“Hyah!” Sweetie sent out a small burst of water at the target, drenching it before switching to the next one. The water came out of her horn in short bursts, and Sweetie was obviously concentrating. Behind her, Twilight quickly levitated the targets in random patterns, making Sweetie’s job of hitting them much more difficult.
“Next!” Twilight watched as Sweetie turned and bent her horn close to the fire, and cast the spell. A spark erupted from her horn as she leaned back, setting the wood on fire. After she stepped back, the flame died down, now feeding on the wood instead of her magic. Sweetie wiped a bead of sweat off her brow.
“Next!” Twilight levitated up some pepper mixed with itching powder, and sniffed it up. Feeling the sneeze about to explode, she sighed in relief as the spell swept over her, followed by one to remove the itching powder’s itch a second later. Twilight shook her head, and then sat down.
“Next!” Twilight felt the spell hit her in the head, and instantly blacked out, after a moment she was quickly roused by a spell. Shaking off the muggy feeling in her head, Twilight cast the wake-up spell on herself a second time, clearing the effects of the first spell. Twilight took a step, and felt her hoof lock up, causing her to trip forward on the grass. Spitting out some of the dirt, she stood up, and clapped Sweetie Belle.
“Good job, I think you’re ready to move onto intermediate. Promise me you’ll be careful with them though. What do you say we take a half-hour break, and come back to test them after?” Twilight smiled, and Sweetie nodded, sitting down at the picnic beside the now-burning fire. Eating her sandwich, she felt pleased by her progress.
Twilight had suggested they practice on a hill near Applejack’s farm, away from any trees that might catch on fire. While Twilight was sure she could contain any magic mishaps without worry, it didn’t hurt to have a little extra protection. Sweetie sipped her apple juice and tried to hide her glee. Finally she would learn some proper spells.
“Alright, let’s start with stun and disarm.” Twilight stood up, and picked up her fork, pretending it was a weapon, and crouched low to the ground. Trying to look fierce, Twilight even growled, much to Sweetie’s entertainment. Picking up the book, Sweetie read how to cast both the spells, and concentrated.
Sweetie first cast stun, watching the beam leave her horn and hit Twilight. Twilight blinked, and then returned to her fierce gaze. Sweetie bit her lip, and cast the disarm spell. Her magic hit the magic holding the fork, and flung it behind Twilight. Sweetie was annoyed because it was literally right behind Twilight, but at least it hadn’t hit her.
“Both could use a bit more force, but that will come as you grow your magic with that force-field. How’s that going by the way?” Twilight picked up the fork and put it back down on the picnic, glancing to the fire and dousing it with a quick spell. It was too warm for a fire anyway. Sweetie shrugged nonchalantly.
“Okay, I can hold it for half a day now, and talk with it on. But I still lose it if something unexpected happens.” Sweetie raised her head as Twilight nodded, and took to the sky. Bringing a cloud down, Twilight held it near the ground for Sweetie. Getting the hint, Sweetie cast a cloudwalking spell, and jumped onto the cloud. Standing on it, she slowly sunk through it and gently slipped out the bottom, landing on the grass with a soft thud.
“So the same situation with cloudwalking. Alright, now try knockback and the smokebomb.” Twilight kicked the cloud, dispersing it, and stepped back. Crouching down, she prepared her ‘war’ face and growled once more. Sweetie forced herself not to smile, and concentrated. Casting the spell, it hit Twilight and sent her back very slightly, but didn’t break her concentration. Sweetie pointed her horn to the ground between them, and cast the second spell. A small explosion of dust appeared, and quickly dispersed.
“Right, I think I know what the problem is, but let’s see the last two spells. Do teleportation last.” Twilight waited as Sweetie concentrated, groaning as she forced as much magic as she could into the spell. Pointing her horn in the air, Sweetie sent a bolt of magic into the air just above her. The spell exploded into a tiny, colorless, sparkles that fizzled out almost instantly.
“Teleportation…” Sweetie concentrated, wondering if she would even have the magic to teleport. Feeling her headache building as she tried to hold more and more magic in her horn, she was not anticipating the sudden explosion right in front of her, and the immediate headache. Twilight was quick to help her back up once Sweetie confirmed she was ok.
“Alright, so the problem I’m seeing is you’re not able to get enough magic out of your horn. Think of it like a water tap. While I can turn mine up to a torrent, yours can only go to a trickle. The problem with that is, there isn’t many techniques to increase the flow of magic. I had a similar problem, at least until the day I got my Mark.
“My magic exploded outward, essentially opening the floodgates. It took me a long time to learn how to stop my magic from just flowing out, and by that time I’d lost a lot of my built-up magic that most ponies have. I had to basically refill my water supply, and that was impossible until I learned how to turn my ‘tap’ off. If it wasn’t for Celestia, I would have probably spent my life with very weak magic.” Twilight paused, and sat down, putting a hoof to her chin.
“There’s two possible solutions to your problem. One is you do what you have been doing, slowly opening your tap though practice. The other is we purposely force a magic surge on you, which is not a fun experience. Hrm.” Twilight mused for a moment, and then looked toward Sweetie, who shrugged.
“Let’s go with the magic surge.” Sweetie nodded determined. Even if it wasn’t fun, it would still be safe, Twilight would make sure of that. Sweetie was tired of always feeling like she had the weakest magic. Now there was a chance she could fix that problem.
“Alright, I’ll get Celestia and Luna in on it too, just in case. Meet me at the castle tomorrow.” Twilight wasn’t sure this was a good idea, but it couldn’t end too terribly. Even with Sweetie being the center of the loop, her magic ‘tap’ being opened wouldn’t harm anything. Well, that’s what Twilight’s science said. And science was known for being proven wrong.