Chapter 4: Magic Lesson

“Radiant Dawn” I told Twilight. “What do you think?”

“Sounds good! “ I heard back from the unicorn, “So what’s the plan for today? What can we do to pep my little unicorn up?”

“Well, could you teach me how to do magic?” I asked inquisitively. Figured if I was stuck as a unicorn filly, might as well get my benefits up and running.

“You got it Dawn! I just need to grab some materials from my study and then we can begin I’ll be back here in five!”

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As I sat in the dining room I saw twilight walk in with four items, placing them down as it seemed like I was gearing up to sit down for a long  lecture.

“Twilight, what’s with this junk? And this isn’t going to be difficult is it?” I questioned. On the table Twilight set down a rock, a candle, a glass and, a leaf. I thought It was strange. But I decided to just wait for twilight to begin her lecture. I handled university back when I was a human, I could definitely handle another lecture from a horse.

“Dawn, do you recognize the items on this table?” Twilight asked me. Damnit, it sounded like she was going to enjoy this whole teaching thing a bit too much.

“Yeah, you’ve got a rock, candle glass of water and a leaf, what’s this got to do with anything?”

“Well, to understand magic, you need to understand the fundamentals of the arcane.”

“Couldn’t we just skip to the part where I lift things?”

“Patience Dawn! Patience!” Twilight was insistent on teaching me everything I guess. “Now magic is linked to the four basic elements of the world, Earth,” she pointed towards the rock, “fire”, she lit the candle, “water”, as she levitated the glass towards the sink and turned it on, “and Air,” as a breeze slowly twirled the leaf in front of my eyes.

“We actually had something similar to that back on earth, the ancient humans of my world had something alike, except there was another element. Aether is what they called it.”

“Well, fun fact, we also have Aether as another element, however you need to be an Alicorn to use spells corresponding to the Aether, it’s how the princesses move the sun and the moon!”

“So, levitation?”

“Patience, now, to use magic, you need to understand where you lie with respect to the world. “

“That makes no sense Twilight, What the heck do you mean where I lie?”

“Step back and look and the chair you’re sitting on, the air you’re breathing, the heat on your fur,  the water in your body”

“Twilight, that’s not helping how do I see the air, or heat rather?”

“You rely too much on your main senses, step back and feel everything.” I breathed in some air and I felt it enter my lungs. Was this what
she meant? Damnit Twilight you’re not helping me learn. “No! Really feel the world around you, or else you’re going to go nowhere.”

“I’m trying! How am I supposed to feel the world? That’s crazy!”

“Calm your mind, and understand you’re not the only thing that exists in this moment, frankly you’re not the most important thing in the world right now, you’re just part of it. Keep that in mind” I closed my eyes. Feel the world? I tried breathing in deeply again. I noticed the feel of my tail against the chair I was sitting on. I could feel the grain of the wood, it was horizontal, no vertical? The wind coming from the window, was messing with my sense of touch. Wait a second, the window wasn’t open before! No wonder my body was seemingly cooling down. My tail felt a little damp against the wood, was it humid outside? No I remember one of the Pegasi telling me there wasn’t rain scheduled until the weekend, maybe I sat in something? The left side of me began to heat up, odd, I don’t remember Twilight lighting a second candle, weird unless she lit it whilst my eyes were still closed. Still not sure what this was supposed to accomplish, I just tried to keep focus, or a lack thereof. “Now three things happened while your eyes were closed, what were they?”

“I don’t know what this has to do with magic Twi” I said annoyingly opening my eyes.

“Just answer my question, what things happenened?”

“You opened the window, lit another candle, and did you pour water on me or something?” I asked inquisitively, “Wait, you said three things, but somehow I moved chairs?”

Twilight’s eyes grew wide, “Very good! I thought you were getting the hang of this but I didn’t know you’d be THIS good! Excellent! Now we can begin levitation!”

“Whoo MAGIC! LETS ROCK AND ROLL!” I screamed at the top of my filly lungs.

“Well actually, levitation is a basic spell linked to the school of air. So remember when levitating an object you’re not lifting it per say- but manipulating the air around it so that it moves through the air. Do you understand?”

“I think so, so why is it whenever you’re lifting things, that I see the magical field around the thing?”

“That’s just the air being manipulated around the object. Begin by working on this rock, remember focus on the air surrounding the rock,
rather than the rock itself.”

“Isn’t there something I should do with my horn? Don’t I need to focus through that or something?”

“Relax, that will happen on its own, just you, air, rock. You can do this Dawn”

I stared at the rock on the table and tried to maintain the focus I had earlier, I closed my eyes and ‘felt’ the world again. The breeze cooled the room as  my tail was still a little damp,  and the heat from the candle was still causing my left side to heat up a little bit. I opened my eyes and looked at the rock. I imagined it moving into the air. Wait, remember what Twilight said earlier, it’s not the rock moving through the air, it’s the air moving around the rock. The air was fresh and I thought of the air around the rock, the rock wasn’t smooth, so there had to be air in between a few crevices and the table. The air above seemed to move outward, as my horn seemed to tingle, and I felt a stream of something flow through it.

“Manipulate the air,” I said, focusing on the air around the rock. It was at this point that the rock began to lift through the air,

“Twilight I’m doing it! I’m using magic!” I shifted the air to bring the rock in front of Twilight. “Look! Look!” I’m doing magic!”

“Good job! You’re doing great! Most fillies take years to begin understanding levitation and you did it in just a day!”

Moving the rock down, “Okay what’s next?”

“Well next what school of magic do you want to work with next?”

I stared at the rock. “I guess now I’ll work on earth if that’s cool”

“Okay, so when manipulating Earth, you have to imagine the object you’re working with rather than its surroundings. So I’m going to break this candle, I want you to repair it.” Twilight said whilst doing exactly that.

Twilight took the candle out of its holder, blowing it out. A pool of wax was solidifying on the table, where the two halves laid down staring at me. I tried to move one half back into candle holder, remembering my air manipulation. The flow returned to my forehead signaling the connection of magical manipulation. The air surrounding the bottom half transferred it upwards until there was a slight pop as it settled into the holder. I then focused on the top end of the candle. The air pushed it upwards as I left it slightly above the bottom half. I looked to divert my focus on the wax on the table. I imagined the wax, melting slightly, trying to focus on the particles and get them to vibrate. If I could move them to melt the wax, I could get the liquid to patch in the hole. The wax on the table began to melt, and I tried to focus the air around the liquid to lift it in the air. I tried to focus on small pockets of air in and around the wax.

“Try manipulating the liquid directly rather than lifting it.” Twilight said.

I thought of the particles moving up from the liquid and a small string of wax rose up. Moving it towards the candle, I strung the liquid around the two halves of the candle. Once the two halves were touching and it seemed like the top candle could rest, I stopped my levitation. Then I focused on the remaining halves of the candle. If I could melt the pool of wax on the table, I could probably melt the two halves together. Using the same technique I used on the pool, I focused on the candle vibrating the particles again, and my horn seemed to vibrate similarly. Energy flowed through my forehead and into the candle. A few seconds later, I looked to see the same candle that stood there before me.

“Dawn, you’re doing great! That’s earth manipulation, air manipulation, so all there’s left to teach you is fire and water manipulation. What now?”

“Fire! Easy peasy!”

“Okay, so I’m going to teach you basic illumination. To begin manipulation through the school of fire, rather than focusing on an object, or its surroundings, fire manipulation works through ponies. Whether it be emotions, thoughts or their bodies. Understand that with this magic you can influence other ponies, and you need to be careful not to abuse it.”

“Yes Twilight” I said in a monotone voice.

“Okay now, remember the feeling you had in your horn when you used magic? The energy through your forehead?”

“Yeah, it kinda felt like fluid flowing though me. Why?”

“I’m going to need you to redirect that energy into the tip of your horn. To summon your magical energy, focus on the gap between your forehead and horn, and try to imagine and feel the internal heat and energy in between the two.”

“You want me to imagine something that doesn’t exist? Twi…”

“You can do it, try to remember that feeling.”

I sat there, and tried to focus. Nothing. There wasn’t any energy flowing through me. I tried to picture the fluid, but I couldn’t.

“Come on Dawn, focus on the world around you, and manipulate your energy to generate more.. Just like before, I believe in you.” Twilight said.

Closing my eyes, I tried to meditate, the room was much cooler since the candle was blown out, and the area around me was no longer damp. I then felt inward, concentrating on the space around my horn, my forehead and the area around my face. I felt a little spark. I imagined a small explosion inside my forehead, using that spark to create energy. Once it seemed fluid energy was flowing through my horn, I internalized it moving it back and forth creating waves, of energy.

“Now focus it, you’ve built up your energy, now focus it on to the tip.” Twilight continued to help.

I attempted to internalize the energy in my horn, the wave moving towards the tip of my horn. I attempted to block it up there. Brightness entered through closed eyes, as I assumed it came from me.
“You’re almost there, notice how my light emanates from my horn, now focus the energy in your tip and manipulate it to emanate from there.” I opened my eyes and tried to release it. Rather than focusing on my horn, I unblocked the flow of energy from the tip of my horn.  Another bright light entered the room.

“Twilight, its working! Yes yes yes yes! I can do magic!” I shouted. Her illumination dissipated, and mine did as well as there was no longer magic flowing through me.  “So, time for water I guess then right?”

“Now water’s really exciting, rather than internalize your energy, the water school of magic accounts for your energy manipulating space and energy. Think of both as a fluid that you move through and contain. Understand?”

“So kind of what I was doing in my horn earlier?”

“Exactly, energy generation is the basis of water magic, but I think you might be able to handle Teleportation”

“Teleportation? Is it hard?”

“Well, generate energy in your horn like before, and this time, focus on the space around you. Use your energy and manipulate the space around you, kind of like when you moved the air around the rock.”

“Okay Twi”

I began the same as last time, trying to spark energy inside of me. Focusing on my internal space, I looked for another miniature energy explosion, with that I rocked my energy through my horn, feeling the same fluid-like energy moving through my horn. Waves of energy moved through my horn, crashing at the tip and crashing back at my base. Once I stored my energy I looked at the world around me, feeling the air and the wood of the chair.

“Now focus on the space, move it around you until you’re somewhere else.”

With energy stored inside my head, I tried to remove myself. Focusing on what Twilight said before. To use magic, you need to understand where you lie with respect to the world, I lied in the chair, and I needed to be somewhere else. I moved the energy from me to, the world around me. I imagined myself swimming in a pool, and used the energy in my horn to move the pool around me like I had just jumped from a diving board. In an instant I was in the room over. The next instant I was upstairs.

“Twilight how do I make it stop?” I screamed from the top of the stairway. I teleported outside, and back inside the kitchen.

“You need to cut the flow of energy!  Either dissipate it or cut it off from your horn!” I heard from the Kitchen as I somehow ended up in my room.

Cut it off, or dissipate it. I appeared back into the kitchen, and tried to imagine hitting the bottom of a pool. Energy began releasing from my horn back into my forehead. I looked outside, it was dark, and I fell down onto my side.

“Dawn, let’s get you to bed”

“mmm, Twilight does magic always make you sleepy?”

“Just when starting out, don’t worry”
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Twilight walked me up to my bedroom and lifted me onto my bed. I had almost passed out right there, but Twilight tucked me in before I slept.

“Twilight, thanks for teaching me magic” I said. Closing my eyes.

“It was nothing little sis.”