Unity 4 - School Days
"And in general, as someone uses magic, it begins to express itself in specific ways. For example, a pegasus that flies fast but tends not to train its control will usually have trouble making high-speed turns, but one that practices their control can make turns at any speed it can handle. Practicing your magic works the same way! While having the theory is necessary, just as with anything, your skill and method of using magic will reflect the effort you put into growing it." Twilight says with a smile to her advanced magic class. The nobles were surprised when Twilight said she would open a school, but the idea was a rousing success. Young ponies far and wide were beginning to move and become live-in students at her school, encouraging more ponies to settle down around the now half-built castle.
As Twilight begins to switch slides, she sees a hoof raised. "Hm? Oh, Moondancer, what's your question?" She says. After all, the school does not discriminate based on age. In fact, the advanced class is mostly adult ponies!
Moondancer lowers her hoof. "How do cutie marks play into how your magic grows? Because, obviously, it makes some aspects of your magic stronger and others weaker."
Twilight nods. "So, just as with talents and such, cutie marks help you learn things that align with your special talent faster, but you can understand this as having a higher natural affinity to working in that. For example, my talent is magic, BUT that doesn't stop me from, say, learning how to cook well. It just means that somepony else with that talent will have a easier time. Just because your talent is to be a scholar doesn't mean you can't use that to be something else. In your case, being a Royal Guard. I encourage you to pursue things and use your talents in unique ways because that's how we grow together." She says with a smile.
Twilight's lessons would continue for the rest of the day. However, she wasn't the only teacher in the school. A small explosion happens a few doors down the hall as Star Swirl teaches a class of his own, comprised of only teenagers to young adult ponies that show exceptionally high levels of promise. The magic theory and application class was always hectic because of one pair of alicorns. "I did it, Celestia!" Luna says with a happy grin as she makes a bubble of dragon fire float around the room. The rest of the class took cover behind a desk near the back while Star Swirl watched with a tired and curious expression.
"While I admit that is very impressive, now what?" Star Swirl says curtly. "You have a ball of fire stuck inside a barrier preventing it from exploding, but it has no practical use like that now, does it?" The words from Star Swirl make Luna and Celestia flinch a little. They honestly didn't expect to get this far.
"Couldn't it be used as a replacement for precision demolition tools? Assuming you can shrink the spells, they could fit in places to create focused and accurate explosions." Says a voice from the back, Hearthfire taking some notes on the spell that the two sisters created. "For example, applying Misty Hoof's theory of Spell Reduction, we could replace explosives with two ponies casting spells instead." Hearthfire then steps forward and casts the third component, shrinking the spell to a small dot. "All the explosive power in a small space. Even if we just used the concept for excavation, it could save a lot of time for ponies that have to lay tracks down going through mountains or even miners."
Star Swirl hums. "That is the correct answer. Ten points to each of you. Remember, new magic should have a reason to exist. If you cannot explain the purpose, then it is pointless. Unfortunately, even just magic that is a spectacle is acceptable, although I do not see its value personally." Star Swirl watches as the alicorns and the unicorn cheer a little before clearing his throat and motioning to the spell.
Celestia and Luna's eyes open in realization. "Oops! Sorry." Celestia says as the pair dispel the small orb with ease. The bell for lunch rang gently through the school.
"Remember, you all have teleportation practice after lunch, so do not eat anything heavy." Star Swirl says to an empty room, everypony having already bolted out of the classroom. The elder unicorn's ear twitches as he hears someone enter his class "Hmph. You were correct, Twilight. Celestia and Luna are incredibly skilled with magic. Where Celestia fails in her magical strength, she makes up for it with her creative thinking." Star Swirl pulls out some papers with many red marks on them before continuing.
"Meanwhile, Luna's magic is potent, but her creativity needs some work. Yet, they still lose focus so quickly that they have yet to learn any standard spells. I'm worried that they won't learn how to teleport until after the castle is complete at this rate. They only recently learned the standard version of the shield spell rather than their duo spell." Twilight sighs as she hears all this.
"They were the closest to the pacification spell when it happened, not to mention Luna told me Celestia was pretty badly hurt. She doesn't like to talk about it, so I don't know what happened." Twilight sighs a little as she watches Celestia and Luna from the classroom. Celestia is happily chatting with her friends while Luna is relaxing alone with a book with her friends. "I need them to be ready, though. The castle is almost halfway complete. Not to mention that you've been even more busy with hero duties recently, Star Swirl." She says to him with a worried tone in her voice. "The other teachers are good, but no pony can teach magic theory like you."
"Aside from maybe you, Twilight. Even then, should anything happen to me, I know you'll make the correct decision regarding our students." Star Swirl says as he joins Twilight at the window. The pair looked down to the courtyard. "I do worry about Luna, though. She's become much more reclusive these past few months. It's almost as if something is eating away at her." Star Swirl sighs a little and grabs his lesson planner. "Either way, it is far from my place to interfere with such things. I must go now, your Majesty. We spotted the sirens again in Trottingham, so I must go now as we agreed. I will return when the battle concludes." He says as he exits the room with a flash of white light. Twilight sighed a little as she watched down to the courtyard.
"And as much as I hate to say it, you're the only pony qualified to teach about this stuff," Twilight says with a serious face to Unity. Who is just sitting in her Canterlot 'home' with a smirk.
Unity giggles at Twilight and raises an eyebrow before looking up at the Queen with a smug expression. "You're so desperate to teach ponies about me and Discord that you'd be willing to ask me for help? Oooh, that's going to cost you, ya know." Unity smirks. "Not that I mind. You probably asked Discord first, and he said something like, 'Teaching creatures is boring, so no.'"
Twilight sighs a little. "As much as I hate to say it, you're the only creature in Equestria that understands harmony magic better than I do. I was studying back in my time period, but I only have a surface-level understanding of it! So, I'm trying to offer you a job here. You can help teach ponies, including your own son and daughter, just as a guest speaker because, frankly, no pony wants to deal with you longer than they have to anyway. The least you could do is help fix some of the problems you made with Eternal."
Unity sighs a little. "Tsk tsk~ I made them with you, Twilight, but even then, It was your daughters and your actions that made the spell incomplete. However, the resulting damage was unfortunate. So I'll make you a deal. I will teach. However, in exchange, you have to promise me one little thing."
Twilight glares at Unity. "What?"
Unity smiles. "Nothing too big, honestly. I want you to promise that even after our fight in a few months if you somehow win, my family will not be bothered because of their relationship with me. Change their names, identities, whatever, but I want you to be sure that you or anypony else in this chaotic world will never dare to hurt them." She says with a glare.
Twilight blinks in surprise before giggling. "You are a mom. Gee. Fine, but you promise the same to me. Leave Celestia and Luna out of any chaotic, insane final spell you might have."
"Deal"
"Today, we will be having a guest speaker. Some of you know her, regardless of her history and future problems. She is here to teach about specialized and unique magic. She's the only one that can with any authority." Twilight says with a sigh. "Unity, welcome to the stage, say anything evil, and I will punch you."
Unity stands at the front of the auditorium with a stretch of her wings. "Hello, I'm Unity. Let's get some brass tacks out of the way. Firstly, yes, I am the villain, but we have a peace agreement right now, and a request from even an old ex-friend is hard to say no to. So, I am here to teach you about the unique and specialized magics of the world. I'll need Twilight, Celestia, Luna, Moondancer, and you, Storm Arts."
As the requested ponies come to the front, a pony in the crowd raises their hoof. "Yes?" Unity says.
"Are you gonna fight Twilight in the future?" The nameless pony asks with a tilt of her head. She's a young filly, probably at most ten or eleven years of age.
Unity giggles. "Young ones such as you shouldn't worry about that. Don't worry. I'm not here to do anything untoward. Probably. Now, onto the lesson. Here, we have two ponies with Unique magic, Two ponies with Specialized magic, and one with both. Can anypony tell me who?"
One pony raises her hoof, and upon being called on, the pony stands and points. "Queen Twilight has both, uhm. Princess Celestia and Luna have unique magic, and Moondancer and Storm Arts have specialized magic?"
Unity claps. "Correct! Good work! Keep an eye on that one, Hearthfire. She's a catch." A groan escapes from the back of the auditorium, the colt hiding his face behind his notebook. "Queen Twilight has specialized and unique magic: her refined spell casting and time magic. Celestia and Luna have the sun and moon unique magic, respectively. Finally, Moondancer has her analysis magic, while Storm Arts has his weather magic. Now, what are the differences between these types of magic?"
The room goes quiet as everyone, including the ponies on stage (Aside from Twilight), thinks a bit before Hearthfire raises his hoof. Unity nodded at her son with great expectation. He would say shortly. "Unique magic is something that would only be possible to learn or develop with some boost, such as how Queen Twilight can move the sun and moon due to the blessing the previous King and Queen gave her. Meanwhile, specialized magic is something anypony can learn, but it requires a particular mindset and tons of practice to do so."
Unity smiles broadly, very happy. "Correct! Mostly! That's my boy!" She giggles happily, getting a little giddy. "See, Twilight, even your daughters were stumped by that one~." Twilight gives Unity an annoyed glare, which makes the Spirit cough to compose herself. "Correct. Unique magic is provided to you by your talent or a blessing. Hence, you usually find them passed down through bloodlines or given out by those who already have them. While a group of ponies may be able to mimic the abilities of the magic, such as when unicorns used to move the sun and moon together, the one with the unique magic can do it effortlessly." Unity exhales and takes a drink of water to clear her throat. Many ponies are engrossed in the lesson as she walks in front of the lineup.
Unity then continues, "Meanwhile, specialized magic can be learned with effort and work by anypony. However, unlike what my son said, talent does play a role in your capabilities with this subset of magic. The world does not play fair. Don't get it mixed up. Moondancer, for example, due to her talent in magical theory, will always be more potent in her analysis magic than even my son. Even if they both became masters in that field, she would always have a hoof up on him. However, I was told not to preach today, so I'll leave that there." Unity nods as she motions for everypony to retake their seats. "Any questions?"
Around twenty-five hooves pop up, but one question in particular catches Unity's ear. "What does your magic count as then, professor?"
Unity tilts her head. "Ah, my magic? It's specialized, of course. Somepony can learn how to do harmony magic, but figuring out how to use it would require much effort. The inverse, however, chaos magic that of my brother, is unique. Ponies cannot learn it due to your natural inclination to harmony, and it would take an exceptional pony to use it without negative afflictions. I suppose the only pony in Equestria that could pull it off is the Queen herself."
Twilight raises an eyebrow. "Giving me hints now? Sounds like you're wavering~." Twilight pulls out a notebook and writes something down on it.
Unity smiles. "I just want a good fight. Anyways, that's pretty much everything on those types of magic. I hope you all learn and work on yourself so you can each become specialized and unique in your rights!" Unity then dismisses the class. As the ponies all leave, Unity begins hugging Hearthfire tightly as she dotes on him. Twilight is doing the same to Celestia and Luna, much to the trio's chagrin!
"You want to do what?" Discord says with a confused expression as he looks at Twilight.
Twilight stretches a little "Unity, and I used to do it all the time. Why would this be any different?"
Discord deadpans, "I could give you an entire list of how it would be different. Are you even synchronized with chaos enough to pull something like this off? Harmony, I understand, but-" Discord is cut off by Twilight staring at him.
"If you want my resume, I destabilized a town, erupted in flames when I got angry about something, and nearly destroyed Equestria because I was depressed," Twilight says flatly. "Besides, if it gets bad, you can always break the spell yourself. I may not trust you, but we both know this is our best shot."
Discord sighs. "Fine. Let's give it a shot." He says, "Don't blame me if you go insane."
"Oh, don't worry, Discord. I'm long past that point."
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Unity smiles. "Nothing too big, honestly. I want you to promise that even after our fight in a few months if you somehow win, my family will not be bothered because of their relationship with me. Change their names, identities, whatever, but I want you to be sure that you or anypony else in this chaotic world ever dare to hurt them." She says with a glare.
I think that last bit should be 'would ever dare to hurt them'
11718238
Oopah. ye should be never. x.x whoopsies
You know, this kind of touches on something I personally believe about the difference between talent and skill. To me, skill is the measure of how good you are at something, while talent is a measure of how easily you learn that thing. Obviously, someone who is talented will get to the top faster, but having less talent doesn't prevent you from developing the skill.
11718247
Maybe change Twilight's response to this.
(Twilight)
"You don't know what true harmony is." Twilight says as she glares hard at Unity. "You brainwashed or altered my mind, stole my memories, tried to make me kill my daughters, changed ponies and creatures into who they aren't, ruined Equestria and the planet. What you did wasn't trying to create harmony, it was being a TYRANT. You tried changing the world in your own vision and didn't try to actually make it better for everypony. You showed that you have no regards for any lives besides yourself."
"You say you want to bring harmony to the world? Well here's the thing." Twilight states as she continues. "Me and my original friends were succeeding in what you failed to do. We were bringing true peace and harmony to Equestria and the world, while all you did was bring disharmony."
(To add further burn to the wound)
"You have a lot to think about"