Tales of Equestria

                                                         Chapter 6: Learning the Basics/Training is Magic

After trotting down several hallways, we stopped in front of a massive pair of doors. Sounds of explosions and various scuffles could be heard coming from behind them. "This is our training area." Celestia said, "While normally, I would have left your teaching and training to experienced teachers. Time is of the essence, so I believe it would be best if I taught you directly." With that, she opened the doors. The training area was MASSIVE! Completely open to the sky, it had several random objects and equipment scattered around. Large bookshelves that lined a far wall held handy books containing moves, skills, and spells. Neatly organized containers and shelves held several different types of weapons. "Woooow!" I said in wonder, my brain quickly taking it all in. Celestia walked over to a bookcase and levitated out a book. "First off" She said opening the book, "You will need to learn the most basic of spells, levitation and general interaction with objects using magic." I trotted over and took a peek at the book, inside was contained a simple yet complex description on "Magical interaction with objects". Celestia set the book down and began teaching me about the powerful yet delicate art of magic.

After about an hour or two of tapping into magic (Purposely this time!), I finally got the hang of lifting and moving objects around with magic. After getting used to using magic, I found that learning basic combat and healing spells, wasn't as hard nor as complex as it looked. Next came something totally unrelated to magic, something that was to prove the second most painful and the hardest thing I would ever attempt...flying. Celestia made the whole deal seem and sound easy! "Just try to get off the ground" Celestia told me. I got off the ground just fine, it was the "Staying that way" that was the problem. When I first attempted to get some air time, I gave my wings too strong a thrust and ended up lifting myself on my back. The next couple attempts landed me on either my rump, or my face. Finally, Celestia must have figured that some assistance might be helpful, and she called a few pegasi over to try and keep me from hurting myself. At this point, several other ponies had stopped doing whatever they were doing and were watching us, a few trying to stifle laughter at my sad failures, a few actually cheering me on.  Several more failed flying attempts later, Celestia used her magic on my wings and basically put them on auto-pilot, flying me around until I got a feel for it. Finally, I was able to fly around on my own without crashing into something. Several cheers (And I noticed a few small bags of coins) were passed around. Celestia merely smiled and congratulated me on a job well done (Although whether from the fact she was proud of me, or from the fact that I had somehow managed to run into nearly every object in the training area was to be debated.).

Then Celestia walked over to a weapon stand and chose two practice blades. "Here" She said, tossing me one which I barely caught in a sheathe of telekinetic magic, "You've learned the basics quickly, but you will need more than levitation and flight to protect yourself and others." She walked over to a large open spot and took a defensive stance. "Now then, let's test your skills. Try and hit me." I now began wondering what it was I had gotten myself into. I trotted over to her and levitated my weapon up. "So...I just swing, right?" I asked not quite sure about hitting her. "Yes, don't worry about hurting me or being hurt right now. Just focus on attacking me." With that, I took my sword and swung at her with all the force my magic would let me. She easily blocked it. I swung again and again, each time either getting blocked or dodged. Suddenly, that weird gut feeling kicked in, like when I was fighting that Changeling. I swung at Celestia again, except this time when she lifted her sword to block, I quickly whirled the sword around and dealt an actual blow to her chest area, effectively surprising her AND myself. I was worried that I had hurt her, but she quickly shrugged it off. "Well, that was quite unexpected!" she said looking at me carefully. "Sorry" I apologized, "I don't know how I did that!" Celestia waved away the apology, "It would seem, that you have some skills that you don't know about. Let us stop for the day, there is some books that I would like you to study." With that, she returned the practice blades and led me out.

I was bored out of my little equine mind. Celestia had taken me to an expansive library and had given me several different books. Some of them were basic spell books, while others were things like "The History of Ponies" and the like. I sighed and rested my head on the desk. "Studying hard I see!" I jumped and whirled around at the sudden noise, I came face to face to old looking unicorn. He had a gray mane with grayish fur, he wore a jumpsuit and carried a mop. He spoke again, "Or are you hardly studying?" He chucked to himself.

"Who are you?" I asked him. "Me?" he answered, " Nopony important, however I might also be a pony that can help you." He walked over to the stack of books and looked through them, whistling as he levatated one of the bigger books up and flipped through it quickly. "My my my." He started, "The dear Princess is a wise ruler and a wonderful teacher, but she obviously isn't used to teaching young colts that wish to be heroes." He looked at me and shook his head. Putting down the huge history book, he beckoned for me to follow him. "Book study is useful" he said leading me deeper, "But it seems that Celestia has forgotten that not all ponies like to study books all day, unlike her cute young pupil Twilight."

"Who?" I asked rather confused. The old janitor looked back at me and said, "Princess Twilight Sparkle, she will be among the first of many things that you will learn about." He stopped in front of a small table and placed a book on it. The book was fair sized and had a gold unicorn on it. "Here" he said "Read this, its much briefer, more exciting, and has quite a few important things you must know." I read the title, "The Legend of the Elements of Harmony". I then opened it and started reading.