//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Magic Lessons 
// Story: Second Chances 
// by Detsella Morningdew 
//------------------------------//

Nova looked at the suspiciously purple-looking feather in front of him.

I can't believe I'm actually doing this.

Twilight finished writing something down on a piece of parchment, then rolled it up, placing it on her desk. She turned towards him again, confidently. Based on the look on her face, she couldn't be happier.

"All right. We'll be starting today with levitation, which, I'm sure you know, is one of the most useful skills you can learn as a unicorn, if not quite the easiest."

"Um... I don't really know anything, remember?" Nova said with a hint of worry.

Twilight paused for a moment, derailed. "Oh, right. Yes. Sorry. Anyway, it's a very good place to start. Technically, there is one easier spell, but most foals learning magic find this to be a lot more interesting. Still, don't be discouraged if you don't get it on your first try. Everypony struggles the first time. Let me demonstrate." She lifted the feather off the ground slowly.

Nova's eyes widened. "Whoa."

Twilight looked at him, confused. "It's just levitation. Nothing that special."

"That. Looked. Amazing!" he said in awe.

Twilight tilted her head. "Huh?"

"All those patterns, all the lines of energy... This is quite possibly the most complicated and awesome thing I've ever seen. Period."

Twilight gasped in understanding. "You have thaumatic sight?"

"What?"

"Normally, it's a difficult and complex spell, used to see the energies involved in magic. If you see it naturally..."

"Is it bad?"

"No, of course not. This is great! Also, it makes teaching you quite a lot easier."

"Why is that?"

"I can just show you how to perform a spell, instead of trying to explain it to you. You won't even have to learn any magical script until much later. I can just demonstrate, then you can copy me!"

"All... all right."

"So, the first thing you need to do is to learn how to channel magic to your horn. The most efficient way is to relax and let it flow naturally, but since you don't know what magic feels like yet, just concentrating really hard on your horn works, too. It's extremely inefficient, but it works for now."

"All right," Nova said uncertainly. "I'll try." He crossed his eyes, focusing intently on his strange new appendage. Surprisingly, a fuzzy, indistinct light crawled slowly up to it. Grasping at the new feeling, he started to push this strange substance into his horn. But it resisted him. So he pushed harder. Screwing up his face, he forced everything he could into getting it there. Without warning, all of it suddenly released from the tip, shooting out of his horn and making a small burn mark on the wooden ceiling.

"Oops. Sorry about that."

Twilight waved off his apology. "Don't worry. I do more damage than that, and I can still fix it with a spell. That was actually pretty good for a first try! This time though, don't use quite so much. See if you can lift the feather."

Nova glanced at the feather, then looked back at Twilight. "Could I watch you do it again? I forgot what it looked like."

"Certainly." Twilight's horn lit up again, and the feather lifted slowly up into the air.

"Okay. I think I have it now."

Twilight cut her magic off, letting the feather fall back to the wooden floor. Nova focused some energy into his horn, this time finding it a lot easier. Noticing the energy was still fuzzy and indistinct, he molded it to match the complex energy patterns surrounding Twilight's horn. Surprisingly, it obeyed him quite readily. Once he was reasonably certain he had it right, he directed his attention to the feather, extending the lines of energy across the distance. A pattern just like the one around his horn formed around the feather, and it rose slowly into the air.

Twilight frowned slightly. "Interesting. Your magic's color looks identical to mine. I wonder if that's the Element's influence."

"What do you mean?"

"Every unicorn has their own unique magic signature. Like a hoofprint, but for magic. Even if two ponies have a similar color magic, it will always be just slightly different. Even twins."

"All right. So... why does that matter?"

Well, since I'm bonded with the Element of Magic, and you are... kinda attached to it..."

"Right. Yeah."

"But that is besides the point. An interesting idea for a research project, but we're here to teach you magic."

He grinned. "This is definitely way cooler than what I thought it would be."

Twilight cocked her head. "What were you expecting?"

"A lot of studying."

She rolled her eyes. "You're going to have to learn that stuff eventually. Especially if you want to do more than just levitation."

"But can't I just copy those, too?"

"You could," she started, smiling. "But let me just test something. Levitate the feather again."

Nova blinked. "Wait... can you show it to me again?"

Twilight's grin widened. "See what I mean?"

"Umm... no?"

She rolled her eyes. "No matter what, you're memorizing something. Why not memorize the stuff that can teach you to make spells instead of copy them."

"Oh."

"But we should still focus on levitation for now. From what I know about memorizing things, it pretty much comes down to the number of times you've practiced it. You really do have an advantage, being able to see the magic, though. Most foals have a lot more failures before they get it right."

Nova grinned.

"Now that you have the basics of how the spell works, we can try it on something heavier." Twilight set a book in front of him.

"Preclassical Pegasus Culture, and Its Effects on Modern-day Economics?"

"It's just one of the ones I haven't gotten to sorting yet."

"Oh, all right. Could you show me again?"

"Sure." The book raised into the air slowly, then settled back on the table.

"Thanks." Nova pulled on his magic again, and formed the spell once more, the lines forming concentric circles around his horn and around the book.

But it just stayed there. Frowning, he pulled, trying to channel more magic. "Uhh... it's not working."

"You have to channel more, Nova. This isn't a feather."

"I know, I'm trying to do that. Is the spell pattern wrong? I think I did it right. Maybe if I-" He pulled the book sideways instead of up, and finally, it began to move. Slowly.

"I think it would just be easier to just move it with my hoof."

Twilight grumbled in frustration. "You channeled more magic than this before."

"But that was, like, completely uncontrolled. I don't even know what I was doing. The magic was resisting me, so I pushed as much as I could into it. And then it just... gave up and released."

Twilight frowned. "That... doesn't make sense. What you described sounds like the process of a magic surge, but nopony ever had that weak of a surge. And why would you have weak magic if you literally have the Element of Magic to draw on?"

Nova put a hoof to his chest, feeling the hard crystal. He shivered. "Discord gave me... myself back, but I don't think this is here to give me superpowers."

"I know... it doesn't make me better at anything, either. But it's the Element of Magic. Why would it make you less magical?"

"Didn't you say it was keeping me alive or something?

"What does that have to do with magic?"

Nova sat down, thinking. "Is it possible to overuse your magic?"

"Uh... yeah, that was going to be part of the lesson today. Making sure to exercise your magic without getting magical exhaustion."

"So... what happens if you use magic while you have this magical exhaustion?"

"That's pretty much impossible, since, you know, the exhaustion."

"Theoretically."

Twilight shuffled her hooves awkwardly. "It could be fatal."

"...Wait, what does fatal mean again?"

"It could kill you."

"Okay. So... you need magic to survive? Or is there something else?"

Twilight grinned brightly. "Yes, exactly! You came up with this idea yourself?"

"Not exactly. I was just thinking of a reason why the Element thing was needed to keep me alive. And maybe why my magic is so weak."

"Huh?"

"Well, maybe I can't do very much magic, since it's all used up."

Twilight scrunched up her snout. "But it's a manifestation of the literal concept of magic. How could it 'run out?'"

Nova looked down. "Oh, sorry."

She shook her head. "No, it's okay! Don't apologize, that was a good thought."

"Wait, you said it didn't make you more powerful."

"Yes?"

"Then what was it supposed to do?"

"Oh, it only works when all of my friends.... oh."

"What?"

"It's not very powerful on its own."

Nova scuffed a hoof across the floor. "Well, at least magic looks cool, even if I can't really use it."

Twilight gasped. "I have an idea, wait right here!" She disappeared in a flash, and Nova could hear her rummaging through her desk downstairs.

She reappeared right in front of him, causing him to blink rapidly in an attempt to get the spots out of his eyes.

"Here it is!" She held out the object in her magic.

"Wait... chalk?"

"Well, it's hardly convenient, so I mostly just use it for research, but since you can see the patterns and everything, I don't even have to teach you all the complicated stuff." She pushed the chalk closer to him, gesturing for him to take it.

Nova hesitantly took it from her with his magic, which only caused Twilight's grin to grow wider. "I... still have no idea what you're talking about."

"Magic circles! Just draw what you see on the ground, then put magic into it!"

He looked at the chalk in his grip. "Uh... that's really cool and all, but how is that different from what I was doing before?"

"Well, the point of the circles in the first place was that you didn't have to put in all the magic at once. Or if the spell was too complicated for the pony. Or if it needed more than one unicorn to cast.... But that's besides the point."

"All right. And the magic just goes into the chalk? That sounds... weird."

"Well, technically, the chalk has some compounds in it that increase it's conductivity."

"...I didn't understand any of that. But I think I got the point. Special chalk."

Twilight rolled her eyes, taking the piece of chalk back. "Yes, exactly. The only difference with this is the center - you draw a six-pointed star in order to channel magic into it properly."

"Like, your cutie mark? And the element?"

She tilted her head. "That has potential, but the asymmetry... No, I don't think it would work. I've never had anything work without the other Elements involved in some way. This is a lot easier to draw, anyway." Gripped in her magic, the chalk ran over the wood, drawing two intersecting triangles.

"Um... why that in particular, then?"

"Oh, it's just the symbol most used in enchanting things. It helps mundane things conduct magical things. And it acts as a reserve of magic for the spell."

Nova looked confused. "Wait... so the chalk isn't magical?"

"I mean... technically it is, but it just improves the efficiency of the whole thing. If you really wanted, you could just draw all of this with a stick in the dirt, but it wouldn't work as well." She floated the chalk back over to him, and with a bit of mental effort, he took it back.

"Hey, I remembered it this time."

Twilight grinned. "All right. Now draw what you see."

Nova went to work, but it wasn't long before Twilight noticed something unusual. "Um... Nova?"

He finished the last stroke of the third ring of the circle. "Am I doing something wrong?"

"Uh... this isn't the circle for a levitation spells. Levitation isn't that complex."

Nova looked at the circle in confusion. "But... this is what I see."

Twilight looked at the strange patterns uneasily. "All right. Let's see where this goes. How many layers do you have to go?"

"Four."

As Nova continued to draw, Twilight just stared.





"All right. I'm finished. Let's just hope this doesn't blow up. What am I supposed to do again?"

"Just... hmm... the simple explanation is to pour unfocused magic into the center, but you haven't exactly done that yet... Wait. You did that when you shot the ceiling that first time."

"Wasn't that just leaking? Or this 'surge' thing?"

"Yes, but most foals do something similar, just to a lesser extent. If you do it enough times, you can learn to do it on purpose. That's the way most foals learn, at least."

Nova sighed. "This isn't something I can just copy, is it?"

Twilight chuckled. "No, it isn't. You've already done it once, though, so it should be a lot easier."

He walked through the rings of the circle he drew, standing next to the six-pointed star in the center.  Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and once again tried to bring as much magic into his horn as possible. Despite what Twilight said, it didn't seem any easier than before. Though that was probably due to the "surge" thing. Eventually, though, the magic burst from confinement, and hit the star. Instead of a burn, though, the star just glowed. More importantly, though, he noticed the sort of "muscle" that gave way when it happened. One that he could release.

"Wait! Nova!"

He broke his concentration, and looked up. "What?"

"Do that again, but keep your eyes open."

"Okay?" He turned back to the star, that was still glowing. "Hey, it's just like a battery!"

Twilight came trotting over. "Why would it look anything like artillery?"

"Huh? What are you talking about? A battery is... uh..." Nova rubbed his head with a hoof. "...I don't remember."

"But that wasn't what I wanted to show you. Your magic! Do that thing again."

"Um... all right." He looked back to the star. "Let's see if I can get this to work better this time." He built energy in his horn again, then released it far more naturally.

"Wait, my magic's white now?" Nova looked at Twilight, keeping the wispy line of magic pointed at the star. It wasn't that hard to aim - the star seemed to soak it up like a sponge. "Why?"

Twilight grinned widely. "I have no idea!" She looked back at the star, slowly growing brighter. "You think you have enough in there to lift the book now?"

Nova cut off the flow again. "Maybe. Let's just try."

Plucking the book off the table, she set it down at the center of the circle. "Now, all you have to do is connect all six points to the circle, and the spell will be activated."

"Wait, does the book have to be at the center?"

"In a way, yes. Magic takes the path of least resistance, after all."

"...What?"

"It does whatever is easiest. So this will levitate the closest object."

"Oh. So... can I do it now?"

"Of course."

Nova picked up the chalk again, and carefully drew the short lines that would connect the points to the circle. As he reached the last one, he paused. "Wait, shouldn't we be standing farther back, in case something goes wrong?"

"Not really. There really isn't enough power in here to hurt either of us."

"Right, just checking." He drew the last line.

The circle lit up, a bright flash of purple launched the book a foot into the air. A second later, it fell back down with a loud thunk.

Twilight smacked her forehead with a hoof. "Right. For a variable-output spell like this, I should have taught you about regulators first."

Nova grinned. "I'm just glad it worked."

Twilight suddenly froze. "Wait, that magic was purple."

He tilted his head. "Yes? It was before, too."

"No, I mean, you put white magic in the circle. And came out purple. Not to mention, I haven't even heard of a pony with white magic. And there's also the part where this circle is way more complicated than it should be.... wait."

Twilight groaned. "I didn't even think about that! You're copying everything you see. You aren't just seeing the spells. You're seeing everything."