Sweetie, Berry, Prince, and a few other foals I’d met over lunch wished me luck, I sent Moonie to mom with orders to stay with her and followed after the proctor who directed me to a lecture hall where a team of five ponies waited in the front seats. I’d also a feeling like that this was the very place Twilight Sparkle had taken her test. I can almost sense the residual manna that soaked into the walls. It’s there, kind of like the feeling of the sun on your back on a cold autumn day.
“Good afternoon, Mrs Sparkle,” I offered on recognizing Twilight Velvet. Twilight Velvet smiled back at me.
“Good afternoon, Your Highness Kitsumi Nova,” Mrs Sparkle offered, and then introduced a rose-colored unicorn mare with a bright red mane and tail as Mrs Rose a Velvet.
“You two aren’t related are you?” I ask. “I mean, I was wondering, being that you know me, and given that Twilight has been tutoring me I can’t help but wonder if perhaps you should recuse yourself?”
“Yes, that is a valid point, and yes, Rose is a cousin of mine,” Twilight Velvet offered. “However, we also have Mr Aver Ridge, not to worry, he’s not as mean as he looks. Mr Lepton, you’ll find he’s quite quick. Mr Argon couldn't make it, but Mr Justin showed up right when we were putting the teams together.”
“Alright then,” I replied giving up.
“Princess Nova, dear, short of you somehow demonstrating your abilities to be no better than average without your amulet, you are going to be allowed to attend CSGU.” Rose Velvet offered. “Now, the sooner we get going, the sooner we can get to the next hopeful.”
At one end of the lecture platform was a group of weights on a table which I was invited to lift. I walked over and picked out a weight.
To my dismay when I went to power up my horn it was like my manna flow was being constricted. Try as I might I wasn’t getting anything and the more I push the more feedback I got. And it hurt too. Looking at my horn I discovered that it was glowing teal every time I pushed. Aside from that, I wasn’t getting any indication other than I just couldn't seem to push out enough energy from my horn to do a simple task.
Was that muffled laughter I’m hearing? I looked over at the ponies there to evaluate me but I can see no indication that one of them just laughed at my feeble attempt to lift a little weight. The worst part is that I’m starting to think that maybe I was relying on my amulet. And it would make sense. Kitsune did rely on a wish-granting stone to do their magic… except, I have a horn. I don’t need a stone or any kind of gem for that matter. I looked up at my horn, attempted to power up again, pure clear blue light, and then suddenly back to teal and that horrible backup of manna feeling like someone pinching my nose every time I tried to breathe out. It was starting to give me a headache.
Teal.
Something’s not right here, and I could have sworn I’d heard someone laughing.
Tap. Down went one of my hooves in a sharp staccato.
Tap. Again I sent a vibration through the floor and then waited on the return. Tap, tap, tap, left-right, back left. Slowly I was building up a picture of my assailant based on the position of their hooves.
I was being assaulted. There was some pony on the platform with me and they seemed determined to stop me from passing this test.
“Dear, just relax,” Twilight Velvet offered.
I gave her a smile and did some more tapping.
“Well, we’ve got the dance, where’s the song?” Asked Lepton.
And now a slow slide of a hoof as I make a scan of the area I suspect my assailant to be. The scary part is that if I try to out them, there’s no telling what they’ll do. They might just sidestep any attempt to negate that invisibility spell they are using. At least every pony in the room just thinks I’m being nervous. At the same time, I’m wondering if the hair on my back is raising, or if my tail is getting all bushy? A good possibility they are because I went from nervous to frightened the moment I realized some pony was trying to cause me to fail the test.
I slowly walk back over towards the table. Somewhere outside a bugle is practicing a fan fair. The way it echoes reminds me of the theme music to Patton. I can feel my power amping up as I start to get all tingly. And yes, my tail has gone poof.
Whoever they are, they don’t know that I can do earth pony magic.
I slide a hoof, stomp the other, I rear up, stomp with the left, reach out with my front hooves as my fire ignites, the table lifts up, I slip my right hind leg forward and with a twist of my body the table careens through the air slamming into a startled unseen pony.
“I can hear you breathing,” I say as I face their direction. Their horn lights up, so does mine, and suddenly we’ve both fired a bolt of energy at each other the beams connecting, each fighting for dominance. I’m being pushed back, but they are angry and I’m just a little pegasus. They are only thinking about hurting me. I’m thinking about options.
A slide and a stomp from my front hooves, another slide, and a stomp forward followed by leaping into the air, my wings pushing me forward against their energy beam, I come down and stomp with both front hooves.
A crack races through the tiled floor erupting in an explosion under them. Their energy beam stops and mine hits them like a big Mac truck.
“Princess? What are you doing? Stop it!” Twilight Velvet shouts as an impact crater suddenly appears on the whiteboard on the wall. Her mind is having trouble computing what she’s seeing.
“There’s some pony there!” Mr Justin proclaimed.
My assailant curses me, and I can hear them right themselves. My wings are out. I’m building up a difference of potential, I see the light of their horn powering up again. Quickly I reach out with my own magic, snatch up a small lifting weight and hurl it right at the light.
Twack!
I hear them cry out in pain, the light is out, but I’m not done.
I wait just a moment to let them regain their wits.
“Go on, ask me what I’m the goddess of,” I say, my attention zeroed in on them as their invisibility spell slowly fades. It’s a white unicorn stallion. Of course, it is. Their mane is blond but I can see dirty roots.
“Goddess? I’m the god of death! What are you the goddess of is it then?” He all but growled at me.
Funny thing about fox magic, it comes with its very own background music. It’s part of the illusionary capabilities of kitsune magic. Arcs of electricity start to dance about me, Immigrant Song starts playing as I lift up into the air. I’m fairly sure fox magic gets some serious rage buffs. Why? Because.
I – am – on – fire! I am literally on fire as my foxfire turns me into some kind of white phoenix. Their invisibility spell is completely gone now. I see the look of horror in their eyes.
I don’t care! I’m pissed now!
They charge me in an act of defiant desperation with their horn lined up on me like they intend to gore me before I can gain too much height.
The room lights up in blinding white light as an ear-shattering boom blasts all the windows out and even bulges the walls.
I’m still on my hooves. Relatively speaking. I’m standing on scorched cracked tile some distance back from where I started, and it’s so quiet a pony could hear a pin drop, provided their ears weren't already ringing. I am drained. Only now do I think of the proctors who I’m relieved to see cast a shield spell about themselves. Likely all of them did. As is they are halfway to the back of the class, seats have been pushed to the far walls, and the room literally looks like a bomb went off.
My victim is charred and twitching. And yet, strangely enough, they are still alive. Guards rush in through a now open archway where the doors used to be.
“What happened in here?” one of the guards asked as they slow down and then stop.
“Someone was dumb enough to attempt to assault me while I was taking my practical,” I offered in what I considered to be a reasonable reply. I turn my attention to the proctors and ask, “..did I pass the test?”
I can feel Twilight Sparkle’s old manna seeping into me to replace that which I spent, and then...
I woke up sometime later in a hospital room. Mom is there, along with Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Lofty, Sunset Shimmer, Cadance, and Rarity.
“So, um, where's Aunt Tia?” I ask.
“Doing a sweep of the school,” Mom offered as she stroked my mane back. “You destroyed the classroom. And your victim had a press pass. Equestria Daily News.”
“Figures. He likely interfered with my test just for a story,” I said softly. “I was being assaulted. He was assaulting me and no one could see it.” To say I was upset would have been an understatement and the only reason I wasn’t flaring up was that I was low on manna. Manna was also needed to support flight which meant my trip to Cloudsdale was now in jeopardy for multiple reasons.
“And that’s exactly how we are treating it,” Mom replied.
“All testing has been put on standby until they know for certain there is no pony else attempting to interfere with the tests,” Sweetie offered.
“Did you get a chance to test?” I just had to ask.
“There was a big explosion that startled me and I sent all the lifting weights through the ceiling,” Sweetie replied in a deadpan tone.
“Don’t worry Sweetie, they’ll give you another chance,” Rarity offered.
“She doesn't actually need it,” Mom informed Rarity.
“What do you mean she doesn’t need it?” Rarity protested.
“Overcharging like that is an automatic qualifier,” Mom explained with a big smile.
“I’m in?” Sweetie asked.
“Short of you’ve bombed the written test. And in the event you did, you’ll just get private tutoring until you are up to the same level of all the other foals your age,” Mom offered.
“So, where’s Moonie?” I ask.
“I, um, sort of locked her in a drawer and haven't had a chance to let her out.”
“Ex drawer,” Moonie offered as she flew in while holding the amulet curled up in her front hooves. She landed on me, looked me in the eye, and said, “On, put, now.”
“I imagine there would have been less destruction if you’d been with me,” I offered, and then gave her a hug. Princess Celestia was the next to enter.
“Luna, a drawer in the desk in the office I gave you exploded,” Celestia announced.
“Hi Aunt Tia, and it was Moonie,” I offered. I’d no doubt I had a big smile on my face.
“Nova, you’re awake,” Celestia said, a smile forming on her face.
“I locked Nova’s amulet in a drawer that was probably sealed against magic,” Mom offered. “Somehow mini-me knew Nova was in trouble and blasted her way out. I imagine that by the time she procured her freedom we’d already rushed Nova to the clinic.”
“The pony who seemed set on making sure I failed?” I asked.
“Intensive care at Canterlot General,” Celestia informed me. “Now, we are going to need your side of the story. What we’ve got so far from the witnesses was that you seemed nervous at first, couldn't lift any of the weights, and then suddenly you flung the table across the room but they couldn't tell how you did it. This was followed up by a display of converging beams of magic, the floor exploding, a whiteboard being destroyed, and the appearance of a previously unseen assailant.”
“I was being assaulted,” I offered. “Every time I tried to power up my horn they’d clamp down on it, and the resulting back pressure hurt. I realized what was going on because I heard them laugh at me. I used earth magic to locate them in much the same way I did that fancy piece of dragon poop.”
“Why didn’t you say something?”
“I figured that all they had to do was sidestep any attempt to find them, and it’d look like I was making it all up to cover for the fact that I couldn't do anything without this amulet.” I pointed to the amulet I now had on.
“How’d you fling the table across the room?”
“More earth pony magic. I literally directed my telekinesis through my hooves. That’s how Applejack can kick an apple tree and all the ripe apples fall down without bruising any. That’s how Trixie does her magic shows. And to be frank, Applejack as likely doesn't have a clue what she’s doing. Not like Trixie does.”
“And then what happened?” Celestia asked while ignoring my quip.
“He tried to blast me. I saw his horn lighting up and just instinctively countered him with a shot of my own. They were starting to overpower me so I went for a two-pronged attack. First I used my earth magic to cause the floor to erupt underneath him.”
“Hang on, you did that at the same time you were holding them off?” Celestia asked.
“You never know what you can do until you are at the point of desperation, and your options are limited,” I offer. “Yes, I set up the tile explosion while I was still pouring on the energy from my horn. Different manna pools. I was using my pegasus ability to set up the other prong of my attack.”
“Hang on, didn’t you do something else?” Celestia asked. Ya, she pretty much had all the details, she just wanted my version.
“He dropped his attack when the tile exploded, but then I saw his horn lighting up again and I wasn’t quite ready for the big finish so I snatched up one of the lifting stones and launched it at his horn hitting it squarely. I imagine I didn't hit him hard enough because all it did was disrupt his magic and make him mad.”
“And then you asked him something… what was it?”
“I told him to ask me what I’m the goddess of,” I replied sheepishly.
“What are you the goddess of?” Celestia asked giving me a curious look.
“You didn’t,” Sunset stated. She has a big grin on her face.
“I did.”
“No, way,” Sunset said.
“Way,” I replied.
“No, bucking way?”
“Yes, way,” I replied. A smile crept across my lips.
“And let me guess, he was stupid enough to oblige too, wasn’t he?” Sunset asked.
“Well first he declared himself the god of death, so I think we can take that as a threat to kill me considering that he was actively assaulting me, and then he obliged me and asked. I mean I was ready to blast him with a lightning bolt, he wasn’t showing any signs of wanting to quit, it just made sense.”
“We’ll just need to make sure you don’t get your hooves on a hammer made from Uru,” Sunset teased.
“That’s an alloy that can only be made on the moon,” mom announced.
“Wait, it exists?” Sunset and I both ask at the same time.
“I seem to be missing something here,” Celestia commented dryly.
“ Let's just say that there is a legend of a legendary warrior called Thor,” Sunset offered while leaving out where the legend came from. “And he had an enchanted war hammer. Some rather dubious sources say it was made from Uru.”
“It’s an alloy of adamant,” Mom offered. “Adamant and orichalcum. The appropriate combination is said to have some interesting properties.”
“Any chance I can get a war hammer made of it?” I asked.
Both mom and Sunset said “No” and did so rather sharply.”
“Anyway, there was this movie, you know, talkies,” Sunset explained, “..and a scene where the evil goddess out to destroy everything asks the hero ‘and what are you the god of little brother’ and the next thing she knows he’s brought down the mother of all lightning bolts on her.”
“Mother of all… I don’t even know what that’s supposed to mean,” Celestia stated.
“When was this?” Sweetie asked.
“Ah, ya, sorry, it’s confidential,” I offered with a sheepish grin. “Anyway, I overcharged the voltage differential in the air around him, and then pretty much destroyed the place.”
The doctor would come by later and announce that the only thing wrong with me was that I’d been processing manna faster than my body could cope. I’d simply exhausted myself both physically and magically. It was like I’d done an Iron Pony challenge. The irony was that I’d done it all in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, they wanted me to stay there for observation. Mom decided that she was going to stay with me, but there was really no point in anyone else staying. Sweetie and Rarity needed to check with the ponies running the test to make sure they didn’t need to come back. Scootaloo and Lofty were going to go back up to the keep since everything was in lockdown, and Celestia was going back to the school with Rarity and Sweetie Belle. Once the sweeps had been done they really needed to continue testing.