Re: First day at the job (Scintillance, look here!)

[Lance]

I am not a boring pony! just sleep deprived. give me a good ten hours of sleep, and I'll think of something less fuddy duddy to say...

Lance quietly smirked to himself as the two unicorns conversed, and was thoroughly impressed by Cosmic's ability to make haste. letting Silvern finish her sentence, yes, I can see that... got his eyes among the stars, and his head where his sights are. Scintillance paused, realizing he just pulled up a rhyme. A bedhead makes a poets friend? well that's a new one. don't mind me, I'm going to experiment with this a little. Lance was sparked slightly awake, though it remained visible that he was no creature of the night... though he spent the most of the previous one awake.

[Silvern Gleam]

Silvern recognized Scintillance' weirdness with a raised eyebrow, but decided to continue with business. The explosion he talked about was quite real, she said with a smirk, but continued more sternly. I do have some things that might blow up when ill handled, so here's rule number one: Touch nothing you don't know, be it physically or magically. Rule number two: What's behind that door stays a secret to everypony who doesn't have access to it anyway. And last but not least: Don't tell others about this shop unless you trust them and you want to sell them something. I don't need many customers, I only need trustworthy ones. Being done with the serious part, her smirk returned. Any questions so far or can I show you what kind of crazy contraption I really have?

[Lance]

my questions have come to an end, for how these things I am to vend. Well, pardon that, I have one more; what's all the secrecy for?

[Silvern Gleam]

The less ponies know about my business, the lower the risk that griffons find out and start searching for me. Magic sight alone would probably be enough for them to take me out, and if they found out what kind of artifacts I work with I would probably become a priority target. This shop is well hidden, but I still enjoy going to the surface very often, I couldn't do that if I was searched for, she explained and opened the door to the back rooms of the shop. Now, for the interesting part.

The old maintenance tunnel behind the door was mostly blocked by a wall that definitely hadn't been part of the original design. It consisted of a bunch metal plates being welded together, and only a very narrow corridor at the right side of the tunnel was still open for passage. The metal wall continued through the whole tunnel until it ended before a wall of rubble at the other end. Several doors told of the rooms behind the metal.
It's not a weapon, and it's not a portal into another world. It is however a magic generator, Sil said as she led Scintillance through the narrow corridor. The fourth door opened at magical command and a soft blue glow came out of the small room. Its source was what certainly could have been a super weapon created by some mad genius. In the center of the approximately five square meters of space stood a slim crystal that would have reached to Scintillance' shoulder if it had been standing on the ground. It was mounted on top of a metal frame, with several rings of significantly smaller crystals placed at its base, sharing the blue color of their big neighbor. A little hidden from direct sight and only revealed by a green glow being emitted from inside the frame the crystal collection continued. This central device alone probably held about fifty of them. Those were joined by crystals of white color placed in sockets on the left wall of the room, only six of them, but with just as many sockets still to be used on the right wall. The size of those white crystals differed widely. While the first of them was half a meter long and thick as a pony's leg, the one in the next slot was already only half its size, followed by the rest being a little over hoof sized. All the light in this room came from the central contraption, were the large blue crystal pulsed irregularly. Silvern simply stood next to the entrance and waited for Scintillance' reaction.

[Lance]

right, stupid question, sorry... Scintillance followed through until they've reached the crystal, and he didn't even have to try to probe at it with any magic to know that this was something big. pun unintended. literal meaning unintended either. OK, literal meaning somewhat intended.

so... this thing caused the great and powerful explosion on Cosmic's logical scale? Scintillance couldn't help the strange feeling that he'd just caught himself between two worlds, or something. must be an effect from that giant awkward crystal contraption. and you're certain this isn't a portal to another dimension? I can't help the feeling that this room should be colder, and with more... cubes...

At this point Lance had realized that he stopped rhyming, and facehoofed. Whoah, I'm really losing it... what is this thing!?

[Silvern Gleam]

Do you at least make sense to yourself?, Sil asked, honestly amused by the continuing weirdness, and not seeing any connection to temperature and especially cubes. Anyway, as I said, it's a magic generator, my energy supply for the shop. It collects free magic energy passing by and delivers it to whatever I connect to it, the light for example. Or the heating, or the trap that protected the front door, or several other security measures.
For now, simply stay away from it. It IS the thing that caused the explosion. One of my storage crystals - she pointed at the white crystals on the wall - overcharged because of a malfunction. Luckily only a small one, but it still caused some damage. Magical explosions are just as bad as their physical counterparts.
Though they look pretty amazing to me, she added with a smirk.

[Lance]

Lance took a deep inhalation, and exhaled, silently, but visibly. but for Silve, "visibly" shouldn't have seen a thing, unless her ears are quite heightened. It's...I don't... alright, it's a magic generator... Lance was feeling a slight headache, and backed a little towards the exit, stopping himself from falling back. those things... are packed with magical energy...where does it even come from? If there's anything I've learned at Celestia's school for magic, it's that energy cannot be created, or destroyed...

[Silvern Gleam]

That is correct, and I admit the name generator might not be the best description, but it delivers the idea of an energy source. It doesn't generate magic, but collects it through the central crystal. There's always some amount of free background magic, and when it passes through here, it gets drawn into the Collector. As for where the free background magic comes from... As you said, energy can't be created, but also not destroyed. Every time you cast a spell and don't reach perfect efficiency, which is always, you send out some amounts of free magic. And so the circle closes. Unfortunately the amount of energy collected isn't constant. As if on cue, the light in the corridor went off, something that had already been expected by Silvern, but it was still acknowledged with a sigh. If it's not enough, that is what happens. After a short glow of her horn, the light went on again. The system is now running on reserve energy, which means that the heaters aren't supplied anymore, might get a little colder if the generator doesn't catch itself again in time. But off to the next station of the tour.
Sil closed the door after Scintillance was out of the room, and opened the next door to the left. Behind it was a room of about the same size as the generator room, a little smaller, and stuffed with shelves. The shelves were lightly filled with boxes of various kinds, some of them looking like jewel cases, but most being too simple to deserve this description. Very few were big enough to hold more than a few rings and maybe a necklace, but the biggest had the size of a saddlebag. All in all, there were somewhere about thirty to fifty boxes. May I introduce to you, my artifact collection, Silvern said, forgetting that this room didn't look nearly as impressive to Scintillance as it did to her, who directly saw the artifacts, and not only the containers they were stored it.

[Lance]

Lance took a moment to ponder of Silvern's description, and conjured out his glowing orb. "so, I can constantly keep these crystals charging by just holding onto a spell like this?"
Following Silvern through to te room, Lace gazed over... boxes. lots and lts of boxes. If Silvern hadn't told him this was her artefact collection, he would've thought this as her shoebox collection, and he had a slightly unamused face to prove it. But, the room did carry an unseen wight to it, and Lance certainly felt it, but even still he barely minded it, and certainly not as much as his yellow companion. "Um... you sure have a lot of artifacts, it seems. and boxes. loooots of boxes. ...So, are these organized in any way, or..?"

[Silvern Gleam]

Yes, it's a possibility, but an inefficient one. A better way is to channel magic directly into the collector, Silvern answered his question regarding the generator before going on. But still, after a few minutes the energy buffer would be empty again. Only useful if you need the power very urgently.

Sil grinned sheepishly, she had never cared about seeing ponies to find their way through her storage. They are organized, but I suppose we'll have to label them for you. At least until you've learned where to find what you need. For a start, this shelf contains raw, not enchanted material, she said as she walked to the left wall, one with a few larger boxes. Sil aimed for the probably largest of them in the lower left corner and revealed it to be filled with small quartz pebbles. Especially this one you'll need quite often. They can't carry big enchantments and don't have a very good energy efficiency, but they're cheap and easy to get. Perfect training material.
Taking a few of the stones she closed the container again and exited to the corridor again. We'll do the labeling later, we have more interesting things to do for now, she said and headed past the room with the generator again and to the next door, one that stood out a little, thanks to a small blue stone right above it. An eyecatcher in the generally bare walls.
Next up, my enchanting room. It's magically isolated to some degree to reduce interference, useful when it gets more complicated. The isolation was quite a bit of work, so please don't play around with the walls.
The room was spartanic. A small wooden table in the center, a cushion to sit on, and nothing else, not even a light crystal. The walls didn't look like anything special either, only the small red stone above the door was also visible from the inside. I fear it's a little dark in here, and using magic for light in here defeats the purpose of the room. You're free to get a lantern or something, but I currently have nothing of that kind. As compromise she left the door open, reducing the isolation a bit, but at least Lance wouldn't be completely in the dark. Any more questions before we start?

[Lance]

Lance was more than ready to conjure up an orb of light in the enchanting room before Silvern told against it. Lance thought over what questions he might still have to ask... but instead, he had confirmations that needed confirming.

"So... this enchanting room... if I were to cast any unrelated spells, it's magic proofy-ness would keep it around as background magic, messing up any enchantments, right? I... can't think of any other questions. A jolt-sensation was triggered in Lance, suddenly. "Actually no! yes! I mean... bathroom! do you have a bathroom? Knowing where the bathroom is would be really nice, right about now..."

[Silvern Gleam]

(( Now you actually force me to describe a toilet... Well, anyway, I had to do a little redesigning, some of the room descriptions have changed slightly. Nothing important though. ))

Silvern nodded and led Scintillance back towards the selling room at the start of the tunnel as she answered his other question. You wouldn't necessarily mess up each and every enchantment I'm working on, but if it's a complicated one, it might happen., she said and instead of entering the selling room she went past the door and to the left side of the tunnel where several pipes were running, usually the back wall of the rooms. There, pressed against the wall, was another room. The big eye catcher inside was something that vaguely resembled a toilet. Mounted on one of the pipes on the ground was some kind of funnel, large enough to sit on. Currently the bottom of it was closed, but by pulling a lever beneath the contraption Sil opened it and revealed a low water current in the pipe. The outlet is opened down here, and water for flushing you get here, she said and proceeded to pull one of two levers on another pipe near a shower head slightly above their heads. A valve opened and a stream of water rushed directly into the "toilet". After closing it again she left the room and Scintillance to his own business, while she went back to the enchanting room and worked with one of the quartz pebbles, door left open so that her new assistant knew he could enter.


(( Satisfied now? Probably not, I would guess you expected a magical toilet xD ))

[Lance]

Scintillance awkwardly waited for Silvern to leave the room, and once she was out of sight he spent no second wasted doing... well, let's not get into any details here.

finished and relieved, Lance left the toilet, and made his way back into the back areas of the shop. He stopped at the generator, admiring the crystal "mechanism." moreso, when he realized he could slightly see a reflection of himself, in them, and proceeded to make faces, and weird noises, laughing at himself. Realizing that Silvern was in the enchanting room just to his left, he stopped, and near-shamefully trotted into the room, hoping Silvern's blindness would hide his... weirdness.

"So, uh... what're we doing with the pebbles?" realizing that he was in the enchanting room, Lance face-hoofed. I mean... what're you enchanting them for?

[Silvern Gleam]

Even with the door opened, Sil didn't notice Lance' shenanigans at the generator room at first, to which the door shouldn't have been open in the first place, but mishaps happen. But the funny noises eventually reached her. She was already looking skeptically at at the doorway when Lance stepped in. However, when Lance asked his question she decided to accept his weirdness as trait she could live with. She finished her work on a pebble and gave it to Scintillance. This one I just enchanted to be your key. Send a magic pulse through it and the front door will open for you, and it protects you from my traps. The rest is for exercising.
She wanted to motion Lance to take a seat, but then noticed that she was sitting on the only pillow in the room. One moment, she said and quickly walked into the selling room to fetch another pillow, locking the generator room along the way. She brought the pillow back, but instead of entering the enchanting room she only threw it in and went along the corridor and disappeared in another room. Rushing water could be heard, and shortly after Sil was back with a jug of water and two mugs. Once everything was on the table, she sat down and began her lecture. I said I would turn your understanding of magic upside down, in this sense it's actually a good thing that you've forgotten what Celestia's school has taught you. They didn't teach anything wrong, it was a great school, but there are different ways to understand magic, and mine is probably the most different of them all.
First I have a question for you: What is magic?

[Lance]

Lance unquestioningly accepted the small quarts, and when asked to sit, well, he did. though half confused as to why Silvern immediately left the room. He took a closer look at his "key" until a pillow flew in, distracting him. Taking his eat, he waited for Silvern to return, and gave her the chance to speak.

"What is magic? Um... magic is... everywhere. A part of every living thing, every unliving thing, every thing... as it is a part of our world... I guess I'm losing where I'm going with this... I guess magic itself is the force that drives our world, and every pony is very much able to access and use it, only that unicorns have a much greater ability to access it than pegasi and earth ponies... I don't think there's much more I can say, for all I know. just tap-dancing on thin ice, here."

[Silvern Gleam]

Not a bad explanation, Silvern said noddingly. Though the term force was a bad choice, energy would have fit better. You use magic to apply force, but magic isn't the force itself. After a short pause, she continued. But even that wouldn't have been entirely correct. Magic can be transformed into any kind of energy, that suggests that magic indeed is energy, but at the same time we can use magic to direct energy flows, and this is where it gets interesting. Casting a spell is a everyday example for that: We construct the spell or the framework - with magic - and then send magic as energy through it. Alternatively you could also imagine it like oil forming a pipe for oil to flow through and be burnt somewhere. What kind of difficulty do you see with magic working like that?

[Lance]

Lance took a moment, picturing the example in his mind... and quickly realized the awry thought. "that's... that's an oil pipe made of oil. Burn the oil running through it, and the pipe itself burns up too. That, and I can hardly imagine an oil pipe made of liquid ever working; it's not solid. so... magic used to process magic?" Lance pictured the thought further. "Oil would leak through and out of a pipe made of oil, and... magical energy would just as easily leak out a channel made of magic energy."

[Silvern Gleam]

Sil nodded again, smilingly. Lance had understood the idea. Correct. The example isn't perfect, but ignoring the fact that a pipe made of liquid isn't possible the basic problems are similar. We have to keep the magic that's making up the framework from being used. When that fails, the spell consumes itself and the stored energy is released uncontrolled. A faltering spell like every unicorn has experienced at some point.

The other problem is leaking energy. I've never seen a unicorn constructing a spell that didn't leak, and I'm not that good either. Usually the amount of energy slipping through is little enough to not affect the spell and is given off as light, the glow you see when somepony is casting something. However, if it gets too much, the spell gets unstable and we're back at problem one again.

Fortunately for most unicorns, the construction of the framework is done subconsciously. When you're casting a spell, what are you doing?

[Lance]

"When I cast a spell... or more accurately, one of my conjurations, I'm picturing the construct within my mind, and then bringing that mental picture into our reality by pulling... well, I guess pulling energy and forcing it together into a physical form. I figured I was gripping light itself in telekinesis, what with the glowing effect, but if the glow comes from leaking energy, maybe you're the better pony to explain it. really, I never gave the thought of casting a spell much, well, thought."

[Silvern Gleam]

Gripping the light with telekinesis... The fact that light can't be gripped with telekinesis makes that pretty astonishing. You're right, it is what you do, but the important thing is what you do before that. I can't precisely explain it yet, but you somehow solidify light, you give it noticeable mass and then bind it together. But all you consciously do is that last step. We'll change that. It will be complicated, you'll fail to cast even the simplest spells, but once you learned how to do it, you'll be a faster, and especially more efficient caster. And you'll be able to do create new spells way more easily than before.
Next question, what are you doing when you enchant something?

[Lance]

Lance levitated his pack of sticky notes out of his pockets. "well, from my perspective, my enchantments are a lot like casting the actual spell, except I focus the spell to come from the object I enchant. My light traps are really the only things I've ever tried to enchant, before. what I do here, is attach a simple light-flash spell, but only partially. close to fully activate, but it would trigger once it reaches a living organisms' natural magical energy; the very barely tiny bit enough to complete and cast the spell."

[Silvern Gleam]

How simple magic seemed when it wasn't given much thought... With that description he had given it actually sounded as if enchantments were easier. Well, soon he would know very well that enchantments were not merely "incomplete" spells. You feel like your doing less, but you're actually doing more. When we cast a spell for immediate use, we are the ones keeping the structure intact. When we imprint the signature in an object for later use, we're not there to keep the structure from breaking down, so we have to make sure that it's stable. She placed one pebble in the center of the table. Cast your light spell, and concentrate on what your doing and what your magical senses tell you. Then cast it as enchantment on this pebble, with the same attention. Try to make out differences between the instant spell and the enchantment. And of course, Sil would concentrate on the spells as well.

[Lance]

"um..." Scintillances' light "spell" was an instant-effect. it wasn't something made to last long, and frankly, he wasn't quite sure on how to make it last long either. "All I can do is make it 'flash' that's why I leave it as a sort of trap, not a continiouous light. If it's going to work we need to back up a little.."

Lance then did his thing; the pebble and his horn glowed the same bright yellow light, and a short while later, he stopped, distancing himself away from the seemingly normal pebble. "well, now, you can trot a little closer. enough proximity and there she blows."

[Silvern Gleam]

Silvern quickly stepped near again and activated the spell. It didn't really interest her. The effect is not important now, what is important is if you found more differences than just "not finishing the spell". Any changes in how you construct the spell. If your answer is no, try again. Keep your whole concentration on what your horn is telling you.
What Sil was telling him to do was basically to use magic sight. It was a sense every unicorn had, in a very limited degree. Without it, controlling magic would be impossible. But use of magic was so natural to unicorns, so instinctive that they hardly knew what they were doing. Or what they were sensing. It would be luck if Lance could make out even the slightest difference, but it was worth a try. She still had other methods. But even if she could sharpen his magical senses, it would take time and he would never be able to even remotely "see" as Silvern does. But it would allow him a much more flexible use of magic. Well, once he was done with constantly failing, which would certainly come as well.

[Lance]

Scintillance nodded to Silvern, and retried his light trap on a different pebble, this time trying to focus on the spell, rather than the pebble. He took into account what they've talked over; specifically, looking to see if he could "sense" that whole "magic being used to channel magic" ordeal.

But frankly, he still wasn't too sure what he was looking for. he thinks, his horn glows, the pebble glows, all glows fade away, and there's another trap. He frowned, "I'm... I don't think I'm seeing what you're hoping I would. Not yet, at least. What... is my horn supposed to tell me, exactly?"

[Silvern Gleam]

It's not only supposed to, it actually does tell you the structure of your spell. You'll have to learn to listen to it. The problem is that the feedback is so weak that it's very easily missed. Luckily I can cause a stronger feedback, Sil answered and her horn lit up in the usual white glow, and Lance' horn did the same, in the same color, as Sil fed magic directly into it. It wasn't much, Sil couldn't spend much energy on anything, but it was definitely more than his horn would pick up during casting. Close your eyes and try to find an unusual, slowly pulsing feeling. It's probably still not very strong, but it should be there.

[Lance]

Lance closed his eyes, and... it was there. the awkward pulsing feeling... he wasn't physically feeling it, but he felt it. It was a very strange sensation, to him "This... this is new..."

[Silvern Gleam]

Hold on to that feeling, that's your horn telling you that it's picking up magic. It will get weaker now, try not to lose it. And then cast the enchantment again. It will be weak, but you should be able to feel it. And if he felt it, Sil expected the enchanting to fail. He would have to put a lot of his concentration on the feeling from his horn, and by that he would interrupt his instinctive control over the organ. But even if he only managed to get a rough idea of a structure being built up before the spell's faltering that would be a great success already.
Sil reduced the stream of magic she was sending to about half its strength, and would take it completely away as soon as Scintillance' began casting the spell and received feedback from it.

[Lance]

Scintillance tried to "hold onto" the strange feeling, and at the same time tried to enchant another light trap... and this time, he 'saw' it. not litterally... not physically... he... it was more like he 'knew' it. 'felt' it. it's something indescribable with the words at hoof; an extra sense. The enchanted trap he made this time was trash. he knew it was trash. he felt it was trash. "Silvern this isn't a drug or anything, right?"

[Silvern Gleam]

No, certainly not, Silvern chuckled and remembered the day she had discovered her ability. Somehow it had probably felt like a drug, but at that age she had hardly known what a drug even was. Nowadays however, it didn't feel that special anymore. Well, at least not constantly. From time to time there was a spell or artifact that still bought the feeling back, for example Lance magic, at least to a degree. You'll get used to it in time. That's how I perceive my environment, only that my sense is much stronger. What you felt was the information delivered by a feedback channel from your spell. It's much easier to sense a spell you're casting yourself than a foreign spell from which you don't have that feedback. I doubt that we can sharpen your magic perception enough to sense and analyze spells you're not connected to, but I think I can teach you to create this connection to a spell. First however, you'll learn to work with this sense well enough so that I can magically give you instructions during spell construction. I expect this to take about two months or three, filled with a lot of theory in between. And a lot of failing with the simplest spell. I hope you're as excited as I am. And Sil indeed looked excited. She had actually considered making teaching her main profession, but in the end artifacts had an attraction she couldn't resit. Anyway, let's continue. Cast the simplest spell you know, and concentrate on your magic perception. Try to get some rough idea of the spell's structure. You should also try to successfully complete the spell, but to reduce frustration, you shouldn't expect to succeed. You'll need to completely readjust your casting to work with your sense.

[Lance]

Scintillance heard simplest spell and went at Silvern, before lifting a number of quarts crystals in the room with his levitation spell. "Yep, simplest thing in the history of simple things... and... huh... multiple connections... I think... wow..." Lance was starting to become lost, looking... nah, "sensing" with his newly discovered sense. One of the crystals slipped its grip and fell close to the floor, but lance noticed the "missing" part in the spell, slipping back to using his eyes and catching it with his spell. "Not... not multiple casts of the same spell... it's all one large cast extending outward to a number of objects... Silvern, this is amazing..."

[Silvern Gleam]

I'm surprised that you didn't lose all at once., Sil said, having expected it all to fall apart instantly. I fear you're only partially right this time. It this correct that there is a part of the spell that is independent from the target and that is used by all instances of the spell at once. But all parts of the spell that are dependent on the target are created for every target separately. You failed to maintain one of those target-bound components, and so you lost control over it. It seems you're already capable of focusing on one part of the spell and let your instincts handle the rest. While doing either one or the other is relatively simple, doing both usually requires getting used to the sense first. Well, another case of natural talent I suppose.
If he was able to do that already, it would speed up his training greatly. He could focus on and modify small parts of his spells without risking the whole thing to fall apart, but for the moment, it wasn't needed. Multicasting is a rather complex topic, even if it's one spell at multiple targets. Please reduce to only one target, it's easier to explain the basic when everything is as simple as it can be.

[Lance]

"Silve, this is telekinesis. like, easiest thing ever. "Instinct" is an understatement." recieving an order to lower the targets, Lance floated most of the crystals back to the table, reducing and keeping only to a single ruby in the air. "If you insist... so, what's next?"

[Silvern Gleam]

Focus on your sense. You're quite obviously not doing it right now, otherwise your spell would have collapsed. That, or Sil would have every reason to be impressed, and not just a little. The spell would collapse, Lance didn't have a real clue how to maintain it, that was what Sil wanted to teach him right now, by taking the task off his shoulders. When he lost control, Sil would jump in and keep the spell running, so that Lance could "watch". Then she could explain what exactly he was sensing.

[Lance]

As Lance focused on the sense, everything went as Silvern had expected; Trying to understand what exactly he was "sensing," he lost concentration over his levitation spell, and as he observed the collapse within his mind, he didn't "wake" to catch the ruby he managed to drop, but he did sense Silvern stepping in to fix the spell for him, and he "watched" from there.

[Silvern Gleam]

That was inefficient, to say the least. Modifying a spell or destroying it was one thing, but keeping a foreign, collapsing spell alive? Sil didn't give herself more than a few minutes. Alright, let's get you accustomed to that sense before I run out of magic. The complete spell consists of a structure around the target, a structure around your horn, and three connections between them. You can focus on the different parts of the spell, it should be quit intuitive. Simply concentrate on a part of the feeling and it should get clearer. Try to make out the three connections.

[Lance]

Scintillance let Silvern take her grip, and quickly tried to make sense of what he was seeing, with haste though, as Silvern didn't sound like she expected to be able to hold for long. "well, I think I can see the three structures... and the connections are... between the horn and spell, between the spell and the target... and... I'm not quite sure about the third..."

[Silvern Gleam]

Sil couldn't help but chuckle at his findings. Seems you got it the wrong way round. What you described as connections are the main parts of the spell, around the horn and around the target. The three structures between them connect those two parts. Each connection is for something else. You already know about the feedback channel, the other two are the control and the power channel. I'll explain them properly later.

The power channel should be possible for you to identify, it's the strongest of the connections, she said and pointed her eyes expectantly at Lance, waiting for him to find it.

[Lance]

Scintillance gave a slight chuckle, "Only looking everywhere I shouldn't, huh?" he refocused, and tried to break down what he was seeing. "well, now that you mention it, I suppose... yep, I can see it. a bit too close to each other to notice at first, but yeah, these three... "connections" are there... and if the power channel is that big pulsing one, then yep, that's it..."

[Silvern Gleam]

Silvern nodded, and immediately moved on. We'll have to remove the pulsing, a steady energy stream is much better, and I think that's a good point to start, she said. Try to control it, like when you're controlling the power level of a spell. Keep a steady pressure on your horn, hold your breath for a moment if you need to.

[Lance]

"Steady an intangible energy stream that I have never seen heard felt or even known about ever in my life, got it..." he replied in such a serious tone, but the words betrayed a sarcastic response. It would take  him a good thirty seconds, more or less, 'feeling' around and prodding randomly into what felt more like a whole different world to him, trying to reach out to that pulse. when he finally did, it shifted to pulse a lot faster, and at certainly worse, unfocused stream.

"whoah! OK, OK, that's... that's not good. at all." he finally opened his eyes to see how things were doing in the "physical" world, and his golden aura on the ruby, normally appearing  as a  weird, liquid, intangible form was seemingly... waving. back and forth, in and out, like wild waves on an ocean surface. "Nope, not good at all, other way other way!" he reached back to what he thought he changed, and tried to do... the opposite. whatever that couldcould have been described as. rather than pushing to strengthen the stream, he condensed it, pulled it together like he would in his conjuration, and the stream softened, slightly smaller, but the pulse shifted to dimmer.

"I think... I got it... Silve?"

[Silvern Gleam]

And there goes my magic, Sil commented as the spell broke down only seconds after Lance had managed to mostly even out the energy flow. She had stopped her efforts before she completely ran out of magic, not wanting to run into magic fatigue. This went better than expected, but as long as you're not able to keep up the spell yourself, practical training won't be much longer than just now. Maybe we can do another session towards the evening, depending on how much work comes in, but for now, let's turn to theory.

What you sensed was the most basic spell structure possible for targeted spells. A structure around the horn that can be manipulated directly and a structure around the target manipulated per remote with the help of the three connections between them. The feedback channel sends information about the spell's structure, the control channel allows you to do manipulations in remote parts of the spell, and the power channel is the energy supply for those remote parts.

When you lock on a target, even without wanting to cast a specific spell on it, this basic structure is created automatically, and for the start we'll leave it at that. It's hard to consciously create the channels, in case of simple spells they are the most complex part, the structure needed around a target to let it float is actually pretty simple, so we'll tackle that first.

What followed was... well, theory. Silvern brought writing utensils for Lance to take notes as she explained some of the basics of how magic influences the physical world. After about an hour of explanation and discussion, the crystal above the door of the enchanting room became magically active. Somepony was approaching the shop. I'll be back in a moment, Sil told Scintillance and walked into the selling room. She didn't worry, it was probably some friend or customer, as almost always when the proximity sensors detected something. In this case, it was a friend. Lance could hear friendly chatter, and soon the voices got louder when Sil opened the door to the back rooms and came back with her guest.
I'm curious what you'll produce now with an assistant. I'm sure you could put up something even crazier than the generator.
Not anytime soon, but eventually, Silvern answered grinningly as she walked into the enchanting room, accompanied by a green unicorn. Skry, this is Scintillance. Scintillance, meet Skry, a friend of mine.

[Lance]

Upon being left alone, Scintillance wasted on moment in trying to gather the scattered sticky notes he managed to lose track of. by the time Silvern and Skry returned, Lance was pretty much covered in yellow, square notes attached all over himself, and still collecting. of course, on realizing he wasn't alone anymore, lance immediately shook the notes off himself, to meet this new pony with what little dignity he could still salvage.

however, upon hearing the name, it was too reminiscent of "Sky...light... I-I mean Skry, nice to meet you! I'm sorry, your name just sounded a lot like a... friend's... anyway, nice to meet you!" Lance pulled a somewhat sheepish grin, and had a hoof rub the back of his neck; he was pretty sure he wasn't making a good first impression.

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