I woke up with a smile on my face. The party last night was amazing. My body was still shaking from the excitement. I didn’t think Berry Punch could drink that much.

I climbed out of my bed and winced. Dancing was fun and all, but it made your legs real sore the next morning. I slowly walked out of my room and down the stairs. My legs really didn’t want me to go anywhere.

And I wasn’t planning to. I was a colt with no idea how Equestria worked and completely new to magic. I checked downstairs in the library to see if anyone was there. The room was empty. Twilight was probably still asleep and Spike was still a baby, he needed his rest. I needed to catch up on how to live in Ponyville. And there’s no better way to learn than books. And the Internet, but there’s no computers around.

I looked around the library to get some books to read. This place had almost no organization. How was Twilight able to be so organized when making lists, but be completely messy when it came to anything else? Some sections looked to be organized by topic and others alphabetically by title or author. Other books were just laid on the floor.

Eventually, I got all the books I needed. I didn’t need to learn any math or science or English. I just needed to know a little bit of history, magic, and a few other things. But I had to keep these books private. There’s no way it would be normal to have a full grown unicorn reading books on basic magic or books on history that was probably taught in elementary schools.

I snuck back into my room and locked the door. This wouldn’t take too long. Just one week to catch up on Equestrian life and be a complete social outcast. Everything will be back to normal after I finished these books. I sighed. I picked up The Beginner’s Guide to Magic and lay down on my bed. Time to start.

Day 1: Magic and Celestia

I was able to figure out how I was able to teleport in the Everfree Forest while I was being chased by the manticore. An excerpt from The Beginner’s Guide to Magic stated:

Magic is a skill that takes understanding and determination to master. It is a force of energy that cannot be explained through equations and reason. Magic can be brought out to full potential through emotions. It is believed that a unicorn’s full capabilities are enhanced when faced with dangerous situations. A unicorn in an excited state may accidentally shoot out sparks if they have no previous training. It is important for a unicorn to learn concentration and control in order to…

Because I was in a life-threatening situation, my magic was enhanced. Even though I had no practice of magic beforehand, teleportation is simple enough that even a unicorn with no training performs it in that situation. Apparently, I needed to learn to concentrate and focus to have control over my magic and perform spells.

After learning the basics of teleportation spells, I moved onto a book titled Rise of the Celestian Era. In summary, Celestia came to rule over Equestria when:

In the last years of the great Starswirl the Bearded, the wizard made the most famous prophecy of his life. He stated that two sisters of great power would save Equestria in its darkest hours. The two would rise to rule over Equestria and bring the land out of the Dark Era and start an epoch of long-lasting peace and happiness. Starswirl then created a flag that showed the images of the two sisters controlling the sun and moon in harmony. Several hundred years later, Discord the draconequus brought chaos over the land. Discord used his dark magic to send Equestria into a seemingly unending period of confusion. His rule nearly wiped out the entire pony population.

Upon Discord’s third year of rule, Celestia and her younger sister, Luna, find the Elements of Harmony. The strong relationship between the sisters activated the Elements. But their bodies were not able to control the power between the two of them. Celestia and Luna were transformed to Alicorns in order to maintain the power of the Elements.

Celestia and Luna face off against Discord. Using the power of the Elements of Harmony, the sisters turned Discord into stone. Celestia and Luna were praised as the heroes of Equestria. Being the only two Alicorns left in Equestria, the two took it upon themselves to restore Equestria to greatness. Becoming beings of great power gave the sisters enormous power and a bridge to connect with nature. Celestia had learned she was the new embodiment of the sun and Luna, the moon. Together they brought a peace to Equestria that remains today.

The book told of some other stories about Celestia banning Luna to the moon and other feats that she was able to accomplish.

Day 2: Discord

Twilight Sparkle came by yesterday to check if I was okay since I didn’t leave the tree at all yesterday. I told her I was fine and just needed to stay in the room for the next few days. I told her not to ask why, so she shrugged and leaved me be. So far, I’ve been asking Spike to bring food up to my room during mealtimes. Twilight must’ve told him not to bother me since he would leave right after he dropped off the food.

I kept on practicing magic yesterday and now I can flip over a page with my magic! I tried to teleport some books across the room, but it didn’t work. I wouldn’t try teleporting myself again, in fear of hurting myself.

After finishing the story about Celestia, I picked up another book called The Rise and Fall of Discord. It told me about how Discord eventually became a being of evil. It almost made me feel bad for him. The abridged version of the story is as follows:

Discord was born as one of the last draconequus in Equestria. During the Dark Era, pegasi made it a sport to hunt down and capture adult draconequi. After Commander Buckington was removed from power, the sport soon ended. Discord was brought up with no family to care for him. At an early age, Discord was forced to learn to fend for himself. He was rejected by the pony society for being a draconequus. Those who had no knowledge of draconequi, feared him for his strange appearance. Discord’s looks were normal for any draconequus, but his body of different animals made the ponies despise him. Having not seen any other of his species, Discord truly believed he was a freak of nature.

Discord is said to have started his rise to evil after meeting a certain pony. The book doesn’t state the pony’s name, but it says she brought out the feeling of warmth to Discord’s heart. Discord had fallen in love with this mare. After revealing his love to her, the mare declined his love saying she could not be with someone like him. With a broken heart, Discord fled to somewhere around Stalliondavia. There, he is believed to have learned the magic of chaos to the point of becoming its entity. Within the cave where he is believed to have lived, it is written, “If the world isn’t going to love me, then I’ll teach it to FEAR ME.”

Discord worked for years to master his power of chaos. He soon unleashed his powers to the world. It was a force of evil unlike anything known to Equestria. Discord had no allies. It was the world against him, and he was destroying it. No one appeared to be able to match his power. Every day he would laugh as he heard the screams and cries of the ponies below him.

And then the story ended with Celestia and Luna saving the day.

Day 4: Creatures and Ponyville

I am now able to levitate books for a few seconds. I’m hoping to be able to master the levitation spell by the end of the week. I’m still having no luck on teleporting. It makes sense too. All unicorns are able to levitate objects easily, but there are only some unicorns that can teleport.

I spent the day yesterday learning about the different mythical creatures in Equestria. There are phoenixes, hydras, and manticores. Windigoes, timberwolves, cockatrices, griffins. I read up on parasprites and learned you can get rid of them by burning them. Apparently they tasted good roasted and dipped in chocolate sauce. There are quarray eels, ursas, dragons, serpents, Cerberuses, and much more. Many of them live in the Everfree forest.

I’m reading up on the history and traditions of Equestria. I learned about the Apple family’s struggle and how it eventually led to the creation of the town. I read about Nightmare Night and Winter Wrap-Up. Nothing too interesting there.

Day 5: War and more magic

I’m having fun levitating the books in my room and floating them around. It’s always cool whenever you learn to do something new. It’s still a bit of a strain to move them around, but I’ll get over it. Right now, I can lift up to three books! In addition, I found another spell that took me only a few hours to master. It’s called a Bubble Spell. The spell is used to keep out rain or smoke. It’s also used for ponies with sicknesses to quarantine them. Basically, you take the magic flowing around your body and try to inflate it. You try and pop some of your magic out of your body and make a force field of magic. The magic expands from your body until you are encased with a bubble. The bubble is permeable if enough force is applied and breaks if too much pressure is applied. There are many other uses for this Bubble Spell, so I decided to learn it. Luckily, it’s not too difficult.

I learned more about the history of Equestria around the Dark Era. The Dark Era started near the beginning of the founding of Equestria. The Earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns needed to learn to create a system to cooperate with one another. No real system was made other than the same things they did in the time before Equestria. The Earth ponies would farm food, pegasi control weather, and unicorns doing whatever they do. Not only that, but the new unified ponies started to stir up trouble for other species. In the book Griffin Wars, I learned that:

The new peace brought onto Equestria by the unification of the ponies brought trouble to other nations. The country dominated by griffins paid little attention to ponies. The ponies were in no way intruding onto griffin territory or hurting the griffins in any way. If a group decided to settle in their territory, the griffin army could easily overpower them. It was not until the three groups of ponies merged as one did the griffins decide to take action.

Lord Gildrus was the ruler of Griffigan (griffin country) at the time. He was an experienced commander that had made it through many battles with dragons, manticores, and pegasi. The three pony groups divided had no power. But the three united as one, threatened the griffin power. Lord Gildrus decided to take action and sent Squadron 7, a group of ten griffins, to attack the ponies.

The surprise attack killed 4 ponies and left eleven others wounded. The attack was supposed to be a warning from the griffins. The ponies soon declared war on Griffigan and started a war that lasted twenty-six years.

Both sides took many casualties during the war. An estimated total of 12,000 ponies were either killed or went missing. Near 8,000 griffins were recorded to be dead. The war finally turned in favor of the ponies on the twenty-second year of the war when the ponies took over the Griffigan city of Talongrad. The unicorns were eventually able to surround the city and capture the griffin’s greatest commander, Commander Eagle Eye.

With the best commander of the Griffin Air Fleet gone, the ponies slowly, but surely took down the rest of the griffin army. During the winter of the 26th year, Lord Gildrus surrendered.

The griffins, intending to stop the ponies from continuing peace with one another, had to give up nearly a third of their territory. The Griffigan city of Talongrad was renamed to Stalliongrad and became the capital of the Northern area of Equestria. A peace treaty was signed in the Equestrian city of Horsailles. The treaty stated that…

And a few more feuds happened afterwards. The griffins and ponies were actually united when Discord came into power. Afterwards, Celestia has been able to maintain peace with the griffins.

Day 6: Weather and sleep

Twilight kicked me out of the house today. She told me even she didn’t read as much as I have been the past few days. I was fine with that. I had to work on my spells somewhere other than my room anyways.

I was sitting on a park bench, picking up rocks and garbage cans with my magic when Rainbow Dash passes by.

“Hey Rainbow Dash!” I said.

“Oh hey Rave. I haven’t seen you in the past few days. Where have you been?” Rainbow asked.

“I’ve been… getting settled into Ponyville. I’ve also been reading a few books in the library the past week. But Twilight kicked me out.”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “Ha, you got kicked out, by Twilight? That’s pretty lame.”

My face reddened in embarrassment, “It’s not easy when she uses her magic to have complete control of me! I couldn’t do anything about it!”

“Hehe, calm down, I’m just joking. Anyways, couldn’t you just use your magic against hers?” Rainbow asked as she took the seat next to me.

“Well she is the Element of Magic. It’s not like I’m any match against her.” I replied.

Her deep magenta eyes widened. “How do you know about the Elements of Harmony?”

“I… read a book about them. And then Twilight told me that you and the rest of your friends were embodiments of the Elements. You’re the Element of Loyalty, right?”

“Yeah. I am pretty awesome, aren’t I?”

We shared a laugh.

“So you like reading those boring books that Twilight keeps?” Rainbow asked.

“Well… just a few certain ones. I’m more into partying and stuff than those dusty old books.”

Rainbow smiled. “Alright, that’s good. I didn’t think you would be into that kind of stuff anyways.”

“By the way, I’ve always wondered, how do the pegasi control the weather?”

“Well it’s kinda hard to explain, but let me try. So…” Rainbow Dash began to talk about how clouds are formed and how to control the temperature. As I was listening, the past few days of non-stop reading hit me. Rainbow’s words started to sound far-off. The warm afternoon sun on my body added to my sleepiness. I tried to keep my eyes open, but it was no use, the force of sleep compelled me. I drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was nudged on the shoulder. I slowly opened my eyes to see the sun setting. A lavender mare came into view.

“Well I see that you’ve enjoyed the afternoon.” Twilight giggled.

I suddenly realized I was laying on something very soft and warm. I turned to see that I fell asleep on Rainbow Dash and that she decided to take a nap too.

I blushed and sat up. “I guess I dozed off.” I put a hoof to my face trying to overcome the drowsiness of being awoken. “Did you need something?”

“I asked Spike if you had returned from your walk. When he said no, I went out to look for you. And I found you here, sleeping with Rainbow.” Twilight said. She had a face that looked as though she knew something. “So, what exactly were you two doing in the park, together?”

I felt my cheeks redden. “Nothing too big. Just talking,” I replied.

Twilight gave me a look of disbelief. “Just talking?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, just talking. And then a little bit of nap time. That’s the honest truth.”

“Sure it is,” Twilight said, “anyways, you should head home soon, Spike is almost done with dinner.” She then trotted away.

What was she getting at? It wasn’t anything more than a conversation between two friends. I rolled my eyes.

I nudged Rainbow Dash. “Hey sleepy head, you should probably wake up.”

Rainbow Dash sleepily lifted her head. “Huh, where am I?”

“You’re in the park. We dozed off.” I replied.

“Oh yeah. I was talking to you about the weather and then you fell asleep on my shoulder. I didn’t want to wake you up so I decided to take a nap too.”

I chuckled. “Yes well, we should probably head on home. It’s almost time to eat.”

“K. Cya later Rave,” Rainbow said as she stretched her long elegant wings.

I waved good-bye and headed towards home.

Day 7: Magic

On my last day of reading, I pretty much mastered the levitation spell. I could pick up to five books without even trying. I’ve done the Bubble Spell quite a few times now. I found another easy spell to work with, but I needed Rainbow Dash to help with it.

But for now, I needed to work on the teleportation spell. I managed to teleport a book from one side of my room to the other. Nothing too fancy, but at least I was moving things. I read Advanced Teleporting Spells and learned that it’s actually easier to teleport yourself rather than other things. Something about more senses coming into play other than just sight for teleporting objects.

I took an anxious breath as I readied myself for teleportation. I was in my room and my target was outside at the front of the tree house. I closed my eyes and concentrated. I envisioned myself outside, the smell of the fresh air and the wind gently flowing through my mane. My horn let out a small spark. I concentrated harder. I have to FOCUS! My horn began to glow and I felt my body become… fuzzy.

A flash of light appeared around me. The sun was beaming down on me. I was outside! I actually d…

“OUCH!”

I rubbed my flank as I realized I had been teleported ten feet higher than I wanted. The subsequent fall made me land on my flank. But I did it! I could teleport! Mission accomplished.

Now to find Rainbow and try my new spell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I went looking through town until I managed to find Rainbow Dash sleeping on a cloud.

“Hey Rainbow!” I yelled. No response

“Rainbow! RAINBOW DASH!” I screamed. But still no response.

I guess I should come back another time. I didn’t need to do the spell today anyways. I turned and began to walk away. Something soft hit the back of my head and my mane became drenched. I turned around to see Rainbow Dash laughing her face off and a large chunk of the cloud missing.

After she had finished laughing, Rainbow flew down in front of me. “Sorry about the cloud thing. I couldn’t help myself. What do you need Rave?”

“Well I’m working on a spell, but I need a cloud to test it out. Think you can help me out?”

“No problem.” Rainbow said. She quickly flew up and got the cloud she was sleeping on and brought it back down. “It’s all yours.”

I closed my eyes and concentrated. I focused on the magic near my hooves and tried to compress it. When I felt the spell become completed, I opened my eyes with a smile on my face. Now for the moment of truth.

I put a hoof onto the cloud and stepped on it.

“Whoa!” I said as I thought I was about to fall through. But it was just the cushioniness of the cloud. I learned to walk on clouds!

“Awesome,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “You learned the spell to walk on clouds? Twilight used it last year to help my friends get to Cloudsdale.”

“Yeah! Now I can walk on clouds and stuff!”

“That’s so cool!’ Rainbow Dash said with a large smile. “So you can, like, visit my house and stuff?”

“Yeah, but first…” I stepped off the cloud and took a large chunk of the cloud off.

“What are you doing?” Rainbow asked with a confused look.

“Oh nothing,” I said. I took a few steps back and threw the cloud right at Rainbow.

It hit her dead-on. She was soon drenched from cloud water and had a surprised look on her face.

“Payback!” I yelled. I ran away as fast as I could.

Rainbow shook her head and came out of shock. “Oh no you don’t! You come back here!” She grabbed some cloud fluff and chased after me.

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