Chapter One
A Magical Start
“Hurry up, Dad!” I yelled, pulling unsuccessfully at the light blue, red mane unicorn with my front hooves. “We’re going to miss it!”
My dad chuckled as he trotted toward the courtyard, somewhat hindered by my efforts. “You’re only slowing me down, Clearlight. We have plenty of time. If you would let go and walked beside me, we would get there much faster.”
I huffed and let go of his legs as I tried to keep his pace, having to double my gait to keep up with his longer legs. We were heading toward the courtyard to see the new princess. We had missed the coronation ceremony but I didn’t much care for that. What I really wanted to see was the parade afterwards. We were almost there and I could see the sizeable crowd gathering below a balcony in one of the outer courtyards at Canterlot castle.
“I see it! I see it! We’re almost there!” I was bouncing with excitement, almost falling over and tripping up my dad in the process. Before I could hit the ground, I was surrounded by a navy blue glow and lifted into the air and back onto my feet.
“Be careful, we wouldn’t want you to get injured when we’re so close to the goal.” He kept on trotting, slowing down only slightly to let me catch up.
After a minute or so, we arrived at the back of the crowd just as the new princess was walking onto the balcony with Princess Celestia and six other ponies. I was jumping up and down, trying to get a better view of the new princess, when I was surrounded by a navy blue glow again as my dad levitated me up and set me on his back.
“You should be able to see better now,” my dad said as the princess started her speech.
“A little while ago, my teacher and mentor, Princess Celestia, sent me to live in Ponyville. She sent me to study friendship, which is something I didn’t really care much about. But now, on a day like today, I can honestly say I wouldn’t be standing here if it weren’t for the friendships I’ve made with all of you. Each one of you taught me something about friendship, and for that, I will always be grateful. Today, I consider myself the luckiest pony in Equestria.”
I was drinking in every word, committing it to memory. The princess went back inside with the other ponies with her and a few minutes later, came out of doors below the balcony as the parade started. The new princess was singing, but I couldn’t really make out the words. As she was prancing with the other ponies in the parade, the purple princess looked right at me and winked. My heart, which had been beating twice as fast before, almost stopped. The princess noticed me! It was one of the best moments of my life so far.
Later that afternoon, as we were getting home, I asked my dad to teach me magic. “I want to be just like the new princess and I heard she was one of the best magic users in the land. Can you please show me some spells?” I used the trick all colts and fillies used to get what they want by making my eyes as big as possible.
“Well,” my dad said after giving it some thought, “You are old enough. I’ll talk to your mother tonight and if she agrees, I’ll start teaching you some basic spells tomorrow after work.”
We arrived at home and made our way inside. “Mom, we’re home!” I called out. Out of the kitchen walked a yellow earth pony with and orange mane and a bird’s nest as a cutie mark.
“Hello dear’s, how was the coronation?”
“It was great!” I excitedly gushed out, “There was music and a parade and I got to see the new princess. She’s so pretty, Mom. I want to be just like her, so I asked Dad to teach me some magic!” My mom gave dad a look.
“Well, that’s great,” my mom said. “Dinners almost ready, why don’t you go wash up.”
“Ok!” I was nearly bouncing as I made my way to the bathroom.
The following day I waited excitedly at the door for my dad to come home, not moving even to get something to eat or use the bathroom. My mother finally got me to move and eat something when she told me that I wasn’t going to do very well with magic on an empty stomach. At that, I ate what she gave me with such ferocity, that it would have given dragons pause. After I finished eating, I went back to waiting at the door.
About two hours later, my dad walked in the door and nearly tripped on me. I had falling asleep while I was waiting on him. I groggily stood up and wiped the sleep from my eyes. “Have you been sitting here all day?” my dad asked, looking a little worried.
“Yeah, I wanted to be here when you got home and I guess I fell asleep,” I sheepishly rubbed my hoof behind my head.
“Well, since you’ve been waiting so long, I guess we should go ahead and start your training,” my said with a smile.
I started bouncing up and down. “Yay! What do I learn first, what do I learn first?” I couldn’t contain my excitement. My dad head toward the back door and followed bouncily.
We are one of the few ponies with a backyard and my mom keeps a garden there and grows our own food. I help her out sometimes but I’m not a very good gardener, being a unicorn. My dad walk over to the apple tree situated in the corner that was the farthest away from the garden. He sat on his haunches and enveloped a fallen apple with his magic, suspending it in midair. “The first spell I’m going to teach you is what all unicorn fillies and colts learn at a young age: levitation.”
I sat down, facing him and the tree. “Levitation? Hmm, I guess I have to start somewhere.” I was a little disheartened but I knew that I couldn’t just do the most powerful spells right off the bat.
“That’s the spirit,” my dad pointed a hoof towards a leaf lying about a few inches from my left forehoof. “Now, for your first lesson, you are going to levitate that leaf.” I looked down at the leaf. It was a typical apple leaf, shaped kind of like a circle with a point and an indention for the stem. I didn’t think it would be very difficult to lift into the air. “Let your inherent magic flow through you into your horn. Focus on the leaf, imagine it rising up off the ground.”
I did what he said. I focused on the leaf, envisioning it in the air. I felt a glimmer of something warm flow into my horn. A hint of a yellow light started to envelope the leaf when I suddenly lost my concentration. My magic imploded and I lost that warm feeling as the leaf lost the yellow glow that had started to surround it. I looked down at the leaf, feeling a bit sad.
“That was a good first try,” my dad came up, sensing my emotions, and put a hoof on my shoulder. “You all” most had all you need to do is practice. Soon, you’ll be levitating things without even thinking about it. It’ll become as simple as breathing before too long.” At his words I perked up with new determination.
“Thanks dad. I’ll keep practicing until I get it right.” With that, I went back to focusing on the leaf and trying to call forth that warm feeling I had felt before. My dad, seeing there was nothing else for him to do at the time, went back into the house. I kept at for a few hours more until I heard my mom calling me in for dinner. I had gotten the leaf to rise about a half inch off the ground. The exercise left me mentally exhausted and I was glad for the respite.
