Lesson One: Sing From Your Heart? Or, Too Fast! Too Fast!
Sweetie Belle was with Luna for what felt like an eternity for the latter, humming softly and comforting her Princess to the best of her abilities (which was quite a lot, since she was inadvertently using her magic while humming). Eventually, the tears stopped flowing, and after a bit more time, Luna was ready to go out again. "I thank thee, Sweetie Belle. Thou hast not an inkling of an idea of how much thou hast helped me." She smiled and ran a hoof through Sweetie's mane.
"I'm glad I could help, Princess Luna!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, her voice cracking. She beamed.
"I needed that. Now, we must collect Fluttershy and Twilight so we can begin thy first lesson." She placed Sweetie Belle on her back as the filly squeed and trotted out of the room, moving through the castle back to the throne room.
"Really?" Sweetie Belle asked as Luna started going. "Yay, finally! I can't wait to learn to use my magic!" She had been beside herself in excitement for quite a while now. She could hardly even levitate a paring knife with her horn, no matter how much she practised. She hoped that she'd be able to do that with Heart Magic, although she wasn't sure. Having nothing more to say, she simply thought about all the things she would do after this first lesson while Luna trotted in silence.
She noticed a clock and saw that it had only been an hour since they had stopped the party. "Wow, it's only been an hour! It felt a lot longer."
"I find that very surprising," said Luna, with only mild surprise in her voice. "It certainly did. Hopefully they be there still." Sure enough, Fluttershy and Twilight were waiting in the throne room, chatting mildly. Fluttershy let out a noise of surprise when she saw Princess Luna coming into the room, and she stood up and bowed quickly. Luna laughed lightly and bid Fluttershy rise with a wave of her hoof. "Worry not. Thou needst not bow to me in thine own castle."
"Oh, okay then, sorry..." Fluttershy looked down sheepishly. Princess Luna laughed heartily; a welcoming and comforting laugh it was.
"Thou needst not apologise, dear Fluttershy. Here, we are equals." She smiled and touched Fluttershy's hoof.
"Oh, we are? Um, okay..." Fluttershy still didn't feel like an equal. Luna was so much taller, and she was so small, and pathetic, and how could she ever measure up to Luna? Luna was probably a much better singer than her and they were just bringing her here as a courtesy and she didn't deserve to have a throne-
"Fluttershy!" Luna exclaimed, snapping Fluttershy out of her rapidly spiralling-down trance of self-abuse. She had curled herself into a shivering ball. "Whatsoever thou art thinking, banish thou the thought from thy mind! Thou art not less than anypony. On the contrary, thou art much more virtuous than many."
"You really think I am?" Fluttershy asked, removing her wing from her face.
"I do, Fluttershy. Now, straighten thyself up, and let us begin!" Luna exclaimed, cheerfully, and Fluttershy stood up straight with more confidence than before. "We must first evaluate thy power without song, to figure out how much of thy magic be tied to Heart Magic. My mother did not need Heart Magic to perform magic; she discovered it much later."
Sweetie Belle frowned. "I'm absolutely terrible at it! Do we even have to look at it?" She didn't want to be reminded of her own inadequacy. Nopony did.
Twilight spoke up, going into lecture mode. "Yes, Sweetie, we do. We have to measure the magical output of your horn at peak ability, and then we compare it to that of other average fillies at your age. I know you don't want to be reminded about how small your magic output is, but remember, you have it much better with your Heart Magic, right, Luna?" Luna nodded in assent, and Sweetie Belle felt adequately reassured. She nodded also, and Twilight levitated over one gold bit. "This is the standard for the testing."
Sweetie Belle channelled magic into her horn and began to push, trying to get as much magical energy as she could out to levitate the coin. The coin, however, hardly went up more than a centimetre. "Wow!" exclaimed Twilight, in surprise at her readings. "Your magical output is next to none, so close it's practically null! I don't think I've ever seen a situation like this!" Sweetie Belle's look became sad.
"It is settled, then. All of thy magic is tied to Heart Magic. Thou canst do nothing without it. Fear not, we shall teach you to use it. Twilight, listen thou closely, and takest thou notes. Sweetie Belle, thou knowest of the three rune structure of magic, correct?" Luna asked, her mind filling with an explanation. Sweetie Belle nodded profusely and was about to launch into a lengthy explanation of the three concepts that made up a spell, but Luna stopped her.
"Thou needst not explain it to me. Now, just as magic relieth on concepts to direct spells, so doth Heart Magic rely on the tune and emotion of the song. For levitation, it shall simply be a rising tune. Focus on the object thou wishest to levitate, and let thou the song flow from thine heart. Dost thou understand?"
"Yeah, that makest sense!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, her voice cracking, and she giggled. Luna deadpanned.
"'Tis maketh," she said, simply, and waved for Sweetie to begin.
Sweetie Belle smiled sheepishly, and, without further ado, began to hum softly, her eyes trained on the coin. Faint ribbony swirls of light green magic began to twirl in the air, moving toward the coin. Sweetie Belle began a slow crescendo, the coin floating up into the air...
And then she lost control. The crescendo sped up and the coin flew straight up, slamming into the ceiling and then whizzing to the side, ricocheting off a wall and sailing toward Luna's head. The princess ducked just in time and the coin hit the table, denting it and then stopping. Sweetie Belle's humming finally stopped and they all sighed in relief.
"Hmm..." Luna mused, mulling over what had happened. "Try thou again. Tryest thou to control thy magic lest this happeneth again."
"And do it with a softer object this time," Twilight added, conjuring up a small red stuffed ball. Sweetie Belle blushed and began humming again, starting the crescendo. It held for a few more seconds as Sweetie tried her best to control her magic, but before she knew it, it burst out of her and she lost control again. It didn't hit anypony as it whizzed around, but it would have been negligible anyway.
Fluttershy recovered the courage to speak up. "Sweetie Belle, sometimes my music gets away from me too. Why not focus on the song instead of the magic? Um, I mean, if that's okay with you..."
Sweetie Belle nodded. "Maybe that will work." Twilight scribbled notes faster and it became more noticeable. Sweetie looked over at her. "Um, Princess Twilight?" she stated, a bit miffed.
"Oh, sorry!" exclaimed Twilight, blushing, but not looking up from her notes. "I'll take notes more quietly from now on." She went back to writing, albeit more quietly with the help of a soundproofing spell.
Sweetie Belle giggled and began humming again, her eyes on the coin but her focus on the music. She began the crescendo, but as it passed, she tried to speed up, but the song stayed slow, and she couldn't change the speed. The ball moved ever so slowly, and Sweetie Belle finally stopped stopped singing when it was clear her attempts would be unfruitful.
"Thou hast a lack of control," Luna said, solemnly. "This is not good at all. Thou hast not control over thine emotions, wherefore thy magic is controlled by them." Her horn glowed and a magical hologram lit up, showing a churning heart. Green swirls touched the heart, but instead of controlling the storm of emotions, the heart took control of the magic and it whipped out of control.
"What?" asked Sweetie Belle, confused. "I'm great at controlling my emotions! Rarity taught me all about it, because proper ladies need to be calm and collected." She beamed.
"Hmm... I believe I know what has happened. While thou mayest do well at controlling thine emotions on the outside, on the inside, though thou mayest not know it, they churn in thine heart, looking for an outlet."
"And that outlet... Is your magic!" finished Twilight, and Luna and Sweetie deadpanned. "What? I had to say something."
"Sweetie Belle, try singing straight from thine heart, with no purpose. We must measure thine emotions and thy magic to see what is happening and discover a way to fix thy problem." Luna looked on, her brow furrowed and her body tensed. She prepared to stop Sweetie if her magic flew out of control in a bad way.
Sweetie Belle nodded, and without another word, she began to vocalise. It started as a bright, bouncy tune, a light, skippy thing that sent tendrils of magic dancing around the room. Colourful lights began to appear throughout the throne room, dancing in tune.
The song became adventurous and the tendrils swirled out of the room and twirled through Ponyville, conjuring up more and more lights to fill up the town and make it even more festive. Background music began to come in, and a magical flute actually appeared in the air near Sweetie, playing of its own accord.
Sweetie Belle was all into her music now, the tune becoming more adventurous and less bouncy, although still light and bright. Unknown to the residents or Sweetie, one of the tendrils went dancing into the Everfree, scaring off the animals around it, until it came upon a clearing where a small, unassuming Paring Knife sat, doing nothing and being altogether boring.
And also having residues of its old spells. It felt the tendril of magic approaching it, and began to rattle with the presence of Heart Magic. Then the tendril made contact.
Instantly, the tendril darkened to black and Sweetie's suddenly plunged from a light, happy tone to a dark, eerie, and foreboding tune of evil and hate. The lights went out and the tendrils combined into the one touching the knife. Sweetie Belle's expression grew dark, not of her own will, and the song plunged its magic into the knife, filling it and reinvigorating the spells, even stronger than before.
Princess Luna immediately lit up her horn, trying to stop Sweetie Belle's singing before it could do any damage. Her body strained and sweat rolled down her forehead as she tried to close Sweetie's mouth or freeze her vocal cords or anything to stop the singing. But then, just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. The tendrils disappeared, the music finished, and Sweetie Belle stopped vocalising.
Her dark expression quickly changed to one of horror. She didn't know what her magic had done, but she knew it was bad. "Quickly, Sweetie Belle, dost thou know what thy magic has done?" Luna asked, frantically. "We can no longer follow it!"
"I don't know! I can't tell!" Sweetie Belle cried, trying to get a hold of the rapidly fading remnants of the magic. But it was to no avail. It was already gone.
"All we can do is wait," Luna said, dejectedly. She sighed and rubbed her forehead with a hoof, trying to think of what to do.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure that when it comes, we can stop it," Twilight reassured Luna, although she didn't really know what to do other than talking. She felt a bit awkward around Luna, if she had to be honest with herself. Would Luna respond to contact? Luna was incredibly old. What if she didn't respond to the same types of touch as other ponies did?[1] These dilemmas danced through her head, preventing her from doing anything further.
[1]: Really, it was a bit inconsiderate that she didn't see Luna as any other pony. If anything didn't change, it was how mothers comforted their children, but it was an easy mistake to make. That wasn't the kind of thing you could easily get through research.
"The best we can do for now is hope," Luna stated, an idea popping into her mind. "Let us assemble the other Elements and converse about this. They may have ideas."
"So, what exactly did you call us here for?" asked Rainbow Dash, miffed that she had been woken out of a perfectly good nap. "It'd better be important."
Rarity gasped. "Rainbow Dash!" she exclaimed. "How could you speak to your princess like that?" She huffed.
"Well, Princess Luna says that you guys are equals in this castle," Sweetie Belle added, very helpfully. Rarity was immediately horrified at the prospect of Rainbow Dash acting as an equal to the princess.
"Really? Awesome!" the disrespectful pegasus in question exclaimed, but Applejack quickly rectified the situation, raising an eyebrow.
"Now, that don't mean you kin go around insultin' the princess. Or talkin' down to her. Or anything ya wouldn't do if we were outside the castle." Rainbow Dash grumbled and crossed her hooves, but acquiesced with a reluctant nod.
"I, for one, am going to respect Princess Luna as I should. I hope that you do the same." Rarity disapprovingly frowned at the others to drive in her point. It was nothing like Luna's Look[2], but it worked well enough.
[2]: If you don't remember, this was an extremely disapproving frown which worked surprisingly well. The reason why is, again, contested.
"Rarity, it hath come to mine attention that thou hast been teaching Sweetie Belle how to control her emotions." Luna's face was indifferent, not disapproving or approving, so Rarity felt that she was in the clear.
"Why yes, I have. It is becoming a of a lady to be calm and collected, after all," she finished, gesturing toward herself as an example.
"It hath come also to mine attention that thou art going about it wrongly," Luna responded, bluntly.
Rarity's face fell, and then she "fainted," but immediately sat back up again because the chair was incredibly uncomfortable for fainting. "Excuse my uncouthness, but what?!"
"Thou hast only taught thy sister to control her emotions on the outside. On the inside, her emotions are a churning storm, and she doth not even know she hath those emotions any more. Whilst I am sure thou hast impeccable control of thine inner emotions, thou hast not been able to correctly teach thy sister that control. This may have terrible repercussions for us all," Luna finished grimly.
Rarity was horrified again. "But- I didn't-" She didn't know what to say. She certainly had never wished for this outcome.
"Thou couldst not have known. But the fact remaineth: Sweetie Belle cannot control her emotions, wherefore she cannot control her magic, and her magic but less than an hour ago hath done something dark and evil which she could not have stopped."
Pinkie Pie gasped. "Oh my gosh! That's not good at all! Do we know what it is?" She frowned. "Do I need to giggle at it?"
Luna's brow furrowed in confusion. "I... I do not think thou needst... Giggle at it."
Pinkie Pie's expression shot up into a smile again. "Okay then! Just tell me if you need me to!" She giggled, and Luna just stared.
"It's a long story," Twilight said, snapping Luna out of it. "I'll tell you later."
"Anyway..." Luna began, not amused at the distractions. "We must find a way for Sweetie Belle to control her inner emotions such that they do not take control of her whenever they can. Do any of you have any experience in this?" Rarity was of course excluded from the list.
"If there's anypony it isn't, it's Applejack," Rainbow Dash interjected, bluntly. "Remember Dodge Junction?"
"With all due respect, Rainbow Dash," Rarity began, condescendingly, a light frown on her face. "You are not a candidate either." Rainbow Dash's usual mode of speech was not anything near controlling her outer emotions, and she her inner emotions weren't always well dealt with either. Rainbow harrumphed and crossed her hooves for the second time that meeting.
"Not Twilight, either, for obvious reasons," Spike said, monotone, eliciting a blush from their neurotic friend. "Or Pinkie." Pinkie's oblivious smile didn't fade.
"My goodness, are we all this bad at controlling our emotions?" asked Rarity, fanning herself. She quickly added, "Oh, and by we, I mean you." Pinkie Pie giggled and Rainbow Dash let out a snicker, but the others weren't too pleased. Rarity frowned again. "What?"
"We do not seem to have anypony who can help. I myself am not a candidate for this undertaking, either. Is there anypony any of you know that can help?[2]" They all thought hard about something they could do, but before anypony could come up with an answer, the doors suddenly burst open and a white, almost blinding light shone.
[2]: Luna could be fairly redundant sometimes, especially in times of stress.
"I think that I can be of assistance," a soft and sweet, but commanding voice spoke from within the light.
Luna's eyes grew wide. "I know that voice..." She raced through her mind, trying to think of who it was that she could possibly be remembering.[3]
[3]: Why she didn't recognise it at first blush would always be a mystery. "She was always a slow one," [REDACTED] had to say on the subject.
"As well you should! For I am Cor Cantae Amoris, Queen of Equestria, the First Song!" Out of the glow stepped a pink alicorn, whose fur faded to white down her legs and up her wings. Her flowing mane and tail went from Celestia's green to her light blue and finally faded into Luna's dark blue, from the beginning to the end, rather than striped like Celestia's. They seemed to hum softly when you looked at them.
Discord appeared with a flash. "She's not actually the 'first song,' she added that after all that business with the Heart Song. 'Incredibly arrogant,' if you listened to me at all last time."
Luna was frozen in disbelief. She stared at the alicorn before her, unable to process what she was seeing. It was really her. "M- Mother?!"
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Obligatory "That didn't escalate quickly." At least, probably not. It's all in the opinion, you know.
-Spirit
P.S. This is a reservation of the "first" comment so none of you little sneakies try to say that.
Unless you said "first comment not by the author" or something like that. But no one would ever do that. You're all too good for that. Right?
I am inedible enthused, interested, amazed, fascinated, and spruced that you actually made a sequel. And that's even before reading it.
5404956 Thanks for the enthusiasm! I hope it meets your expectations. Especially since it'll be considerably longer.
Oh sweet baby Discord in a can! s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/25/09/54/25095401ba99759384fc5b4dfee5b475.jpg
The paring knife returns! And so does oddly endearing mommy issues, repressed memories, and yet another unique history of this world.
Why did I assign myself to re-read Diaries of a Madman, when this story was here all along?
5412424 Unique history? I'm not sure I put any history into this chapter. The next has a lot of it though. (Unless you already read that one and you're just commenting on it over here, in which case you already know that.)