I woke up early in the morning. That was the time I usually woke up, so that wasn't unusual. I slid from bed and shook out, taking a moment to be thankful that nothing hurt. My young body wanted to move, so I obliged it, trotting to the door of my room and opening it with my hooves.

The library was brightly lit. Twilight and... Twilight mini were at the dining room table, chatting. I could smell and hear Spike working on breakfast.

"You're back?" I trotted free to join them. "Good to see you all."

Mini Twilight waved excitedly. "Hi! Dave! David! Oooo, it's been too long." She bounced up onto the table, just to pounce against me, hugging firmly.

I was surprised, but not displeased. My brain organized her into the bucket of eager child, and the only answer to eager children was to be nice, so I hugged her back as I sat down on my haunches. "Glad you're okay."

"I am!" she sang. "I have a new name, Twilight Twinkle. You can call me Twinkle." She pointed a hoof at Twilight. "She calls dibs on Twilight."

"It's true, I do." Twilight inclined her head at me curoiusly. "Did you join school while we were away?"

"Doubt it." Spike emerged with a platter of hash browns. "Bet he was using that keyboard the whole time."

I chuckled along with Twilight and Twinkle's cheerful banter, the easy camaraderie warming my heart after the solitary evening. Scooping up some crispy hashbrowns with my fork, I paused thoughtfully chewing over recent events along with the fluffy spuds.

Swallowing finally, I turned to Twilight with a small smile. "I did get signed up for some friendship classes actually thanks to our counselor Starlight's encouragement. First day went pretty well!"

My smile turned a touch wry. "She's already going to bat helping me negotiate accessibility barriers being handless in paperwork-heavy coursework contexts. So that's a load off while I explore if dictation spells could assist."

I took a sip of juice before continuing. "Oh, and I met a rather prickly griffon named Gallus who I suspect hides big heart behind his standoffishness. At least I hope so! Either way, classes seem engaging already even just sampling."

Turning curious eyes Twilight's way, I tilted my head inquisitively. "But enough about me for now - how did your big important out of town thing go? Was it a magical emergency or bureaucratic congress?"

But her tired smile radiated reassuring warmth. Crisis had come, but this alicorn thriving under pressure. "Oh, a touch of both emergencies and congress I suppose you could say! But all sorted now." She reached to pat my shoulder comfortingly. "And Ponyville continues bright as ever thanks to reliable friends. So no fretting required."

Twinkle glided over to perch across my back, tiny hooves scrunching my fur happily. "Yeah, new guy! I'm new too, in this world, but I know more than you." She gently bopped the tip of my ear. "Even fussy old Bell-Bore was impressed how fast the professor pacified things."

Twilight colored slightly. "Yes well, Starswirl can be particular in his procedures but means well underneath bluster..." She trailed off with a soft laugh directed my way. "Anyway, I'm just pleased to be back on home soil with my favorite creatures, however briefly." She lifted the glowing keyboard device with her magic. "Shall we see if your writing world remains intact after my hurried absence?"

I tensed. "When did you grab that? Wasn't it under my bed?"

Twilight inclined her head. "I just picked it up?"

Spike snorted amusedly. "Twilight, most creatures don't want you creeping up on them like that."

I colored faintly, not very visibly. Twilight sneaking up on me actually didn't even sound that bad... "I'm not mad... Just surprised, is all."

"Well, I can't resist this entirely." She tapped at the keyboard. "This is the only physical link to your world, you aside. And I can access the information in this a lot more easily than sitting you down for a few days asking questions."

I imagined how that would go... "Actually, since we're on the topic. I love friendship lessons. I still want pony lessons." I waved my hooves at Twilight a bit overdramatically. "How do I get a horn or wings? Teach me! Please."

Spike nudged Twilight with a claw. "You owe me."

Twilight sighed, surrendering a few bits into Spike's grasp.

Twilight gave a resigned yet excited little shake of her head, clearly equally eager to launch into magical mechanics lessons despite the playful grief over losing her apparent wager.

With an eager swish of her tail, lecture mode engaged. "Very well, first session on tapping Equestria's elemental forces is underway!" A floating chalkboard popped into being nearby as she pivoted seamlessly from casual conversation to scholarly pontification.

"Now as you likely know, all ponies harbor intrinsic earth energy as a baseline..." Diagrams sketched themselves out illustrating the interwoven aspects of reality itself according to pony paradigms. Twinkle made silly faces, gently poking fun at her sister's serious studiousness. But I listened raptly.

Even Spike seemed interested despite standing apart from the power sources described. And I felt old passions stir - perhaps awakening my abilities would flow easily immersed in such uplifting energies after so long squelched? The prospect of moving lives more meaningfully with magic left me grinning broadly.

Noticing my zeal, Twilight's eyes shone bright. "So tell me, my pupil - are you prepared to unlock forces that transcend mere utility and reshape our very reality through provocative new potentials?"

"Yes, um..." I tapped my hooves together. "This will sound silly... But I had a way of 'doing magic' as a little kid. It never did a lot... My world isn't very magical."

"It was not." Twilight inclined her head. "But, still, potentially useful. Why don't we start there? If you already have arcane methods worked out, let's see how good they are, in a more pliable environment? Go ahead and cast one of your human child spells. Nothing may happen, or something might, but watching you try could be useful."

Her horn glowed as she swept over me with fine lines. "Monitoring... started. Go ahead."

So I did, closing my eyes and imagining a little rock with a number, a small number. I put a little fire next to it, and a cloud, and some water. There, my elemental scores. I reached, mentally, for my spellbook. Wow, I hadn't used that in a while.

I always imagined I had a spellbook in my mind. Flipping it open with imagined fingers, there were countless spells, but most of them were blurred out. Mastery would reveal them. That was the rule I set for myself.

"Hm." Twilight made a note on a floating paper, not that I could see it.

I was an earth pony, so... I grabbed the rock bookmark and pulled it, revealing...

Spells. Actual spells. I could read them, clearly. I opened my eyes in surprise. "I could read them!" I felt silly even as I said it. They couldn't know what I was imagining.

Twilight's eyes widened in evident surprise as well, chalk clattering forgotten from her magical grip. She shared an astonished glance with Twinkle before refocusing intently on me.

"You...could actually visualize arcane writings appearing clearly?" She whispered almost reverently. Horn aglow, magical scans swept my form once more. "Simply extraordinary...by delving your childhood imagination, you tapped into the ambient etheric currents subconsciously!"

Twinkle fluttered up, tapping my nose playfully with a hoof. "Ha! Lookit you, Mr Sprinkle Sorcerer getting all glowy on your first try!" Her grin turned impish. "Sure you haven't secretly been a pony all along playing pretend human?"

"I wish." I smiled at the hovering little Twinkly. "But thanks."

Sensing my marveling, Twilight floated over a mirror, angling it to highlight a faint shimmer emerging around my form. "It's simple but elegant - you used the focusing methods inherent to you. Let's build on that intuitive start!"

She turned the mirror, meeting my eyes with building excitement. "What you inwardly held as whimsy, this realm fuels openly as natural energy currents commanded by perception and will. Shall we see what other spells your sleeping talents might awaken?"

My eyes shone back, strange eagerness rising to tap long-buried stores of creativity now stirring forces once deemed mere flights of fancy. "If it means... actual magic, then absolutely!" I enthused. "Weave your wizardry, Professor..."

She bade me close my eyes, so I did. "You said you can see spells, look at the first one, tell me what spell you see."

I pulled that rock tab. The first spell... "Throw rock."

Twilight inclined her head. "Not the first spell most ponies learn, or even one a lot ever learn... I will put that down to your unique origin. Capture that spell in your mind, then open your eyes."

I leaned in, at least imagining it, and saw the icon of the hurling rock. I felt like I knew that spell, somewhere deep inside. I opened my eyes with a sigh. "And cast it?"

Twilight blinked. "Yes, but--"

I was already trying it, focusing on a bucket and locking onto that image of the hurling rock, the icon I saw in my mind. Energy rushed through me like a giddy tickling thing and a stone appeared from the stones of the ground, bouncing off the bucket with a clang.

Twilight and Spike stared stunned as well before whirling my way.

"That wasn't meant to actually work!" Twilight blurted, dumbfounded. Recovering swiftly however, analytical intrigue lit her gaze. "Yet you intuitively wielded real thaumaturgical currents as a total beginner via unusually concrete childhood spell symbols..."

Spike scratched behind a frill skeptically. "Yeah, no newbie starts hurling random debris. That's advanced manipulation!" He snorted, smoke rings puffing. "Sure you didn't secretly swap species ages ago?"

But Twilight was already scribbling observations eagerly. She glanced between the bucket and me excitedly. "Utterly fascinating..."

I stared down at my own hooves in bewilderment. Somehow linking juvenile pretend rituals to genuine magical rules unlocked uncanny quick proficiency never remotely approached back on Earth. I just had to not mess it up in any grand ways.

"Glad you find this so academically intriguing..." I ventured carefully. "But maybe some safety guidelines before we get too deep?" Visions of battered structures or concussed ponies emphasized my caution.

Twilight waved dismissively. "I can erect wards against any mishaps, don't you worry." Her eyes practically glowed eagerly already leafing through advanced arcane arts volumes piled before her. "In fact I insist on recording the entire process scientifically! This could revolutionize instructional spellcasting frameworks!"

Ah. Well, that decided things. I glanced over at a facehoofing Twinkle but couldn't help an eager grin myself. After all, how many got to pioneer magical arts guided by the Legendary Princess of Friendship herself?

"Safety first, of course..." I affirmed, meeting her luminous smile. "But if even my silly childhood delusions might feed into expanding pony perspectives, I'm honored to help, Professor!"

I found Twinkle nearby and took a moment to gently ruffle the top of her head. "Are you really okay? You got about as much warning as I did, coming here. This isn't Earth."

"It's better!" Twinkly giggled with a smile. "I'm alive. That was hard to get used to. I still forget to breathe sometimes, but then I remember when I start choking. That's hard... You have to do so much to keep living."

"A real drag." I pet slowly down her back. "But worth the price. I want to study that book... But I should check what I owe in words first."

Twilight hiked a brow. "Really? You have potential keys to arcane knowledge and you defer it to go work in another world?"

"That's my habit." I slid to my hooves. "I'll be back after I finish my daily writing, then we do more magic."

Twilight sighed, but let me go. "Gives me time to get those wards up..."

Author's Note

Maaaagic! What would you do with this power?

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