Moving the Stars

Moving the Stars

Story 2

Chapter 2: That’s How it’s Done.

By: WriteAnything

The unicorn let out a hardy laugh, setting the book back in his bag. “Now that’s what I like to hear! Meet me out in the garden in an hour, I’ll have everything ready for your first lesson.”

Honestly, this kind of upset me. Of course I was excited to take lessons out of this personal log of one of the greatest unicorns to have ever lived, but what was I supposed to do for an hour? With a sigh and a rolling of the eyes, I trotted past Astro and made my way outside. The more I thought about what was to come, the more I thought about Twilight. I guess Astro couldn’t completely accomplish his goal of getting her out of my head, but this time I was thinking less about my jealousy and more about my lackluster apology.

Ponyville wasn’t too far away from Sireland seeing as how it was closer to the little town than the actual city of Canterlot, and was about a twenty or so minute walk. It was for the best; if I wanted to get over this inferiority complex, I had to first bury my grudge against her. After a heavy sigh, I started on my way to the little town. It was time to finally swallow the fake pride that had welled up in my throat for so long, and I was about to do something that would force me to do just that.

I did a lot of thinking as I made my way. Between trying to think of what to say to Twilight when I arrived and wondering what Astro had planned for me, I actually didn’t realize I was beginning to wander off of the road until a stagecoach passed by me. After I regained my bearings, a chill ran up my spine as I approached the little town of Ponyville. I knew most ponies here still resented me, so if I couldn’t avoid being seen, I did my best to avoid looking at the angry glares and closed my ears to the hateful grumbles. It didn’t take long to find the massive tree library she resided in, and all I could was hope she was home as I knocked on the door.

Sadly, it was her little dragon that answered the door, not her, and he immediately slammed the door in my face when he saw me. It took all I had to remain calm and avoid breaking through the door as I knocked again. “Little dragon? Is Twilight home, I really need to talk to her.”

Rather than being met with an open door, the window on the second floor opened, and the dragon poked his head out, sporting a menacing glare. “You must be really brave or really crazy to show your face around here! As if we’re going to let you in after last time!”

Despite the angry shouts, I still picked up on the nauseatingly sweet voice coming from inside the tree. “Spike? Is someone at the door?”

The dragon turned around and opened his mouth to respond, but was pulled inside before he could speak. The lavender face and tri colored mane replaced him, but the only reaction I could see was a surprised but soft gasp.

“Trixie? What are you doing here? Do you have any idea what some of these ponies will do if they see you?” Oddly, she sound more worried than anything, and the door before me swung open. “Please come in before the wrong pony sees and starts panicking.”

I did as she asked, and it was only a few moments before Twilight descended the stairs to meet me. I couldn’t even manage to look her in the eyes, keeping them focused on the floor as she approached me. “Twilight… I need to talk to you.”

The mare tilted her head curiously, attempting to look me in the eyes. “Is something wrong? You don’t look or sound like you’re doing too well.”

After an audible gulp and a deep breath, I closed my eyes and opened my mouth, hoping something would come out. “I’m sorry for all the trouble I caused. My apology yesterday was… poor, to say the least, and lately I’ve been coming to terms with some things that I tried to pretend weren’t true. Swallowing my pride and coming here to apologize is just one step to doing that, so, again, I’m sorry.”

With a soft smile, she reached her hoof out to me. “Apology accepted.” I stared at the hoof in front of me for a moment before taking it in my own. It felt like a tremendous weight was lifted off my shoulders as we shook, and the relief washed over me like a tidal wave. Except… more calm. “You should be proud, Trixie, I can only imagine how hard this must’ve been for you.”

She took the words right out of my mouth. I’m surprised the words came to me so fluently since I was sure my apology would be slurred and stuttering. “Oh, you have no idea.”

The perky unicorn let out a small chuckle, looking out her window for a moment before turning back to me. “I’m curious, now. Trixie… do you mind if I ask what you mean by things you’re coming to terms with?”

It took a moment of thought, but eventually I figured that it couldn’t hurt to confide in somepony other than Astro or the princess. Right now, Twilight was a kind heart among a sea of hostility, making her the closest thing I had to a friend in this town. I still had to think about how exactly to explain myself, so after everything was sorted out and I cleared my throat, I told her all I could think of.

“Well, ever since I met you – no – even before I met you, I had never felt that I was up to snuff for those around me. I’m not sure if you know, but Celestia saw fit to appoint Astro Stellaris as my personal tutor, and while he’s tried to teach me and help me reach my potential, I never truly believed I had a decent potential to reach. So I tried to hide it and pretend like this wasn’t a problem. I turned to my showboating and petty tricks to make myself seem bigger than I was, and when that eventually fell apart, I looked for ways to become stronger without any kind of wait. And you know how that turned out as well. My issues weren’t limited just to magic, though. Everywhere I went, I found strong friendships, happy marriages, and things of that nature. Twilight, since I’m pretty much pouring my heart out, I might as well also admit that Astro is my only real friend, and my envy for you only grew when I saw all the friends you had. So I-“

Suddenly a lavender hoof came up to my face, which I assumed was a very poor attempt to hit my or a successful attempt to interrupt me. The deep purple eyes looking back at me seemed filled with a mix of happiness and sadness, but the gifted unicorn’s smile returned to her lips. “No, Trixie, Astro isn’t your only friend. You have me, too, and as far as I’m concerned you’re welcome to return to Ponyville whenever you like.”

As the hoof was lowered, I began to respond, but she made it quite clear she wasn’t finished. “There’s a lot about me you don’t know. Next time you compare yourself to me when it comes to magical ability, think of this: I almost failed the initiation test required to even get in Canterlot’s gifted academy. I had to hatch a baby dragon from an egg, and I was this close to giving up.” As she spoke, she sat back and held her front hooves close together, indication how “close” she was. “And when thinking about friendship, I used to think that friends were a waste of time, and only recently did I have more friends than my older brother and my old foalsitter.”

This time I was speechless, but even if I did have something to say, I wouldn’t have gotten a chance to get it out. “Trixie, you are who you are, and you should never feel as if you can’t do something. I’ve seen my friend Fluttershy stand up to a giant dragon. Rainbow Dash managed to pull off a Sonic Rainboom twice since I’ve met her. A recent friend of mine learned to use magic without a horn! I’m sure that with enough hard work and confidence, you could even learn to master some of Starswirl the Bearded’s techniques. You just have to believe in yourself.”

The mention of the legendary unicorn brought me back to reality. I looked at the clock and jumped up when I saw that the combined time of the trip here, the slight difficulty getting in, and the storytelling added up to over fifty minutes. “Oh my gosh, I’m late!” Making a beeline for the door, I turned to Twilight on my way out. “Sorry, but I’m supposed to meet Astro in ten minutes! Thanks for the kind words, Twilight. I won’t forget them!” Closing the door behind me, I hurried back up the road to Astro’s manor.

* * *

Panicking with each step I took, I made my way through the manor and out the back door behind the kitchen. There was no time to admire the beauty of the garden like usual, which was unfortunate given the wide variety of flora Astro kept in it. Following the circular stepping stones, passed through the first “hourglass” of the setup. The garden, when seen from above, took the shape of hourglasses stacked vertically on top of each other, with all the different flowers planted in one continuous flowerbed making the shape. At the end, a gate opened up into a wide field where my teacher had a greenhouse for growing alchemy ingredients, various, well-cut topiaries lining the perimeter, and small-scale farms where he grew wheat, carrots, and lettuce. I froze when I saw him sitting at the picnic table underneath the large pavilion in the center, and did my best to avoid being spotted.

“Apologies go a long way, don’t they, lass?” I should’ve known that he already knew I was there. I took a seat beside him, and he turned his attention from the book to me. “That took quite some time for a simple ‘I’m sorry’.” He snickered when he saw the expression on my face, giving me a pat on the shoulder. “I had Sapphire follow you to make sure you stayed safe. With the recent problems Equestria’s been having, you can never be too careful.”

He flipped back a couple pages, setting the book in front of me. “If you’re ready to begin, then your first lesson will be simple. We’re going to start with one of his easier spells: teleportation. If we start off small, you can build up and be ready for the harder stuff. Are you ready?”

“I guess there’s no point in explaining myself. How do we start?”

My mentor teasingly lifted the book up into my face, moving it back and forth. “You see where his notes on the spell are? Read through those. I can explain how the spell works better than the written guide, but the tips Starswirl wrote down will certainly be of help. Call me when you’re ready, I’ll be getting a few things set up.”

As he left, I turned my attention to the journal. Despite Astro’s advice, I read through the written explanation before the tips. I didn’t see what the big deal was about, as it was basically telling the reader basic things like how heavy the magic concentration needed to be, where the magic needed to be focused, and how to make this magic move your body. Apparently the requirements were different depending on if one was moving through the same setting, or going from, for example, the garden to the inside of the manor.

I didn’t have time to read through everything, though. Hearing Astro returning to me, I skipped over to the notes, reading through each of them. “One: As one might imagine, the farther away one is taking themselves, the more magic this spell will require. Two: It is good to be as specific as you can when determining your destination. One might consider picking out a specific object to appear next to. If one is planning to travel, a photograph may be useful, as the spell requires a mental image of the area the unicorn will be taken to. Three: Have a snack! This magic is affected by concentration, as stated, and trying to concentrate on an empty stomach is not an easy task. In addition, this spell is made more difficult if the user is sick, hungry, or fatigued. Four: Be ready. Teleportation generates a great deal of heat. While this means nothing during practice or a test where one will know they need it, if faced with a situation and a sudden teleportation is needed, it can singe the mane and coat.”

“You all set now?” The sudden voice right behind me made me jump, causing my tutor to let out a loud laugh. “Sorry, Trixie, didn’t mean to startle you. If you’re ready, follow me.” He took me up to the walkway back to the manor where wooden posts had been set up along the path. Each post was farther away from the one before, and after my reading, I had a pretty good idea of what Astro wanted me to do. He walked up to the gate, his gaze fixed on the first post. “It’s pretty obvious, but what you’re going to do is teleport from one post to the next until you eventually take yourself indoors.”

The green horn began to glow, and in a flash, my mentor vanished and reappeared next to the first post. He returned to me and motioned his hoof down the line. “Alright Trixie, in order to pull off this spell, you need to have complete focus, just as the notes said. What teleportation involves is mainly you moving manifested magic to another location. The second part is you being in that magic. I want you to start with only step one, okay?” His horn began to glow again, and a large sphere of magical energy took form beside him. Turning back to the post, the sphere disappeared and popped back up next to the post, the dissipated. “Think you can do that?”

“Well, we won’t know until I try.” Manifesting magic was easy enough. I created my own sphere, putting all of my focus on the closest post. When I felt I was ready, I sent it rushing towards the post and stopped it right before it hit. It was fast, but it certainly was a teleport. “Um… do over?”

After a nod from my teacher, I tried it again, but still got the same results. After three more attempts, Astro stopped me, scratching his chin. “Trixie, are you trying to move the sphere?”

It was my turn to nod, my eyes still fixed on the piece of wood. “Yeah… I guess so. Am I supposed to do something else?”

He paused for a moment, looking from me to the post. “Try doing what I do. Instead of trying to send the sphere there, keep your focus on the post and try to create another sphere there without letting the magic escape your horn. That should relocate the current sphere to produce the same effect.”

I said manifesting magic was easy. Suppressing it is not so easy. Regardless, I wasn’t going to learn anything if I didn’t try to cast the spells. After creating my sixth magic sphere, I focused once gain on my objective and did as instructed. It took tremendous effort to keep the magic inside of me, to the point where I could feel the sweat forming on my brow. However, after enough time, pseudo casting, and a flash of light, the sphere was gone, and reappeared next to the first post.

There were plenty of ways to react right now, but I couldn’t really think of which course of action to take as I heard the loud, satisfied claps behind me. “Now that’s my girl! See what happens when put in a little effort?” Before I knew it, his forelegs were around me and we both were laughing. It didn’t last long though, as my mentor released me and cleared his throat moments after. “Now then, trying it a few more times. Once you’ve got it down, we’ll try actually getting you to move.”

After two failed and three more successful attempts, Astro stopped me, a wide smile on his face. “Lass, you’re doing great. I think you’re ready to attempt the second step. It’s the same as the first, but you need to encase yourself in the sphere. You ready to try?”

Given the effort I had to put forth to pull off what I had already done, it took me by surprise when I noticed that I didn’t really feel all that weak. Sure, I was a little tired from exerting myself, but I still felt like I had plenty of magic left. Repeating the same process as before, I directed the solidified magic around my body, making sure that all my concentration was directed at my destination. After another flash of light, the magic was moved. I however, was not.

“What happened? Astro, what is it this time?”

He didn’t need to think about it this time around. Clearing his throat, he formed his own sphere around me and held it there. “Your magic focus wasn’t heavy enough; you passed right through it. Can you feel the pressure from mine? Try and mimic it, and that should be enough to make you move as well.”

Now things were getting difficult. If what my mentor told me was true, then I needed to push enough magic out to keep the sphere from passing through me. That would take a lot of magic, and then having to hold back my magic to make the sphere move would drain a lot of energy. I had my doubts, but I thought back to Astro’s test, Celestia’s words, and my conversation with Twilight. Doubts wouldn’t get me anywhere, and if I was going to make anything of myself, I had to try.

I repeated the process again, this time keeping the magic flowing until I felt a pressure similar to what Astro had demonstrated. Now I had to hold back the magic required to create another as I attempted to cast another orb. Again the efforts ended in a flash, but this time it was in my eyes, forcing me to close them.

“Open your eyes, lass, you need those to see.”

I had no idea why I didn’t open them after the light faded, but after I had I was left speechless. Right beside my left hoof was a wooden post. However, when I looked back to Astro, to my amazement, there was another post between him and I. “Congratulations, Trixie. You managed to bring yourself twice as far on your first successful attempt than I expected.”

My eyes widened as I stared at the stallion. A flood of emotions hit me, and I was once again faced with a situation where multiple reactions would be fitting. Without realizing it, a soft chuckle escaped my lips, and continued until it became a full blown laugh. “I did it, Astro! I did it! I really, really did it!”

He flashed me that patented sly grin, pulling the first post up and tossing it aside. “No, Trixie. You didn’t just do it, you exceeded it. You’ve always been so worried about not being good enough, will now that right there was more than enough. Now, before we start celebrating, see if you can return to me with it.”

Pulling off the spell again was no trouble at all with the state I was in. My laughter started up again, and my teacher pulled me into another hug and laughed himself. “Now we can laugh and hug! Trixie, you have no idea how proud of you I am right now! Hell, you should be proud of yourself, lass, you just pulled off a spell created by Starswirl the Bearded himself!”

In that moment, the reality of it hit me. I had just successfully performed a spell that had been developed by one of the greatest unicorns in Equestrian history. As happy as it made me, the only thing on my mind was learning more. After we had both finished out laughing fits, Astro kept me in his embrace. It was warm and comforting, and I really felt accomplished. Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and this was no exception.

The tutor looked down at me, a proud smile stretching across his face. “Do you think you could do it a few more times? If you really want to master this, you have to get used to it and be able to pull off the process quickly. I won’t make you right now if you don’t feel up to it, but would you like to try?”

After an excited nod, he released me. Now that I had the process down, it was time to see how quickly I could apply it. I repeated it again twice, both times with little change. Before the third attempt, however, I focused just on channeling my magic. Every time I had put enough magic into the orb, I got rid of it, trying to send it out faster and faster each time. Eventually I looked over at my mentor, who was giving me a rather satisfied grin, accompanied by a nod.

Finally I felt ready and tried it again. This time, I was able to cast the spell in half the time that it took me the first few tries. My desire to continue drove me to turn to the post and try again, I was grabbed and pulled backward. “No, Trixie, that’s enough for right now. Don’t overdo it, alright?”

I let out a sigh, somewhat disappointed I couldn’t keep going. “Alright then, what’s the plan then?”

He began scratching his chin again. After a few moments, he let go of me and flashed a bright smile. “How about we head up to the city and have some lunch? My treat.”

Had it not been for a loud grumbling from my stomach, I would have declined. “Heh… there’s your answer.”

The stallion let out a loud laugh, standing up and heading towards the manor. “Let’s get moving, lass! The sooner we eat, the sooner we can continue your practice.”

Now that was motivation. With a new attitude and a smile, I trotted up beside him, eager to not only continue my new lessons, but also spend some time with Astro as less of a student, and more as a friend.