The Great and Powerful Lessons Round 2

[Trixie Lulamoon]

It hadn’t been that long after Luna left that Trixie had made her way out of the dining hall as well. After all the awkwardness and frustration that had occurred Trixie hadn’t felt that hungry. Well, she still had about a plate and a half of food because, hey, no need for everything to go to waste. Still, whenever staff came by to clean up the table would still be rather full. It was good food, but just sitting there by herself in worry had just killed the mood.

So with absolutely nothing else left to do, Trixie decided to head to the library early, but only after a quick stop to her room to pick up some things. She hoped that showing up early for lessons would help at least a little. At the very least there would hopefully be a book or something she could read to try and distract her thoughts. Even now her mind was plagued by wondering what it was that Luna was planning for her. Flash’s speculation about the princesses training replacements had seemed ludicrous, but between Luna’s validating her feelings about seeing herself as an alicorn and stating she had plans, well, maybe it didn’t seem so far-fetch’d. Had Luna in fact been trying to hint at the possibility?

Uggggh, you need to stop obsessing over that Trixie. There’s really no reason to think she has plans that great for you she thought to herself as she entered the library.

Finding an empty table, she sat herself down and levitated the case containing the magical weights onto the table. Popping open the case, Trixie glanced through to figure out which one she would try. She had been messing with them throughout the last few days, but she was still having some trouble getting even the smaller one’s to move. Who the heck thought it a good idea to make something so small the weight of a full grown pony anyway? Still, Luna had asked her to do it, and it seemed like just the perfect task to try and take her frustations out on. Why be frustrated at social awkwardness when you could just get mad at a stupid weight that just wouldn’t freaking budge!.

And so it was that Trixie found herself wasting her time till lessons working on attempting to lift up a ball, getting it at most a few inches up at the best of times.

[Deleted]

At the great clock in the library chimed the hour, the double doors of the library were thrown open and on cue, Princess Luna strode in, looking impressive and regal, even while floating a Mysterious Box, a Silver coffee set, two cups, and a tray of assorted cookies behind her like balloons. Upon seeing Trixie, she paused, astonished. It was not that Trixie was on time that surprised her, so much as it was that Trixie had clearly been there some time, working away. Though... she looked rather frazzled. Luna hoped she hadn't exhausted her entire store of magic just before lessons. It might prove a bit... inconvenient. With an approving, soothing smile, Luna floated the coffee service to the table ahead of her and approached. It was true they had eaten, not too long ago, but... Well, coffee and tea were just such social things. They were like ice-breakers. When you were nervous, or lost for words, or needed time to think, you could become absorbed in fixing or stirring your drink, or in selecting a tasty morsel, and buy yourself a few precious moments of time. "How goest the practice, my student? Do you make any progress?" she asked, cheerfully, as she seated herself. "Let us see the strength of thy new skill in illusion." Luna suggested, getting right down to business by floating the mysterious box in front of her student and lifting the lid. Inside was a creamy gold, sweet-smelling flower. "Can you replicate this, sight and smell, so that I cannot tell the difference, do you think?" She asked. It was like the doughnut of the first lesson, only just a little more complicated. Luna was giving Trixie another chance to succeed at the challenge.

[Trixie Lulamoon]

The chime of the clock and the opening of the library served as a good enough signal to Trixie that Luna had finally arrived. The addition of the coffee, tea, and cookies was an added bonus. Having not yet fully adjusted to a night owl schedule yet, sugar and caffeine seemed like very pleasant companions to have. There was also yet another mysterious box. Was this just a habit of Luna’s or something? Two lessons might not have been enough to establish a pattern, but boxes did seem to be a common occurrence.

At any rate, Trixie placed the weight back into the box, a task not difficult as it had barely left the container in the first place, and shifted her attention to Luna and the new task ahead of her.

”Okay, both look and smell, got it,” Trixie said as she looked closer at the flower, seeing that it many small little bits. That did not seem inherently different from the task of the sprinkles on the doughnut, however, so Trixie was certain she could handle it.

Taking a few more seconds to try and sniff the flower to get a sense of the scent, Trixie got to work. Mentally, she broke the flower up into several major parts and worked on each first in her head. First, there were all the green leaf parts at the base of the flower. The second part was the pure white petals that blossomed out from the center of the leaves. Finally, you had the two yellow things in the middle: one was a ring of pollen stems, and the other some freaking thing that poked out and had a bunch of yellow-green bits sticking out. At the very least, Trixie appreciated it was all circular and ring shapes.

Having slowly built up the image in her mind, Trixie cast the spell. Having just learned the scent spell recently, she had not yet quite gotten the knack of integrating it into her normal illusions. This meant she had to take an extra second to cast the additional smell spell. The largest concern she had was whether it was quite rightly attached to the illusion or if she was just making a general fragrance. Casting the enchantment onto a solid, real object was easy, but she didn’t really have the experience of casting them on illusions.

And at the very last second she made sure to add in some shadows, suddenly remembering that was the tell that got her last time.

Mentally exhausted from the concentration, Trixie sat back and let Luna take her look at them.

”There, I think that should do it,” Trixie said, reaching out for the tea as she awaited evaluation.

[Deleted]

When Trixie accepted her challenge, Luna smiled and floated the flower out of the box and left it on the table for her student to study, whilst the Princess turned away to demonstrate the fairness of the game. She floated the coffeepot, some cream and sugar, and her own cup into her line of sight and prepared her coffee just the way she liked it, and reviewed her plans in her mind. Tonight, for the illusion part of their lessons, she had a dilemma. Luna suspected that Trixie already had a grasp of sound-based illusion, and taste-based illusion was just a twist on illusory smell. But there was another sense, a very overlooked sense, that Trixie would eventually discover on her own, if she was not taught. There were no books on learning this magic, and with good reason. It was very prone to all sorts of misuse. It was but one step between erasing that line between reality and illusion. It would take her at least the better part of a year to master, if she ever did. Could Trixie be trusted with it? This was but her second lesson, after all. Would it not be better to simply combine taste and sound into tonight’s schooling? She- Luna’s thoughts were interrupted by Trixie’s announcement that she was ready. The alicorn turned back, with a pleased, though surprised, expression. Either she had been thinking much longer than she realized, or Trixie was doing better than she expected. T’was probably, Luna admitted to herself, a bit of both. She glanced down at the two flowers. They both had shadows. That made the princess smile. Once again, they did not look identical, but they were both equally plausible. Her gaze flicked from one to the other, and back again. She leaned forward and gently inhaled the soft, vanilla-like scent of one. That was certainly the real one. But to be sure, she delicately sniffed the other. Oh. Perhaps… Well, it smelled ever so-slightly different, but… it was also a perfectly plausible smell. One was a little stronger than the other. Was that the sign of the false one, or the true one? It didn’t matter. Luna sat up and beamed at Trixie. ”I cannot tell for certain,” she announced. ”But I believe ‘tis the one on the left that is the false flower.” Luna watched Trixie’s face for disappointment or delight, clues that would tell her whether her guess had been correct or not.

[Trixie Lulamoon]

Trixie sat back, slightly nervous, as Luna began to exam the two flowers. When enough time went by to have surpassed last time, Trixie felt a little better. At least she had not made a quite as obvious mistake as forgetting to do the shadows. It also meant that her concern about the scent might not have been as big a concern as she thought. Over all, Trixie was feeling pretty good when Luna started off with stating she could not tell for certain. Still, Trixie’s smile faltered just a little bit as her horn glowed, the flower that had been on the left dissipating into the air. Even with all the work Luna had still chosen the fake one, but despite being slightly disappointed Trixie still felt pretty confident that she had been pretty close to fooling Luna.

”I take it the smell did it? I’m honestly not too sure how to get the scent to go with the illusion so I sort of just put out the flower smell in the air. Might have made the other flower a little too strong though….”

[Deleted]

Luna shook her head with with a warm, proud smile. "T'was not the scent, exactly...at least, I think not. I merely happened to guess correctly. I did not know that I was correct. But when you wish to build up an illusion with an odor, there are two ways it can be done." Luna was pleased to expand on this topic, pleased that Trixie had asked... or at least mentioned it. "One way is to cast the scent illusion at the same time as the visual illusion. This can be tricky, as many ponies prefer to do their magic one spell at a time, but tends to produce a more genuine smell on a flower, as the different parts of a flower carry the different parts of its overall scent. The other way is to encircle the illusion with your aura, as though you were going to lift and carry it- and cast the scent illusion directly into your aura. This is easier, as you are only doing one spell, but it tends to give an object like a flower the complete odor, all throughout. Most ponies cannot tell the difference, but you might not fool a perfumer, or a creature with an exceptionally sharp nose." Luna took a moment for a deep breath and a long drink of her coffee, before setting her cup down and looking very seriously at the unicorn. "You art proving to be a quick and adept pupil, my dear Trixie." The princess sought and tried to hold eyecontact. "I would like to begin training you in another facet of illusion. It cannot be found in any book that I know of. It may take you a long time to master it. And it is very, very easy to misuse it. T'would be easier for me to pretend it does not exist, to keep you innocent of it... Yet I believe that you are a skilled enough illusionist that one day you would... discover this magic on your own. At the same time... perhaps you do not feel ready to begin this road into the more dangerous... and restricted... kinds of magic yet. What do you think?" She asked.

[Trixie Lulamoon]

Trixie listened carefully as Luna described how to infuse the scent into the illusion. It sounded about on par with how she would combine light and sound to create her fireworks, and the ease of doing so made Trixie feel a little bit annoyed she didn’t catch it. Probably made the whole looking into enchantments thing rather unnecessary, but in the long run that would probably be a good thing. At the very least, the initiative had impressed Luna earlier at dinner.

When Luna’s tone shifted to a much more serious one, Trixie was left slightly confused. Luna hadn’t exactly been that strict or serious sounding with her before, nor had she ever touched on a topic so dark sounding. Trixie tried to think about what spell could be that distressing of a thing to warrant such concern. Although apparently whatever it was, Luna believed her to be skilled enough to eventually stumble onto it. As always, Trixie was very appreciative of any compliment to her skills. Even if that compliment was wrapped up in “stumbling upon dangerous and restricted magic”.

”Oh, well, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t at least sound interesting the way you’re setting it all up…”

[Deleted]

If Luna had known that Trixie was using her Serious Warning to pad the unicorn's own ego, she would have been rather annoyed. Since the Princess did not- Please note the 'did not' wasn't a 'could not'- read her student's mind, she had no idea. But she was rather puzzled. Trixie's response was not the one she would have expected. She expected... well, for Trixie to look more suitably somber. Serious. Maybe even a little frightened. Instead, her student seemed to be intrigued and pleased. A trifle... self-satisfied, as if Trixie were the one bestowing a favor. And she didn't even answer the question. Patience, Luna counseled herself. She's had all but a few seconds to consider it, you've been wrestling with it for the better part of a few hours. "Do think on it," The alicorn answered, offering nothing further in the way of information. "And if, and when, you feel you are ready, we will begin upon it. But only when you art ready." Luna paused for a moment, to take a bite of a cookie, a lovely peanut butter and chocolate affair, and then she brightened, as if relieved. "In the meantime," she began again, sweeping all the dark broodiness of the mood right out of the room, "Let us begin with that dispel charm I promised. I have it writ down here for you, but let me tell you a bit about dispel magic." It was lecture time! "Think of a spell as a glass sphere, metaphorically speaking of course. It is possible, with the application of enough magic force, that is, willpower, to shatter such an object by applying enough force. But the very shape of a glass sphere makes it difficult. A spell, like a glass sphere, will distribute a contrary force, an opposing will, across its entire surface, making it difficult to break. One would need enough will to break through a spell at every single inch of its surface. The larger and stronger and more difficult the spell, the more surface it has." Another pause, both for the information to sink in, and for Luna to have another sip of her coffee. "But if you were to take, say, a nail or a tooth, or any sharp, pointed object and put some force behind it, it will drive into the glass sphere with significant ease by comparison, cracking, if not shattering it entirely. This is the principal behind dispel magic. We typically use powdered Manedrake root as the 'nail' or 'fang', because it has strong natural anti-magical properties and can be easily concealed, but some metals, like iron and lead, have magical resistance, and some crystals, such as Obsidian and Morion too." Luna glanced to see if Trixie was still paying attention, and in case she had any questions so far.

[Trixie Lulamoon]

Trixie’s anxiety about saying something wrong to the princess flared up as she pushed the topic of this serious warning off with a nibble of a cookie and chance in subject. She didn’t seem mad at Trixie, but Trixie could sense that she wasn’t exactly happy either. Of course, how was Trixie supposed to react if all she was given was a vague warning that this magic might be “dangerous”. For all Trixie knew Luna was overreacting a little to something perfectly fine....okay, fine, Trixie knew she had to give the princess more credit than that. But still, Trixie found it hard to show the proper amount of somberness when she didn’t even know what it was she was supposed to be somber about.

Right now, however, she had to try and push that anxiety aside and focus on the lecture at hoof instead. The way Luna described dispel magic was different from how Trixie normally though of it, but she could see the sense in it as well. It was also the first she had heard of using an ingredient as part of a spell. Of course, Trixie’s choices of spells to learn probably meant such things were never necessary.

”Okay, I think I get it. Normally I kind of think of my magic as either being short bursts of energy and don’t need dispelling, like my firework spell, or it’s kind of like a faucet that I turn on or off if I want to get the spell to end,” Trixie said, adding in her own bit about how she thought of her own magic.

”So if I wanted to take the perfume illusion off of me, I’d need to get some mandrake root or whatever and just kind of imagine I’m hitting a nail into the spell?”

[Deleted]

"That's pretty much the idea," Princess Luna agreed, cheerfully. "Manedrake is the nail, and the spell takes your will and applies it with sharp force. You need not imagine anything, really. In many spells, great concentration and a calm inner mind is necessary, as well as sort of visualization of purpose, but a dispel like this is unique in that it will be most effective if you can get it off when panicky, or angry. Those emotions will add power to the spell. Focus is not so important, The manedrake provides it." Although she had no more than a vague idea that it would be so, Luna suspected that this was a kind of spell that Trixie might find easier than many. Concentration and focus were not... not yet, anyway... Trixie's especial strong points. This sort of blunt force, emotional application was actually much harder for the serious students to master. The tended to over-think it, to dismiss all feeling and leave only thought- which severely lessened the impact of the spell. Luna summoned a scroll upon which she'd copied the spell and offered it to her student now, along with a velvet purple pouch that contained half a pound of powdered Manedrake root. "Now, memorize the words of this spell, and I wilt create some spells for you to break. Do not worry, I will make them fragile, at first. I cannot expect that you wouldst be ready to battle wills with me yet." Luna laughed, but in a friendly, non-mocking way. "About half a spoon's worth of powder should be all you need, but do not lift it from the pouch until you are ready to cast. You'll find that Manedrake will try to cancel out your telekinesis!"

[Trixie Lulamoon]

”Right, so just fire it off and let the mandrake do the focusing…” Trixie said, repeating what she believed to be the intent of the spell to be.

In a way, Trixie felt like this would probably be a good spell for her. She already tended to just throw out her magic in bursts anyway or rely on her imagination to do the work of it. In-depth concentration just wasn’t her thing, which Trixie figured would be an issue later on. For now, however, she would enjoy having a spell that at least sounded rather easy for her to do. Well, once she got done with the memorizing the words of the spell. That was going to be a bit of a pain in the butt.

Taking a seat, then, Trixie started reading over the scroll and mumbling the words off to her herself as Luna did her thing.

[Deleted]

Indeed it was time for the Princess to 'do her thing'. Luna looked around and cleared a little space on the table, whilst delicately nomming upon a cookie. She needed a few different spells, weaker ones. It was strange, the idea of trying to do a spell poorly. Trying to make a breakable spell. For the first, Luna floated over an unlit candle from a nearby table and set it alight with a magical flame. It gave off a soft, clear silver light, the same as her own magical aura, and was beneficial in that it would not actually use any wax, no spread to table or books should the candle tip over. A very useful and simple spell. The next spell Luna created was significantly more delicate and finicky, and thus, should be easy to dispel, though it was complex. Out of pure magic, she created a tiny little imp-like creature, the size of a mouse, and assigned it the task of moving cookies between the serving plate and her saucer. The little magical creature set off to work at once, selecting a peanut-butter cookie and beginning to lug it across the table to her plate. The last spell occurred to her as she was about to pour herself a fresh cup of coffee. It was a silly bit of magic, but simple, and after pouring in the proper amount of cream and sugar, she enchanted her spoon to stir the coffee in an endless and noiseless circle. The table, once empty, now was quite active between the lit candle, the toiling magical imp, and the self-stirring spoon. Luna sat back and waited.

[Trixie Lulamoon]

Trixie did her best to not peek as Luna started doing her spells, but her curiosity got the best of her within only a few seconds of waiting. She had to raise an eyebrow at the sight of the little imp-creature, and she made a note to ask Luna how she did that. Having a little magic servant seemed to be a rather useful thing to have after all. Everything else, from the look of it, were rather simple. No surprise: gotta start small when learning a new spell, right? Well, okay, Trixie had to admit she usually didn’t and tended to jump straight to the biggest, boldest stuff. That was probably why her first show, while a success, did involve a first hoof lesson in fire extinguishing spells.

Shaking her head a little bit, she focused a little more on learning the actual spell until she heard Luna finishing up. After glancing over it one more time, she turned around to face the table and Luna’s various challenges. Within a few seconds she decided to start with the spoon: something about it just bothered her a little bit. Maybe it was the lack of noise it was making? Whatever, she didn’t like it so it got to down first.

Levitating out just a small pinch of the mandrake powder, and feeling like it was fighting back just a little as Luna said it could, she gently “threw” it with her magic over the cup and spoon. Concentrating and doing what she did best, Trixie sent out a blast of magic, focusing like she was going to be smashing some bubble of magic or something and that the mandrake served as the target. After a brief flash of magic, the spoon continued to spin around just a little from inertia before finally coming to rest.

A quick upturn of the mouth signified Trixie’s satisfaction with the sight, and she soon proceeded to do the same for the candle. Turning to the imp, however, Trixie hesitated before looking up at Luna.

”Uhm, before I dispel it…could you show me how you did that? I mean, it might be pretty cool to have a little magic imp thing. Might be handy as a stage hoof or something…”

[Deleted]

Most ponies would not have watched the breaking of their spells with satisfaction, but as Luna saw the spoon stop stirring and the flame flicker out, a grin spread across her face. Trixie had picked up this spell very, very quickly. Just as Luna had instinctively suspected she would! But then... ”Uhm, before I dispel it…could you show me how you did that? I mean, it might be pretty cool to have a little magic imp thing. Might be handy as a stage hoof or something…” Luna's smile vanished, and her eyes widened slightly. She glanced down at the little magical imp, who paused in its cookie-toting labors to look back up at the princess of the Moon. It had no face, but its posture conveyed surprise and consternation. Slowly, a dreamy, knowing smile drifted back across the alicorn's face and the imp turned to Trixie and made a slight bow. This, Luna thought, was a subject that needed delicate handling. "I can, and wilt teach you how to make such servants, if you wish it," Luna began, with a friendly, sincere tone. "But any kind of construct is rather complicated blend of magical sciences, and better suited to having its own lessons, rather than being squeezed in to this one. For a quick explanation, I wilt simply say that the creature is purely made out of my magic, formed into a being, and infused with a command. It could take any shape that a pony wisht, as long as you have a clear idea of what you wish it to look like." This was said with as much sweetness and encouraging gentleness as Luna could muster, for she did not want to dampen the first enthusiasm Trixie had ever shown for learning magic outside her normal sphere. Yes, Trixie had requested to learn a dispel, but it was more out of necessity than actual interest. Although, she was certainly proving to be quite good at it! "Now then," Luna insisted with another smile, "Do not worry. I wilt teach you this magic too, in time. But for tonight, let us see if you can dispel it."

[Trixie Lulamoon]

For a moment Trixie thought she had asked for something wrong, but when Luna’s face softened into a smile she felt the anxiety in her chest loosen. Luna apparently was quite glad that she had asked about this. Sure, Trixie couldn’t learn the spell right now, but that was fine: Trixie hadn’t expected it to be that easy (okay, a little bit). Still, the basic idea sounded enough that Trixie could maybe practice it in her off time. She even wondered about making one her size, you know, basically making a twin. Oh the tricks she could do if she could make it seem like she was in two places at once…

But for now she would have to dispel the little imp, which had gotten back to doing its little task. Furrowing her eyebrows in concentration, she charged up another blast of dispel magic, shooting it loose towards the imp. Unfortunately, its dedication to the task was strong enough that it picked up speed, deciding it more important to stack up the cookies than to get blasted. Trixie grumbled a second before charging up again, only to once again miss. The Great and Powerful Trixie, however, would not be beaten by a little magic imp!

This time, instead of keeping the mandrake to herself, she levitated out just a pinch and threw it right before where the imp was. It seemed like this froze it with it’s magic-cancelling properties just long enough for Trixie to hit it with the dispel magic, causing the little thing to pop like a balloon.

”Well, that’s…that’s kind of gruesome,” Trixie stated, a little squicked by the sight.