Lesson Two: History and Magic
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Twilight’s alarm went off at 6:45 A.M. Two seconds later, Moondancer’s sounded, creating a shrill cacophony of geese. Twilight slapped hers off and shot up out of bed. “Finally! School’s here!” She rushed into the tiny bathroom before Moondancer had shut her alarm off.
A quick shower, a thorough brush of her teeth and mane, a polish of her horn. Twilight ran out of the bathroom, passing a still groggy Moondancer, her mane a nest of red and purple tangles. She pulled her school uniform from the closet, inspecting to make sure it was wrinkle free before putting it on. A purple shirt and gold skirt with a white neckerchief and a badge that proudly displayed her school and name. “Have a good first day,” Twilight said, tossing on her saddlebags. “I need to make sure I get a front seat for my first class!”
Moondancer could only wave, as Twilight was out the door before any words could pass her lips.
Twilight stopped at the cafeteria to wolf down a bowl of cereal and an apple. She read the clock as she galloped out. “7:30. I’ve got thirty minutes to get to class and find a seat! I’m right on schedule!” She ran down the hall, passing Rarity and Fleur.
“Slow down, Twilight,” Rarity called after her, “you’ve got plenty of time!”
Yes, plenty of time to pick the perfect seat! Twilight exited the dormitories and trotted down the road at a brisk pace. The sun slowly crept up over the peak of Horn Mountain, driving away the chilling shadows and bathing Canterlot in the fresh light of a new day.
The buildings of Celestia’s School fanned out in a semi-circle around the central quad with the northernmost building housing the dorms. Twilight headed west to the biggest and oldest of the buildings: Harmony Hall, overlooking the Unicorn Range. It shared a courtyard with its sister hall, Starswirl, whose namesake also had a statue in the center of the enclosure.
He stood golden and immortal, staring down the promenade with a serious but thoughtful expression. In one hoof, he held a long, gnarled staff, and on his back was a thick tome. As Twilight had found out during her orientation tour, the bells decorating his hat were real and danced whenever the wind blew. They made a soft, crystal chime that echoed across the courtyard.
Twilight bowed in reverence to Lumen’s first and greatest archmage. She passed under the tall archway of Harmony Hall, stepping onto the smooth granite of the entrance rotunda, and into history.
Painted in vivid majesty, the entire back wall of the rotunda depicted the story of ponies and their migration to the continent of Equus. It started on the left, expressed in dull colors that gave the scene an empty feeling. A well-dressed unicorn stood on a ledge, pushing the sun through the sky, while a pegasus gathered a grayer than usual cloud, and in the gloomy field below, an earth pony harvested crops. The somber colors shifted to bright blues and harsh whites, painted in thin, sweeping strokes. The three ponies gathered around a dying fire, their faces detailed with anger and hatred. Snow fell around them, and storm clouds gathered overhead, swirling with a ghost-like horse, its eyes glowing a glacial white.
The next scene took place closer to the center of the wall. There, three ponies had moved out from the ice and snow, finding a field of bright greens and streams of calm blues. But the winter storm trailed over their heads as they argued in the center of the field again, looked on this time by three other ponies, one from each race as well. All six of them moved into a cave, where the first three were encased in ice. The remaining trio huddled around each other while the storm raged on overhead. From the horn of the unicorn, a pink heart blazed forth, pulsing with love and magic. The ghost horses fled, and the snow melted from the new land.
Twilight moved her eyes to the center. A tall tower stood in the middle of the field, the pink, fiery heart at its top. Ponies from each race gathered around, smiles and laughter painted on their lips and in their eyes. But as the next picture showed, the peace and prosperity did not last long. A silhouette of a serpent-like being with mismatched limbs and horns appeared in the sky over a thick, dark forest. Clouds turned pink and rained chocolate, roads were made out of soap, houses floated upside down, and the three tribes glared at each other in accusatory hatred once more. The pink heart at the top of the tower had vanished.
Twilight moved her head to the penultimate scene, the serpent lounging on his throne, its ebony color contrasting against the multi-chromatic assortment surrounding it. Six ponies stood before the monster, two from each tribe, and a glowing orb in each of their hooves. A brilliant rainbow of six colors burst from the orbs and overtook the serpent sealing him away forever.
But the damage had been done. Twilight sighed, looking at the final picture. The tower stood alone in the middle of the three kingdoms. The pegasi kept to their cloud cities in the west, the earth ponies had their crystal capital to the north, and the unicorns stood on the eastern mountains. So Equus had been divided, and so it had remained for a thousand years.
Twilight admired the artistic adaptation of history, adding in the details that couldn’t be summed up by pictures alone. Like the fact that the unification of the three tribes had lasted fifty years before the entity known as Discord showed up. Or that he was the sole cause of the disappearance of most historical texts from before the migration. Twilight hated him personally for that reason alone.
Her eyes wandered up to the clock. 7:46. She gasped and galloped down the hall. Staring at the mural had eaten up six minutes of her time! Luckily for her, she only had one flight of stairs to climb before she found her homeroom class. The door was already open, but to Twilight’s delight, the room was empty.
Sunlight came through the window at an angle, sliding up the middle of the room. Twilight picked her seat to the front left of a bright square, so she wouldn’t get caught in a glare when taking notes. The room itself looked like a typical classroom with nothing to set it apart until the chalk picked itself up and started scribbling neatly on the blackboard.
‘1. Roll call. 2. Refresher courses. 3. Principles of cross school magic.’ The chalk continued to write down a series of short notes while Twilight twisted her head every which way to see where the caster was.
Minuette walked in, smiling and humming a light tune. “I’m not surprised to find you in here so early, Twi. Itching to get started?”
“Yes, I am,” Twilight said absently, still looking at the chalk. “Are you the one doing that?”
“Hmm? Oh no, that’s Professor Inkwell. She’s enchanted the chalk to write out the lesson plan everyday in case she forgets.” Minuette set her saddlebag down in the chair next to Twilight. “She should be here any minute.”
As if summoned, an elderly bluish gray mare limped in, both her fading mane and tail tied in a tight bun, and black and pink leg warmers on her front hooves. Even with the weather slowly getting cooler, Twilight didn’t think it was cold enough to warrant leg warmers.
The old mare paused in the doorway and looked at Minuette and Twilight in turn with her good eye. Her left eye permanently squinted at them. Her surly pout shifted into a smile. “Ah, the eagerness of youth!” She hobbled past them and up to her desk. “Always delighted to see you, Minuette! How was your vacation?”
“Excellent, Professor Inkwell! My family took a trip to Siren Lake, and I got to try out the waterwalking spell you taught us!”
“Good, good!” Inkwell inspected the board and nodded to herself. “You didn’t happen to see any kelpies, did you?” She looked over her shoulder with a sly smirk.
Minuette giggled. “Professor, those are a myth, you said so yourself.”
“Did I?” The old mare blinked. “Did I?” she asked, less sure of herself. She shrugged. “There’s a grain of truth in every myth, best remember that!” She turned her eye on Twilight. “And as for you, missy…”
Twilight folded her ears and took a step back. “Um…”
Inkwell stepped forward and booped her on the nose. “Welcome to my class. I’ve already heard a lot of good things about you, Miss Sparkle. And I see you got that look in your eye. You wanna learn something, don’t ya?”
“Y-yes.” Twilight straightened up, nose still twitching from the sudden contact. “Yes I do.”
“Well then, you and I are gonna be good friends!” She squinted her good eye. “Just don’t try to out-nerd me. I’m the first nerd! Minuette and Sunset Shimmer learned that the hard way.”
Minuette giggled again, watching Twilight’s head tilt in confusion. One-by-one (save for Vinyl and Lyra who appeared connected at the hip) the rest of Class Zero filed into their homeroom and took their seats. To Twilight’s surprise, none of them were shy about taking up the front row.
“Professor Inkwell, you’re looking radiant as ever,” Blueblood said.
“Pah! Flattery will get you nowhere, Bluey. I know I’m slow and pruny. Not everypony gets to age as gracefully as Her Highness.” She let out a snort of laughter that several of the others joined in on. “Ah, it’s nice to see you all again. Plus, a new addition to our little family. Sorry, Rarity, looks like you’re not the baby anymore.”
Rarity smiled pleasantly. “I think I’ll manage.”
Inkwell lifted a piece of chalk and a book in her magic. “All right, let’s get this show on the road!” She stared at the book, pursing her lips while her eyes moved across the page. The silence grew more and more profound as the seconds passed. Twilight glanced left and right; her classmates seemed unphased by the lapse in instruction.
She is a little old. I guess it’s harder for her to keep her train of—
The book snapped shut and Inkwell thrust a hoof at them. “What are the schools of magic? Five seconds!”
Twilight threw her hoof into the air, more out of instinct than anything else. “E-enchanting, Conjuration, Transfiguration, Abjuration, Thaumaturgy, Illusion, Divination, and while it isn’t taught and can hardly be studied, Chaos Magic!” The words tumbled out of her mouth so fast, she hoped Inkwell had understood her.
Inkwell nodded in approval. “Good job, newbie. Seven schools and Chaos. Some call it the antithesis of natural magic. Well, since there’s eight types and eight of you, why don’t we go around and give a summary of each of them. Just a wake-up exercise to make sure your brains didn’t turn to mush over the summer.”
Rudimentary, Twilight thought, resisting the temptation to roll her eyes. Any well-read first year could define the schools of magic.
Rarity cleared her throat. “Enchanting, the act of imbuing something or someone with your own magic. While historians argue about the order the applications of magic were discovered, many believe Enchanting was one of the first behind Conjuration and Thaumaturgy. Basic enchantments are designed to have only one function.” Rarity pointed to the wall lanterns around the room, currently unlit. “For instance, the light stones within the lanterns are enchanted to turn on when sunlight no longer reaches them. It is possible to give an enchantment a complex command, but it usually involves making a sigil.”
“Very good,” Inkwell said. “Well then, let’s just go in the order Miss Sparkle listed. Minuette, care to remind us what falls into the Conjuration school?”
Minuette gave her a pearly smile. “As Rarity said, deciding when exactly unicorns discovered which application of magic came first is difficult, but many believe Conjuration is the first as it encompasses basic levitation, something we all can do. Conjuration is also referred to as summoning, and ranges from basic push-pull levitation, teleportation, and for the highest and most focused unicorns, materialization.”
“Short and concise, excellent! Short and concise,” she repeated with emphasis as she gestured to Lyra.
“Transfiguration, arguably the most difficult branch of magic!” Quick and loud seemed to be Lyra’s normal way of speaking. “It offers the ability to turn one thing into something completely different. It’s the most scientific of the schools because you need to have a really good understanding of the structure of both the object you’re transfiguring and the thing you want to turn it into. Unlike Illusion magic which just kinda puts a veil over something, you’re altering the molecular structure of an object. It’s easier to transfigure things that are similar, like turning a quill into a pencil, or a reverting a desk back into a piece of wood. Animals and ponies can resist transfiguration spells if they have enough willpower, and—”
“That will do, Lyra.” Inkwell smiled. “Save all the details for your papers. Next, Abjuration by Bluey.”
Blueblood straightened his bowtie. “Abjuration deals with barriers and the suppression or even negation of magic, sometimes referred to as disjunction. In laymare's terms, it’s our defensive type of magic. However, if you want to negate someone else’s magic, yours must prove stronger. It’s easier to dispel sitting enchantments because of their passive nature. But if a pony is continuously pouring magic into a spell, it becomes a contest of wills.” He smiled. “Quite poetic.”
“Nicely done. Fleur, Thaumaturgy?”
Fleur looked at her hooves on top of her desk and spoke in a quiet voice. “Thaumaturgy is classified as the manipulation of the elements and raw magic itself. Notably used for combat spells, activation spells and healing also fall into this school. It is the third of the Original Three schools and is argued that it originated before Conjuration.”
“Aye. With the neat classification of everything else, Thaumaturgy is a little harder to define. Nicely done. Next—”
“Trixie will gladly define the Illusion School!” she said, throwing a hoof up. “Revered as one of the most mystifying of the arts, illusions allow the caster to deceive the minds of her opponent or audience, making them see, and if powerful enough, feel what isn’t really there! Unlike mind enchantments, it doesn’t alter one’s thoughts, just their perception of the world!”
Inkwell chuckled. “Delivered in good old Trixie fashion. Vinyl?”
She adjusted her glasses. “Divination is like the opposite of Illusion. It lets you see things that are hidden. It’s pretty cool because if you train hard enough, it becomes passive and you just naturally see through illusions. It also lets you see ‘the future.’ Vinyl made air quotes. “But since the future isn’t set in stone, prophesying is kinda pointless. Detection spells and echolocation also fit in here.”
“Indeed they do.” Inkwell turned her attention back to Twilight. “That covers all the schools. So, Miss Twilight, care to bring us home? What is Chaos Magic?”
Twilight swallowed, feeling all eyes on her. “Well, Chaos Magic is, like you said, the opposite of all forms of natural, harmonized magic. It can’t be controlled or predicted. It could potentially do anything, but it tends to always fall to the extreme side of possible magics. It can also combine magic in ways that should be impossible, breaking any and every law with the potential to warp the very reality around it. Practicality wrote in his book Chaos Theory, ‘Anything can happen and everything will.’”
Inkwell nodded slowly. “Yes. Chaos Magic is rare, but it’s dangerous and uncontrollable. While not inherently evil, we’ve yet to find a positive use for it. It goes without saying, I don’t want any of you messing with something that sounds like Chaos Magic. Of course, there are a slim number of exceptions…” Twilight swore Inkwell’s eyes pointed at Minuette for a brief second. “Good work, sprouts. Now, with all these schools of magic, you’d think everything under Celestia’s sun would fall into their place, right?”
Minuette raised her hoof. “Nope. Some magics are a cross between two schools. Technically, any mental resistance spells to enchantments fall under both Divination and Abjuration.”
“Correct!” Inkwell padded over to the black board and drew two triangles, one facing up and the other facing down, interlocked with each other. She then drew lines to connect the opposite points and drew a circle at the tip of each of them, finishing with a circle in the middle. Her horn flashed, and her drawing lit up for a moment. She tapped a hoof on the center circle. “The symbol of magic. While we can argue whether we blasted or picked something up first, Thaumaturgy is the center and basis of our magic.” She marked each of the points with a school. “The school’s positions are Interchangeable. The point is, all of them connect with each other and can be combined to make hybrid spells. Sigil spells are a combination of Thaumaturgy, Enchantment, and some other third thing depending on what you’re doing with it.”
Inkwell wiped the symbol off the board. Twilight raised an eyebrow, wondering what had been the point of the brief light show. Inkwell did this every time she doodled something, but as far as Twilight could tell, nothing ever happened.
They continued their discussion on combining schools of magic into more powerful and complex spells and devices, like the communication crystals, a hybrid of enchantments and conjurations. It was, at least, a detailed refresher course. Twilight supposed she should be grateful they didn’t do any practical lessons that day.
The school bell tolled slow, even gongs, and Class Zero filed out to report to their individual classes.
“Good answers in there, Twi,” Minuette said, joining Twilight in her walk to the fourth floor. “Don’t worry; things will get more stimulating as the semester goes by.”
Twilight nodded, unenthused. “Refreshers are important, I know, but I thought we’d be beyond that.”
Minuette wiggled a hoof. “Well, sure, but it never hurts to remember the basics. Without a strong foundation, everything else just crumbles apart.”
“That’s true.” Twilight took a meditative breath. School always started slow. In a few weeks time, she’d be learning more than she could have at a regular institution. She paused at room 405. “Well, time for Advanced Spatial Theory.”
Minuette continued down the hall, waving back. “Have fun!”
Following her spatial theory class, Twilight had lunch, then History of Equus which she shared with Moondancer. They sat next to each other in the front row, taking turns answering questions until Professor Hoofnote refused to call on them anymore.
The last bell of the day rang across campus, and students eagerly flooded out of the halls. Twilight followed Moondancer into the brisk autumn air the Canterlot Weather Factory produced, officially marking the turning of the seasons. In the quad, Twilight could see the gardeners helping the trees with their seasonal transition, turning their remaining green leaves to crisp reds and golds.
“So, how did your other classes go?” Moondancer asked.
“They were pretty good, if a little slow. Professor Inkwell can seem a little out there at times but she really knows what she’s talking about. And Professor Abra already praised the length of my paper. Wednesday, we’re going to have a discussion on the pros and cons of modern teleportation as opposed to opening spatial rifts!” Twilight swished her tail back and forth as she spoke.
Moondancer took notice and smiled. “I can see you’re excited.”
Twilight caught her eye and stilled her tail. “Just a little.” Celestia’s sun still shone brightly over Canterlot. Many of the students took it as a sign to relax and hang out. Twilight had to duck under another frisbee as it sailed over her horn.
“So, uh, do you wanna get something to eat?” Moondancer asked, eyeing a group of mares laughing and heading toward one of the small tea shops.
“No thanks. I’m going to the library so I can get started on my homework. If I finish early enough, I can start reading ahead, or find supplementary material!” Twilight made a little skip at the thought.
Moondancer smiled weakly. “That sounds like a plan. Umm….” She rubbed a hoof against her foreleg. “Well, I guess I’ll see you back at the dorms later?”
“Yep, see you later!” Twilight trotted off to the library with a spring in her step. It was only halfway there did she stop and wonder if she should have invited Moondancer to join her. Social etiquette told her yes, it would have been polite. However, Twilight did prefer to study alone. On the other hoof, Moondancer seemed pretty capable back at class.
Twilight shook her head. Next time, she’d give an invitation, just for the sake of being polite. She resumed her trot, reaching the marble archway and brass doors that separated her from the Magus Library. The arched columns continued inside, opening up to a central nexus of literature and learning. Five more aisles led away from the rotunda and deeper into the library, and a balcony full of more arcane treats ran along the walls. Light filtered in from the central skylight over the circulation desk in the middle of the nexus.
This wasn’t Twilight’s first time here, but she stopped to appreciate the grandiose presentation, savor the smell of musty pages and binding glue, enjoy the immense satisfaction of being surrounded by books and silence. She ghosted past the librarian on the tips of her hooves to not disturb his sacred duty of cataloguing books.
Twilight found one of the many reading nooks in the back corner and made herself comfortable. She pulled out her notes and textbook, flipping it open to the next chapter and readied her quill. Just as she got engrossed, her book spoke in a low, deadpan voice, “You’re in Trixie’s spot.”
“Gah!” Twilight clapped her hooves over her mouth and dropped the book from her magical grip. As it fell away, she found a blue muzzle and silver mane take its place. “Oh.” Twilight breathed a relieved sigh. “Hi, Trixie.”
“Move.” Trixie’s eyes held neither warmth nor patience. She fixed Twilight with an unblinking stare. She didn’t need to narrow her eyes to be intimidating.
Twilight tried to stand (or rather sit) her ground, but knew she was in a fight she couldn’t win. She gave a weak gesture to a bundle of pillows a few hooves down. “There’s more reading spots over there.” She followed her weak hoof flop with a weaker smile.
Trixie did not reciprocate. “Then you can take one of those. This is Trixie’s spot. Don’t think you can just waltz in here and take what’s Trixie’s just because you’re the school’s new favorite.”
Twilight folded her ears back. “I’m not trying to take anything, honest—”
“Then leave.” Trixie thrust her hoof to the next reading nook.
The battle was lost. Trixie still hadn’t blinked whereas Twilight had blinked, flinched, and looked away several times. She hurriedly gathered her stuff and ran to the next nook. She tried to get comfortable again, but an unpleasant lump settled in her stomach. She raised her head to Trixie who had her face buried in a book while notes floated around her.
Trying to sink back into her own studies, Twilight remembered another reason why she liked to work alone.
Unlike the first day, Twilight did not wake up with an abundance of enthusiasm. She weakly slapped her alarm off and squirmed out of bed, patiently waiting while Moondancer used the bathroom. Trixie’s words still stung like several paper cuts, but the words of the past paled in comparison to the possible words of the future.
You can do this, Twilight. Just sit in the back for this class and don’t raise your hoof, no matter how tempting. Yep, she just had to follow that strategy for the entire year and she’d be fine! She let out a short puff of air. Maybe that’s not true. You’re going to get special training from the princess. With that and self-practice, maybe you can get through this without anypony finding out.
“Are you okay, Twilight?”
She raised her head, looking at Moondancer who still had a smear of toothpaste near her lip. “Yeah. Just thinking.” She got off her bed and headed for the bathroom. “By the way, you might wanna wipe your face off one more time.” She watched Moondancer run a hoof along her mouth before closing the door.
Twilight took a little more time getting ready and eating. As long as she didn’t stand and recount history again, she would make it to homeroom with plenty of time to spare. Perhaps if Twilight took her time, time itself would move slower, drawing out the moments before she had to step into her Level Three Thaumaturgy class. Ludicrous thinking, as time moved at a constant speed, but at least Twilight could pretend it was moving slower.
But homeroom came and went, and after the short nutrition break, Twilight walked to Clover Hall and into her thaumaturgy class. The seats were arranged into four long rows along either side of the door, leaving a large space at the front of the class. A red and white target was strung up in front of the blackboard. Instead of finding the front and center-most seat, Twilight took one in the back corner. Already, she felt the isolation kicking in.
The other students walked in and took their seats, and to compound insult upon injury, Trixie sauntered in and sat at the front of the class.
“Good morning, students,” Professor Thoron said as he walked down the aisle. “I hope your first week back is treating you well.” His thick gray mustache quivered with every word. “Let’s jump right into it. If one wanted to make, say, a blizzard spell, which would be more practical, a direct spell, or creating a sigil for it? Yes, Miss Sparkle.”
Twilight inwardly berated herself for already breaking her own rule. “There are pros to both actions, sir. Channeling the spell directly gives you total control and can be shut off at any time. However, if somepony doesn’t know the spell for blizzard, they could create a sigil ring and inscribe the rune for ice or snow and charge it with power. The downside to using a sigil is, the amount of power poured into the spell never equals the power the sigil will give off.”
“Correct, very good, Miss Sparkle. Sigils, while convenient at times, have harder outcomes to predict. Today, they’re generally used to create mass spells or used in complex rituals. For today’s demonstration, I would like a volunteer. Miss Sparkle?”
Twilight’s hoof had not gone into the air this time. She shook her head, shoulders tensing as the class looked back at her. “N-no, thank you, sir.”
“Are you sure? You seem quite knowledgeable on the subject—”
“Trixie will do it!” Trixie said, standing from her desk. She walked to the center of the class and stood next to Professor Thoron, sticking her chest out proudly.
“Oh, very well then.” Thoron’s horn thrummed with energy. “I’m going to create a fire spell using a sigil. I want you, Trixie, to cast a direct spell. Nothing too big now, keep it campfire sized.”
“Yes, sir.” Trixie’s horn lit up and a single mote of fire appeared on the tip. She lowered her head and aimed at the target. As the spell went off, the ember enlarged into a blaze and left the target with a deep scorch mark.
Thoron nodded. “Very good. Now, if I apply a single fire rune to my sigil and charge it with a little power…” A ring of light appeared in front of his horn, teal like the color of his aura. The rune for fire appeared in the center, two long V shapes that opened to the right. He aimed it at the target, and a gout of fire shot forth, expelling a wave of heat that washed over the whole room. Everypony tugged on their collars to get a little air to their chests.
The target, which had before been scorched, now sat as a pile of ash on the floor, the blackboard stained with soot as well. “You see class, a sigil’s role is to also amplify the power of a spell. I merely charged it with the activation spell and this is the result.” Thoron brushed his mustache, looking over his own handiwork. “How much the sigil amplifies a spell is based on many factors, so the output is never fully predictable. Thank you, Miss Lulamoon, you may be seated.”
Trixie smiled and dipped her head. As she headed back to her seat, she gave Twilight a haughty grin as well.
“As you know, sigils are more often used for more complicated spells then just blasting fire.” Thoron’s horn glowed again, and a glass of water appeared on everypony’s desk. “Your assignment this class is to make a sigil circle and craft a spell that will transport just the water in your glasses to this tankard.” He gestured to the empty jug on his desk. “Remember, rune placement is very important. Sigils read clockwise starting at twelve. You’ll find the list of runes in the back of your textbook. Chop chop.”
Twilight flipped her book open to the rune index. Okay, this is easy enough. Sigils don’t require too much magic, just an activation spell. It’s mostly just figuring out the formula! You can do this! After a few calm breaths, Twilight pointed her horn at her desk. A ring appeared around the glass of water, shimmering in a violet light. Okay, runes only represent one word or short phrase. The main actions always comes first, so that would be teleport. She knew most of the runes in the book, but it never hurt to double check. She closed her eyes and imagined the shape of the rune, drawing it out within her mind. When she looked, the rune glowed inside the sigil ring at the twelve o’clock position.
Easy, Twilight thought, a confident smile on her lips. To her right, she could see some of the other students struggling to get the rune to appear, their faces contorted in pained concentration. She moved onto the next rune, water, envisioning it next to ‘teleport’ within the circle. After water came the rune for ‘within’. Once Twilight had the first three runes formulated, the real challenge began. There was no rune for jug or tankard. There was one for container, but it was a loose use of the word; anything close by with an opening could be considered a container. Twilight would also have to take into account the distance the water would have to travel to reach the tankard. She stuck her tongue out the side of her mouth, her brain running through various ideas and possibilities. She lived for puzzles like these.
“Very good, Miss Lulamoon! Very good indeed!”
Twilight jerked her head away from her project. Water sloshed within the tankard, while Trixie’s glass was completely empty. She lifted her head at her acknowledged praise, her eyes flickering in Twilight’s direction again.
Yes, she definitely hates me. Ears pressed against her head, Twilight tried to shift her focus back to her glass. She knew there would be a few students that scorned her for coming into the highest class in the school. And while she preferred to take her academic path on her own, the idea that ponies would show her contempt left a barb in her heart.
Concentrate. The glass and the sigil came back into focus. Teleport water within container… She just needed a few more words. The tankard was roughly northeast of her, and there were runes for cardinal directions. Teleport water within container northeast to large container? A little wordy, but it seemed doable. Twilight double checked the list of runes while she pondered the margin for error. This looks like the most efficient way to cast this. She envisioned the final runes and they came to life within the sigil ring, evenly spacing themselves out.
Okay, now it just needs the activation spell. You can do this, easy. What’s the worst that could happen? A hundred of terrible scenarios flashed through Twilight’s mind in rapid succession, ranging from either container exploding, to the water washing away everyone in the room, to a random dragon attack. Stop that! Half of these aren’t even possible! She put her hooves on the desk and lowered her horn. One spell. You can do one spell. She closed her eyes and reached for her mana pool sleeping within her. It wasn’t like telekinesis, instinctual and always present, casting spells required a little more connection with one’s inner magic, even if the spell was small.
Just a spark…
“We were greatly impressed by your written exam, Miss Sparkle, but if you cannot produce even a single spark, I’m afraid we can’t recommend you for Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.”
“No, no! I can do it, honest!”
Twilight clenched her teeth. Not now. Don’t think about it. But she could already feel her magic slipping further and further away, the river between her horn and her pool of mana becoming narrower with each passing second.
“Miss Sparkle, is everything all right?”
“Yes! I can do it—I know I can do it!”
No! Don’t lose control either! Twilight walked a tightrope. It was either too little or too much, and right now, it was far too little. She could feel the pressure at the base of her horn; a cork shoved in to stop all flow of magic. Relax. You have to relax. She opened her eyes and breathed. A few more students had finished their sigils and transported their water. They now chatted merrily amongst themselves, not batting an eye toward Twilight. Trixie had resumed ignoring her, choosing to read once more.
They’re not paying attention, Twilight. You’re not at the exam. Just breathe.
“Just breathe, little one. It’s all right. Just breathe. Yes, that’s it. Calm yourself. Magic as strong as yours requires a firm but calm control.”
Twilight raised a hoof to her shoulder. The touch of the princess still lingered there. She lowered her hoof to her chest, breathed in, then pushed it away as she exhaled. It’s just a spark. Little by little, the pressure ebbed away, and Twilight could feel a stream of magic flow to her horn. Relax and focus. She lowered her horn to the sigil, breathing deep one last time. Her horn flashed as she felt the spell release, and from across the room came a splash.
She opened her eyes. The water in her glass had vanished.
“Very good, Miss Sparkle,” Thoron said with a nod of his head.
Twilight slumped down, her shoulders sagging with relief. She had done it. One class down, hundreds to go. One spark at a time.
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Inkwell's lesson on magic reminded me of the schools of thought, and it does a nice job at describing how magic and spells work in this universe. However, I'm particularly fascinated by Trixie's character in the story thus far. She maintains her haughty personality from canon, but from her interactions with Twilight during this chapter in particular, I have a strong feeling that Trixie may be hiding something about herself that'll play a role in the future. Anyway, that was a nice chapter, and I'm curious to see where the story goes from here.
A very well done chapter that gave a great amount of information whether on their history or how magic works smoothly. All of the explanations were fascinating and thought provoking, showing just how much time and effort went into making this a natural part of the world. All the world and characters traits touched upon definitely make me wonder about where we're going to go, such as if we'll actually see a kelpie (or the reality the legend it is based on) and any other legends we might learn. It certainly is something to see how different certain characters are while still being the same, like with Trixie. And Twilight herself is continuing to show how well developed she is with how she takes studying, the costs of that, and how she handles pressure in tune with her magic.
You are entirely too excited for this.
Oh, how interesting. The Royal Sisters never took the Elements, but 6 mortals did.
It seems this time, Discord managed to do more damage than in canon.
Smart.
I like you.
I REALLY like you. A Reasonable Authority Figure, you're smart despite your old age and you're not going to outright dismiss Chaos Magic as evil just because of Discord.
She has a point.
So where are Kadabra and Alakazam?
Easy now.
You're making it very hard to like you, Trixie,
Seems she has some issues of her own, beyond her possible neurosis, which isn't seemingly played for laughs and tendency to think of worst case scenarios off the bat. This should prove interesting.
I liked as well, a nice touch, especially the bit where you see that Hearth's Warming still took place, and neatly explains something that confused me about the chapter 1 lead in - a note about all the ponies standing together before a tower, but now apparently divided.
That symbol Inkwell does, though...
...tried to draw it and insert or even copy/paste with the snipping tool but it's not working...
Sounds kind of cool though, I'm just wondering if I have it right on my paint pad.
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If you look closely at the page breaks, you can see the symbol at the top.
Interesting world building and character development I especially like Inkwell and how you describe the magic system
Fascinating, very fascinating. Good on you for establishing the different forms of magic early on. And an interesting interpretation/translation of the scene of Twilight's canon entrance exam, with her having difficulty actually casting magic... It suits her well, and I'm interested to see how she overcomes it. At least it seems like she's still getting private lessons from Princess Celestia. And it was delightful to see Twilight all young and massively nerdy and socially awkward.
Also, Trixie seems like the first level boss that Twi's gonna have to face. Something something earning her respect the hard way? Well, I'm looking forward to seeing how things play out between those two at least.
I'll comment on one aspect that some other's here haven't brought up. I'm guessing that with eight students and eight fields of magic, each of the Zero Class ponies will excel in one field more than the others. And given which ponies described each field, there's possibly some subtle foreshadowing as to which ones will excel in which.
I mean really, what's more perfect than Illusion for Trixie?
Till next time!
And on we go. Some nice worldbuilding and Trixie has a bug up her fat blue plot.
Interesting, very interesting.
I'm still certain that Vinyl is blind, but that's just me.
Anyway, to the meat of this if you will. This was very good. All of the characters are still very good. Not all of them are enjoyable, namely Trixie and Blueblood but like I said before they aren't really meant to be. At least not yet. I loved the ending with Twilight not being able to create magic, knowledgeable yes, good at in a practical sense no. I enjoyed her internal struggle as she relived her past strugglings. A great moment of characterization and really the audience begin to love Twilight as a character even if you knew nothing about from watching MLP beforehand.
I loved the world-building, and you did it the right way. The world, while a major focus, is also second next to the characters that are in the world. A piece of media and literature can have an amazing world but if the character that is in that world suck, then you're out of luck. The six schools of magic and chaos are an interesting addition to the world as a whole. I really enjoyed their induction and usually it the setup as a classroom works perfectly as it lets the audience learn about this important plot point without sounding like a massive exposition dump on them. I am also convinced that the Schools of Magic are going to the mirror to the Elements of Harmony and that Sunset is going to be the 'wielder' for lack of a better term of Chaos Magic.
After it is all said and done, great chapter. I am certainly looking forward to more in the future. Keep up the amazing work so far.
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Ah, had it almost right - I had a vertical slash down the center also.
Hard to see though, that portion of the image is really tiny, but is there an all-encompassing sphere also?
My drawing had a circle at each point and one in the very center of the hexagram portion of the Star of David... adding another circle bounding the whole would be eight circles total... I'm probably reading too much into that though.
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I don't think it's so much that she can't create any, but more that she can create so much without trying very hard that it's challenging to control, so she overthinks things and either can't concentrate or holds back so much that nothing ends up happening. Look at how much she fixates on the idea "just a spark."
I think I've said enough on this for now, honestly. I'll bet we'll find out exactly what happened at the exam. Maybe not right away, but soon.
(Goodness, it even feels like a JRPG, kind of. I love it)
Man, that bit about history was sweet. Small differences, but boy did they really change things in the present day. I'm looking forward to the first time we meet earth ponies and pegasi.
Ah. Without alicorn Bearers to act as a symbol of unity, lowercase discord ultimately triumphed... though that raises questions about what Celestia is and has been doing.
Huh. Chaos magic instead of necromancy. Interesting setup for this world.
Ah, dear, sweet, socially oblivious Twilight.
And so we see the issue. Twilight's magic is a lake behind a dam, and the key challenge for her is getting it to come out in a controlled stream rather than not at all or all at once. Well, she'll learn. Heck, she's managing even in the same room as Trixie. Compared to that, saving equinity should be a snap.
So this is the magun opus of the albinocorn eh? I look forward to reading it but first im going to let the chapters increase before i jump into the fray
Trixie how dare you.
I think I might like this. Like this very much. Favorited, without reading the story (mainly because it's Albinocorn, so it's gonna be good).
Très belle histoire Albino ;)
I was going to wait until more was published, but I just couldn't help myself. Your Stories are too good! I'm loving this, and I am learning too! Now, to try and find out which branch(es) of Magic Friendship falls under, or maybe it's all seven (everything but Chaos magic). Also cannot wait to see Celestia and Sunset! Keep up the good work, Albi!
Poor Moondancer doesn't seem to be having much better luck with socializing than in canon. And after the first chapter seemed to set them up as nerd soulmates too.
static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/11/08/12/sheldon-cooper.jpg
So Twilight is kind of like Sunburst here- an expert on the theoretical side but struggling with the practical (if for slightly different reasons). Neat. (Well, not neat for her, but you know.)
Also since this is now playing in my head for the chapters:
Twilight should learn all types of magic, including Chaos Magic.