I mused on the strange keyboard, pondering it. The teacher had begun her class, and students were writing down notes. Starlight had brought him that... thing. I had to use it!

I reached for it, feeling it with my hooves. But... how?

The only keyboard I knew in the pony world was Twilight's. It had two big pads. I just had to put.

The world became a headache. I knew that sensation well. I waited for it to pass, but things blurred. A device like Twilight's contraption was left. "What?"

I glanced at the rest of the classroom before I put my hooves into the pads. "Okay?" And that was typed silently onto a paper with only the faint noise of a quill scratching. "Neat." and so that was written. Was it following my voice?

That was also written. That thing wrote whatever I was thinking about, so I turned my attention to the classwork and joyfully taking notes went from a horror to quite simple indeed. It seemed almost a crime that they didn't have enough of those for every student.

But that answer came clearly enough. They were expensive, heavy, and rare. Was mass production much of a pony thing? Perhaps not. I dutifully finished the class and picked up the keyboard. It wasn't even heavy. Had that all been in my head?

All of it. That was me. I had linked to the thing and put myown thoughts on it. I'd dreamed up a big, human, keyboard. It was a slender and pony one. I laughed at my foolishishness as I tucked it away.

Feeling far better about how it worked, I trotted towards home with my new treasure. I considered stopping by Starlight's office to thank her.

I smiled fondly regarding the sleek device as I made my way back towards Starlight's office, still hardly believing such an elegant solution existed for my writing needs. The ponies had their own ways. They weren't dumb, it was just a different world.

Nearing the counselor's familiar door, I couldn't help a wistful pause considering the stark contrast between accommodations appearing almost effortlessly here versus exhausting access appeals back on Earth. This world clearly harmonized help readily wherever possible.

Shaking ponderings off, I tapped cheerfully on her office door.

"Starlight?" I ventured when no answer came. Testing the handle revealed it unlocked so I peeked inside. "I just wanted to thank you agai--"

I flushed abruptly seeing she wasn't alone. Professor Twilight looked up from their evidently cozy chat over steaming drinks. Clearly I had interrupted informal discussions not limited to my academic situation.

"Oh! Um, begging your pardon Professor," I stammered, nerves overriding fledgling etiquette. "I can come back another time..." Moving to discreetly withdraw, I hesitated when Twilight waved me over with an amused smile instead.

"No need to rush off! In fact I should be the one apologizing." Her expression turned wry, if warm. "I've been remiss introducing myself before now with duties keeping tight schedules."

Rising gracefully, Twilight approached offering a hoof. "But please - join us! I insist on hearing how your transition here has unfolded..."

I entered the room, but didn't move for a seat, just standing there. I did nudge the door with a back hoof. "Always nice to see you, Twilight. You're a professor here, I hear?"

"That I am." Twilight nodded to Starlight. "We are cohorts, banded together to be sure all the creatures of this school receive their proper education."

"Different branches, of course." Starlight sipped from her mug. "I tend to their flagging minds, and she fills those minds with new knowledge. But we do work together to see it done." She perked. "Oh, how'd it work out? Take lots of notes or get lost using it?"

I swung my saddlebag around, awkwardly fishing out the papers I'd filled. "Here."

Twilight's horn glowed as she claimed some of those papers. "Oh, looks like you took quite a few notes. I had a feeling! You were using the crude makeshift one I had fashioned, so you knew how it worked. I imagine you had no difficulty at all."

Actually... "The strangest thing happened. When I first saw it, I thought it was a human typewriter and I was so confused."

Starlight blinked as she leaned back. "Really? Odd. It's supposed to receive your thoughts, not send any back." She sighed with frustration. "It's not new... That explains why he even let us have it... Most ponies would have tossed it out if it started acting like that."

Twilight made a tut tut motion with a hoof. "But not David. I think he's quite happy with it."

Well, I was, and said as much. "It's great. I love it."

Starlight clapped her hooves together. "Fantastic! Now, if I recall, you have no other classes today, so you can run on home if you like."

Twilight's brows came down as her eyes half closed in a sultry look. "Or, we can dig into that magic of yours. I want to know so much more about this spell book of yours."

Starlight inclined her head. "Spell book? Fill me in?"

I chuckled a bit self-consciously as Professor Twilight's evident fascination at my strange magical manifestations stirred Dean Starlight's curiosity in turn. I still scarcely believed the bizarre mental spellbook myself - hardly fodder for serious scholarly consideration, considering it had lived as a fantasized object in my mind for so long.

"Well, it's nothing so formal as an actual tome," I explained with an awkward hoof rub to my neck. "More just pretense and imagination games from when I was a kid dreaming up magic back on Earth."

I waved a casual hoof. "Somehow though, when Twilight had me reach for those childhood memories, the 'spells' I visualized took on this weird extra vividness here..." I trailed off with an uncertain frown. "Is...that not normal?"

Twilight practically vibrated with academic excitement as I reiterated the odd awakening process. "Normal? Perhaps not in exact form but the underlying principles align perfectly with classical arcane awakening theory!"

She began vigorously scribbling notes with a floating quill, pages filling swiftly. "You see, he intuitively constructed inner perceptual frameworks as if gesturing towards latent activation across real magical fields!"

Seeing Starlight and I sharing bemused shrugs at the jargon barrage, Twilight paused and took a steadying breath, clearly attempting to shift into more plain pony speaking.

"That is...by believing so deeply in imagination's inner magical legitimacy, once immersed in Equestria's innate etheric energy, David's childhood delusions abruptly aligned with very real spells!" She grinned at me. "In short, your pretend wizard games registered as technical blueprints here catapulting astonishing awakening!"

My jaw slackened at the assertions as I turned to Starlight wide-eyed. But the counselor simply pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Twilight has seldom steered me wrong regarding the arcane..." She met my own shocked stare. "So I'd keep that spell book close at hoof, however that... works."

"I'd love to experiment." I looked between the two. "With either of you. But maybe on a day without classes?"

Starlight smirked faintly. "It's a date."

I trusted she didn't mean that the way that flashed in my mind's eye. I quickly fled the office and through Ponyville, zipping right... "Hey Spike."

"Hey." He didn't stop me from marching right past.

I settled down and got out the other keyboard to check on other things. I made sure I was caught up on words, oops, a little late in the day for some, but I got on that. Oh, mortgage. I should be sure that's paid.

I send a quick SMS to my mother in reminder with the amount.

Her reply doesn't take long:

David.

I'm glad that you're alright, but this isn't funny. Where are you? When are you coming home?

I take my hooves off the keyboard and take a slow sigh. How did I even begin to explain it to her?

I could try telling the truth. She wouldn't believe a word of it, but it would be the truth...

Well, better than nothing. I told her I was on another world, but I was fine. I'd keep paying bills, but I couldn't come home. Taxes would be paid, and all would be well, but I wouldn't be there.

There, the whole truth. I turned my attention towards--

I was back in Equestria, being knocked over with a Twinkle in my face. "Mmf?"

Twinkle stepped back off me and sat down. "I wanted to talk to you, but you're very hard to reach when you're really busy."

"I can feel. You could have just poked me."

"Oh. Right." Twinkle looked abashed at that. "I didn't think of that... I want to apologize. I sent very crossed signals... Twilight made it quite clear that I was unkind to you as a result."

I turned an equine ear at her. "You're speaking a bit more... ornately today."

"Correct." Twinkle turned both forehooves on herself. "I am an adult. But, coming here, so small... It was easier to pretend with a lot of ponies, so I did. And I did with you, and I feel bad about that, now that its negative impacts have been made clear to me."

That was... "It doesn't quite work like that."

"Like what?"

I point a hoof at her small form. "Once you get put in a bucket, escaping it isn't easy. You are a precious child I want to protect very much."

"I don't want to be a precious child. You already admitted you don't own me." She turned her nose upwards. "I didn't forget, David."

"I didn't own my niece," I chuckle out. "But she was in the same bucket."

"How... do I escape this bucket?" She turned one eye on me squarely. "Hypothetically."

"Not pretending to be a child is a good first step. Act your age." I put the keyboard away carefully for later. "Show me you're an adult and things may change, with time."

"Very well." She took a little breath. "Growing used to breathing is still interesting. Magic."

"Magic?" That sure was a word. "What about it?"

She pointed at me. "I would like to become your magical tutor. That will help relocate myself out of that bucket."

I chuckled softly. "Okay. You know about my magic?"

"Twilight was quite fascinated by it. It was harder to not hear about it." Twinkle tapped her hooves. "An internal spell book? Quite useful, in some regards. It means you can't leave it behind. Now, you have a simple, yet normally advanced, spell. Ponies don't tend to lean towards offensive spells."

Throwing a rock could hurt someone... "It's one of the most basic... human tricks."

"That's what I thought." She smirked, as if she understood the idea. "You are a human, inside. You went down human lines. I bet if you reframed your imagination, you might find other human magic."

I stood up from the bed, pacing the room. "Like?"

"What are basic human drives? Make those your bookmarks, and reach for them, instead of the elements. You got lucky. Humans like throwing rocks, and earth is where we start. A happy coincidence." Twinkle launched herself, landing gently on my end table. "Time to go beyond."

Human drives... I pondered those, pacing back and forth. Eat, hunt, mate, fight... Those were the super basics, right?

A step above that, Protect, perhaps a subset of fight? Grow, food, or small people, the urge to grow was a powerful one.

Further away from the basics... art? Expression. Yeah, that felt like a better word. That was a keyword I was quite familiar with.

Expression, a human trick. A few other animals had touched it, but none rolled around in it quite as joyfully and constantly as humans. We loved leaving our marks on things, wanted or not by the rest of the world.

"You look inspired." Twinkle rubbed her hooves together with a sly smile. "I'm looking forward to what new spells you can find."

Author's Note

The keyboard's illusions are beaten, and it's kinda nice!

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