Few objects surrounded him, most in various states of frozen decay. However, one in particular managed to capture his eye, and he walked towards it, his breath slowing as he did so. A brown, closed journal seemed to call to him, beckoning him closer. He reached out with his magic, gently lifting it out of the snow.

Journal #1 (Continued)

Dragon Western Coastline

Gold led me down the same hallway I had just walked through a mere two hours prior, however, he chose to take me down a path I had not yet been. At first, I was almost glad for the fact that I was blind, as it gave me a valid excuse as to why I was moving so much slower than Gold, and requiring him to keep a watch on his speed. After the third time drifting towards the wall before Gold could catch me, however, I quickly grew tired of being unable to see my surroundings.

“Oh, my apologies! Are you alright?” Concern filled his voice as he ushered me back towards the center of the hallway once more.

I smiled half-heartedly at him. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just hate running into these dumb walls so much.”

“Ah, I understand. Yes, hitting a wall repeatedly would tend to become tiring rather quickly. Not to worry, however, as we’ve almost reached the very back.”

We turned two more corners, one of which might have been a doorway, before I was assaulted with a chilling blast of cool night air. It was a refreshing change, to say the least.

“Alright, we’re here! Now, a lot of this is meant for ponies more into the intermediate to advanced stages of magic, but since we’re really only going over the bare basics of levitation, I’m sure that it won’t matter too much.”

He paused then, most likely waiting for my response. I wasn’t sure what to say, so I hesitantly replied, “Thank you for bringing me.”

Seeming satisfied with my reply, Gold continued, “So, I have a few things I feel would be good to start with. Most foals start with things a tad heavier, however, given the fact of your… current state, I feel as if you might have difficulty moving much more.” I heard something akin to a whooshing sound, and then heard Gold take a few steps towards me. “Now, hold out your hoof.”

I did so, holding it up, and felt his own meet mine, something lightweight and fragile coming along as well. He pressed it into my hoof, and then left it sticking there, pressed flat on the top of it. I tried not to move too much, as I could tell it was a feather, and I knew even the slightest of movements could cause it to fall. Although intensely difficult, I managed to hold relatively still on only three legs.

“Are you alright? You seem to be a bit off balance.” I felt a hoof press against my shoulder then, holding me steady.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I’m just having some trouble standing, and holding this feather at the same time.” It didn’t sound nearly as weird in my head.

“Trouble holding… a feather?” I heard a bright, flashing sound come from Gold. “Why aren’t you holding the feather properly? I wouldn’t think it would be that heavy.” Confusion filled his voice as he continued doing… something.

Puzzled, I started to turn my head down to my hoof, before stopping, and moving it back up. “I don’t know what you mean. Isn’t this how you’re supposed to do it?”

“Well, to be quite frank, while it does work for this feather, an object with a bit more weight to it would give you some more trouble, I’d think. I mean, you aren’t even grasping it with your hoof, you’re just letting it rest on top of it.”

I subconsciously shifted around my other foreleg, the one that wasn’t holding the feather. The hoof didn’t really have anything on it to bend, although the hoof itself felt pliable enough. Something was telling me that wasn’t what he was talking about, though. “I don’t know, I just thought that’s how you were supposed to hold things with it. I don’t really remember holding anything before.”

“Ah, yes, that’s right, your memory problems. Sorry, it must have slipped my… Anyways, I suppose I should show you how to grab hold of things then. Now, I’m going to take hold of your hoof, alright?”

I felt a hard object press against both my hoof and the feather, presumably his own. “Now, I’m going to take the feather from you, alright?” He pulled away then, and I felt the feather move away as well. It was sort of weird, like it was being lifted out of my hoof, but I couldn’t feel anything really pulling on it. It was like the entire feather moved at once. “There, now I can show you how it feels. Keep your hoof there, or switch, if you’re getting tired.”

Taking his advice, I swapped hooves, exchanging my left one for my right. “How are you going to show me to pick stuff up, then?”

“Well, most foals don’t have to be shown how, so most ponies don’t need to be taught, but luckily for you, my niece had some difficulty herself when it came to picking things up, and I was one of the ones who helped teach her. So, what I’ll be doing for you is simply picking up your leg, and using this nifty spell I learned to share a sense of touch, so that you can know how it feels. Does that sound good?”

I nodded in response, before pausing. “What does it feel like?”

Stumbling, he answered, “Well, uh, it doesn't feel like anything, really. Just whatever I feel, you feel, although the spell’s been modified a bit, so you’ll only feel what my hoof feels.”

I considered it for a moment, before accepting his proposal. If it helped me to hold things better, then I may as well try it. “Okay, I guess we can do it, then.”

He must have smiled then, because it sure felt to me as if he did. “Great! Alright, let me just cast the spell, then.”

I heard a bright, shimmering sound, and then felt my foreleg glow with a warm feeling, before an odd sensation came about it, almost as if it wasn't a part of me anymore.

“Okay, I’ve cast the spell. You should be feel a bit funny, perhaps some tingling, or a slight warmth.”

I moved my foreleg, wiggling it slightly. The feeling seemed to stick, and I ceased my movements. “So, uh, now what?”

“Well, now I just have to pick something up, and you should be able to feel the sensation. Here, how about this?” The tingling in my leg seemed to almost shudder, and I suddenly felt as though my leg was moving. The weird thing was, however, that as far as I knew, my leg was still firmly planted on the ground. A slight pressure developed then, just on the edge of my hoof. It wasn’t anything bad, just something… different.

I tensed up a bit, and asked, “Are you picking something up?”

“Yes, I am! It’s actually a weighted ball, one that a unicorn can use for practice with magic. I figured it would be the best, since it seemed to be the lightest object that you would feel me moving.”

I twitched my hoof, feeling how it didn’t really seem to affect the pressure all too much. “Are you the only one who can move it?”

“Of course! Why, it is my own hoof, after all. Did you think I was controlling your foreleg with my magic?”

I pursed my lips. “I don’t know. It just feels kind of weird is all, you know? Like I’m moving my leg, but it’s staying in one place.”

He chuckled at that. “Ah, yes, I know what you mean. My niece reacted in a similar manner when I cast the spell on her. I had initially thought it was from her living in cloudsdale, and having very few direct interactions with unicorn magic, but I suppose it might have been for the same reason as you.”

I tried to focus in on my foreleg, and tried to differentiate between what I knew I was feeling, and what I assumed was from Gold. I soon noticed that the sensations I felt from my own leg felt… normal, I suppose, while the ones that Gold was “sharing” with me had a sort of different feel to them, an almost different air about them. I can’t really explain it, but I knew the difference was there.

“Here, allow me to try picking the ball up again. That way, you can have a second go at learning the feeling of using your hooves to pick something up the correct way.”

I shivered as I felt him start to move again, but this time, I concentrated fully on his movements. I now knew how to tell what were his, and I intended to make full use of it. He dropped the ball, and as he did so, I felt… something. A spark, a light, whatever you might call it, that was there. I know, because I felt it. I focused in on the feeling, rolling it around in my mind’s eye.

Gold shuffled slightly, and I felt him pick the ball up once more, the spark returning with him. It was gentle, moving quickly, yet ever so slowly. Whatever it was, I thought it had to do with what Gold was trying to show me, and I was ready to put it to the test.

“I… I think I get it. Do you think I could try picking something up now? I don’t know, either the ball, or the feather if you think I should start there.”

“If you’re sure, then I don’t see why not. Although, I would take care to remind you that the spell is a bit draining, so you’d have to wait until another time before I would be able to perform it once more.” With that, the shimmering sound returned, and the warm feeling in my leg receded back to where it had come.

I heard Gold pick up the ball, and felt him push it against my hoof. “Here, I think you might be able to move this. If not, we can always try the feather.”

I eagerly took the ball from him, and tried to recall the feeling that had appeared when he had picked it up earlier. It was kind of weird, mainly because I wasn’t too certain on how I was supposed to use it, but mostly I just kept imagining it, remembering the way the ball had felt nestled in my hoof, the sturdy, iron weight providing a firm pressure as I remembered the spark, and how it seemed to encompass my hoof, pulling the ball towards it…

I gasped as I felt the spark. It was a bit weird, now that I didn’t have the warmth to go along with it, but I knew that this was it. Now I just had to figure out how to use it.

As far as I understood, remembering the way Gold had picked up the ball the last time had worked for me, so I tried to continue with that, imagining the spark surrounding my hoof as the ball pulled against it, pressing gently towards it. I tried imagining the spark as a physical thing, one that could be molded, reshaped into what I needed, something to pull the ball towards me, and let me move it.

And then I felt it. The ball seemed to push a bit more against my hoof, and it was a sort of weight, one that I knew meant that I was holding it. Slowly, I lifted my hoof, and to my delight, discovered that the ball came with it, bobbing gently.

I could practically feel the smile emanating from Gold just then. “Well done! Why, if you keep learning at this pace, I’m sure that learning to use levitation should be a cinch!”

I moved my hoof around a bit, careful to move slowly so as not to lose my balance. It was a bit weird, really, what with the way the ball wasn’t really being held by anything other than the spark, but it didn’t feel bad. Rather, it just felt… comfortable.

Lowering my hoof, I sort of… cut off the spark, allowing the ball to cease its sticky hold to me. Grinning, I said, “Thanks for teaching me how to hold that ball, Gold! I was having a lot of trouble earlier with the radio, but I bet I could use it way better now!”

“Oh, it was nothing, Sage! Anypony would have done the same in my place, really. Now, are you ready to learn some magic?” He spoke with a sort of cheeriness in his words, prevalent mostly around his last sentence.

I noticed his odd wording there, using the phrase ‘anypony,’ but I chose to ignore it for now, and smiled. “Yup! Are we going to practice with the feather, then? You might wanna hand it back to me if we are, haha.”

“Alright, well, for starters, it’s really the same basic concept as with any sort of magic, including what you did to pick up the ball. Now, I don’t exactly have the mana reserves the cast another spell to share senses, and even if I did, I’m afraid it doesn’t work with horns.”

Biting my lip, I thought about what he said. “Okay, so then I just have to try and make the spark-thingy come back, but this time… in my horn?”

He laughed then. “Well, while that is an odd way of describing the touch of magic you used to pick up the ball, yes, it’s the same idea. Once you can get it in your horn, you should notice something a bit different, one that might make things a bit easier.”

“Alright, I guess I’ll try it, then.” I concentrated then, summoning up the spark in much the same way that I had done it the first time, although instead of thinking of it in my foreleg, I tried to imagine it in my horn. It was a little harder this time, almost as if there was some sort of resistance, before I finally managed to get the feeling of the spark in my horn, and once I had, I blinked, and recoiled in shock. This was… different. I hadn’t been expecting this.

I could see color. It wasn’t much, it was more of a singular, dark shade of blue, with some subtle, somewhat lighter shades here and there, but nonetheless, it was color.

I saw a form of blue directly ahead of me seem to move slightly. “So? Can you sense the magic yet? It might be a tad difficult at first, but it should all sort itself out soon enough for you.”

Choking out a response, I said, “Y-yeah, I… I can. At least, I… I think so. I don’t know if it’s magic, but I see… color. Like, blue, but… everywhere.”

I tried to hone in on the color, trying to focus on anything that looked different. At first, I couldn’t really see much, but the harder I tried, the better things looked. Well, not really. In reality, not much changed. Instead of seeing only black, I was now seeing a constant blue, with occasional shudders in the color. Still, it was much more interesting to see. “How come I can see blue now?”

“Well, I would imagine that what you’re “seeing” isn’t anything more than your own aura. Of course, should you try and cast a spell, such as basic telekinesis, that should change, and you might be able to sense an individual object close to you. When you’re older, you might even be able to sense multiple nearby objects, but most ponies don’t normally advance too far past that.”

I smiled at him. “I might not be able to remember much, but I bet this is way more than I’ve seen before! Thank you, thank you so much, Gold!”

I was genuinely… happy with the color. I don’t know how to describe it. Sure, Drake had inspired a feeling of… something, in me, and the mare from earlier had made me feel content, I suppose, but this blue, these shades of blue were… calming. It was like everything just made sense with it, like it was supposed to be there.

“Think nothing of it, Sage. I just saw somepony in need, and thought to help him out.”

“Well, if you ever need anything, I’m sure I could help you! I might not be the best at it, whatever it is, but I’ll try my best. I mean, you did help me see this blue!”

He paused for a moment, almost lost in thought, before he said, “Well, there is one thing you might be able to help me with. A question, more than anything.”

Grinning, I replied, “Sure! What’s the question?”

“Your… friend, Drake, the dragon. Are you with him… against your will?” He spoke slowly, carefully plotting the direction each word would take him.

I cocked my head to the side. “What do you mean? He’s nicer than pretty much anyone else I’ve met, other than maybe you.”

“Ah, yes, I see. But, what I’m wondering is, if given the chance, would you leave Drake, and head for, say… Equestria? I mean, you must have parents, or somepony who’s looking for you over there.”

I shrugged at him. “I don’t think so. I mean, I don’t really remember anyone from before those griffons, and I like Drake. Plus, I don’t even know what Equestria is.”

“Really now? Well, if you’re sure about that, then I suppose I’ll allow you to make your own choice.” The blue light shuddered again. “Alright, let’s try and teach you some basics of levitation. I’m sure it won’t take you too long to pick it up.”

Even though I learned how to move things with my hooves the right way, I didn’t really learn how to use levitation correctly. No matter how much he tried to show me, I just couldn’t quite get a grasp on it. Maybe it was because I couldn’t see the stuff I was trying to pick up? I didn’t really understand it, and it didn’t help that by the end of our session, I was exhausted, as if I had just done a long distance run.

Gold, noticing my tiredness, said, “Well, I suppose we’ll just have to call it a night. Your magic reserves are starting to fall a bit low now. Still, you made good progress! Most foals can’t use levitation on their first try, and take a week or two to learn how to pick up more than a pound or two.”

Weakly, I sighed. “Thanks anyways, Gold. It would have been nice to be able to hold things in the air, though.”

He chuckled at that. “Yes, while that is quite a useful skill to have, that’s not all there is to a pony. Remember, the amount of magic you have isn’t what makes you who you are, but rather, it’s what you choose to do with that magic that creates you.”

I frowned at that. “Okay, but… that doesn’t really make a lot of sense.”

Another chuckle. “Well, I didn’t quite understand it, either, but back when I lived in Canterlot, my magical tutor told it to me, and I suppose the words stuck, even if the meaning was lost to me at first.”

“You had a tutor?”

“Yes, indeed, I did! Most unicorns would be ashamed to admit it, but I don’t mind talking about it much. I was never that talented with magic, and to this day, I still can only cast the more toned down versions of the more advanced spells. Still they’ve helped me out of many a pickle, so I wouldn’t say my lessons were a waste.”

“But I thought that sense-touch-thing was really cool! Plus, it seemed like it would be something really, really hard to do!”

“Yes, I suppose it might seem that way. The body-swapping spell is generally a highly advanced spell, although I used a lesser version of it then. And, I normally can’t do it more than once in a day, which should give you an idea of how low my magical reserves are. Now, let’s head on back to your room. I’m sure Drake is waiting to hear all about how you learned to sense your own aura, and how you’ll be able to use the radio all you like.”

And so ended my first day of magical training. I might not have learned much, but I had taken the first few, precious steps towards a better understanding of both my magic, and the world around me.

Author's Note

For some reason, I can't fix the way the part at the top is. You know, the part that says which Journal this is, as well as the location. Also, copy and pasting didn't carry over any spacing and indentations, so I had to do it by hand on FimFiction. Please be sure to let me know if you spot any errors in the chapter so that I may fix them!

Also, here's the next link for those of you interested.