Alternate Beginnings: Year Two

by Doug Graves

24 Therapy

August 11th, 994

Doug, Rarity, and the three foals walk from the hospital to the Carousel Boutique. Rarity is still a little put out that she was not there to witness the event but Sweetie Belle is more than making up for it, trying to shoot sparks out of her horn.

Rarity exclaims as another attempt is successful, "Darling, good job! You are doing fabulously!" She moves up to the door to the Boutique, opening it as Doug, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo come to a stop outside. Sweetie Belle moves past her dam as Rarity moves over to Doug, giving him a quick kiss, saying, "Thank you for everything, dear. Will you be coming back for dinner?"

Doug's nods, waving before walking away. Rarity waves goodbye, closing the door behind her. The specialists felt that each of them should create a training plan, something for them to do with their foals while waiting for the results on some of their lengthier tests. There has been little indication that the foal is doing anything wrong. Instead, it is more akin to exercising a muscle, one that she doesn't realize she has. Most foals start using their magic, even accidentally, at several days old. Some are even quite prodigious, having strong enough levitation and telekinesis it to grab toys, bottles, or even their parents.

Professor Flintheart seems sure that Sweetie Belle has enough thaums to perform these skills. However, she will need to learn to focus almost the entirety of her magic on the task at hoof, with little left over for extraneous applications. Rarity thinks to her own telekinesis; she can focus a tiny portion of her magic on each of a nearly a hundred different objects. Professor Flintheart had suppressed his admiration, however, merely nodding at her extraordinarily efficient use. If Sweetie Belle can learn to exercise the same fine control Rarity has then the foal will be able to master telekinesis, if only on one object at a time. Maybe two if they are light or close enough.

But, for now, the focus will be on the magics that Sweetie Belle is able to perform. She has been happy enough to shoot sparks while walking down the road but, now that they are inside, the real work will begin. Sweetie Belle walks up to her chair, struggling slightly as she clambers up the side. She smiles at Rarity once she is seated before her horn lights up. Rarity smiles back, heading into the kitchen, grabbing four apples, and returning.

Rarity levitates the apples over to the table, setting them in a precise line. She rearranges them into a box before moving two in a circle, intersecting the other two. The apples continue their dance while Sweetie Belle's looks on, amazed at her dam's precision. Rarity lifts the four apples into the air, bringing them to a stop with three apples on the table and the last delicately placed on top, not causing the other three to move.

Rarity smiles at Sweetie Belle as the foals stomps a hoof, "Thank you, thank you. Now, it is your turn. The light and sparks you have been making have been a good start, but they are merely the byproducts of normal spellwork. Today, we will be working on focusing that magic, on making our intent for the world around us felt through that magic. Levitation is the simplest way of doing so."

Rarity pauses, lifting the top apple and shifting it so it is balanced on two apples instead of three. The last apple she slides over to Sweetie Belle, moving it to the edge of the table. Rarity continues, "Imagine that you are trying to get this apple to move. If you were not to use magic, how would you do it?"

Sweetie Belle looks at the apple, then back to her dam. "Um, use my hoof?"

Rarity nods, "How else?"

Sweetie Belle looks around, "My other hoof?"

Rarity smiles, "Okay, enough hooves. What else?"

Sweetie Belle looks down at her hind hooves, then towards her dam. At her dam's slight head shake she says, "Um... I suppose I could use my mouth. Or my horn!"

Rarity beams, "Very good! Simply put, you move your body in order to move, or apply a force, to another object. Using your telekinesis, your levitation, is very similar to that. Now, how many apples can you lift with your hoof?"

Sweetie Belle frowns, "Not as many as Apple Bloom. She could carry half a basket of apples when we were last playing on the farm. I could only pick up the basket when it was a quarter full."

Rarity shakes her head, "This isn't a comparison between you and Apple Bloom, but I suppose it is an apt one. You are trying to exercise a muscle that you haven't been used to using. Over time, and with focus, your control and your strength with that muscle will improve. I started just where you are, working on levitating one object before I started to lift more. You'll see many of your young friends doing just that, such as tossing a ball back and forth."

Sweetie Belle looks excited, "How many objects can you lift now?"

Rarity purses her lips, not wanting to quash the foal's excitement or give her unreasonable expectations of herself. She says, "Well, I've worked very hard on this, especially once I began the Boutique and had to craft multiple things at once. This is advanced magic, but here goes!"

Rarity's horn lights, brighter than before, as cabinet drawers begin opening. Sweetie Belle tries to keep count as spools of thread, ribbons, and needles each levitate out of their respective drawers. She watches in amazement as each of the two dozen spools unwind a thread through the eye of a needle before sewing a pattern on their ribbon. After a few seconds each needle backtracks, the thread slipping out and being wound back on the spool. Each needle finds its way into the drawer before the ribbons, arranged by color, make their way, followed by the spools of thread.

One spool, ribbon, and needle move their way over to the table. Rarity smiles at Sweetie Belle, "Now, that made me a little hungry. Let's start by trying to move the apple so we can get a snack, okay?"

Meanwhile, Doug nods before waving goodbye to Rarity and ushering the two foals away. The mares had rearranged their schedule of where he spent the night and who woke up with him in order to let Rainbow stay with him by herself. Rainbow had taken Professor Flintheart's findings and recommendations particularly hard, and had been grateful for his merely being there with her.

Speaking of the mare, Doug notices Rainbow gliding down towards them. They wave at each other as Doug says, "Morning again, Rainbow. Everything worked out on the weather patrol?"

Rainbow nods, moving over to Scootaloo and giving the foal a nuzzle. "Yup, everypony's got their assignments and looks like a pretty easy day."

Doug picks up Apple Bloom, the foal looking a little tired from the tests they had run that morning. He glances to Rainbow, "How was your homework?"

Rainbow scowls, "I haven't been assigned homework in years, dam, but I still remembered how to get it done." She looks down at her hooves before saying in a lower voice, "Still having some trouble, but I think I've got a few exercises that we can work on. I don't really agree with Flintheart, though. She needs to be able to do this unconsciously, without thinking about it. All the great fliers are able to fly that way."

Doug nods, "Sure, but you have to start somewhere. When people, or most ponies, are learning a task they don't begin with that kind of knowledge or something being second nature. They have to start at the beginning, unconscious incompetence. They don't know what they are doing and they might not even realize it. Scootaloo is somewhere between there and conscious incompetence. She knows she is doing something wrong or poorly but doesn't really know how to fix it. The mistakes and attempts she makes now are critical to her making it to the third stage, conscious competence. She'll learn what she needs to do but has to think about the steps she is taking. Finally, she'll make it to the fourth stage, unconscious competence, where she doesn't need to think about what she is doing, she just does it."

Rainbow coughs, "Well, how do you explain the knowledge and skills that somepony gets when they get a cutie mark?"

Doug shrugs, "Magic? It seems like a bit of a cop-out to me, that somepony can just skip straight to stage four with whatever skill their cutie mark pertains to. I think it explains a bit of why so many ponies are hesitant to change jobs or locations. They know what they do and they like doing it. It makes it hard to start over from the beginning."

Rainbow says, "Yeah, it was a tough transition for me coming to Ponyville. I mean, I love going fast and working with weather, and I have a huge drive to push myself to do my best. So coming here, working at a town on the ground instead of in the sky? And then after I joined with you, staying on the ground half the time?" Rainbow shakes her head, trying to get back on track, "It kind of makes it hard to tell Scootaloo what I'm doing, since it always came naturally to me."

Doug nods, "Well, I'm sure you'll figure out a way. Don't be too hard on her, okay?"

Rainbow rolls her eyes before putting Scootaloo on her back and flying into the air, waving at Doug. He waves back and walks towards the farmhouse as she grabs a cloud, bringing it back down to the ground. She places Scootaloo on the ground, thinking about the exercises she has planned. Rainbow lifts a hoof, putting it on the cloud and says, "Alright, Scoots, we're going to focus on manipulating clouds with our magic. So first, we need to concentrate on getting and holding magic in your hooves."

Scootaloo nods, lifting her body up and dropping both hooves onto the cloud. She gives a shriek as she falls right through; she crawls backwards, bits and pieces of cloud coming apart as she struggles. Rainbow sighs, quickly gathering the pieces back together and says, "Not so fast this time. Much as I hate to say it, let's slow down, take this one hoof at a time."

Scootaloo focuses, slowly lifting one hoof and placing it against the cloud. When the cloud pushes back against her she gives an excited yelp, lifting her body up and placing her other front hoof on the cloud. That hoof passes right through the cloud, quickly followed by the rest of Scootaloo's body. The filly backs up, slower than before, tears forming in her eyes.

Rainbow Dash looks impatiently at her, "Alright, that was a good try." At Scootaloo's lowered head she scoffs, "What, are you giving up now? You're going to have to keep at this if you want to get better!"

Scootaloo quivers but gets back to her hooves. She tries to concentrate again but is disrupted by a loud sniffle. She pauses, collecting her strength before she focuses again, lifting her left hoof onto the cloud. When that hoof holds she focuses on the right hoof, but stops when her left hoof slowly starts sinking through the cloud. She lifts her left hoof then firmly places it back on the cloud before turning back to her right. She lifts her right hoof off the ground, doing her best to focus on both hooves. She holds her right hoof in place, ready to catch herself if she falls; after a few seconds she places her right hoof on the cloud.

Both hooves hold steady as Rainbow says, "Good job, Scootaloo! Well done!" Scootaloo slowly moves her head up, smiling at Rainbow before focusing again on her hooves. Rainbow says, "Now, hold this position for a minute, or until you feel tired. We'll keep practicing moving on and off the cloud until you need a break."

Rainbow smiles as she watches Scootaloo hold the position, the exertion on the filly's face gradually becoming less and less. Scootaloo tries to push against the cloud when the minute is up but her hooves instead punch through the cloud. She squawks as she falls, bending her forelegs as she drops to the ground. She pulls back, swiping at the bits of cloud that cling to her legs. She fails at first to brush a few off; as Rainbow starts to move forward Scootaloo calms down, slowly moving her hoof and pushing it against the speck of cloud. It comes off, sticking to Scootaloo's hoof, and the filly presses it against the main ball of cloud, molding it into place. Rainbow backs off, smiling as Scootaloo gathers the remaining pieces and reforms her cloud ball.

Scootaloo puts one hoof on the cloud, quickly testing her weight before pushing up and placing her second hoof on the cloud. She mounts it quicker this time, holding the position for a minute while Rainbow nods and smiles in encouragement. She doesn't push off the cloud as hard this time, dropping back and smiling back at Rainbow.

Rainbow forces a smile back on her face, quickly growing bored of the repetition. She glances around the sky before saying, "Alright, squirt, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to do some sprints. Normally I fly half miles, or the ten second bracket, but for you I'm going to do minutes. So, once you get into position, I'm going out thirty seconds and then back. You have to hold your position until I get back. Got it?" At the filly's nod Rainbow gets into position, quickly saying "ReadySetGo!"

Doug has continued on towards Sweet Apple Acres, Apple Bloom following behind. Applejack is standing outside the house, saddlebags on her back. She meets him at the doorway, looking excitedly at the pair. She asks, "So, how'd the rest of the testing go?"

Doug shrugs, "About as expected. They weren't able to find anything out except that the foals have low magic. They have some difficulty maneuvering the magic around their bodies, but Apple Bloom was doing well in that regard. The infusions didn't really stick on any of them, so they aren't sure how to proceed except mental training and using every bit of magic they possess."

Applejack nods, nuzzling Doug as he gets close. She nuzzles Apple Bloom after, pushing her gently towards one of the fallow fields. She looks at Doug, "Ah reckon you need to catch up on some work?" Doug nods and Applejack turns, heading towards the field while saying, "Have fun then, Ah'll catch up with ya for lunch."

Doug waves, heading inside to another bag full of weather requests. Applejack says to Apple Bloom, "How was meeting all those nice unicorns?"

Apple Bloom bounces a bit on her hooves as she says, "Oh, well, Fessor Flinhar was grumpy at first. But then he got happy! Or, less unhappy. Drabbe and Foil didn't talk much at all. Sunset... um, Miss Sunset was nice too."

Applejack nods, "Yes, Miss Sunset was very nice. Daddy was saying she seemed like she was on to something at the end. Something the other unicorns weren't thinking about." Applejack pauses, "Ah hope they figure something out."

Apple Bloom frowns, "About what?"

Applejack hesitates, "Well, it's about your magic."

Apple Bloom says, "Mah magic?"

Applejack nods, "That's what we'll be practicing today, your magic. Ah've got a bunch of flower seeds, and we're going to practice using our magic to help them grow."

Apple Bloom starts bouncing on her hooves, "Ooh, that sounds fun! The, um, unicorns were excited when I got magic in my hooves! Is that what we're doing here?"

Applejack nods, coming to a stop at one of the furrows. She shrugs the saddlebags to her side, pulling out one of the seeds. "Now, AB, watch closely. Ah... hmm, let me see." Applejack furrows her brow; she has never really thought before of how she is able to help the plants grow. She mostly just envisioned them sprouting, growing roots and stems, leaves, and finally buds that bloom into flowers.

Applejack sits there staring at the seed in her hoof as Apple Bloom tentatively asks, "Is there supposed to be something happening?" The filly sits back, rubbing her head with a hoof as she watches her dam.

Applejack shakes her head, "Ah, no, Ah'm just thinking of how to say what Ah'm gonna say. So, Ah want this here seed to sprout. The more magic Ah use, the faster it grows. So, Ah'm just going to use a little magic, just enough to get the seed to break out of its coat."

Applejack holds the seed out so Apple Bloom can clearly see it. Applejack focuses a tiny amount of magic into the seed, feeling the response as a wave of pleasure radiating from her hoof. The sensation is greater when she works with apple seeds, but she nonetheless smiles as she feels the seed break free and a green sprout come forth. She gently cuts the magic off, feeling the cool response in return, and puts the sprout into one of the furrows. She lovingly covers it with some dirt, patting the top with the side of her hoof.

She turns to Apple Bloom with a smile as Rainbow flies by overhead, "That's how it's done. Ah don't expect you to be able to do that just yet, but if you can manage that by the end of the day Ah'll be mighty impressed." She moves a hoof to her back, pulling out a few seeds and placing them in front of Apple Bloom. "Now, first off you're going to try to get a sense of the seeds. They are in there, just waiting for you to touch them. Now, go on, give it a try."

Apple Bloom moves a hoof over, picking up one of the seeds. She looks at it from multiple angles before focusing, trying to push more magic in her hooves. Applejack frowns when she sees Apple Bloom frown, the foal shaking her hoof. "Mama, Ah don't feel it. What's it supposed to feel like?"

Applejack pauses; how is she going to explain the feeling of pure joy she gets when she follows her cutie mark? That knowledge that you are who you are supposed to be, the sense of belonging, of having a purpose? Does this mean that Apple Bloom will not get a cutie mark, or just that her cutie mark won't be in farming?

Apple Bloom sees her hesitation, lowering her head and trying again to focus on the seed. Right now, it just feels like a piece of dirt, no different than the tilled earth she is standing on. She closes her eyes, trying to get a sense of the seed and what is inside, the potential, the chance of new life. She gets the barest hint of something, like she is looking at Ponyville from her room upstairs. She is trying to pick out which pony at the market is her Applejack, but they keep going behind the stalls. She squints against her closed eyelids, trying to make out that spark of life against the backdrop of the false images her eyes send her mind.

Applejack moves over, placing her hoof carefully on top of Apple Bloom's. While the unicorns had said that magic infusion hadn't taken, maybe she could help guide Apple Bloom. Applejack focuses on the seed on the other side of Apple Bloom's hoof, trying to get a sense of it without her magic infusing into the seed, without telling the seed to do what every seed wanted to do.

In Apple Bloom's mind she is suddenly picked up, galloping through the air towards Ponyville. She looks down to see her dam underneath her, Applejack turning her head upwards and smiling, the mare carrying her foal towards town and towards the spark. Apple Bloom smiles at the caress of Applejack's magic, flowing through her hoof as it makes its way towards the seed. She can see the seed, that tiny dot of life, and wills herself to move closer. She struggles, trying to get a glimpse as the spark moves behind another stall. She waits, watching the stall intently before she notices, out of the corner of her eye, the spark moving behind a different stall. She smiles, a quick 'gotcha!' forming in her mind as she focuses on the spark.

Apple Bloom opens her eyes as she feels her dam's magic leave her hoof. The foal looks at the tiny seed in her hoof, a small tear forming on one of the sides and a hint of green poking out. She looks up at Applejack, whispering, "Did Ah do that?"

Applejack nods, a tear forming in her eye, "Yes, my little Bloom, that was you. Ah just helped guide you there."

Apple Bloom smiles, placing the seed into the ground and pushing a little dirt over the top. She picks up another seed, focusing again on the spark within. Once again, she is back at Sweet Apple Acres, trying to see into Ponyville. It would be a long walk, getting there by herself, but now she knows the way.

Applejack finishes covering the sprouting seed, deciding against using any magic to assist this little one. Even if it never got as big as the others, it would be a perfect reminder of Apple Bloom's success. It and every other in the row.

Comments

[LightnDarkGodofSalvation]

I'm feeling suspicious of why you calling AJ, RD, and Rarity dam instead mom or mother?

[Doug Graves]

9176045
It is the term for a horse's parent, much like sire <-> father. I use mama / daddy because replacing those sounds worse and I'm not sure exactly what I would replace it with.

[chibilink]

I see, so they have to train the magic that would normally be inherent, sorta like how human's have to train from scratch. That's a clever way of doing things.

Hopefully that works out for them.

[DarkPhoenixx]

Omg congratz Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and Apple Bloom!! It may not be much but its a start. *wipes tears from my eyes* Foals grow up so fast.

[Jack-Pony]

Doug's nods, waving before walking away. Rarity waves goodbye, closing the door behind her. The specialists felt that each of them should create a training plan, something for them to do with their foals while waiting for the results on some of their lengthier tests. There has been little indication that the foal is doing anything wrong. Instead, it is more akin to exercising a muscle, one that she doesn't realize she has. Most foals start using their magic, even accidentally, at several days old. Some are even quite prodigious, having strong enough levitation and telekinesis it to grab toys, bottles, or even their parents.

Professor Flintheart seems sure that Sweetie Belle has enough thaums to perform these skills. However, she will need to learn to focus almost the entirety of her magic on the task at hoof, with little left over for extraneous applications. Rarity thinks to her own telekinesis; she can focus a tiny portion of her magic on each of a nearly a hundred different objects. Professor Flintheart had suppressed his admiration, however, merely nodding at her extraordinarily efficient use. If Sweetie Belle can learn to exercise the same fine control Rarity has then the foal will be able to master telekinesis, if only on one object at a time. Maybe two if they are light or close enough.

Most of this is unnecessary 'telling' considering we are shown most of this through Rarity and Sweetie Belle's interactions/ conversations following it.

[Doug Graves]

10256731
True, and thanks for the critique. I started revising Year Two, and will certainly do things like streamline this and make it line up better with The First Year.

[f0st3r21]

This was a great exploration describing the differences in the pony magics.