Experimenting

For the next three days, Twilight had attempted to teach Dayspring the teleportation spell, but much to her dismay, he had not yet managed it.  Twilight was certain that it was impossible for anypony to learn the spell in such a short period, but she was now uncertain what to expect from the colt.

The spell was enormously complex and would need to be built upon previous knowledge.  Twilight had taught Dayspring illumination and thermal manipulation, as well as how to cast enchantments upon objects that would serve as relays of magic without having to focus.

But now Twilight had gotten herself wrapped up in her own experiments.  She would not be able to teach Dayspring much until it was over, so she had set up some magic exercises for Dayspring before locking herself away in her study.  Dayspring had asked about her research, but she had insisted that he wouldn’t understand.

Dayspring was outside.  He stood beside a large tub of water that Twilight had provided for the assignment.

He sent a stream of magic into the tub.  “Uh oh,” he said after peering inside.  He lifted up the tub and turned it upside-down, but the block of ice inside was stuck inside.

“That won’t work,” he thought to himself, “Hmm...  I wonder...”

Dayspring melted the ice back to its original state.  He kept heating it, and soon it was boiling.  “Argh, no that’s not right!”  He quickly cooled it down again.

An idea occurred to Dayspring.  He started to cast another levitation spell, but he couldn’t get a ‘grip’ on the water.

After some more thinking, he turned it all back into ice again and flipped the tub upside-down.  He heated it up again, and water had started to flow from the sides where the ground didn’t quite meet the lip of the tub.  But after a moment, it stopped.  Hesitantly, he turned the tub over again.

A giant wisp floated out of the tub and started to drift away.  Seeing the sight, Dayspring found himself saying “Whoa!” and quickly tried seizing the cloud with magic.  While it was awkward to hold, it was possible, as it seemed to hold itself together.

With a look of wonder on his face, Dayspring started to cool the cloud.  “This is amazing!” thought Dayspring.  “When Twilight first taught me this spell, I didn’t think I would ever actually want to use it!”

The cloud darkened and compressed, and to Dayspring’s astonishment, white specks were suddenly floating down from it and into the tub.  They were quickly coming down at an alarming rate.  Dayspring held out a hoof and caught some of it.  It melted into his hands and returned to water again.

Twilight groaned as she heard hammering on the door, accompanied by Dayspring’s voice calling her name.  She laid down the book she had been studying and swung the door open.

“Um, you know how you wanted me to practice by making ice?” asked Dayspring.

“You’re done?” asked Twilight, annoyed.

“Well, I don’t think so, but I think you better come see...”

Twilight threw her hooves into the air and asked, “Did somepony get hurt?”

“No...” said Dayspring, “but something happened that I don’t think was supposed to.”

“Alright, fine!” exclaimed Twilight as she walked Dayspring out the door.  “I’ll come see.”

Dayspring led her to the back of the library.  She stopped at the sight of a small cloud hanging over the tub she had given Dayspring.  “Oh, Celestia’s sake!” she cried as she ran to the tub and peered inside.

“Dayspring, this isn’t what I asked for!  What did you even... snow?”

Dayspring didn’t say a word, but maintained a look of guilt.

Without warning, Twilight burst out laughing.  Dayspring’s expression changed to confusion.

“I can’t get even an hour of time to myself without you stirring up some kind of trouble, can I?” said Twilight after catching her breath.  “It’s been ages since I’ve actually seen  snow, the weather team usually doesn’t let any near Ponyville.”

Using her magic, she gathered some of the snow together and lifted it out in a ball shape.  With a grin, she flung it through the air at Dayspring, hitting him in the face before he could react.

“Aahhhh!” he screamed.  “Don’t I’m sorry!  Sorry!”

Twilight felt a sting of guilt, but she decided to blow it off.  “Come on, Dayspring, this is what ponies like to do with this stuff.  It’s lots of fun!”

“It’s fun to throw it at other ponies?” asked Dayspring incredulously.

“Yep!  Here, make a ball like I did.”

After hesitating, Dayspring tried gathering up the snow like Twilight had done, but the stuff just slid away as he tried lifting it up.

“No, not like that,” said Twilight.  “It isn’t the same as lifting most other things.  If you only grab it at one point, it’s going to fall apart.  You have to spread the magic out, stretch it across what you want to grab.”

Dayspring tried again, having similar results.  “Look,” said Twilight.  “watch.”

Dayspring watched as another ball lifted itself from the tub.  He could see the glow of Twilight’s magic encompassing the whole thing.

“Here,” said Twilight, “take this one.”

Something in Dayspring’s head clicked, and when he took the snowball from Twilight, it held together.

“See!” exclaimed Twilight.  “You can do it!”

She squealed as she suddenly felt the snowball explode on her face.  She got snow out of her eyes and looked at Dayspring, who was looking at her nervously.

“Well,” she said, forcing a laugh, “now I think we are even.  I really should get back to my book now, so if you want, you can keep on playing with this stuff.  Snow is very interesting, you can make it into all sorts of shapes.”

Dayspring’s face lit up with curiosity.  “Really?  Like what?”

“Whatever you can think of,” replied Twilight.  “If you can think of something, give it a try!”

Twilight put down the now finished book and went outside to check on Dayspring.  Dayspring was staring at a pile of snow in frustration.

Seeing Twilight coming, Dayspring shouted, “Nothing I try to make turns out right!  The only thing that doesn’t fall apart is ball shapes!”

Twilight didn’t know how to respond to that.  An idea popped into her head.

“Come on Dayspring, let’s forget about the snow for now.  I just remembered that I never did get you the present I promised, so I think we should go and find you one.  It doesn’t have to be from Sugarcube corner.  I also need to talk with Rarity, so we can take care of that while we are out.”

Dayspring looked intrigued.  “Alright, lets go!”

“Hold on,” said Twilight, “Before we go, put all of that snow back into the tub.

After the snow was returned to the tub, Twilight had another idea.

“Let’s see if you can cast an enchantment properly.  That snow will melt back into water if you leave I out.  So, try enchanting it to maintain its temperature.”

Dayspring was a little surprised at the request, but he confidently started casting the spell.  When he was done, nothing had seemed to changed, but, then again, the purpose was to prevent change.

“Are you done already?” asked Twilight.  Dayspring nodded.  “Well, I guess we will find out if it is working when we get back.”

After they had set off, Twilight suddenly had a thought that she voiced to Dayspring.  “Enchantment’s get the energy that they need from the pony who created them.  But the further you get from the enchanted object, the more energy it will take from you.”  She looked at Dayspring thoughtfully.  “Somehow I don’t think that will be much of a problem for you though.  But, if for any reason you want to stop an enchantment, all you need to do is sever the connection between yourself and the object.”

Dayspring nodded and noted the information for future use.

“Here we are,” said Twilight, stopping in front of Rarity’s boutique.  The sign indicated that it was open, so she opened the door.

“I’ll be right down!” said Rarity’s voice from upstairs.  After a short wait, Rarity was came down the stairs.  As she was walking down, she saw who her visitors were.  “Twilight!  So good to see you again!  And I see that you’ve brought young... Dayspring with you.”  Her voice had lost its excitement at the end.

Before either of her guests could say a word, Rarity said, “I’m terribly sorry, it’s just that, after that party incedent...”

Twilight now understood.  She said to Rarity, “Don’t worry, he didn’t know what he was doing at the time.  He isn’t going to cause any trouble.”  Twilight hoped very much that she was right.

“Well,” said Rarity, putting on a more businesslike voice, “what can I do for you, Twilight?”

“I just need to ask you a couple of things and then we can be on our way,” said Twilight.  “Somewhere private,” she added, indicating Dayspring.

“Oh, I see,” said Rarity, now solemnly.  “We can talk upstairs.”

Twilight walked over to Dayspring, whose attention was currently occupied by a dress that was on display.  “You aren’t thinking of buying that are you?” asked Twilight playfully.   Dayspring flipped around to face her with a blush.

“Miss Rarity and I are going upstairs for a minute.  There’s no need to do anything more than look at the merchandise.  No touching alright?”

Dayspring quickly nodded.  As Twilight and Rarity started up the stairs, he quickly moved away from the dress.  He searched for something that he wouldn’t mind Twilight catching him looking at.  A tuxedo caught his eye.  It came complete with a top hat.

When Twilight and Rarity came back, he was still examining the suit.

“Twilight,” said Dayspring.  “can we buy this hat?”

Twilight was clearly surprised at this request, but she walked over to look at the top hat.

“Dayspring, I’m sorry, but I think it will cost rather more than I’m willing-“

“Twilight,” Rarity cut in.  “For you, you can have it without charge.  Consider it a gift.”

“Oh, Rarity, that isn’t nessassary,” said Twilight.  She turned to Dayspring.  “Are you sure you want a hat?  It would be a bit big on you.  You wouldn’t rather have a toy or a treat or something?”

Dayspring was eyeing the hat with an expression of longing.  “Yes, I’m sure.”

Twilight had tried to insist that she pay for the hat, but Rarity insisted that she not pay.  Then Twilight tried to compromise and pay half, but Rarity wouldn’t negotiate.  Dayspring wore the hat out of the shop and all the way back to the library, their business in town complete.

Twilight went inside, but Dayspring had asked to stay outside and play with the snow a some more before dusk.  However, when he went behind the library, he did not approach the tub.

Seeing the top hat in the boutique had given him a moment of inexplicable inspiration.  He couldn’t explain where the idea had come from or just how it would work, but the idea was unbelievably simple, and anypony ought to be able to come up with it.  The hat seemed to be a perfect item to enchant with the experimental spell.

He focused on the hat and started sending magic into it.  The spell was strange, and was not something he could rush by forcing it, but after only a minute or two, he was done.  He examined his handiwork.

The hat definitely had a great deal of magic embedded in it, but even Dayspring was astonished at the magic.  He didn’t understand why it had come out quite the way it had done, but the only way to see if it would work would be to test it.

Dayspring ran into the library and into the kitchen to retrieve a special item he would need.

Dayspring had, much to his frustration, been unable to shape the snow like a pony.  He settled for stacking three larges balls of snow and making a crude face on it.  The carrot nose didn’t actually look like a nose in the least, but somehow, it didn’t look right without it.  Dayspring called this creation “Snow Buddy”.

“And now...” thought Damien as he fidgeted with the top hat in excitement.  He placed it upon Snow Buddy’s head, and there was a blinding flash of light.

When Dayspring opened his eyes, to his astonishment, he discovered that Snow Buddy had inexplicably become much more realistic, and the bottom of it had somehow changed into a pair of legs.  But most shocking of all, it was moving.  Dayspring could barely restrain himself from laughing aloud to the world in triumph.

“Hey!” exclaimed the snow creature, looking at Dayspring.  “Follow me!”

Dayspring stopped his dancing around to stare at Snow Buddy in confusion as it started walking off.  He hadn’t been expecting it to start telling him what to do.  He ran to its side and asked “Where are we going?”

“Why, to the fun of course!  We go to spread joy to everyone we meet!”

This puzzled Dayspring even more.  This was supposed to be his buddy, who would do what he wanted it to.  However, he didn’t say a word more.  It was leading him to the street in front of the library.  Dayspring stopped following, afraid of leaving the library.

Snow Buddy stopped on the edge of the street and turned toward Dayspring.  “Come on!”

Dayspring wasn’t sure what had happened at first.  Snow buddy started to cross the street, there was a blur, a ‘smack!’, and snow went flying through the air.

Dayspring ran to what was left of Snow Buddy in horror.  The thing was lying on the ground, most of his lower half now missing.  It was reaching one of its stick arms up toward Dayspring in desperation, but didn’t say a word.  The top hat had been thrown off its head from the collision and was now lying on the ground, leaving Snow Buddy inanimate and frozen in place.

“AH AH!  COLD!” shrieked a pegasus behind what was left of Snow Buddy, shaking snow out of her coat.  “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what happened, are you alright?”

Dayspring looked at the frantic pony.  He was taken aback by her face, but he figured she was probably in shock.  “Everything is fine,” he assured her.  “I was just...”  Dayspring recalled the word Twilight had used.  “having an experiment with the snow.  But I don’t think it was working out too well anyway, so-“

“Oh, what a relief!”  interrupted the pegasus.   “Sorry, normally I would love to stop and chat, but today I’ve got an urgent letter that needs to be delivered, so I’ll see you later!”

Dayspring watched the strange pony leave, but when he started to turn around to the dismembered Snow Buddy, another pony caught his eye.

It was a mint green unicorn.  A mare, he was sure, even at this distance.  She was approaching him.

“I saw that,” she said to Dayspring when she stopped.  “Were you the one who made the snow come alive?”

Dayspring hesitated, but eventually said, “I guess I was.”

All he got for a reply was “Why?”

Dayspring stopped to think.  He hadn’t thought about why he wanted to make Snow Buddy come alive.  Snow Buddy.

“It’s just that,” Dayspring began, “that I can’t leave the library without Twilight, and there is nopony to have fun with.  I thought...”  He didn’t finish.

“Ah,” said the unicorn, “you wanted a helper who would do your bidding?”

“I suppose so...” said Dayspring slowly.

“Your spell needs some work, I think,” said the mare in a matter of fact tone.

“Yes, it does, I didn’t even get to tell it what I wanted before it started walking off!”

The mare laughed at this.  “It wasn’t so different from real ponies after all then.  Do not worry, you will find the way.”

When Dayspring said nothing, she spoke again.  “Is it not grand to wield the gift of magic?”

Dayspring wasn’t prepared for this change of subject, and he did not know what she meant.  So he simply said, “I guess.”

“It is, you know.  Consider an earth pony.  No magic.  So many problems they have, that could so easily be rectified with just a little magic, yet they cannot.  If something is out of reach, the best they can do is go through a lot of effort to drag a ladder to where they need.  I don’t see how they can even get by.”

Dayspring had never thought about this, but he was thinking about it now.  The mare did have a point.  Life as an earth pony must be hard.  A thought hit him.

“But what about-“

“Pegasi?” finished the mare.  “They make all sorts of problems.  Oh, they can fly, sure, but they abuse their gift.  They parade through the sky, flouting those of us who are stuck here on the ground.  They have an entire city all to themselves in the sky, you know.  There may as well be a great big sign over it that says ‘PEGASI ONLY’.”

“But why don’t you use magic to make yourself fly?” said Dayspring.  You could pick yourself up into the air!”

“You can do that?” asked the mare in astoundment.

“Oh, well, I’ve never tried it actualy.  I only just thought of it.”

Dayspring was eager to put this new idea to the test, so he started to channel his magic.  Confusion became apparent on his face as he realized that, no matter how hard he tried, it always felt like something was pushing back.

“I can’t do it!” cried Dayspring in frustration.

“Nopony can, I’m afraid,” said the mare, clearly disappointed.  “But do not let that get you down.  In the end, you are better than them all.  Especialy you.

Dayspring was shocked at this statement.  The mare turned about and started to walk away and he did not say anything or react in any way.  After Dayspring recovered, all he could think was “Is that true?”

After he watched the mare leave, he turned to Snow Buddy, who had naturally not gone anywhere throughout the entire conversation.  Dayspring shook his head and dispelled the freeze enchantment that he had placed on the snow earlier.  He didn’t figure he would want to play with it again soon.

Without thinking, he placed the top hat on his head, but it didn’t cause anything to happen to him.  He slowly began walking toward the library door.

When he opened the door, Twilight, who was only a few steps away from the door herself, stopped in surprise.

“Oh, there you are Dayspring,” she said.  “I was just coming to get you, dinner is ready.”

Dayspring was silent throughout the entire meal, and he was clearly forcing himself to eat what little he did.

“Dayspring, is something wrong?”

“Huh?” said Dayspring as he snapped out of his thoughts.  “Oh, no, I’m fine.”

Twilight decided not to pursue the matter.  She considered telling him that one does not usually wear a hat indoors, but, it was his special present after all.

“I’m not really hungry though,” Dayspring continued.   “I think I’m just tired.”

“Why don’t you leave your plate here and get to bed early?” offered Twilight.

Dayspring almost refused, but realized he had nothing else to do that day.  “Alright,” he said.

When he got to his room, Dayspring removed the hat, set it on the table, and threw himself onto his bed.

He couldn’t bring himself to actually close his eyes, so, at a loss for what to do, he looked around the room.

He noticed a scratching noise coming from the hat.  When it didn’t subside, he slowly rose from the bed and peered inside.

With his magic, he pulled a bunny out of the hat’s depths.