More,more and more studying about dragons

Steel went in the library to do his weekly studying for the talented unicorns school.He had to learn about dragons today.He was excited at first,but after 20 minutes he lost it.

"Man."said Steel with an annoyed tune."I kinda think that this wasn't the best subject to study."Steel read page by page then another and another until he decided to get a break.He was hoping a friend could come along.
"I hope somepony comes soon.I'm soo boored!"said Steel after he lied down on the floor.

SLAM went a rapidly opening door.

"Sparkle!" yelled Intel, "I need you to tell me everything you know about time-travel magic!"

He paused, looked around, and sighed heavily. Again, she wasn't here. Again, neither was Spike. However, another pony was. Intel looked at the colt strangely.

"Um," Intel started, not sure what to say, "Hello, there. Do you know where the librarian happens to be at this present point in time?"

She never seems to be actually in her library, that's for sure.

"Nope,sorry."said Steel to the pony that just popped up."Haven't seen her for about 2 days."

Steel took 5 minutes to think of time travel spells.He had studied them before.
"Why exactly do you need time travel?"asked Steel.

Seledora walked into the library with a stack of books on her head, balancing them carefully, her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth. The moment she noticed the other two ponies in the library she stopped, causing all of her books to fall to the floor. She stood there amongst the clutter of fallen books as the other ponies looked at her. She blushed furiously and began to pick the books back up.

A pony came into the library with a stack of books.When she saw Steel and the other pony she blushed,and dropped the books.

"Do you need any help?"asked Steel."Let me get that."
Steel used his magic to levitate all the books and put them on the table.
"There!"said Steel with a tired tone."All done."
He almost passed out on the floor because of that big use of magic.It wasn't that big,but for a little colt,that was like lifting a house.

Seledora ran to the collapsed colt. She wasn't much for social interaction, but she hated to see anything hurt.
"Oh Celestia! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for that to happen. I should have kept better control of my books, then you wouldn't have picked them up! Sorry sorry sorry sorry!" she said, almost weeping, trying to help Steel up.

Intel just observed the whole thing, silently amused. He knew magic talent when he saw it, and he couldn't help clapping at Steel's achievement.

"Well done," he complemented, "That was definitely no easy feat, but you could have asked for help before taking the whole responsibility on your shoulders." A smile appeared on his face as he recited his teacher from Celestia's School. "One of the first things you must learn is your limits and how to use the resources availiable. So you better rest for a while. Passing out due to magic exhaustion is terrible, let me tell you."

"He'll be fine, just don't force him to move. Ten minute's rest and he'll feel alright," he instructed the strange filly. She Looked like a zebra at first glance, but the horn proved otherwise. "So, uh, does Twilight know you guys are here? Or are you breaking in like just about every other pony in Ponyville?" He laughed and shook his head. "Mare needs some magical seals, seriously."

"Well..."started Steel."Twilight knows I come here every week to study,so I have perfect permission."he said after a bit of rest."And why were you clapping?"asked Steel out of curiosity."I don't have SUCH a talent in magic.But thanks for the advice anyways."he said with a smile.

Seledora calmed down when the other pony addressed her. She took great interest in the fact that he taught at Celestia's school and actually lept in front of him asking him all sorts of question.

"Do you know the princess? What do you teach exactly? Did you teach Twilight? How many dragons have you seen hatched?" and on and on she went, never relenting.

Intel was overwhelmed by the shy filly's sudden torrent of questions. "Hey, wait slow down a sec!" he said in self defence, "Do I look that old? No, seriously, do I?" An expression of horror crossed his face, but immediately left to make way for one of amusement. "And me, teach Sparkle? More like uh...I swore I had something to follow that, seriously. She was just a classmate, really. A classmate with massive reserves of magical energy and the favour of Celestia herself, but a classmate nevertheless."

He paused as gears turned in his head. "Both of you want to go the School, don't you?" he said quietly, "Well, well, well. That is something."

"If I was in Canterlot,I would've been in the school.I took the exam,but I moved to Ponyville."said Steel while looking into the roof."So I'm half offically in."

"I was born in the Everfree forest. My mom came from Canterlot but that's the only relation I have to the place." said Seledora. "I have always wondered what I could do if I was trained in my magic."

"Well, ponies sometimes take up boarding there," Intel said, " I did, even though I lived in Canterlot. I didn't want my studies to get in the way of my family. Plus you meet a lot of ponies with similar interests."

A crazy, crazy insane idea was starting to form in his head, and it was jumping up and down, trying to smash his skull if he even dared to ignore it.

"Has anypony offered you two actual, hoofs on tutoring in the meantime, though?" he said cautiously. He didn't know why the idea came into being or even why he found it so appealing. Maybe if he continued this train of thought he'll find out.

"Has anypony offered you two actual, hoofs on tutoring in the meantime, though?"
Steel paused his movements.No one ever except his mom offered him to help with magic.
"No one except my mom.She didn't go to Celestia'sSFGU.replied Steel with a growing smile.He was going to explode from happiness.

This question made his horn glow for some reason.But everyone knows unicorn magic happens with a reason.Destiny,Cutie mark or anything important-unicorn magic needs it to work spontaneously.

Seledora looked down at her hooves. "Mamma and Papa are the only ones that ever taught me anything. Most of my magic is..... odd." she said. It wasn't that she didn't want to learn. She was just nervous about the idea.
Seledora didn't notice it, but her horn began to glow too, only faintly, but it was there. A deep, pulsating violet.

Oh bugger me.

These were foals and therefore less in control of their emotions, and thus, less control of their magic. Intel knew that his horn had the urge to glow because of his positive feelings towards his idea, but that did not mean his own horn would, or even should glow. For now, he prevented it from doing so. He would not let his emotions decide this.

"There is the possibility that I might be able to assist in that sort of thing," he started slowly, "However, it won't be what you expect, probably. It will be different from any sort of school or tutoring you might have had in the past. I won't deny there might be some parts where you'll be bored to tears, or scared for your well being. Nor will I deny there will be some questions I just don't know the answers to. I will say that if you do accept my offer to be taught a thing or two that I will teach to the best of my ability, no matter what course of magic you may persue."

There was a pause. One that allowed the full weight of his words to be considered properly.

"Oh, and my name is Intelligent Design by the way. It is a pleasure to meet you both."

"Nice to meet you mister Intel!I'm Steel Stallion or just Steel."said Steel while waving his hoof for hello.He always did that."I realise dangers.I've been through many,although not all of them ended nicely."Steel added while thinking of a scary memory.He just made a frightened face and he went on."I know you are not such a professional too.No offense.But there are questions only Celestia knows the answers to.Maybe not even she knows some of them.And I almost always get bored here,so it's not a challenge.BUT!"Steel raised his voice on the "but"."I accept!"

Steel's horn tried to glow again,but Steel just quietly murmured
"Control,control,control.No laugh,no cry,no emotions."
This was something he used when he was overcomed by emotions.He forgot about the horn thing quickly.

He turned to the zebra-like pony and asked"Since we all introduced ourselves,it's your turn miss..."

"Oh, well, My name is Seledora. I grew up in the Everfree forest so I never really got any 'official' training. It has always intrigued me though. Mama said she would have sent me to the school in Canterlot but her family still lives there." she said.
Then she turned to Intel. "He's right. No one knows all the answers and there is a lot of dangers. I've had to deal with a few too." she shook her head and continued. "I'm interested. You won't have to talk to my parents. They already want me to learn magic better and have no qualms with me meeting new ponies. So this would be what daddy calls a win-win."

Seledora subbed her horn absentmindedly as she looked at Intel and then at Steel. Theses might be ponies she could consider.... friends?

"Oh, that's good," Intel said brightly, "Very good."

He paused to think of where to start, calling to mind his first day at the school. The morning was taken up by Celestia congratulating all those who had managed to enter the prestigous academy, whilst the afternoon was taken up by hammering social responsibility and ethics into their skulls. It was...unsatisfying, and may not be suitable in this circumstance.

He looked over the two foals carefully. The best way to start would be to gauge their knowledge and magical apitude, right? Right.

"Alright then, there's no real point of me telling you two what you already know, so I'm going to try to find out what you do know, okay?" A small smile. "First, the eternal question. What is magic?"

"Magic definitions,magic definitions...Ah ha!"Steel tried to remember.
"I got it!Magic is a force we ponies use to do extraordinary things.Only unicorns hold this power,actually alicorns too.Well,basically anything with a horn."Steel changed his tune of talking drastically.He always talks officially when he talks about magic studies.

"Mom and dad always told me magic is the thing that holds our world together. It grants us our horns, the pegasi their wings, and the earth ponies their strength. It helps to keep us in balance, good or bad. It is, as Steel said, a force that creates the extraordinary." said Seledora.

She didn't know dictonarial terms. She had more of a theological stand point. She loved magic and feared it at the same time so this scenario was strange for her.

Intel smiled inwardly when Steel answered his question in such a...professional way. It reminded him of a certain book loving pony and the overall clinical quality of those first years of learning magic, the kind where the questions asked had very definite answers. It was the answer he expected.

When Seledora answered, he was honestly surprised. It was a very...advanced answer for a filly. He briefly considered asking her about who exactly her parents were, but decided against it.

"Well," Intel said, after thinking the answers over, "Those are definitely answers. Many would say that you foals speak the truth, and they are. For a given value of truth, certainly. But unfortunately, and my deepest sincere apologies, the question was definitely a loaded one."

"When ponies think of magic, the first thing ponies think of is certainly the feats done by unicorns and alicorns, and it is the most studied form of magic, so the term is usually used to describe that because of, well, laziness. It gets tedious to write 'unicorn magic', 'unicorn magic' over and over again, so they usually write 'magic'. And when somepony teaches or learns magic, its generally implied what is being taught is how to use a horn to do a particular thing. Also, Starswirl used the word magic to exclusively describe unicorn feats, and if Starswirl says it, it must be so!" This last sentence was served with quite more than its fair share of sarcasm.

"What I'm going to teach you is almost always going to come under your definition, Steel, but one should always take note of what Seledora said, because it is always good to keep that in mind." He smiled at the filly in approval. "Feats done by pegasi and Earth ponies are much more subtle, but are closely related to what we do with our horns, much more than one might think. In fact, it would be incorrect to say magic is restricted to ponies, or even living things."

Then his expression turned outright devious. "And it may not be limited to just the extraordinary."

Then the expression passed to one much more normal. "So what about actual practical work? I assume you two can do telekinesis, but I was wondering what else you guys can do. You both have your cutie marks already, I see, so what other feats have you learnt how to do?"

"Well...my cutie mark is a seashell,because my special talent is collecting them.But..."Steel grabbed some seashells from his saddle bag."Seledora,Intel,can you hide these?"asked Steel.The two hid them while insuring that the colt had his eyes closed."Now..."Steel concentrated and let out a magic blow,that made the seashell hiding places glow."I can only do that with seashells though."said Steel excited.He was excited because he hasn't practiced in quite a while now."I think I can also teleport."Steel said.He concentrated and teleported,but only half a meter away."There!"Steel said while still being excited."Think that's it!"said the tired colt while sitting down for a rest."Seledora,it's your turn now!"said Steel with a smile that said
"Come on,you can do it.".

Seledora's irises shrunk drastically. Now? In front of others? She didn't know if that was a good idea. Most ponies that saw her..... abilities were unnerved and avoided her, especially since it was such a frowned on area of magic, But she didn't want to be ousted before she even began. She would present her strange one first.

"Well," Seledora started, looking around, finally finding an old potted plant that looked very down. "I can communicate with plant life." she said as she approached the potted plant. She looked at it for a moment and appeared to be listening, then she pushed the plant further along the table, into the shade, where it immediately started to straighten up and it seemed to be in perfect health.

Now she got really nervous. She handed Steel her house key. "Please hide this somewhere I'll never find it, inside or outside."

She covered her eyes as she heard Steel walk around. Finally he returned and Seledora beckoned them out side. She looked around for anyone else. When no pony else was present, she took a deep breath and began to channel energy into her her. It glowed brighter and brighter before she forced it into the ground. A huge wave on energy pulsed into the ground a small split appeared in the ground.

The skeleton of a rabbit forced it's way out of the ground. It bounced up to Seledora, sniffed for a moment, then bounced inside. A minute latter, it returned, the key in it's mouth. Seledora took the key, kissed the skeleton and it crumpled. She put the bones back where they came from and covered it. After thanking the bones she turned back to the others, almost fainting from exhaustion, and still managing to look guilty. She didn't look either of them in the eyes.

There was indeed, an awkward silence after Seledora's demonstration. For his part, Intel was evaluating the two foals. They were both talented with feats, much more talented than he was at their age. He could hardly lift a heavy text back then, and he only knew telekinesis.

Steel was the easier of the two to get. Clinical grasp on the basics, plus proficiency with the classical spells of telekinesis and teleportation. And the talent his cutie mark is related to, of course. It would be simple enough just to go the common route, and if Intel met his parents, he would highly reccomend them to send Steel to board at Celestia's school.

Seledora...was complex. Though she had a deeper understanding of magic, her theory was not as well grounded. That was, however, not difficult to deal with. Her feats were the ones that were concerning. These were not common or standard. At all. The plant life feat was much more Earth pony than unicorn, and that was the simpler one. The other feat was nec- post-mortem communication. That was both advanced and quite dangerous. Not only was messing about with corpses and the dead somewhat...off, there was a whole heap of legal matters that you had to deal with considering respect for the deceased. Nec- post-mortem communication was very serious business.

The Post-mortem communication department would die if they found out a filly was freely doing feats such as the one she just did, and they would tell her to stop afterwards.

"Your parents..." Intel said quietly, seriously, "Your parents do know that you are capable of doing that, right?"