//------------------------------//
// 116 - Magic Lessons 
// Story: Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat 
// by David Silver 
//------------------------------//



A gift of confidence, from your peers and esteemed allies.



Silver raised a brow at the card, then turned it over. There was a crowded mess of signatures. He showed it to the others quizzically. "It's a group gift, apparently."

Night shook her head. "I don't buy it. Why?"

She trotted towards the basket and plucked out a wrapped treat. "I'll have this looked at. I forgot to get the specimen I picked up in the Crystal Empire examined, may as well take care of both."





"Whee!" Surprise hovered in the air, held up there in a silvery force. Despite the grip, she made swimming motions and managed to paddle her way around the room.

"Basic shield." Trixie lowered her horn towards Silver, letting fire a small bolt that crashed against his shield even as it was forming. "Good. Felt harder, didn't it? Focusing on two significant efforts at once is, at least, three times as hard as any one thing." 

Without further warning she sent a trio of brightly colored motes to slam into Silver's shield. He winced with each one, the magic of his shield and holding Surprise up wavering dangerously before he could find his mental balance again.

"Trixie is baffled at the idea that you were a warlock and they didn't go over this." She raised a hoof to her chest. "It falls on me to see her colt is properly trained. You know how to channel and cast, and that's good, but how many unique spells can you keep going with only one horn to squeeze them through?"

Surprise pumped a hoof in the air. "You can do it, Silver!"

Silver smiled with a growing sense of fatigue, but he wasn't giving up yet. "What do you need me to do, mother?"

Trixie sat on her haunches. "I want you to transform Surprise while you're holding her up."

Silver squinted a little. "Not that spell, right?"

Trixie's nose wrinkled quickly. "Surely you learned more than that during your university education?"

"What's that spell?" Surprise spun around, belly up and looking upside down at everyone. "Does it tickle?"

"Funny thing about that." Silver rubbed at one foreleg with the other. "They wouldn't teach any advanced spells in the first year, and I, uh, failed at the end of the first year, so..."

Trixie rolled her eyes even as her horn lit up and she pulled Silver's own book over. She flipped through the arcane pages swiftly before she grunted and set it down and pulled out a book of her own. "Here. This will do. Trixie uses it when she wishes to prove she is not entirely above physical acts of astounding amazingness."

Silver moved for Trixie slowly, reading the page even as he held up Surprise and his shield, lest he get jolted by his wicked taskmaster of a mother. "It has a very short range."

"Of course." Trixie nodded with an expression of it being obvious. "The Great and Powerful Trixie uses it on herself. What use does she have with a long-range enhancement?"

Silver's eyes darted back and forth over the page as sweat trickled from him with the exertion of his continued concentration. "Can I let the shield go?"

Trixie waved a hoof at him with a wry grin. "If you like being struck with magic you should be defended against." As if to prove her point, she sent two new bolts at him. His new matrix seemed to be holding up well.

"You heartless mare." Silver smiled a little as he said it.

Surprise did a slow spiral in the air, seemingly enjoying herself. "Don't let her win! You can do it!"

He mouthed the words of the spell, trying to dedicate it to memory as quickly as he could, even if that wasn't his strength. Lodged firmly, he hoped, in short term memory, at least, he felt ready to try. He brought Surprise close, practically touching the shield before he began to play the third concurrent spell through his buzzing horn.

It was too much. He could feel the disparate magical notes crash into one another. The shield burst, Surprise fell, and he sank to his belly, exhausted and dizzy.

Trixie reached out and set a hoof on his limp head. "Trixie remembers well the first time she tried that. She looked much like you do now. You've earned a reprieve. Rest, recover, and we'll continue."

Surprise bounced up to her hooves, unharmed for the brief fall. "Come on, I know just the place." She was grinning a bit too eagerly for Silver, but there was no denying her and soon he was following after in a dazed pattern. "This way!" She looked over her shoulder. "Silly billy, it's a straight line, not a crazy loop de loop."

The effects of the failed harmony started to fade as he followed after his green friend. He looked around with some confusion. "Where are we?"

She thrust a hoof up at the building they were before, which looked like a big cake one could walk into, a door set in its sweet side. "Behold! Just Desserts!" She bounced up and down in place. "Isn't it great?! I'm gonna open it up next week and then there'll be a ton of happy ponies."

Silver smiled at that as he sank to his haunches. "That's really fantastic." A thought tickled at him. "Just bear in mind that you're dealing with a lot of snooty unicorns. Not all of them, mind you, a lot will just want the tasty things you have to offer, but some."

Surprise waved at him dismissively. "Oh, silly billy! I already thought of that. I'm gonna have some crazy fancy treats for crazy fancy unicorns! Their tastebuds won't know what hit 'em!" She clopped her hooves together excitedly. "Oh, I can hardly wait! I'll get to meet so many new ponies." She suddenly pounced Silver, hugging him tightly. "Thank you for this great idea!" She leaned over his shoulder, facing the Castle. "And thank you, Princess Celestia!" she shouted as if the princess could hear her. At the tremendous volume she used, perhaps that was true.

Rubbing at an abused ear, Silver rose back to three hooves. "Well, are you going to show me around?"

With a squeal of delight, Surprise vanished through the door, and the tour was officially underway.

He had no idea what most of the fancier bits of baking and confectionary arts were for, but he was thankful for the taste testing part. The moment he popped one into his mouth, his body helpfully reminded him that he had burned a lot of energy trying to keep up with Trixie's demands. He tried everything Surprise offered, even when they burned his tongue. He was a bottomless hole for a brief time, trying to fill himself desperately with all the calories offered to him. The manic edge faded and he slumped against the counter, panting for breath.

"That good, huh?" Surprise tilted her head. "Twilight ate like that too, come to think. Especially when she'd been busy with magic stuff." She spotted Silver's little wince and her expression fell. "Oh gosh, sorry! I didn't mean to tease you about that." She put a hoof on his shoulder. "I remember it, don't forget."

Silver perked his ears and sat up, looking at her with new eyes. "That's right. You do... I forgot." He smiled a little lopsidedly. "I'm afraid to even think about the Twilight here."

Surprise waved a hoof. "Who says you can't be friends? Just not, you know, friend friends."

Silver thrust a hoof at Surprise. "The same could apply to you and your family."

She looked as if she had been kicked in the belly. "I... guess..." She looked away and back at Silver. "So what do you think of it?!" She threw her forehooves wide.

It was an artless misdirection, but Silver accepted it. "It looks lovely. I like the baked theme you have going on." He reached out and poked at one of the muffin stools. "It's adorable, and makes me hungry, which is just what you want to do."

Surprise suddenly hugged him, squeezing him tightly. "We'll talk more, later." She leaned back, a few tears in her eyes. "Thank you... For all of this." She waved a hoof. "I guess, in some crazy way, it's thanks to you I even exist at all. That's crazy to think about. The whole thing's pretty... crazy. I might be using that word too much." She clonked her forehead with a hoof. "This place isn't crazy though! It's fantastic. You and your family should totally come!" She thrust an opening card against his chest until his magic lifted it up.

He slid it into his saddlebag, his eyes on Surprise. "You know, it's alright if you just want to talk."

"Sometimes..." Surprise was looking away from him, across the length of the new shop. "Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if you just... didn't wake up." Her eyes suddenly darted to him, wide and her entire body trembling. "That must have sounded terrible!" She thrust her hooves, catching him at the shoulders. "I'm not angry at you! Please don't be mad at me. It's just..."

Silver nuzzled under her forelegs and swept her up into a gentle embrace. "I understand. For me, it was a dream, for you, an entire world. Look, you don't need to apologize for having emotions about that of all things. You go ahead and cry, or scream."

Surprise quirked a smile. "What if I just want to bake a big tasty pie, then throw it at you?"

Silver stood up stiffly. "Then I await my execution, ma'am, and will meet my sugary end with dignity."

Surprise burst into loud giggles, her funk banished for the time. "Get out of here, ya silly. I still have to get things ready." She leaned in and kissed him on the forehead beside his horn. "Thanks."

Silver trotted out with a faint blush, broken with a sudden flash of a camera.

"This'll make a great scoop." Before Silver could react to the stallion, they vanished with tricky unicorn magic.