Chapter 2: Guidance

Canterlot was beautiful at night. The moon hung low and revealed the softer shades of the landscape. Countless stars could be seen, sparkling over the sleeping city. Not a single cloud concealed the darkened sky. The palace gardens also were gorgeous during spring and summer. Everything bloomed around her. All the flowers and trees had such wonderful colours, especially when Celestia’s sun shone from above. Now with nothing but darkness surrounding the little filly, she wondered if this was such a good idea after all.

Twilight was almost at the palace gardens. Even though the little filly did not genuinely fear the darkness, her brain decided otherwise. For the little filly’s subconsciousness, it was the best idea to get the hell out of the castle as fast as possible. Everything was so different in the night, every little movement in the shadow was so much more scary than in the light of the day.

She used to stargaze a lot with Princess Celestia on one of the Castle’s balconies. With her mentor, the purple unicorn had never been scared. She felt comfortable with the princess around to protect her from all the creepy darkness. When she was alone, however... It didn’t make any sense. Twilight knew that this panic came from her own mind, but there she was, panting in exhaustion while running through the dark corridors of the castle.

After what felt like hours of self-induced mental torture, her destination came into view.

She tried to cast a simple light spell while wandering through the moonlit fields. Twilight had done this countless times before, it was just like simple telekinesis. Similar to a levitation spell, the purple unicorn concentrated on channeling power into her horn. After Twilight could feel the familiar tingle that the use of magic created, she changed the properties of the energy. Her horn would now emit light as long as she focused magic in it. Every unicorn could learn these two spells. For unicorn with talents that didn’t include magic, they were the only ones most of them learned throughout their whole life.

Her horn sparked for a second and then started to emit a weak light. Unsatisfied with the result, Twilight tried to focus more magic into the spell and voilà, now it illuminated everything within a 5 metre radius. She calmed down a bit, as soon as her light spell banished the darkness. The little filly started trotting towards the training grounds once again. Even with all the panic induced stress, it didn’t take her long to find the right way again. Twilight could navigate through the castle blindfolded.

She could see the training grounds of Canterlot Castle, only a few minutes later. They were separated from the rest of the gardens, but as the prized pupil of Princess Celestia, Twilight was granted access nearly everywhere she wanted. It was divided into several fields for different purposes.The first were plain rectangular shaped and used for physical duels between two or more opponents.

One circular cobblestone field with a radius of about 15 metres, in the middle of it hovered a large prism shaped crystal which was covered with strange symbols. Twilight knew how it worked. It was pretty simple. Two unicorns must stand inside the circle, then they had to focus magical energy inside the crystal at the same time. When done right, it would create an anti-magic field around them. No spells could get past the sphere, so that unicorns could train inside it without possibly harming others. If the ponies inside the zone wanted to stop they just had to touch the crystal. It would instantly destroy the anti-magic field.

At the back end of the training area was the last field, a square and dusty area. It was full of training dummies made out of straw. Some could even be moved with some kind of complex machinery. The guards used them to improve their accuracy or to enhance their fighting capabilities. Most of Celestia’s troops used spears or halberds as their weapon of choice. Twilight had never seen them using something else. She heard rumours that the princess’ strongest guards yielded all sorts of powerful magical weapons, but that was everything the little filly knew. Neither could she prove or disprove anything.

“Finally. Let’s start with the training,” Twilight stated quietly.

What the little filly didn’t know was that she had been followed the whole time. Nopony other than her new teacher watched her. She’d promised Celestia that she would keep Twilight safe and Blaze wasn’t about to disappoint her princess. Blaze stared disbelievingly at the purple unicorn turning the anti-magic field on. Normally you would need the magic of two unicorns to activate it. She decided to change position to get a better view on her student.

Teleportation was a rather advanced magic trick. It required the full attention of the user. The basic concept of the spell was not difficult to understand. If a talented unicorn wanted to be somewhere else, they would think of that place and the next second they were gone. The drawback on teleportation, though, was how much of a toll it took on the magical reserves. It costs an insane amount of energy to teleport multiple times in a row. Not many unicorns in Equestria were able to use it efficiently. Blaze however, mastered it at the age of 12. As of now, Morning could teleport around 5 times in a row without getting tired.

She teleported silently into the crown of a nearby tree. Now having a better view on Twilight, it would also be much easier to intervene should anything go wrong.

Twilight had been working on a new spell for weeks. Her spell should, when done right, create explosions wherever the unicorn wanted. This was the idea. In practise, however, it didn’t quite work out. Every time the purple unicorn tried it with too much energy, she ended up with a charred horn, unable to use magic for days. On the other hoof, with too little energy, nothing happened at all. It was beginning to get frustrating. Her mentor warned her about practising this spell, it would be ‘too dangerous’ and all that. Twilight knew it was risky, but that couldn’t stop her. If she wanted to succeed in something, she would.

The little filly started to pour energy into her horn. She focused on a point of the anti-magic shield so that the purple unicorn wouldn’t destroy the ground if she actually did it this time. The first try ended up like so many others before. Twilight had not channeled enough magic into the spell. It just produced a little black smoke cloud. “Oh for pete’s sake, I hate this spell! Why can’t I get it to work?!” The little filly started to get a bit frustrated now. She tried to balance the amount of energy inside the spell. Her horn started to radiate in a intense white light.

Time immediately slowed down for Morning Blaze. The time under Princess Celestia’s guidance left her with nerves of steel and more magical capabilities than most other ponies. She observed her little student the whole time. Strong emotion would never mean anything good for the control of magic. This white glow could only mean one thing. She teleported right in front of the sphere and started to sprint into it. Simultaneously her mind readied a simple but very effective spell.

Twilight’s horn started to hurt really bad. Just as the little filly thought it would explode, she was hit by something very fast and strong. By the wave of the heat that struck her, it was no second too late. She could feel it burn her face as the little filly was thrown backwards, out of the magical sphere and into the grass. The side of her flank where Twilight landed had a minor cut in it from all the stones lying around and hurt a bit, but other than that and a few little bruises, she was fine. After her dizziness faded away, the purple unicorn saw Morning Blaze standing on her former position with a concerned look. “M-morning Blaze?”

The mare touched the crystal so that the sphere could vanish. Afterwards, she began to stride towards the little unicorn. She reached out with her hoof to help her student getting back up. “Yes, Twilight. I observed you while you were training. Even though I don’t know you very well, I have to say that you impressed me. The size of your magic pool is quite remarkable for a filly of your age. The point where you seem to struggle is the control of these immense reserves.”

The purple unicorn still looked a bit dazed. After a while, she calmed down enough to talk, “Thank you for saving me.”

“Of course, Miss Sparkle. Now let’s get back into the castle. The sun will be rising in a few hours and you need your sleep. And another thing, don’t think the next time I see you doing something so dangerous all alone won’t have any consequences,” Morning said in an ordering tone.

“Yes Morning Blaze,” Twilight said abashed, with her ears folded back. “Wait! How did you save me from that explosion? How did you survive a massive explosion? And with not even a single scratch?!”

Blaze laughed a little and said, “Oh that’s easy, it was an energized beam of wind. Normally it would have enough power to crush an entire building. But I toned it down a bit”

“You are able to control wind and manipulate its characteristics? I thought only pegasi could control the weather and wind” the little filly asked in bewilderment.

“Of course I can. And you are right, non trained unicorns can’t normally control the elements. One of the many things you’re going to learn, but for the moment, let’s bring you back to your chamber,” the magical mare stated.

“And why did the explosion not harm you?”

“Well, that’s a bit more complicated. I created an absorption sphere around my body. This field is able to, as you can likely tell due to the name, absorb kinetic and magical energy. As long as it is sustained with magic the field protects the user from most sorts of harm. It can also deflect all kinds of physical objects, but enough of that. Also, please promise me that you won’t do training units all on your own okay?”

Twilight nodded shortly.

After their little conversation, the two of them walked towards the castle. Well… that didn’t work out as I hoped. The rest of the night went on peacefully. Twilight was so exhausted that she fell asleep immediately after hitting the bed.

Waking up the next morning wasn’t pleasant. Twilight was still exhausted and her magic reserves hadn’t regenerated completely either. The only good thing was that most of the bruises had healed up over night. Last night was a dumb idea.

After a small breakfast with her personal cook, she started walking towards the training grounds once again.

Everything was so much more beautiful during the day. She did not even know what drove her to go out at night, all by herself. As the training grounds came into view, Twilight saw that her teacher was already waiting for her. The little filly noticed that Blaze’s look was a bit less impressive than yesterday at the meeting. She had not even thought about it last night. Her coat still had the same vibrant yellow colour and her armour looked like a normal gold-plated one. Now it had the same glowing runes engraved in it as her pendant. The biggest difference was Blaze’s mane. It was still a dark red like embers, only without real flames. Also, some streaks of sunlight yellow interrupted the pure crimson.

“I guess I was right. Her whole look was just a spell, a strong spell nonetheless. I’m very mature for my age. I don’t need to be impressed,” Twilight sighed slightly irritated.

“Good morning, Miss Sparkle.“

“G-good morning,“ Twilight replied quietly. She looked terrible. Bags under her eyes, frazzled mane and her coat was a bit duller than usual. Also, some of the bigger scratches still hadn’t healed up.

Blaze saw that the little filly was in no condition for real magic lessons. She decided to start with some theoretic education. It didn’t really suit her style, but better that than showing Celestia the blistering remains of her former student. Morning shuddered slightly at the thought. The princess was a benevolent ruler, as long as you don’t accidentally let her loved pupil burn herself to a small crisp.

“Our first lesson will be the essential basics. Tell me, my student, what do you know about magic?” the yellow mare questioned.

“Well...Umm...All three pony races are able to use magic up to a certain limit. Unicorns can control raw magic, pegasi use it to fly and make themselves lighter and earth ponies gather them in their muscles for extra strength and resilience. There is good magic and bad magic, also—”

“That will suffice for now. Here we have the first error most ponies make. It may be not important for them, but for you… it’s crucial. Thinking about good or bad is maybe not the right point of view. Every living thing in existence has two sides. They decide which will control their actions willingly,” Blaze stated, interrupting the little fillies rambling.

“But the princess has no bad side! She would never do anything that could possibly hurt others.”

“Hmm… yes… she might be an… exception. Aside from her, though, everything has ups and downs. You should start thinking more about Order and Chaos. These two are the grand forces. They are in perfect balance, since the beginning of time, they always were. Most ponies from Equestria refer to them as vis and flux. Ponies from around the frozen north call order, pà and chaos, ravage. The inventors of this theory, the ancient nomads of the desert, named them Maat and Isfet. When we talk about them, we will refer to them in their original names.”

Twilight memorized everything Blaze had said. It did make at least some sense when she thought about it, “Maat and Isfet… it sounds really odd… What language is this?”

“If it had a name, it has been forgotten long since. Now, we will come to the next part,” Blaze stopped in her speech to see if her student understood everything so far. “As you may know, there is not just one type of magic. In fact, there are three. The magic of nature, which is essentially the ability to control the four basic elements. Ponies able to harness it are called Elementalists. The magic of darkness, the most dangerous one. It can grant you amazing powers, but if you’re not careful it can consume and corrupt you. Those who survive the corruptive energy live under the name Void Walker. Last but not least, the magic of light. Very few ponies are able to control it perfectly. If one truly masters it, they become known as Arclight. Some Arclights also form the leadership circle of the Archmages of Equestria.”

“T-that’s a lot to take in. Why have I never heard about any of this?”

“Because it was simply not important for you. Most ponies never hear about any of this. You were way too young when you first became a magic student, but the princess would have told you sooner or later,” Morning Blaze answered. The little filly understood faster than she thought.

“Another question. Would it be possible to master all forms of magic?”

“Honestly? I don’t know. It never happened to a mortal pony. Princess Celestia mastered all of them in her childhood. But if it is possible, I’m sure you can do it.”

These words left a strong impression on the small filly. She didn’t know that Blaze had such a high opinion of her. Twilight would try extra hard to make both her old and new teacher proud. The whole time she had a small smile on her face.

Blaze spoke up again, “Good. Now, let’s talk about the different characteristics of those three. Elemental magic goes into the category of chaos magic and is known to be very impulsive and wild. Darkness spells also count as the magic of Isfet, for it is known to destroy everything in its path. Only Arclights are able to wield Maat. Light magic does not destroy, it is connected with life and creation. I will give you an example of a combined elemental spell. Stand back.”

As soon as Twilight stepped away a few metres, her teacher started to channel a spell. Her horn began to glow in a dark red colour. With the help of wind magic, she created a fast spinning gale that was about 5 metres tall. It was already trying to suck the purple unicorn in. After that, her horn glowed stronger, condensing the moisture out of the air and directing it into the tornado. The last part of the spell was a blue lightning sent from her horn into the tempest. The little filly was now standing before a massive electrified water twister that would instantly shock anypony daring to stand near it. With a final flash of Blaze’s horn the storm was gone as fast as she created it.

“That was elemental magic. A simple combination of wind, water and a thunderbolt. With enough skill you can basically mix every element to create extremely effective spells. I never mastered light magic, but the last magic I can show you for today is the pure power of darkness. The spell I’m gonna show you, is quite basic. Also, it is the only one I am able to use. I may be a decent Elementalist, but I never learned to wield the other two. For the sake of your safety, stay behind the force field I will erect in a second.”

With these words, she raised a deeply crimson protection sphere around Twilight. Her horn glowed darker this time, almost black. After Blaze drew a deep breath, her magic pool created three long, pointy and pitch black shards out of thin air. They looked like the night itself. The aura coming from them made Twilight shudder. It wasn’t something she wanted to try out anytime soon. Her last spell compressed the small rocks lying around her into what looked like a dummy made out of stone.

Blaze launched the projectiles towards the statue. As soon as they hit it, the three spears splintered and the field disappeared with a loud ‘sucking’ noise. It sounded like it was sucked into another dimension or something.

“This was a demonstration of one of the oldest known darkness spells. These shards are called ‘Vortex-spears’. Anything they touch will dissipate into nothingness. The downside of them is that they require a lot of magic and splinter after hitting one target,” Morning Blaze explained. She was panting slightly, one could easily see the effect this spell had on her.

Twilight felt a bit uneasy, but said, “T-they look scary. I don’t want to use dark magic.”

“Of course, Miss Sparkle. You don’t have to use it, but it is important that you understand all three types of magic. I am not even close to being able to show you the full potential of chaos magic. Controlling the darkness will give you power over the shadows, but becoming an Arclight is going to give you power over light itself. It is even more difficult to master than any other kind of magic. If you want absolute control, then learning all types of magic is essential.”

The purple unicorn nodded silently. She still didn’t want to learn this scary magic, but she couldn’t stop now. Twilight had to master all of them.

Before Blaze could say anything further, she heard a familiar voice inside her head. It was Princess Celestia’s. She used this thought-sending spell fairly often. The yellow mare was used to the feeling. Captain Blaze you are needed somewhere else. Suspicious activities, zone 6, sector 02. After the short message ended, the feeling subsided. Blaze knew that activities in this particular zone always meant trouble.

“I’m afraid that’s it for today. An urgent matter needs my full attention. We will continue tomorrow at the same time. Until then, enjoy the rest of the day,” the yellow mare said while touching the rune crystal that sustained the anti-magic sphere.

As soon as she finished her sentence, the air around Blaze shifted and she vanished. Twilight was not sure what to think now. She still had so many questions about everything Morning told and showed her. Then again, it had no use. Blaze was gone for now. The little filly could not teleport and had no idea if it was possible to trace the magic signature her teacher left.

The last few days left Twilight more confused every time somepony tried to explain something. Everything she believed to know about magic was wrong or at least partially incorrect. The little filly really had enough of this. She just wanted to do something normal the rest of the day. Like reading books and studying...yes, studying would distract her from this nonsense. Twilight had not picked up in her studies for days. So she left the palace gardens once again and started to walk inside the castle.