//------------------------------// // Academelee // Story: Turning Back the Winter // by Dinkledash //------------------------------// "Novice Celesta! Once again, I find myself reminding you that as a novice, you are to speak ONLY when spoken too! You are not to look an apprentice in the eye unless they are addressing you! You are not to make unsolicited suggestions to apprentices, and under no circumstances are you to cast a spell without proper authorization do I make myself clear!?" Apprentice Bluesteel Barb swaggered, his pale grey coat and dark blue mane flashed in the light streaming through the windows in the dormitory. "Yes, Apprentice." I could squash you like a bug, magically and physically. Celestia had shocked the Academy board when they measured her magical potential. Only the Grand Archmage herself had greater raw power. Of course, she had a great deal to learn about application, but that was what she was at the Academy for. That and to stay close to her Starswirl. She was very disappointed to learn that she and he were put onto two different course tracks. There was talk of him being apprenticed immediately to the Grand Archmage directly, but self-taught as he was, he was still lacking some fundamentals of the college-level magical curriculum. Celestia, on the other hoof, went into a remedial program; she had tremendous power, but relatively little skill. We can see each other after hours, when we both have free time. That translated into about four hours a week. She couldn't help but grimace at the thought. "Are you making faces at me, novice?" The irritating little stallion pushed his muzzle into her chest, looking up her nostrils. "Or are you just unnaturally ugly as well as unnaturally large?" "You little jerk!" "Novice Celestia, you did not answer my question, you spoke in a disrespectful tone and you failed to address me by my title! Do you think that you are above the rules because you are powerful? Because your mother works at the Royal Observatory? Do you think you are better than I am, Novice Celestia?" "Yes, Apprentice. I do think I am better than you." The other novices who were watching this exchange aghast took a few steps back, expecting lightning bolts to spark between the two. "Hmph. Perhaps, Novice, you would care to prove that? In the Arena?" "But Apprentice, novices are forbidden to fight in the Arena." "They are also forbidden to talk back to apprentices. Or are you all talk and no guts?" Why the little... "I challenge you, Apprentice!" Her eyes blazed with anger. "Excellent! I happen to know that the Arena is free right now. All of you! To the grounds, now!" The apprentice and his assigned novices trotted to the walled off and warded designated dueling area. He tapped his horn on the door and the ward dropped, the defensive spells which lined the walls becoming active. "You novices head for the bleachers. Novice Celestia, to the center of the sands, if you would be so kind." Bluesteel Barb sneered. "It will be my pleasure, Apprentice." Celestia raised her head and cantered gracefully to the middle of the Arena. "A challenge has been issued and accepted! Let no more harm be done than needed! Let all scores here now be settled and friends reconciled!" Bluesteel intoned the ceremonial words and Celestia wondered as his demeanor entirely changed. For once, he spoke without sneering or belittling. The words sounded quite sincere, reverent even. "You are authorized to cast whatever spells you may have picked up here and there in sixth grade. Now, LAY ON!" Celestia immediately raised a shield as did Bluesteel. His shield seemed weak to her, so she sent a bolt of power at the center. Instead of trying to stop the bolt, he turned and deflected it and it blasted into the wall behind him. Smart. Bluesteel responded with a bolt of his own, which came in high. It was a weak thing and Celestia allowed it to strike her shield directly. He fired a second shot immediately after, this time low, and much stronger. A feint! The first bolt had caused her shield to raise slightly, leaving her left forehoof exposed. She slammed her shield back down but some of the force had squeezed in underneath, numbing her hoof. She smiled grimly. Two can play at that game! She fired a bolt high and waited for him to deflect, then she did something she hoped was unexpected. She released the power of her shield straight ahead, and it crashed into his, staggering him. "A shield bash! Impressive, but I know that technique, and you are now undefended!" He threw a powerful bolt at her chest. It struck her center-of-mass and bounced off ineffectually. His eyes grew wide. "A body shield? We have been reading ahead!" Body shields were useful for defending oneself from all directions but generally could not stop a powerful attack because they did not concentrate power against single axis of attack. Unless, of course, you had a great deal of power relative to your opponent, as Celestia did. She charged him, shielded, invulnerable to anything he could hit her with with given his power level. Having three times his mass made her a serious physical threat and the arena rules did not distinguish between physical and magical attacks. Generally speaking, magical attacks were a lot more effective than physical ones, but momentum is momentum. He rolled into the sand to the right as she barreled past him. The novices started cheering for her and he gave them a dirty look. "Stars and moon! This is getting ridiculous." Bluesteel rolled to his hooves as Celestia got turned around for another charge. Suddenly, her hooves went out from under her and she crashed to the ground, the wind knocked out of her. He sideswiped the dust under my hooves! The sand kicked up in the air glowed blue and she found herself shackled by warm glass manacles. She could not get to her hooves. The apprentice stallion charged forward and placed his hoof on her neck, symbolically claiming victory. He was breathing hard, and he bent over to speak to her quietly as the manacles collapsed back into dust. "When I am through training you, Celestia, you will be the terror of the Arena. But remember, power isn't everything. You fight intelligently and inventively. You learn quickly. But you have to treat me with respect, the same way as any other novice, understand?" She nodded. "Good. Now I'm going to go back to acting like a horseapple. Nothing personal. When we're both apprentices, we can be friends, but until then I am in charge and you will do as you are told. Understand?" "Yes, Apprentice," she said in highly respectful tones. He stepped back as she stood up, and bowed her head in acknowledgement of his victory. He leaned forward whispered, "And I'm sorry I called you ugly. You are anything but, but it's my job to teach you to control yourself, so I will push you, belittle you and injure your pride until there is nothing left but a novice ready to be taught, the same as these others. I went through the same hell when I was a novice." He winked at her and turned away to face the others. "The challenge is won! The lesson has been taught! The score has been settled! Now get back with the rest of that sorry lot and pay attention!" Celestia trotted past, her head low, genuinely humbled and thankful that she was being taught by this goodhearted stallion and joined the rest of the novices who made room for her on the bleachers, giving her sympathetic smiles. "Novice Sterling Asp! What did you observe during that confrontation? That is, if you were able to keep track of what was going on!" Steelblue Barb scowled at the shaking novice and Celestia allowed herself a very small, almost invisible smile.