trixie needs to learn this on her own. If she gets something incorrect, I’ll have you help her and make sure you both understand it before moving on.” That quickly shut her up as Trixie started to work.