//------------------------------// // Magic Kindergarten // Story: Magic Kindergarten // by Ponysopher //------------------------------// Twilight peered over the cover of the next book inside the comfort of her room. This one’s title was written in gold letters: “Seven Cardinal Laws of Magic, Revised for Foals.” As was the case with “The Pursuit of Magic,” this one had two authors as well. It was translated and revised by Miss Sandy of course, but the author of this book was another stallion by the name of Day Cart. She giggled and thought it seemed like a funny name. Last night, she had finished the “The Pursuit of Magic.” Within her imagination, she asked her teacher, “Am I out of the chains yet?” She responded, “I can only answer questions that can be answered within the context of the works that you reading. It is true that I am a projection of your thoughts that are being formed by reading, but remember, I’m also a figment of your imagination. I cannot answer questions about you (let’s call those ‘introspective’ questions from now on, dear). Only you may do that. But your question is not difficult to answer. Simply look at yourself.” Twilight looked within herself and envisioned the cave once more. Yet when she looked down, she found that she was still in chains. “Darn it! I’m still in the same place I was. What do I do now?” Platony appeared next to Miss Sandy and answered, “Though I still have much to teach you, the limits of this work have been exhausted.” He paused and then said forlornly, “I wish I could teach you myself. There is so much that I could show you. But alas, my thoughts are still too complex for your understanding. There is only but one solution. You must continue on and read the next book. Let us find another teacher for you.” At the idea of learning more and meeting a new author, Twilight became very eager. “Yes, that sounds like a great idea. Let me just-” Her train of thought ended there. It was late by this point and time for her to go to bed. She fell asleep at her desk. She was a bit distraught that her body was so weak. She did not like the prospect of wasting time to sleep, but it could not be helped. As soon as she woke up, she looked at the copy of the “Seven Cardinal Laws of Magic.” Once more, she opened up the book mundanely and took pains to reach the introduction page. When the labor was accomplished, she began to read this work. She now envisioned another teacher. Her mind’s eye conjured an image of a pale pony with a black mane and tail. He also had black mustache. “So, Mr. Day Cart,” Twilight said, “What do you have to teach me?” The pony spoke with the same, Equestrian accent as Platony. “Unlike my predecessor who taught you of the freedoms of magic, I am present to show you its limitations. Yet we have in common that our words are too complex for an unlearned filly.” It was with this that Twilight was beginning to realize that she could discern many things about the authors of these books. Though they were dead, they were once living ponies with unique personalities. She knew this because Day Cart seemed to talk down to her. But she shook her head of this and looked to Miss Sandy who spoke in lieu of her new teacher and related to her the very basics of his work. By the end of the day, Twilight had understood the contents of that book. As with the previous night, she was about to begin on another book that was also originally authored by Day Cart, yet she fell asleep even before she could read the title. Over the next three days, Twilight read the other three books, each of which was around two hundred pages long. She also met a new teacher, Star-Swirl the Bearded. Unlike her first two teachers, he apparently came from a time where wisdom was at an all-time low. Yet despite the depravity of the world, he was apparently one of the greatest magi that ever lived. She was proud to say that she was learning from him. So she had spent five days reading five books rewritten by Sandy Tomes that a foal could understand. One of these was from Platony, two were from Day Cart, and two were from Swirl-Swirl the Bearded. After she had read these, she called the three of them together. “So, I’ve finished all the books.” She said. “What do you think I should do now? Should I bring these back and get more?” Day Cart answered, “No, you have consumed enough. I believe it is high time you digested all of this.” The filly asked, “What do you mean?” Again he spoke but no sound came out. Miss Sandy, who had appeared, spoke for him. “You have done a very good job Twilight and you should be proud of yourself.” The little unicorn blushed. “However, you need to do more than memorize all of this information separately. Now you need to synthesize and make sense of what you’ve learned.” “Synthesize?” “Yes, you need to take all the knowledge you have now and mold it all into a single whole. In other words, you need to pit their ideas against each other.” “How do I do that?” “You can have them argue in your head.” The next few hours were one of the most exhilarating experiences Twilight had ever had. Each of the three stood in a circle and passionately discussed with one another excitedly. Their wisdoms clashed in the sport of debate. Though she could not hear them speak, the elderly mare spoke for them. Yet their body language displayed all the passion that was necessary to make it interesting. Twilight smiled with glee as she saw the best of the best magi in all of history pit the knowledge that she had learned against one another in verbal combat. Each time one spoke, it was like he swung a sword against another. And when the other defended his viewpoint regarding the topic at hand, she could almost hear with her real ears the sound of the shining sword bang against a metal shield. She wished she had done this before, because while gathering information was fun, dissecting it was thrilling. A voice interrupted her thoughts again. “Twilight?” She was suddenly pulled from her rapture and looked behind her. Twilight’s mother was at the door. “Oh, hey Mom.” Her mother was a white unicorn with a mane and tail colored with white and lavender stripes. Her eyes were a light cerulean and her cutie mark was of three purple stars. “I was just thinking about what I’ve been reading.” "Her mother asked, “Is that what you’ve been doing over the past few days? You barely come out of your room anymore.” “Yep. I’ve been studying magic.” She said happily. Her mother suddenly beamed with an expression of both surprise and gladness. “Really? What brought you to that?” Telling the story never became dull for Twilight. “When I went to the Summer-Sun Celebration, I saw Princess Celestia raise the sun with magic. And now I want to learn all about it.” “You know, if you want to learn magic - which is something that most unicorns try at some point or another - you could go to school.” This caught Twilight’s interest. “What would that be like?” “Well, if they want to get really good at magic, most unicorns go to school. There they have lessons every weekday with others their age. And if they study hard enough, they can get a degree and maybe go on to become a mage.” Though Twilight was familiar with the term, she was not entirely sure of what being a mage entailed so she asked, “What’s a mage?” Her mother answered, “A mage is a pony that dedicates her or his life to studying magic. Some teach other young unicorns, and others study kinds of magic that haven’t been studied. And a select few serve as advisors in the court of Celestia.” She added that last sentence with an emphatic tone. Twilight picked up on that immediately. She asked excitedly, “So, you mean, if I went to school, then one day I could work for Princess Celestia?” When her mother nodded, she exclaimed, “So can I go to school?” “Well I suppose it would be good for you. Your dad and I were thinking about sending you to regular school soon. You’re about the right age. But because of what you’re interested in, I think we should enroll you in magic kindergarten.” Twilight gave a shout of cheer. “When can I start going?” “Well it just so happens that a new school year is about to begin on Monday. You could start going then.” Twilight could barely sleep that night. Her thoughts of one day serving in the royal court were too exciting to allow for her to drift off. She thought about meeting the princess face-to-face and she showing her all the secrets of how she raised the sun. Finally, somewhere in the night, she fell into dreams of walking through the hidden places deep inside the palace with Celestia; exploring the tunnels which led to libraries that the commoners knew nothing about. She dreamed of becoming the most powerful mage in the world and working alongside Celestia to uncover the most unexplored regions of magic. Then she began to entertain the proudest fantasies that a young filly could imagine. She dreamed of confronting old stallions thrice her age and defeating them in debates; reforming the uncontested laws of magic before their eyes. She envisioned herself sitting on a cushioned, golden throne at the right hoof of Celestia; being second in command of all of Equestria and answering only to her princess. She was enthroned in the great solar palace, the great castle which had endured since ancient times. And Celestia, wishing to lighten her load, endowed Twilight with the authority to raise the moon each evening. These fancies made it all the easier to study on Saturday and Sunday in preparation for this “magic kindergarten” Somewhere during the course of her reading, it occurred to her that this sort of activity was different than what she did before. While she usually went out to play strenuous games with Moon Dancer and Lyra, now she was doing something that seemed like it should be less exciting. She was not running around like when they played tag or agilely skipping like when she played hopscotch. She was just sitting there with her eyes glued to a book. Yet the she realized that while it may have been less sensational than playing a game, she desired to do it. On one hand, she knew that studying would help her pursue her dream. It was by reading that she could achieve what she wished for. She did not consider it to be work, but if she “worked” hard, then she could one day serve in the court of the princess. But she also found that after she had begun reading, in addition to the motivation that she had, now she also realized that studying could be fun. She loved to see the images which her mind created for her when her teachers spoke of a type of magic, or see the detail that pervaded her thoughts as they described a place. She loved even more though to reason out what she had learned until she could determine what was true and what was not. Learning was great, but thinking for herself was even better. It was this realization that she considered in her head even until she was walking into the classroom of the school. She sat in a classroom with nineteen other unicorns. The walls were painted with a shade of faded pink and purple, but had several posters lined up with motivational words written in bright, colorful hues. Twilight sat next to the left of a white stallion with a mane colored a light amber. His eyes were a bright artic blue. She noticed that several of the other foals were talking with one another, so she spoke to him. “Hello, I’m Twilight.” The unicorn looked as if he would not respond for a moment, but eventually said, “My name is Prince Blueblood.” His voice, though high pitched, was quite posh. “Prince? That’s a first name I’ve never heard before.” “It is not my name. It is my title.” Twilight’s eyes dilated. “Oh, you’re a prince?” He looked like he was very glad to hear this question and said with pride, “Yes, Princess Celestia is my great-great-great- [he continued repeating the word for such a long time that Twilight lost track of the number] great-grandmother’s sister.” When the notion that he was related to her role model came to her, she became ecstatic. “Oh my gosh, you know Princess Celestia? I have so many questions for you.” It was at that moment that a white, female unicorn with a blue-mane walked in. “Alright my little ponies," She said. "Settle down. It’s time to begin our first day.” Twilight screamed in frustration inside her head. Oh, well, she would have plenty of time to interrogate her classmate later. When everypony was silent, the teacher continued. “Welcome everypony to magic kindergarten.” She said with an enthusiastic voice. “My name is Miss Selene and I will be your teacher. Now, the first thing that I want to do is play a game.” At this, most of the class cheered. The notion of combining learning and games at first excited Twilight. But then Miss Selene said that the point of the game would be to learn about their classmates. Twilight did not like the idea that she would spend her time that she could use to learn more about magic in order to know other ponies, yet she thought that it would be at least good to meet her fellow inquisitors into the field of magic. So while they played the game, she tried her hardest to remember everypony’s name and what their favorite food and color were. After this, Miss Selene said, “Good job, everypony. I think that this effort calls for snack time.” She said with emphasis on the last two words. All in the classroom shouted happily except for Twilight who was again denied the chance to begin her studies. Yet nonetheless, the brightly colored treats that the teacher had brought made her lose her focus for a while. So along with her classmates, she rushed to devour a large portion of sugar. After this, Miss Selene had all the foals sit in their seats again. Then, to Twilight’s relief, she finally said, “Alright, now I think it’s time that we did a little learning. Now, who can tell me what we are here to learn?” A dozen hooves shot up in the air. Twilight’s was among the first. The teacher called upon one of the fillies just left of the left-center. “Yes, Amethyst? What are we here to learn?” The magenta filly answered, “Magic.” “Very good.” Miss Selene exclaimed. “Now what we are going to be learning this month, are the first two of the seven rules of magic.” Twilight immediately began to regress within herself. She saw her teacher Day Cart and she asked him, “Are those the things that you taught me?” He answered, “She is indeed speaking of the Seven Cardinal Laws of Magic, which you have read a summary on.” And speaking as a projection of her memory, he said, “The first two laws are thus. One: Magic should always be used for the good of ponies. Two: Magic will cause the mage to fatigue at a rate faster than she/he normally would, and proportionally to the difficulty of the magic being used.” Hearing this, Twilight immediately resurfaced. That recollection process had taken but a second. She raised her hoof. The teacher, not expecting a response to a statement, said, “Yes, Twilight; do you have a question?” “No,” she answered. "I know what the first two rules are." The white unicorn was surprised. “Really,” she asked. “Can you tell me?” Twilight recited the words verbatim. “Wonderful,” Miss Selene exclaimed. “You are going to have a jump on things, because that’s what we will be doing for the next month.” Again, Twilight regressed inside herself. This time, all three of her teachers were before her. “Did you hear that?” She asked with disappointment. “We’re only going to learn about two of the laws for the whole month. But I’ve already read the book on those.” Miss Sandy tried to reassure her. “Be patient, Twilight. Do you remember all those bookshelves in the library? Well, some of those shelves are filled with entire books on just those laws. So while you are learning about the first two laws, you can read more on them.” Her teachers nodded in agreement. That was all the learning Twilight did that day to her dismay. After they had recited the first law five times, they went out to recess, where she had a degree of fun playing games. Yet during this time she could not help but regret that she was wasting valuable time. The same was true for nap time (there was no way she could sleep) and an extended lunch period. At last, she and her classmates returned to recite the first law again, yet that concluded the day and everypony went home. Twilight’s mother picked her up and escorted her home. Yet it was not long before she found herself returning to the library to have her fill of knowledge that she was denied that day.