After I’d finished laughing, I decided I would actually get to practicing magic-- that thing I had been planning on doing from the start.
Once again, I faced the deck of cards on the table.
“Target…”
Aforementioned deck of cards on the table. I think they were Bicycles, actually.
“Check. Energy… Okay, I know I have that one, I just spent… two hours, was it, trying to get it? Whatever, check. Feeling… Maybe..? I have no idea what I’m looking for there... Desire… … Check.”
I took a deep breath. “Let’s do this,” I said, focusing on the cards.
First attempt: Lifting with pure thought. Failed.
“Oh wait, horn ring,” I said to myself before taking the thing off with my hooves and setting it aside. “Can’t believe I forgot about that thing... Alright, now let’s do this.”
Second attempt: Lifting with pure thought, take two. Failed.
Third attempt: Lifting by imagining upward force. Failed.
Fourth attempt: Lifting by imagining something lifting it from beneath. Failed.
Fifth attempt: Lifting by imagining a hand lifting it.
Still absolutely freaking nothing.
I let out an aggravated sigh.
“Asher, remember that you need to remain calm,” Twilight instructed. “Magic may be easier when one’s emotions are directing the energy for a spell, but in most scenarios you won’t like the end results.”
“Any other brilliant suggestions?” I asked, trying to sound as sarcastic as I could.
“First, you should calm down.”
“Fine,” I spat, closing my eyes and focusing on why I was upset, taking the usual path of identification.
“Magic has me upset. Why? Because I can’t figure out how to use it. What am I doing to resolve the issue? I’m avoiding the use of magic, waiting for the information to come to me. Is this curbing the issue? No.
“What is the issue? I can’t use magic. Why? Because I don’t know how. What am I doing to resolve the issue? Attempting to learn magic. Is this curbing the issue? No.
“What is the issue? I don’t know how to use magic. Why? Because I wasn’t born a unicorn. What am I doing to resolve the issue? Attempting to learn magic. Is this curbing the issue? No.
“Common ground found.
“What is the issue? I’m not learning magic. Why? Because I lack the foundation of knowledge to get a grasp on the abilities required. What am I doing to resolve the issue? Nothing.
“Problem found.
“What can I do to resolve the issue? Seek out someone who has the fundamental knowledge of magic to teach me.
“That’s easy; I have Twilight Sparkle in my head.”
I let out a breath I was holding. “Okay Twilight, I’ve got nothing when it comes to magic. Can I get some help?” I asked, opening my eyes to stare at the cards.
“Okay,” She answered, somewhat cheerily. “What do you need help with?”
“Everything.”
“That’s a wide topic with a bit of studying to do. Where do we start?”
I’d internally cringed at the word ‘studying.’ “Uh, yeah... I’m totally qualified to answer that question.”
“Shall we start with energy types?”
My ears fell back in mild annoyance. “Again, totally qualified to answer the question.”
“Can you not be sarcastic when answering my questions?” she asked. Wasn’t really all that hard to tell she was a little miffed.
“Could you not ask questions that are so easy to be sarcastic with answering to?” I asked in turn.
A wave of irritation came from the back of my mind, undoubtedly from Twilight. “Energy types it is. Let’s start with the common one of topic-- the leylines themselves. Magic-- or, more specifically, the energy used for magic-- as you may or may not believe, flows. Do you understand hydrophysics?”
In retrospect, I probably could have been a little less sarcastic when I’d asked her to not be so easy to give sarcastic replies to, but it was too freaking easy.
“Er… Study of the physics of water, right? Because if so, I haven’t studied it, but I’ve figured out bits and pieces.” To be honest, a lot of it just seems to be common sense.
“First thing to learn is that we call the energy for magic ‘manilliane energy,’ the name stemming from the measurement of mana-- which you could say is the basic ‘Imperial’ unit to the metric thaum. I’ll be using it to help ease you into magic. Now, most manilliane energy is in constant motion, like the ocean. Specifically, high and low concentration leylines are the ones always moving, even if slowly.
“High concentration leylines-- as you could guess-- get their name for having a higher concentration of energy, as well as moving more actively than low concentration leylines. It’s an easy way for anyone to tell the difference.
“Despite this, high leylines-- the accepted shorthoof term for high concentration leylines-- are known for yielding lower absorption efficiency than low leylines-- which is also accepted shorthoof. This is caused by the energy flowing around us in the same way water goes around a sponge when moving quickly.
“Mute leylines are motionless, much like a stagnant pool of water, and can hold vast or minute amounts of energy. The name ‘mute leyline’ comes from their nulled activity. Due to the lack of motion in mute leylines, they’re even harder to absorb energy from than high leylines, as the energy doesn’t move in to fill a space from which it was taken. Not that most unicorns will enter one, as it causes lightheadedness. Some-- including myself-- pass out their first time. … Or their first few times…”
I decided to quietly take note of the wave of discomfort pouring around my head. Her head. However it is that’s supposed to be stated.
Then from inside my head came the sound of someone clearing their throat… likely just my imagination adding to the ‘uncomfortable cough’ sensation that came from there. “Anyway, absorbed energy is the second form of manilliane energy I think you should know-- the ‘mana pool,’ to use a term you might be familiar with.”
“Hey, quit digging in my head already!”
“Really?” Twilight asked in a flat tone. “You’ve spent more time playing video games than most anything else, it makes that detail next to impossible to miss,” she pointed out, to which I could only scrunch up my face in indignation, since I couldn’t stare at her.
“One thing I’ve noticed across your mind is that the character’s energy for magic is a finite supply, and fortunately it’s one of the few things they got right, as it will make understanding it easier for you. Inversely, something that most of your games imply that they’ve gotten wrong is the growth of magical ability and saturation tolerance. It’s not as spiritual as they may have you think.
“If you haven’t gathered, magic isn’t genera--”
“Woah, no way?” I cut in. “Honestly, I’m not inept, so I don’t need you to point out every little detail.”
“If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to finish what I was saying.”
“You have a reason for pointing that out?”
“Yes; magic isn’t generated in the way you think it is,” she clarifies. “Every living object will generate manilliane energy over time, yes, but it’s a natural process that is mostly static to each source. There’s very little deviation if you were to compare how much energy is produced from several different unicorns, and it’s generally insufficient for amassing the energy for a spell in a timely manner.”
“Oh,” I sounded, soon proceeding to give a bit of a nod. “Sorry, my bad...” I couldn’t help but feel like a jerk for that one.
“Right. Having covered leylines and personal saturation, next we’ll address manilliane capacitors; compressed, stored energy. These would be your ‘mana restores,’ in loose comparison, although they’re far less common than your games would suggest. About one in every few hundred unicorns would be able to have one.
“And as much as I could go on about those-- such as how they’re made or how to use them-- I suppose that’s enough on energy types, as you should know enough to understand mana now.”
“Alright, and mana is …?” I asked, trying to roll my eyes up like it would let me see her or something.
“A unit of energy
“She totally said that already.” The cheeky tone rolling in my head when I felt that thought come through from myself wasn’t the most uplifting of events. “Cudos on the attention span, buddy.”
“Yes yes, poke fun while you can, eventually you’ll be the one--” Twilight stopped me from going further in that thought with an implied throat clearing feeling that went… pretty much cutting through my head. It was an… interesting feeling.
“Now, I’m not sure how you could forget that so quickly, but let’s move on. One mana is enough to carry one pound fifteen feet using levitation, although this will vary with cutie marks and familiarity with the spell, but that’s part of more advanced studies, which you’re not likely understand, being as new to magic as you are.”
“And likely the most interesting thing I’ve heard so far,” I noted, smiling at the prospect of learning advanced studies of any sort.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to talk about it later. For now you should try to understand the basics of energy. As for the use of mana, you could compare them to calories-- though I don’t think it would be very accurate, as you burn both calories and manilliane energy when using magic.”
“Noted. So, do I actually get to learn magic yet?”
“That will come in time,” she points out. Unfortunately, she probably knew more about what she was talking about than I could figure out on my own… Actually, that she does know more is why I turned to her in the first place. “Experiment with feeling the flow of energy for a moment and see if that helps you understand any.”
“I suppose I could try.” I said, trying to focus on the new form of nerves running through… well, it wasn’t my body, but I was using it... It didn’t help that I had no clue exactly what it was I was trying to feel.
“Hour and a half to dinner,” a voice said behind me, startling me for probably the third time that day. Actually that guess could be kinda low. A lot of crap had already gone down.
“Frick, do you people ever knock?!” I asked, trying not to glare at the lieutenant.
“Sorry, but with shared sleeping quarters, knocking doesn’t exactly come to mind.” Lt. Dachs said as he entered.
“Right, can’t believe I forgot about that,” I said, trying to start some idle conversation.
“So I couldn’t help but hear you talking to yourself.”
“Please don’t make me go into that,” I said, placing a hoof on my face.
“Why not?”
“Because I’ve had enough with the bullcrap for today, having been abducted by some insane witch who threatened my family; held at gunpoint-- thank you for that by the way-- trapped in my mind by Discord-- which I hate being in my mind to begin with but it’s far worse when you’re stuck there, and even more irritating when you’re not stuck there because of your own mistake.
“Basically the only thing I have left in the world that I can take comfort in is knowing my own thoughts apart from Twilight’s and mine, which makes a lot more sense when you know what’s going on in my head, but the chances of that are so unbelievably low, I have to pretend like you get it--
------
“Not to mention that not even a full forty-eight hours ago I was a boy, and now suddenly I’m a mare! My phone is the only thing that holds any sort of tangential assurance of my previous physical identity, and I can’t even use it effectively with the new limbs I have!
"And now, to top it all off, I’m trying to learn how to feel and use something that humans can’t even perceive! My focus is so unbelievably everywhere it’s hard to actually get any progress done with anything that requires your complete attention, so I’m highly doubting my ability to actually learn magic!
“So, if you wouldn’t mind, could you step out of the room so I can get back to focusing on something that’s actually got some relevance to my life at the moment? Because frankly, I shouldn’t even be on this ship!”
“Asher, take a moment and calm down; you’re leaving the ideal state of mind for practicing magic.”
“Hey, calm down, you kno--”
“Don’t tell me to calm down,” I cut in, unable to hide the glare.
“Alright, alright, I’m just saying, you showed up on the ship without explanation, we had to assume you were hostile until proven otherwise.”
“Well you could have done so without mocking me!” I shouted.
“Asher, calm down; getting irritated will do nothing for you right now.”
“Calm do--”
------
“I told you. Don’t tell me. To calm. The freak. Down.”
“Calm down, Asher!” Twilight scolds.
“Twilight. Shut up,” I responded with a sharp, searing tone.
“Look, I don’t want to deal with your bitch fit right now, okay? I’ll step out.”
“Excuse the frick out of me?!”
“Forget it okay? I’ll just come back and talk to you after you’ve calmed down,” Dachs said as he started leaving the berthing.
“I told you,” I started, narrowing my eyes. “Don’t tell me to calm the frick down!” I yelled, pointing my horn at him.
After a light purple flash-- followed by two moderately loud thuds-- I looked up to see Lt. Dachs on his back in the corridor just outside the berthing. He produced a pained groan as he began to sit up, which let me know he was alright.
“Asher!”
“Now leave me the frick alone!” I shouted, trotting over and slamming the door with my hoof just to emphasize my irritation.
“That was completely unnecessary,” Twilight scolded from in my head.
“Don’t freaking care,” I said, voice still soaked with anger.
“Don’t go in there,” I heard Dachs advise someone through the door.
“Why not?” Came another familiar voice.
“She’s on fire.”
“I told you, I’m not hoping to get with her. That’d be sleeping with one of my friend’s sister.”
“No, I mean literally on fire.”
“Shit, really?”
I tuned them out so I could look for a mirror. There was one on the wall, but it took me almost five minutes just to get to an elevated platform so I could see myself in it.
Sure enough, I was an off-white color, and my mane was a freaking flame. This would have been awesome if it wasn’t for the fact I was seriously ticked.
I started doing some rather useless stress relief exercises, like taking deep breaths and counting down from ten. You know, usual things. They never worked, and sometimes added to my irritation.
When I opened my eyes again, I still saw a flaming mane. I did note the red eyes this time.
“Feel better?” I felt from Twilight, probably the first bit of sarcasm I’d heard from her. Wasn’t really paying attention. I’d grown too used to that crap, having grown up with a sardonic family.
“I assume you have an explanation for this.” I said, keeping as much of a straight face as I could.
“Some unicorns-- like myself-- when under the proper conditions, undergo a temporary physical change. It’s a good way to burn excess thaumatic energy, as well as emphasize our emotional state.
“Mine-- and by extension yours-- will turn my mane into flames, while my coat goes white-hot. You should already know the trigger, considering how quick you were to set it off.” She pokes. I didn’t think she was happy, as I could feel waves of irritation rolling around in my head.
“Oh, great. Look forward to being on fire all the time, because my temper is horrible!” I shouted with mock cheer.
“I don’t think we have the thaums to survive that. We’re burning out as it is...”
“... What?” I asked, partially unsure of what that meant, and partially freaked out by the fact she’d mentioned survival. Survival isn’t something that’s mentioned lightly.
“That’s weird. This suggests our saturation limit is maybe sixty-five, seventy thaums at most.”
“That’s not answering my question any,” I stated, annoyance starting to build on top of my confusion.
“Sorry, this is just a staggering drop in my saturation limits...”
“Clarify please?” I asked.
“Let’s give it a little perspective. I had roughly five and a half, maybe six times the average saturation tolerance for a unicorn in their mid-twenties.” She pointed out.
“And?” I asked simply.
“The average saturation tolerance of unicorns that just got into magic kindergarten is nearly twice what we’ve got to work with. It’s having practically no energy compared to what I used to have-- or any unicorn over the age of twelve-- and… it might be part of why you’re having problems learning magic.”
I’ll be honest, I had no idea what to think.