Chapter 1
Sweetie Belle's Magic Lesson
Sweetie Belle raised her head out of the bush. It was a nice bush, with a thick layer of leaves on the outside but an inside almost completely bereft of branches. It was the perfect bush for hiding in, and waiting silently for the perfect moment to strike. Sweetie Belle retracted her head and turned towards the two ponies hiding alongside her.
Scootaloo immediately spoke up. "So? Where are-"
"Shh!" Applebloom whispered, cutting her friend off, "We don't want to wake the birds!" The trio were currently observing a tree, or rather, what was in the branches of the tree. "Twilight told us about these rare, endangered birds so we wouldn't disturb them!" Applebloom reminded them. "If we're too loud, they'll fly off and we can't keep them safe!"
Applebloom was half-right. Twilight Sparkle, the town librarian and a magnificently magical mare, had warned them about a species of migratory bird that was currently flying through. She had warned them to stay away, as the birds had a tendency to fly with their eggs, but drop them when surprised or shocked. This was, she thought, potentially a contributing factor to their small number.
"We have to be very, very quiet," Applebloom whispered while carefully pulling apart the branches and sneaking out. Scootaloo followed, moving on the tips of her hooves to make as little noise as possible. The two began to carefully climb the trunk of the tree, slowly making their way up. Sweetie Belle stayed on the ground, getting ready to catch anything, or anyone, should something fall. She carefully watched her two friends scale the tree, getting closer and closer to their target: a nest, complete with a few bird eggs that they planned to liberate and raise as their own to help the population replenish. Applebloom grabbed an egg between two hooves and started to pass it to Scootaloo, who could bring it down to the ground safely.
"Yeah!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, rejoicing in celebration of their victory. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Nature Protectors Go!"
Applebloom glared at her, staring as if to say "Sweetie Belle, you're such an idiot" before motioning for Scootaloo to hurry up. It wasn't enough, however, and the parents returned a moment later, having been alerted by Sweetie's celebratory dancing. They swooped down and grabbed the remaining eggs from their nest, before returning and pecking at Scootaloo until she gave the egg she was protecting back too.
"No! Come back!" Sweetie pleaded, chasing after them. Squawking in surprise, one of the parents dropped one of the eggs they were carrying and the two sped away as quickly as their wings could take them. Sweetie watched the egg fall, knowing full well it was too far away for her—or her friends—to catch. There was only one thing for it, she would have to use magic. She thought back to what her mother had said about magic, mentally skipping over the bits about "You can't force it" and "It'll come to you in time", and started to concentrate on the falling egg. The world seemed to slow down as adrenaline began to rush through her body, and she felt a spark of energy tingling at the tip of her horn. The world seemed like it was suddenly presented with more detail, and Sweetie knew in that one moment that she'd finally done it, she'd finally figured out how to cast magic. From there, it was a simple task to stop a small object in the air, and she could return to her friends victorious.
She stared at the egg. "Stop! I command you!" she shouted, holding out a hoof and waving her horn with all her might. The egg dropped and shattered against the ground. Sweetie soon followed, having forgotten to balance herself on three legs. A moment later, her two friends arrived and stood by her side, looking on and seeing the egg-goo seeping across the hard dirt ground.
"Oh," they both sighed.
"No Cutie Marks today, I guess," Scootaloo moaned. "Wanna go get ice cream?" Applebloom nodded and the two helped Sweetie back onto her hooves. The trio walked off, leaving the egg to be washed away in the next scheduled rains, and headed for ice cream.
"Hey Sweetie, you okay? You haven't said anything since we scared those birds!" Applebloom asked while they walked. Sweetie's expression was grimmer than usual, and she seemed deep in thought. It wasn't like her.
Sweetie didn't reply, and just kept walking. The ice cream parlour wasn't far, and luckily the owner, Miss Sticky Buns, knew their favourites already. Even then, Sweetie simply poked and prodded at her treat while her friends enthusiastically devoured theirs. When Scootaloo was finished, and had chocolate sauce generously draped over the majority of her face, she noticed Sweetie hadn't even started.
"Cheer up, Sweetie Belle! We'll get our Cutie Marks one day!"
"It's not that," she moaned. "I wish I could do magic like my big sister. She could have caught that egg easy!"
"Well," Applebloom interjected, wiping the apple-flavouring from her lips with a hoof, "My big sister, Applejack, says that we'll all get our magic when we're older!"
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "I can't ever do magic, I have wings!"
"Flying is magic, dummy," Applebloom shot back. "And so is making things grow! Don't you even listen to Miss Cheerilee? No wonder I have to help with all your homework." She stuck her tongue out to underscore her point. Scootaloo made a silly face back at her.
"But I want it now!" Sweetie shouted, jabbing her spoon a good two inches into the side of her ice cream. "It's not fair! Some of the other unicorns at school can magic loads of things, and I can't do anything!"
Scootaloo licked her lips and pushed her finished glass away. "Some things just take time! It took me ages to get good at my scooter, but I'm glad I worked at it. Some things are worth waiting for. C'mon, eat up and we can try something else to get our cutie marks today!"
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Sweetie Belle started to cheer up, grinning at her friends as they started to discuss what was next for their cutie mark acquisition program.
"Alright class, settle down!" Cheerilee shouted, trying to drown out the natural clamour of the class with her stern but fair teacher's tone. "I realise you all like arts and craft, but it's lunchtime now, you all have to go outside." As much as Cheerilee would have loved to let them all stay and play, Sweetie Belle had managed to cover herself entirely in glue and Snails had somehow swallowed all but one of the decorative straws.
"Hold still, Sweetie," Cheerilee commanded, and started to wipe some of the glue away with a thick towel. "We really should get this off before it dries. Whatever were you doing?"
"Trying to lift the pot!" Sweetie replied, recalling how it had seemed like such a good idea to balance the large pot of sticky glue on the back of her head. Scootaloo and Applebloom had needed it for their paper mache cutie marks. "I tried to balance it but it just fell over and then I tripped and fell too and now I'm covered in glue and Rarity is going to be mad at me... again."
"It's not your fault, you just need to be more careful next time."
"But Rarity carries things all the time! I wish I could do magic like her..." Sweetie Belle was suddenly overcome with a combination of sadness and self-irritation, and her only response was to sit down and cross her forelegs. "It's not fair! All the other unicorns in the class can do magic already!"
Cheerilee continued cleaning Sweetie Belle off. "I'm afraid that isn't something I can teach you, but perhaps one of the other unicorns could? I'm sure our librarian would love the chance to teach an enthusiastic young student such as you! I don't know much about magic, but if anypony does, it's her."
Sweetie's eyes went wide as she realised Cheerilee was right—all she needed was a teacher! What was the difference between magic and maths, really, other than one she was tutored in? "That's a great idea! Thanks, Miss Cheerilee! I'll go see her!" Sweetie said, enthusiastically and without a hint of her earlier foul mood. She pulled herself to her hooves, and remained completely stuck to the floor. The glue had hardened.
Cheerilee sighed. It was going to be a long day.
Sweetie Belle finally walked out of the school hall later that afternoon. Her coat was frizzy, but between her teacher and friends she'd been made to look somewhat respectable. Instead of heading home like she usually would, Sweetie turned towards the large tree in the centre of town and started her short journey, wondering what she was going to say.
As she approached the door as raised her hoof to knock, she paused. Twilight was a busy mare, maybe she should just ask Rarity. She turned to leave, but as if the fates had decided to intervene, the door swung open regardless. Spike walked out, carrying a stack of scrolls piled so high they towered over his small body. "Hi Sp-oof!" Sweetie's greeting was cut off as the dragon wandered straight into her, burying both of them under a pile of parchment.
"Oh! Hey Sweetie Belle! I uh, didn't see you there!" Spike apologised, pulling himself free. "Can't come out to play, Twilight has me doing chores." He started to pick up scrolls after scroll, but the pile seemed endless.
"I was actually looking for Twilight!" Sweetie said, wriggling free of her paper prison. "Is she inside?"
Spike's face fell slightly. "Oh, yeah, she is. I hope you two have fun while I'm out delivering all these."
"We will, thanks!"
It was at that moment that Twilight made her appearance, sticking her head through one of the upstairs windows. "Ugh, Spike!" she snapped, picking up all the letters in a magic field and reorganising them into alphabetical order with a thought. She hovered the pile in front of him and let him take the lot, before shoving him along on his way. "Honestly, those letters need sending and he's out here playing! No offence, Sweetie."
"Oh no! He wasn't playing, he just fell over. I'm actually here to see you!" Sweetie replied, craning her neck upwards to see the purple librarian. Twilight's eyebrow raised for the slightest moment before she pulled her head back inside and sealed the window. An instant later she appeared in a flash of blinding light, standing immediately in front of the hopeful student.
"Oh? Do you need a book for school?"
"No, I was kinda hoping you could help me learn some magic! Rarity keeps saying I just have to wait, but I don't want to wait any more, and Miss Cheerilee said that if anypony could teach it you could!"
Twilight smiled and awkwardly looked around. "Me? I'm no teacher! There are still parts of magic I don't understand, I'm not sure I could teach anypony!"
"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaseeeeee?" Sweetie begged, letting her upper lip quiver and her eyes sparkle and waver as she stared upwards as innocently as she could. "I don't want you to teach me everything, I just want to be able to do something! Scootaloo can ride her scooter really well, and Applebloom is super smart and great with apples, but I can't do anything special at all!"
Twilight looked back at the eager pupil. "Hm, alright then. I'll try. Say, Spike should be busy for a few hours, why don't you come in? I'm sure Rarity won't mind!" She walked back into her library and closed the door behind Sweetie from afar, before pulling out a large whiteboard from out of thin air and setting it up in front of a few chairs. "Please, sit!"
Sweetie quickly trotted over to the front and sat down, hoping that by the end of the lesson she too would be shooting laser beams out of her horn. "Where do we start? Ooh! Can I try and lift these chairs?"
Twilight laughed. "No, Sweetie. I don't think we'll try and do any magic today. It's important to fully understand the theory before you try and put anything into practise, so today I'll be explaining the basics."
Sweetie groaned quietly, but if it led to her gaining her own spellcasting abilities, it would be worth it. She sat attentively and watched as Twilight began to draw diagrams on her board, going back several times to fix mistakes or just make something more accurate.
"Okay," she said, turning around. "Magic is a part of everypony, something that helps define who we are. Everypony has some magic, whether it's an earth pony that uses it to grow things, a pegasus that uses it to fly, or a unicorn that casts spells. Imagine your magic as this vast lake within you. Using it is just a case of forcing that lake out through your horn and forcing it into the shape you want!"
Sweetie sat there and nodded. She almost understood some of that! The next hour or so was along similar lines, with Twilight explaining, in great detail, everything from the technical details of telekinesis to the logistics of creating moustaches. By the time Twilight was finally done, Sweetie felt mentally exhausted—and no closer to casting any spells.
"Next time, we'll give some simple magic a try, okay?" Twilight said as Sweetie was leaving. The filly enthusiastically nodded in response and trotted back home to where Rarity was surely waiting, eager to return the following day and continue her tuition. She felt sure she'd pick it up easily with such a great teacher.
The following day, once school was over, Sweetie Belle said her "see ya"s and bid her farewells, and turned up on Twilight's doorstep once more. Spike answered, after a little knocking, and Sweetie skipped her way back to the front of her new class, sitting eagerly in front of Twilight as she drew out diagrams and referred to textbooks in last-minute preparation.
"Okay, let's begin. Do you remember what I was saying yesterday about how magic was like a lake? I want you to concentrate on that, and try to feel it within yourself," Twilight eventually instructed, pointing to a helpful diagram depicting a small lake inside the outline of a pony.
Sweetie Belle closed her eyes and tried to look deep within herself. She didn't know how to look deep within herself, but she thought concentrating on her stomach might be a good starting point. Her brow furrowed as a sensation bubbled up inside of her, feeling like a pressure, or a force trying to get out. She burped. "Whoops! Sorry," she apologised, and tried again.
Still nothing.
"How long is this meant to take, Twilight?"
"Uh, I'm not sure. I could always feel it, though it took many years before I could master it. Are you sure you're not just missing it?" Twilight asked.
Sweetie Belle nodded solemnly. "I'm never going to be as good as my big sister at this rate!"
"Oh, Sweetie, you've only just started! Just keep trying and I'm sure it'll all work out great!"
The rest of the lesson was uneventful. Sweetie Belle sat there trying to connect with her inner magic, and nothing happened; not even a little spark. Forty five minutes later, Sweetie Belle cried out as her concentration momentarily overwhelmed her balance, and she tumbled to the floor. "Aagh!" she screamed, "this isn't working! I'm never going to get my magic!"
Twilight closed her eyes and rubbed her forehoof against her horn. "Okay." She sighed. "How about we try that one more time? I really don't know what else to teach, perhaps you're just going to have to wait for it to happen naturally?"
"No! I want it now!"
"I'm sorry, I can't magically make you understand. Maybe if you looked a bit harder?" she said hopefully.
"I am looking! It's no good!" Sweetie Belle jumped to her hooves and ran for the door, narrowly avoiding Spike as he went about his cleaning duties. She fumbled with the handle for a moment, but eventually escaped, running as fast as she could away from the treehouse, and away from her failures.
"Should... I go after her?" Twilight asked, looking over at Spike. He shrugged.
"She might want some time alone. Not all of us were born with stuff like that, Twilight. She's probably just going back to Rarity's, anyway."
Twilight sighed and nodded. "I suppose you're right," she said, while clearing away her equipment for the lesson and wiping the diagrams clean, before returning to her own studies.
Many hours later, once the sun had set and Twilight was preparing to retire for the night, there was a knock at the door. It was insistent, yet collected. A repetitive rapping in bouts of three, clearly made by somebody who tried to keep their appearance even in times of stress.
"Hello, Rarity," Twilight said as she opened the door, revealing the expected purple-haired unicorn. "Is everything okay?"
"Oh, not at all, Twilight! I don't suppose you've seen Sweetie Belle, have you?"
"Not since she left after our lesson, no."
"Lesson?" Rarity asked, tilting her head. "Are you doing book readings again?"
"You... didn't know? I was giving her magic lessons. I thought she'd told you!" Twilight said, growing more worried about the young and missing filly.
"No! Gosh, Twilight, I wouldn't have thought you'd do such a thing. Surely you're as aware as I that one simply cannot rush something like that!" Rarity replied.
"Well- but- she... she asked me to! I couldn't say no, she seemed so desperate! I had to try, at least!" Twilight replied, visibly flustered. Her concern grew as she realised Rarity was right, and that she'd made a terrible teacher. "Oh, I've made a huge mistake. We have to find her before she hurts herself!"
"It's okay, Twilight. I think I know where she is."
"Well then, let's go!" Twilight said, grabbing her saddlepack and tying it around her body.
"No, Twilight, I think this is something I should do alone, as her sister."
"Oh. Okay then, good luck!" Twilight nodded and opened the door once again to let Rarity out, waving goodbye as she watched her friend walk off into the distance at a brisk pace. "Oh, I do hope they're okay," she remarked, wandering back over to her bed only to find Spike was already asleep.
Rarity walked with a purpose. She knew exactly where she was going; there was only one place Sweetie Belle ever hid. She trotted up the wooden stairs to Applejack's old treehouse and knocked on the door—three taps, then a pause, then repeat. As expected, she got no response.
The door wasn't locked, and she could simply walk inside. She saw Sweetie Belle straining against some invisible force in her attempts to move a piece of paper using only her mind, but she clearly wasn't getting anywhere. A moment later she sat back down and slapped at the offending sheet with a hoof, sending it flying.
"Sweetie, darling, are you going to come home?"
Sweetie Belle sniffed. "No."
"Are you sure? I can make your favourite dinner," Rarity replied, hoping the promise of food could tempt her. Sweetie looked up for a moment, and Rarity thought that perhaps she might return, but her gaze fell back to the floor.
"I can't," she muttered, looking away in shame. Rarity could tell she'd been crying, her eyes were puffy and the coat around her face was matted and stained. The older sibling walked over and sat next to her younger counterpart, remaining silent for a few seconds while she considered her next words.
"What's wrong, dear? Is this about your magic lessons, did they not go well?"
"No! I just can't do it. I'm a failure. I'll never get my special talent OR my magic!" Sweetie Belle sobbed.
"Of course you will! You're still young, you have plenty of time before you need to worry. I know you'll get it one day, even if you haven't quite figured it out yet."
Sweetie Belle wiped a tear out of her eye. "But so many of the other unicorns can already do their magic!"
"That's okay. You can't find your magic until you've found yourself, and that's something you're still working on. It's just going to take time, it always does. Some ponies are just easier to understand than others, but being complex isn't a bad thing," Rarity said, trying her best to sound encouraging.
"But you and Twilight could already do magic when you were my age!"
"And you can already sing much better than I can. Everypony grows differently, that's part of what makes life so special. Don't ever think you aren't special just because you aren't as good at some things as other ponies. I'm sure many of them feel the same way about you."
Sweetie looked up at her sister. "Promise it'll happen one day?"
"I promise. Maybe then you could get lessons from Twilight, but for now even she can't teach you. The only pony who can do that is yourself."
"Okay," Sweetie replied, sniffing one last time before blowing her nose on Rarity's hastily procured hoofkerchief. "I think I'm ready to go home now."
Rarity smiled and took Sweetie Belle's hoof in hers, helping her up so they could walk home side by side. She had a perfect dinner to cook.
Many weeks, or even months, after that fateful day, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applejack were trying to get their cutie marks in speed-baking. The kitchen was a mess, covered in a thin layer of flour and sugar and with spilled puddles of milk dripping down from every surface. Their four failed cakes stood collapsed behind them, but they had a good feeling about this next one.
Applebloom carried over a tray with all the ingredients they needed. Among those were two eggs, precariously balanced on the edge of a tray. A slight stumble as Applebloom slipped on a stick of butter caused one of the eggs to tumble, hurtling towards the floor faster than any of them could move to save it.
A moment later, Sweetie Belle opened her eyes. The egg hung suspended in a pale blue glow.