Learning Magic

Chapter 2: The Basics

There was a knock at the door. Twilight stood up from her book and went to see who knocks at the door of a public library.

“Oh, hello Rarity, what brings you here? If you want to take Spike gem hunting then you’ll have to wait, he’s grocery shopping.”

“Hello Twilight, no it doesn’t concern Spike. I’m here because I’m in need of your assistance.”

Twilight looked puzzled. It was usual for her to come by Carousel Boutique to have her clothes fixed, but never the other way around.

“Sure I’ll help you, but with what?”

“Magic.”

“Magic?” Twilight asked, suddenly looking much more interested.

“Yes Twilight, I would like you to teach me some spells about enchanting and to improve my levitation spell.”
Twilight looked surprised at first, but then her expression quickly changed to that of an excited filly.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! This is so exciting, I’ve always wanted to study magic with my friends! Of course I’ll help you, we can even have a study sleepover! This is going to be so great, I have all the books we need here, so we can start immediately!”

Twilight was now positively brimming with happiness. Rarity couldn’t remember the last time she saw her this excited.

Wow, I expected her to be happy, but this brings happiness to a whole new level. She looks like Pinkie after making a new friend!

“Immediately? I don’t want to bother you and disrupt your schedule...”

“Bother me? Now that’s just silly! How could a friend with such a beautiful request be any bother?” Twilight said, as she pushed Rarity to the nearby chair.

———

Rarity sat across the table from Twilight. Various books about magic were strewn across the table, their titles ranging from “Magic for little fillies” to “The possible use of magic in micro biology and quantum physics”.

“First of all, I’m going to revise the basics to you. I know that you’ve probably heard all that back in school, but I also know that it has been some time since you finished it and that you were never really interested in magic before.”

Twilight’s voice was almost devoid of emotion, like she was reading a textbook.

“There are three basic attributes of magic. It’s strength, stamina and range. Magical strength is the efficiency with which you cast the spells – in other words: just how much magical stamina do you need in order to perform a spell. Also, the strength is tied to each spell individually, although being proficient in a similar spell helps you considerably. Take levitation for example – for someone who just learned the spell, lifting even a little rock wears him down as if he just ran a marathon. However, someone who has already practiced the spell will lift the rock without a problem.”

Twilight’s eyes were now closed, as she repeated things she learned so many years ago.

“Magical stamina is simply the energy you have. Every spell drains a little of your stamina, the amount depending on your strength with that particular spell. If you by a chance run out of your magical stamina, the spell will instead drain your regular stamina, making you weaker and weaker until you pass out. While to improve your strength all you need is to practice, stamina is much harder to increase. The most usual way to raise it is to simply cast a spell, but that increases it by a completely negligible amount, so I have several exercises designed to improve it faster.”

“The third attribute, range, is quite self-explanatory. However, the further you aim your magic, the more stamina you use – though you can again reduce that by trining long range spells.”

Finally! I knew all these things, but I didn’t want to offend her, since she’s helping and all, but I don’t think I could stand another minute of this – does she think I’m five? Even Sweetie knows these things!

“Now about the different schools of magic...”

She does think I’m five!

“Erm... Twilight, I’m sorry to interrupt you dear, but I already know all these things and don’t really need to remind them.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to skip anything important.”

“Yes, I’m sure, darling. You can skip all these things.”

“Okay, now I need to test your attributes before we continue any further.”

“How?”

“Wait here, I’ll bring everything necessary.”

———

“All you have to do is to lift as many of those as you can.” Twilight said, as she pointed to a large stack of candles.

The candles were lying on the table; they have never been lit.

Either Twilight keeps a large stack of them, or she tests herself just as she tests me now.

“Since you levitate things every day, this should be your strongest spell. I need to know just how exactly strong are you in it in order to get a general idea about your magic.”

Well, I levitate several spools of thread of similar weight every day, so this shouldn’t be hard.

A candle started to hover about a meter over the table, soon followed by several others. Rarity levitated ten candles, before she started to feel the drain on her magic. At that point Twilight stopped her.

“Alright, that’s enough. You can levitate about ten candles without using up much of your stamina. It’s not that bad, but it could be better.”

She’s starting to sound like a teacher.

“Now try moving them, but as soon as you begin to feel them sipping out your energy, drop them.”

Alright then, I’m pretty sure I can move at least five of them at once.

And sure enough, six candles started to move in unison towards the ceiling.

“Now move them each into a different direction.”

Rarity did as she was told, but soon, three candles fell to the floor.

Having to concentrate on all these candles... Plan six separate movements at the same time... It’s just too confusing!

“Alright, you can drop the rest now.”

“How did I do?”

“Moving six candles at once was just about what I expected from you, and so was moving three candles in different directions.”

Rarity felt a bit sore after such harsh evaluation, so she replied perhaps a bit sharply.

“Well how many candles can you lift, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“Last time I did this I lifted 114 candles and moved 34 of them each in different direction. But I’m the bearer of Element of Magic after all, three candles is quite good, considering that you never really trained magic before.” Twilight said, realizing that she might have offended Rarity a bit.

Rarity decided to give up and changed the theme.

“So is that the end of those tests, or are there more?”

“Almost, I still need to test your range and stamina.”

“I don’t think we should test my stamina today, as I exhausted myself today before coming to you.”

“Oh that’s fine, we can test that tomorrow. But now come with me outside.”

———

Upon walking outside, Rarity realized just how much time had passed while she was in the library. Since the sun was directly above her head, it was safe to assume it was about noon. Also, a small purple dragon could be seen going towards the library, stopping as soon as he saw Rarity.

“Spike, come over here!” Twilight called out.

Spike started to move, this time he almost ran, thinking that Rarity might want to talk to him.

“H–he–hello R–Rarity, d–do you need help with anything?”

He’s so sweet...

“You are kind to offer Spike, but I’m afraid I don’t really need anything right now.”

“Aww... But why are you here then? Do you need a book? I can get it right away!”

Spike started to run towards the library door, trying to get the book as soon as possible, even though he didn’t yet know what book.

“Actually I came here to learn more about magic from Twilight, I might be here more often from now on.”

After hearing this, Spike stopped dead in his tracks, as if not believing his luck.

“Really?”

“Yes Spike, really. Now go and prepare some lunch for me and Rarity will you?”

“Sure Twilight, this will be the best lunch you ever ate.”

He’s adorable when he tries to impress me... And I must say he’s often successful.

“Now where were we? Oh yes, the range test. Try lifting that rock over there.” Twilight said, as she pointed to a rock roughly 20 meters away.

This should be easy.

The rock floated right away.

“Okay, now try lifting that one.”

Now, Twilight pointed to a rock 70 meters away.

She’s increasing the difficulty quite fast.

This time, the rock flew into the air after about 15 seconds, during which Rarity’s horn glow darkened as she amassed more and more magic into it.

“Good, good... Now lift that one.”

Twilight motioned towards a rock 100 meters away.

She has to be joking, I can’t lift that one!

Rarity tried anyway. Once again, her horn glow started to darken, becoming almost dark blue. She then started sweating profusely, as she ran out of her magical stamina. After about 30 seconds, during which Rarity looked more and more exhausted, the rock was finally lifted.

“I didn’t expect you to lift it, good job!”

“It was... It was... It was nothing.”

Twilight simply smiled when she looked at Rarity, who was now gasping for air.

“Do you want to come to lunch?”

“Sure, thank you Twilight.”

———

The lunch was delicious. Spike had really outdone himself this time – fresh leaves of lettuce and cabbage, carrots, tomatoes... even radishes! All covered with delicious salad dressing. This was, by far, the best lunch Rarity had this week.

“I must say you are a great cook, Spike.” Rarity said.

Spike blushed, obviously being flattered.

“Oh I’m sure you are used to eating better things that this.”

“No, really, this food tasted divine. I’m afraid, however, that I’ll have to beg your leave, as I have to go back to my boutique – Sweetie will be back from school soon and I won’t leave her running around my dresses without supervision.”

After exchanging their goodbyes, Rarity slowly walked back to her boutique to rest and to reflect on her today’s experiences.