Spellbound in a leather cover on parchment.

It was a stormy night in canterlot, Chroma was at home in her art studio reading spell book after spell book obsessed that she could finally do some of the magic she always wanted to she looked up at the potion bottle up on her fireplace and brings it over in her magic levitation. noticing the label was pealing off and a second one. much older was under it. pealing it off carefully the label was revealed  "Heart's desire, Taak thre sobrely this potagare to be that ye were alway ment to be....Middle Ponish?...how old was this-...." Her blood ran cold as the ancient spell book opens by itself to a page to a potion recipe ["Desire of hertes herte potagre"] "oh what the-"  the book started to glow with an eerie light, then suddenly Chroma was pulled into the book . the book closed and the glow dies down. Chroma opened her eyes and found herself in a tavern, armed with a spellbook and a pen wearing medieval clothing "Wha...what?!...By Luna what is going on...." "Oh Good,  ye shall finally awake young scholar, Why cry out for the fallen princess? she is on the moon...Come much work to do" said a grey stallion with a long white beard Chroma's jaw dropped "oh my gods you're....You're Starswirl the bearded! the greatest mage to ever live!" The stallion smiled "You've heard of me! no it is simply that I have enchanted this book in which young students of the craft can learn in a more...hooves on approach...be it may young miss I hope you're prepared we have much work to do...you know my name but what is yours...and your talent?" "I am Chroma Splat...I'm an artist..." "Ah the artist...with a bush the real magic can be made, painting worlds and telling stories with a single stroke...I will be turning you Lady Splat into a mage...you will learn all that you can...I am sure that magic has advanced since the time of the book so your modern instructor will have to give you further teachings" "Well, that's the thing...I don't exactly have one...." she explains her situation to Starswirl. "The portion of Heart's desire did THAT to you?...my word...no such dramatic effect could have been foreseen...you studied, even when you weren't a unicorn...but for what reason?" "Magic...fascinates me...history, the things that magic can do!...I never had my head in the clouds, never was a good flyer..." she pushed her glasses up a bit. "uh...uhuh....right ONWARD! first spell this tavern has not a door, how do we get out?" Chroma looks around the windows static, there wasn't a way out though she can see out she knew there was no way out without magic. her horn flares up blue and she concentrates and with that she popped outside with a winking spell  "Excellent work!" said starswirl magicing a portal though the wall "let's try what I just did no?...there be a mare trapped inside!" he teaches Chroma to do just that... Chroma squints her eyes and concentrates a rainbow portal opens letting the earth pony out of the tavern  "Thank thee miss!" there on her wrist  a mark appears on the leather bracer she was wearing. "one down, many to go Chroma...onward!" The two keep walking though the village where he teaches her how to turn an apple into an orange and back for a indecisive toddler, how to repair something with magic for a child that broke a tea cup and now they come to a fork in the road  "One path leads to more of those basic spells...do you wish to start with them first?" Chroma nods "I might be in my thirties, but I am new to this..." They go though the left path for the basic spells, only to turn back into the town and the fork in the rode again it took her a few times but eventually she got it. "That last spell was quite complicated...and on a moving target...now...to the advanced spells, battle magics...and such." finally Starswirl brought them down the other path learning some low level cantrip battle magic spells and now the path branches out again after the dractice dummies  "Many paths to go down but....given your expertise in art...." he pointed to a trail that looked like it wasn't used before, the well worn paths of the others were stuff like fire magic ice magic...but this one just said Depictumancy "If you've got the right brush...some paint....you can make just about anything." she did not walk she ran into the bush covered trail. starswirl laughed and begun his lesson.... what was possibly weeks or years  in the book were just hours in the real world. that night after saving the fictional world of the book. Chroma is launched out of the book, and it closes back again. Starswirl she'll need a magic brush in real life. but those...were very hard to find.