Horns to the left of me, wings to the right.

[letteropener]

Who: The pony princesses and those who would accept their training.
What: The training offered by the pony princesses to those who would accept it.
Where: Ponyville, the Town Square.
When: A couple of days after their welcoming message.
Warnings: Possible comedic violence and mild language. Possibly some pegasus just won't know what went wrong.



Ponyville Town Square, the right side as you face town hall:

Above this half of the town square, a couple dozen clouds floated peacefully in the sky. They ranged the gamut from a friendly, puffy white to an angry, solemn grey that threatened but didn't deliver thunder and rain in awesome amounts. Somepony had clearly cordoned off the ground below with acquired fences, benches, and other makeshift barricades to keep innocent Rarities ponies from wandering into the training field and getting soaked, hailed on, lightning-bolted, blown away, or generally harassed by wind.

Princess Luna awaited those pegasi who have come for lessons in weather control.

Ponyville Town Square, the left side as you face town hall:

Dozens of random objects festooned the area around here, lined up in order of weight -- from feathers, pebbles, and quill pens to a heavy statue and a bathtub. Princess Celestia waited at the front of this 'line', such as it was, for those unicorns who signed on for her basic training program. Though she hoped that at least some will prove adept pupils at telekinesis and might be able to move on to other lessons, she has provided nothing else yet; after all, to best challenge a unicorn, you must find spells that lie within their talents.

Comments

[letteropener]

"This may be a bit complicated for you, since learning to manipulate items with magic is in lieu of using the hands you are used to holding. But really, that is what this is; the magical equivalent of picking an item up."

Celestia's horn shone with sunny light, which appeared around a rock as it floated into the air.

"So that is my first advice to you -- attempt to lift the rock, without moving. Think of it as lifting it with a hand."

[brodakota]

"Yeah. I figure'd that it could be a lot worse," North agreed. Ponies were pretty tame all things considered.

"I sort of managed that earlier. I'm looking more to learn about precision."

[lessabrasive]

North might have put in some practice, but beyond initially lifting her communicator, Lin had not. The rock, however, was part of her element as an earthbender, and she was intent on seeing how well it would or not respond.

She stared at it rather intently, and her right hoof lifted - then was set down, her ears flicking back in faint annoyance. She did not always require martial movements for channeling her bending, but some forces of habit held more strongly than others.

But will power, she knew and could use. After some concentration, a green aura formed around her horn, similar to the colour of her eyes, and reached to pluck the stone Celestia had indicated.

[letteropener]

"Excellent!" Celestia said approvingly. "Very good, especially for a first try. Now, set it back down carefully."

That required more finesse than simply lifting it, requiring a careful judge of acceleration and pressure.

[brodakota]

"Good job," North said, stamping a hoof in approval. She was a lot more careful than him, who had accidentally swung that branch into Wash in his excitement. He'd learned from that. Mostly.

[lessabrasive]

Lin did not react to the praise, save for the slightest upturn at the corners of her mouth, before the green energy shimmered again and the Princess' instruction was followed. It was not all that difficult, truth be told, and she waiting until it was set perfectly in place and alignment with the other objects before she dismissed the magic with a toss of her head.

"Hmm. I could feel the flow of energy through the stone, but it isn't at all like Earthbending." She'd have to try with something of her element, but larger, to see if that still had the same effect. She then looked to North. Your turn? Or you looking for something more challenging?

[letteropener]

"I'd advise moving it through the air as your next step." Celestia demonstrated with a stone of her own -- accelerating and stopping it, making it describe patterns like loops, then twisting it in midair so it revolved around an axis.

[brodakota]

North nodded. This was the sort of thing that he was looking to learn.

He focused on a stone, his horn glowing before he managed to lift it up carefully. He'd learned the dangers of going to fast, after all. Maybe he'd try rotating it before he did anything else. That seemed to be the easiest.

"We just focus on making it do things, right?"

[lessabrasive]

That didn't seem particularly complicated to Lin, who simply lifted the stone again immediately when prompted. The stone spun in place while she waited for North to pick up his, before she directed hers to float through the air in figures of eight.

[letteropener]

"Just like moving it."

She considered Lin's success for a bit, then from her gathering of items selected a feather, which she then offered over. "Let's try another material for you, and see if you can adjust to how different it is."

[brodakota]

"Right." A bit of focus and the rock was soon spinning on it's axis. Gently, North tried a few straight lines before attempting a zig zag, his head unconsciously moving with the rock.

[lessabrasive]

The stone was deposited back on the pile, and Lin regarded the Alicorn with some bemusement. A feather? Well, she had managed the communicator briefly when she first arrived here, but that had contained metal. "It's not my element, but, I'll try," she hedged, tipping her head to the left to avoid North's rock & roll stone work.

Then and only then did she extend her magic forwards with care, trying to wrap around it. Though it glowed, it didn't seem to do much else, and Lin's ears flicked back. "I can't really feel it," she said after a moment of concentration, before looking towards Celestia uncertainly. Though how much of that was because she expected to sense rock when it had been her bending element, and feathers were not, wasn't clear to her. "Should that matter?"

[letteropener]

She smiled encouragingly at North's success. He was in good shape for the moment, so Celestia turned her full attention to Lin's question. "Every pony has a talent, a particular thing that sets them apart, and for unicorns that talent can manifest through their magic. It's much easier to perform spells that relate to your talent.

"On the other hoof," she added after a moment's consideration, "it's also possible that your human knowledge and expectations are working against your pony magic."

[brodakota]

Feeling satisfied that he had better control over the rock, North set it down, before considering the conversation.

"So, is that something we should focus on? That talent?"

[lessabrasive]

"Hmm. That sounds very likely." Tucking her chin down, Lin lifted a hoof to rest under her muzzle, looking thoughtful. "While range can vary in regards to power and control for bending elements, the knowledge we possess only one element is accepted by all. And I'm old enough to know that changing perceptions in that regard are certainly not easy."

She snorted slightly, and shook her head. In that respect, North had it easy: he had nothing to unlearn. For Beifong, it might require more time than they potentially possessed... Still, Celestia had years enough under her wings: "Is there something other than meditation that might help with that?" Adapting to pony magic, that is.

[letteropener]

"Do not think of this in terms of your bending," Celestia advised Lin. "Rather, think of it in terms of what your body can physically do. Telekinesis to a unicorn is as inherent as hands are to a human, even if it takes longer to master its use. Put aside the thoughts of it being 'magic' and treat it as something you can simply do."

That ought to give Lin enough of a lead to try again, so Celestia turned to North's question. "That depends on your talent. Do you know what it is?"

[brodakota]

North had to think about that.

"Well, I'm pretty handy with a sniper rifle, and Theta can help me form a shield. That's about it really."

Unless you counted worrying about people as a talent.

[lessabrasive]

How was that not like bending? Lin didn't say that aloud, though her ears flicked and stayed back as she considered Celestia's words. The (far) older mare had a point, and was certainly the more experienced.

She stared at the lighter non-earth based object again, took a breath and concentrated, light green eyes closing as she tried focusing the telekinesis around it. Once she thought she could 'feel' it, the fingers that made up her magic touch coiled about the feather, and tugged. ..And tugged. ..This was probably going to take a while, but Lin was very determined to succeed!

A sliver of attention was paid to the Princess and North's conversation, but she was too focused to eavesdrop fully.

[letteropener]

Celestia lowered her voice slightly, the better not to disturb Lin's focus. She thought Lin had found the right path, from all external viewpoints, and intended to let her metaphorically walk it.

"Do either of those things give you joy and satisfaction to do? A talent, after all, rarely becomes a truly special thing unless a pony loves to do it."