Three years

Crystal looked at the spoon. "What do you think I should do?" She asked Leafy. She wanted to learn, but if it was going to prevent magic she was going to stop. She wondered if it was just her, or if everypony had this problem at first.

Leafy shrugged. "I don't know." She flipped to the first page and looked at the table of contents on the book. On the last few pages, there were tips on magic. She turned the pages again and read one out loud.

If you don't get something right the first time, try again. If you really think that it would be impossible, attempt something else, and get back to it later.

Crystal looked at the spoon again. "I guess I shouldn't expect to get it right away." She smiled. She closed her eyes and focused on the spoon. She opened her eyes to find the spoon had a gold tip. It was just the tip but, it was gold. She held the spoon up to Leafy. "Look what I did!" She gasped.

Crystal focused on the spoon. Leafy watched, and suddenly, the tip of the spoon started to shine more than before, and it finally turned into gold. Only a tiny part of the spoon, but nevertheless, it was only her second try, and some unicorns probably took more attempts. "You did it, Crystal!" she exclaimed, proud of the filly. "Good job."

She looked at the book again. The next chapter was on telekinesis. Crystal would probably want to try again. Maybe. She'd only met the filly once before this.