First Lessons

Rarity was out for a walk when she saw the colt, nervously wandering through the town.  She did not recognize him, but he looked very young.  Eager to help him, she started to approach him, but then stopped.

Something in the air didn’t feel right.  It had to be magic.  This young unicorn was outputting a good deal of unfocused magic.  “He must be very upset or angry.” She thought.

“Dear,” She said to him.  The colt turned his head to her.  “Are you feeling alright?”

The colt took a moment to consider.  “I think I’m fine, it is just that I am lost.”

“Where are your parents, dear?”

“I don’t know!” answered the colt, suddenly very distraught.  “They were coming to save me from monsters, but I don’t remember what happened!”

Rarity was taken aback.  It sounded as though the colt was in shock, and that meant that his mind might be repressing the worst.  He must be too young to understand.  In a much more concerned tone, she asked, “Where do you live?”

“On a farm, far away from Ponyville.  But one of my friends told me that I couldn’t go back because I was in danger.  He told me I need to stay here in Ponyville, but first I need to find a pony named Twilight sparkle, because she can help me control magic.

“Well,” Rarity thought, “That certainly explains the magic haze.”  Then she realized something else.

“Who is this friend of yours?” she asked.

Dayspring looked confused.  “He’s my friend.  I’ve known him forever, but I don’t think my parents ever saw him.”

“He told you about Twilight?”

“Yes.”

Rarity decided to drop the subject of the “friend”.

“What is your name, dear?”

“Dayspring.”

“Well Dayspring, why don’t you come with me and I’ll take you to Twilight.”

Dayspring nodded his head.  As she turned to the opposite direction, she looked back to make sure he was following.  He trotted over beside her and they set off.

As it happened, Twilight’s library was just down the street.  They walked up to the door and Rarity knocked on it a few times.  There was no reply.

“I’ll bet that she is busy with research or some book…”  She knocked again, more forcefully.  “Twilight, please come out!”  After a moment the door opened.  Behind it was Twilight, who was levitating a thick book at her side.

“Rarity,” she said in a grumpy tone, “whatever you need, does it need to be done right now?”

Rarity looked a little concerned, but didn’t inquire about her mood.  “I think it would be better if we didn’t wait, Twilight.  I believe this young colt could use your help.”

Twilight only then noticed the colt beside her.  A dark grey unicorn with a red mane.

She was about to ask what could be wrong with him that they needed her help, especially right now, but then she noticed the magical haze in the air.

“That’s incredible!” she thought.  “He’s such a young colt and already showing such prodigious signs of magic!”

“

I think I see what the problem is.” She said.  She looked the colt in the eye.  “You are emitting very powerful unfocused magic.  It is far stronger than it should be, and if you don’t learn to contain it, it can cause weird things to happen around you.”

The colt thought for a second, then said, “Like turn the floor blue?”

Twilight hesitated a moment, then slowly said, “I suppose it could…  But it also might cause something dangerous to happen, and nobody wants that.”

“Then what do I need to do?” asked Dayspring.

“You need to learn to get a feel for your horn.  Right now, it is involuntarily casting a lot of magic, so you need to just… tell it to stop.  It is like making yourself stop breathing.”  Dayspring got the idea, and in no time the magical haze faded away.

“Wow…” said Twilight.  “He sure caught on fast didn’t he?”

Rarity didn’t understand just how amazing it was herself, but she nodded and said, “He sure did, didn’t he?”  Then she turned directly to Twilight.

“He says his parents have died and he has no home.  When I found him, he was looking for help with his entire magical education, not just to keep it under control.  I don’t suppose you would find it in your heart to…”

Twilight started to say something about how she wasn’t running a school for magical education, she started to consider.  The colt was very prodigious in the field of magic.  He was surely destined for something greater than your average unicorn, and would likely require special training.  If she were the one to provide it, it would give her a great deal of influence, and give her the chance to help shape Equestria’s future.

In any case, she had also taken in Spike, a baby dragon, who acted as her assistant.  While dragons do have some special magic of their own, it was not like that of a unicorn.  It might be useful to have a fellow unicorn to directly assist her in her work.

With sudden enthusiasm, Twilight said, “I would be happy to give you magical instruction, young…”  She looked to Rarity.

“Dayspring.”

“Dayspring.” repeated Twilight, looking back to the colt.  “You can stay with me, here at the library.”  After thinking for a second, she added, “Just please do not touch any of the books or equipment without asking me first.”

Rarity rolled her eyes.  Then she motioned to Twilight and started whispering into her ear.  Twilight’s eyes went wide and after a while, she nodded.  “Well,” said Rarity.  “I believe it would be best if I were to leave him all to yourself.  Do you need anything more from me?”

Twilight thought for a moment.  “I don’t believe so.  I will send a letter to Celestia about this, but I think first I will properly assess his potential.  Thank you for your help, Rarity.”

After Rarity had left and Twilight took Dayspring inside, she gave him a quick tour of the house, ending in the actual library room.

“I suppose this is as good a place as any to give you a small test.”  She said.  She levitated a quill from a desk onto a table.  Dayspring watched with interest, as he had never seen anyone use a spell before, though he had heard of it from his parents.

“I am going to teach you one of the most basic of spells.  All unicorns learn this, even those who use magic only once and a while.  The spell is called telekinesis.  It means to move things using only magic.  In fact, I used the spell just now to bring this quill over here.”

“Now, to cast this spell, you need to... know what it is that you want to move.  You need to know where it is, get a feel for how much it weighs, and know where you want to move it to.  Then you direct your magic at the quill, and, sort of shape it into a force of motion, up into the air.  I want you to see if you can raise it up to my eye level, and then keep it held in the air.”

Dayspring looked confused.  Twilight expected this, but waited patiently for him to do something or speak.  Soon he did speak.  “Can you explain more?”

“I’m sorry Dayspring, trying to explain it further is like trying to teach you how to move your legs.  We know how to move our legs, but we do not know why.  I’m afraid the only way to learn is through experimentation.  That means that you try anything you can think of and see what gets you what you want.”

She hesitated for a second, then softly cried out, “Oops!”  Her horn lit up as she cast an all-purpose containment spell to ensure that Dayspring’s “experimentation” would have no unwanted effects.

Dayspring turned to the feather and started to channel magic at it.  Twilight watched and waited, and then realized that her protective spell was broken without her even feeling it.  She quickly tried to recast it, but the feather seemed impervious to it.  In a panic she tried lifting it, which did work.  Dayspring looked excited, but Twilight quickly said, “Sorry, that was me, I was… just making sure nothing is wrong with it.”  Dayspring looked disappointed, but he carried on.

Twilight was now very worried, but just as she was considering asking him to stop, the feather suddenly shot right up in the air, hovering at her eye level as she had requested.  Dayspring looked elated.

Despite her hopes for him, Twilight was quite surprised.  Normally foals were a bit older before they attempted this, and although instinct helps them learn the how-to of magic quickly, without practice and study, the spell that they create for any form of magic would be very highly inefficient, and all most foals managed was for the object to shift from side to side.  She herself had been an exception, but she recalled the mental anguish it required at the time.

And then she realized that neither the feather or Dayspring’s horn seemed to have lit up at all.  It had taken him virtually no effort at all!  She was utterly bewildered for the moment.  She double checked to ensure that he had no cutie mark, and indeed, there was none.  Dayspring had been watching her curiously, and now he spoke.

“Have I passed the test then?”

Regaining some composure, Twilight softly said, “Yes, Dayspring.  That was very good!”  He put the feather down.  “Actually,” said Twilight, “I think you can lift even more.”  She plopped the book she had been carrying down on the table.

Dayspring understood what was expected of him without a word.  Twilight watched in awe as he again lifted the heavy book without breaking a sweat or any noticeable shine from his horn.  She grabbed more 5 more random books off of nearby shelves and stacked them atop the levitating books, having no effect.

“Put them down for now Dayspring.”

He complied.  As soon as the stack had come to rest on the table, she took all of the books out of the stack and set them on the table separately.

Struggling to hide her excitement, she said, “Lift them all again.”

One by one, the books rose into the air.  Before they were all even up, she had ran to a shelf.

“Here, catch!” She cried, throwing another book into the air behind her.  She would normally be appalled at the way she was treating them at the moment, but she had great faith in Dayspring’s ability’s, and was more concerned with the test at the moment.

Dayspring caught the book out of the air, and without warning another one followed, and another and another.  But when another went sailing through the air, half of the books he had been levitating fell to the floor, and he failed to catch the additional one.

Twilight winced.  “Ok,” she thought, “Maybe I got a bit carried away.”

“I could have had it,” moaned Dayspring.  “But I just couldn’t focus on all of them at once!”

“No no no Dayspring, you were fantastic!  This is supposed to be an exercise to stretch you to your limit!”

Dayspring frowned.  “I can do more.”

Before Twilight could even get a word out, she froze as she saw that about a dozen of the bookshelves were levitating well into the air.

Twilight would have been dumbstruck again, but fearing for the safety of all the books in case the shelf tipped forward, softly said to Dayspring, “Ok Dayspring, you can put them all down now, gently please.  You’ve passed the test.”

Twilight had a spare bedroom for Dayspring, which until now she merely used as an occasional study, despite his insisting, “I’m not tired.”

“Come now Dayspring, everyone needs their rest, whether they feel tired or not.”

He didn’t argue, so she quickly cleared the room of a bit of equipment that was leftover, but she left a telescope pointed out the window.  “After all,” she thought, “I don’t think he can get into any trouble with it, and I do have extras.”

She then noticed that the hazy feeling had crept back into the air.  “Dayspring, make sure to not let your control slip.  You are emitting unfocused magic again.  You don’t want it causing things that you didn’t ask it to do.”

The feeling quickly faded.  After she made him promise not to get into trouble, she left the room and went to write her letter to Princess Celestia.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am writing to you with urgent news, but also because I need your advice.  Today an incredibly prodigious colt named Dayspring has come to my doorstep, displaying unbelievable magical potential.  He came seeking knowledge of magic, and I was only too happy to help.

I could not believe how quickly he was able to learn the telekinetic spell, so I decided to give him a test to determine the limit of his abilities.  He did not cease to amaze me throughout the entire test, seemingly having no limit to his magical strength.  When he started lifting several tons of my bookshelves, all filled to capacity with books, I deemed the test was unsafe to continue.

Evidently, his home was attacked and his parents killed, although he does not understand what happened.  It occurs to me that Dayspring himself might have been the target of an attack.  I request that you send a patrol east of Ponyville to investigate.

I have sent him to bed for now, but I have no idea what to do with him.  I am the element of magic and I myself can clearly see that he is one of the most powerful beings in Equestria!  Now that I have written it down, I am starting to wonder if I am over exaggerating.  He is clearly potentially dangerous, but also not a pony to be left out of check.  I ask for your advice on this matter and eagerly await your reply.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight sparkle

She rolled up the letter and went to find Spike.  When she found him, she held out the letter to him and said “Spike, I need this sent to Celestia right away.”

He eagerly took and replied, “Your number one assistant is on it!”

After the letter had been sent on its way, Twilight said, “Actually Spike, you need to know about this too.”

He looked up at her, confused.  Usually she just gave him the letter left.  Once she saw that she had Spike’s attention, she said, “I have decided to let a young colt stay here with us at the library.  Only he has a very… unstable magic potency, so he might accidently cause… an accident.”

Spike looked worried.  “Well, how long is he going to be staying here?”

“His parents are dead, Spike.  He needs a home and someone to help keep him under control.  I was thinking, he could maybe, be another assistant?”

“Now WAIT a minute, I thought I was your number one assistant?”

She suddenly gave him a hug and said, “Of course you are Spike, nothing will change that.  But, after all, isn’t it silly to call you my number one assistant and only have one assistant in the first place?”

He looked uncertain.  “I guess…”

“But,” she said, releasing him, “That doesn’t change the fact that it’s time for you to go to bed.”

“Awwww…”