Ascension

by BlazzingInferno

Feather Mastery

“Just concentrate on the feather, you’ll feel your horn start to tingle.”

Sweat rolled down Cloud Walker’s face while Twilight looked on. She was hunched over a table, staring a white feather that absolutely refused to be levitated.

“I’m focusing, I’m…”

She felt it. She felt the tingle Twilight was talking about. It was like ants were crawling over her horn.

“You can do it, Princess, you can do it!”

She shut her eyes and focused on that feeling with all her might. Her legs tensed, her wings pressed against her sides, and her jaw clenched itself shut. She needed this. She just had to do it.

Then she did. A bang shook the room as all her strength left her. She collapsed to the ground and panted.

“How… how do you do this all the time? All that work just to move one little feather?”

Twilight held out a hoof to help her up. “That was a good try, Princess, way better than my first attempts with magic.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Try? You mean I didn’t… I didn’t move the feather?”

“Well… sort of.”

She pushed herself up until her nose rose above the table’s edge. The feather had indeed moved. It’d moved in several directions at once. After one look at the fluffy carnage she sank back to the floor.

“We need more than an hour each day to practice. Are you sure you have to go back to Ponyville tomorrow?”

“I know you can do this, you just need to study the technique a bit more before we try application again.”

“What technique? This is just a new muscle. I need to flex it until it’s stronger.”

Once again Twilight helped her up. “Let’s sit down over here. I think you’ve got the wrong idea.”

Cloud Walker dragged herself to a nearby couch and promptly collapsed again. “I hurt all over.”

Twilight slid a chair over and fanned her with a wing. “I think that’s the root of the problem.”

“The root of the problem is that I wasn’t born a unicorn. Flight is my talent, those are the muscles I’ve developed.”

“Magic isn’t like wings, it doesn’t get stronger by pure repetition.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

Books began stacking themselves next to her. She skimmed the titles as they appeared and noticed that most were written in large block letters.

“My First Magic Book, Beginning Horn Care, A Little Unicorn’s Guide to… are these foal’s books?”

Twilight nodded. “Sorry, I couldn’t find any princess editions. All of the books on beginning magic are targeted at unicorn foals. It’s all good information though, plus they’re short so you can finish off a big stack of them in an afternoon.”

“Can’t you just summarize it all for me?”

“Hmm… Think of it this way: magic is like doing a word puzzle or a math problem, it’s something you train your brain to do. There’s some physical exertion involved, but nothing like what you’ve been doing. Now do you see why I brought you all these books?”

She frowned and nodded. “Thank you, Princess Twilight. It’s an honor to be tutored by the Element of Magic, I’m sorry I’m such a terrible student.”

“You’re not a terrible student, this is just a profoundly different subject! You don’t want to know how many times I crash landed when I first got my wings.”

“Maybe I do, let’s change the subject for a bit.”
 “Sure. Want to compare notes, like we were talking about during brunch?”

“Gladly. Why don’t you ask the first question? It’ll give me a moment to think.”

Twilight tapped her hoof against her cheek for a moment. “Oh, I know. What was your ascension to an alicorn like? I bet the experience is so different when you start out as a pegasus. I didn’t even know that it was possible.”

Cloud Walker shivered and shut her eyes.

“Did I say something wrong? If it’s too personal just say so.”

More like too painful. Still, if Twilight could be this chipper about it after a few years then comparing experiences might be useful. Maybe she’d missed something. “Could you tell me yours first?”

“Of course. Many years ago Princess Celestia sent me to Ponyville to study the magic of friendship. I sent her letters and reports on my findings, and eventually she sent me the journal of a great unicorn magician named Star Swirl The Bearded. There was an unfinished spell in it, something that the Princess claimed I would be able to finish. I actually did a lot of damage in the process, but eventually I had an epiphany. I understood friendship’s role in magic so completely that I finished Star Swirl’s unfinished masterpiece. I created new magic. Then there was a brilliant white light and I found myself in a beautiful, starry sky… I’m sure the rest is familiar.”

Cloud Walker blinked a tear away and shook her head. “Go on.”

“I was afraid at first, but then I saw my teacher, Princess Celestia. We talked for a while, and she told me it was time for me to fulfill my destiny. I didn’t know what she meant, but deep in my heart I just knew everything was going to be just fine. I knew this was going to be a wonderful new experience.”

Cloud Walker jumped off the couch and ran for the door. Tears gushed from her eyes and splattered on the floor. “I’m sorry Princess Twilight… I have to go.”

“Princess? What’s wrong? What’d I say? I’m sorry!”