Ch9 - Final Exam
Celestia’s Tiny Student
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Chapter 9
Final Exam
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Three years before Nightmare Moon's return
A rock farm.
Celestia left her latest meeting with her confidants in annoyance, her hooves stomping out of their meeting place as she frowned deeply.
A ROCK FARM.
Apparently, the Canterlot Castle staff had recently requisitioned building materials to expand the university and had placed an order for five hundred tons of high-quality stone blocks from various suppliers. With the slow period in the Royal Guard leaving plenty of idle hooves, Brave Blade had suggested sending a few to help bring materials to Canterlot, which Celestia happily agreed to.
Guards sent to one of the highest quality suppliers returned with stories of a rock farm that was unnaturally, well, cheerful. It wasn’t a secret that rock farmers were big traditionalists and would devote all of their time to working rather than to any leisurely activities, perhaps due to the difficulty of growing rocks and minerals from soil. This, unfortunately, also made them gloomy and, all in all, just plain depressing.
So when one of these families breaks the norm despite their utterly dreary environment, interests were piqued. Curious guards were able to learn of a single, bright pink filly of that family of greys and brown who changed their entire demeanor several years back. In fact, they’d saved the exact date to commemorate that landmark change.
It was the date immediately after the Rainboom.
The filly, Pinkie Pie, was not present when the guards came to pick up the building materials, but after her last candidate named Cheese Sandwich failed to meet the criteria, her agents discovered that Pinkie's last location was at Sugarcube Corner at Ponyville, where Celestia had conveniently gathered the rest of the Elements.
Celestia gave another sigh. Of all the places I could look to find the Element of Laughter, it had to be from one of the most depressing professions to ever exist.
"Rise and shiiiiine, Princess!" Celestia heard her student’s cheerful voice welcoming her into the new day, a warm awaking that she always enjoyed.
I swear, as tiny as she is, my student grows a little stronger everyday, and I can feel it too, the alicorn thought as she felt tiny hooves lightly shaking her head. Come on Twilight, you can do better than that. Celestia groaned and rolled around in her bed, turning back to her student.
The princess felt Twilight squeeze under her head, lifting it a little bit for several seconds, only to give up and crawl out from under it. My poor Twilight, trying to lift my head without using your magic to help. As much as I admire your efforts, at this point it is still beyond your capability.
Humored by Twilight’s effort to wake her up, Celestia rolled again and slowly opened her eyes as she watched her student sitting on a pillow, her horn lit with magic. She could already feel her head and body being slowly levitated to a sitting position, while a wet towel washed her face, and once the princess felt refreshed, she could see a cup of tea and a tray of food being levitated towards her by her student.
"Thank you, Twilight," Celestia spoke softly, smiling as she took the tea cup with her magic, drinking it gracefully. In the recent years her tiny student has been willingly assisting in her morning routine. She didn’t need this kind of morning service, but it helped her student warm up in the morning so she welcomed it gratefully.
After Celestia and her student were done with the breakfast, the alicorn rolled off her bed to stand on the floor, already knowing what was about to happen.
Celestia looked warily at Twilight Sparkle as the tiny mare maneuvered her way over, carrying all four of Royal horseshoes in addition to her peytral and tiara on her tiny back. Even under all the gold, it was obvious that Twilight was struggling under the weight, never mind the balancing act she had to pull as her tiny hooves were trembling with every step. Celestia took a dainty sip from her teacup. My little student, you’ve made incredible progress and became even more confident in yourself. Once levitating my golden regalia with your magic became too easy, you started to challenge your physical strength instead. She’d forgotten when this started, but her faithful student had recently taken to challenging her physical strength, It was quite a surprise when Twilight first attempted to lift up her sleepy head in the morning by burrowing under it.
The alicorn gave a small frown. Now that she thought about it, there may have been some shrieking about a rat. Not exactly her finest moment.
Celestia took another sip as Twilight unceremoniously dumped her payload to the side after finally reaching the princess. She felt as Twilight levitated her hoof over before fitting the horseshoe on her with her bare hooves. Celestia, as a being who measures subtle changes in the political landscape over centuries, easily noticed the improvements in her student’s abilities. Twilight no longer struggled with trying to fit a single horseshoe on her, and she’d shaved an entire minute off her journey from across the room carrying her golden vestments. Not that she’d ever tell Twilight that she’d been keeping track.
The last horseshoe slipped on, and Celestia watched as Twilight trotted over to her golden peytral, raising an eyebrow. My peytral is almost as big as my neck. At least 15 kilograms of gold and gems. Is she finally going to…
Celestia was only slightly disappointed when she saw her student’s horn light up, thinking that Twilight was simply going to levitate the rest of the golden regalia into their respective places, but her mood lifted when magical ropes shot from the glowing horn instead, tethering Twilight to the tiara and peytral.
Standing resolute and strong, Twilight turned back to Celestia, taking a deep breath before beginning to climb up one of her mentor’s forelegs, the gold she was tied to rocking back and forth, trying to pull her down. After minute of effort, Twilight had finally reached her mentor's back, as she began swinging the peytral by its rope back and forth across Celestia's side. Twilight grit her teeth as the heavy gold threatened to drag her off from her steady position, but a quick shift of weight allowed her hooves the traction to stay on until the peytral finally gained the momentum to swing entirely around Celestia’s neck. A quick rope caught the other side of the peytral before it fell back around, and the neckpiece was securely fastened without difficulty. Another quick climb, and Twilight had easily placed the tiara in its correct place, plopping down in exhaustion once she finished.
Celestia watched her tiny student exercise with amusement, waiting patiently until she was done and smirked. I do not know if I should feel sad or honoured that my student climbs around on me like I was a mountain.
“My faithful student, Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia began. “Most powerful unicorns would prefer to use their talent for magic and spellcasting to solve their problems, yet despite both your immense skill and size disadvantage, I find that your physical activities are more and more akin to an Earth Pony’s.”
Twilight wiped away a few sweat droplets. “Do I have much of a choice, Princess? If I were to levitate something hundreds of times my mass, the pressure would crush me unless I can resist it, and if my magic were to fail, there’s not much I could do with just my bare hooves.”
Celestia sighed. “Believe me, I highly admire your dedication to keep both your body and mind in shape. But for earth ponies and pegasi, they need to stay in good physical condition because they cannot use magic to levitate objects like you or I,” Celestia said, tapping a hoof on first Twilight’s horn before tapping her own. “Biologically, unicorns have become physically weaker for this exact reason since they tend to focus on learning and using their minds to go about their daily business.
“Twilight, you are a talented, powerful, and a very intelligent pony. You are already devoted to training your magic, but attempting to train like an athlete in addition to your magical studies will overwhelm you,” Celestia lectured, her concern evident in her voice.
The little mare hopped down on her mentor’s nose, planting herself down as she looked Celestia in the eyes, a defeated pout on her face. “I know, Princess. I’ve been unable to read as much as I used to before I started my training regimen, but,” Twilight paused as she gave a wide grin, “with my trusty checklist and scheduling, I can pull it off.”
Celestia blinked. “Checklist? Schedule? Could you please explain, my faithful student?”
Twilight nodded her head energetically. “Of course, Princess! See, it’s actually very simple,” she stated as she began gesturing with her hooves. “Whenever I train my magic, I would eventually run out of magical energy until I can rest and build up more. Whenever I train my strength and agility, I eventually get tired, so I would need to take a break to recover my stamina. So after my magic becomes too weak to practice difficult spells, I begin my physical training, and when I get exhausted from that, I can switch back to magical training since my energy reserves will replenish during my exercise. Like this, I can switch back and forth between the two, though I still make time to study and read during my breaks. All my activities are on my checklist, and I follow it to the letter.”
Twilight finished by flashing another smile, before she jumped down from Celestia’s nose and began trotting over to the balcony, her mentor watching her in interest. Two years ago, Celestia mused, she would simply teleport to get where she needed to go. Now I find her forgoing her magic to run and climb with only her hooves. Quite the adventurer she has grown to become recently. With a short chuckle and a smile, she followed her little pony outside, preparing to raise the sun.
***
After witnessing and applauding yet another beautiful solar performance, Twilight trotted happily inside, followed by a faintly smiling Celestia. “So, what will we do today, Princess? Are you going to teach me a new spell, or more about Equestria’s economy? Or perhaps I should just practice what I already know or read a book?” she asked exuberantly as she began climbing up the side of the bed to her pillow.
“Hmmm...” Celestia hummed purposefully before continuing in a calm, yet authoritative, tone of voice. “None of those things, my faithful student. Today, I’m going to give you a test on controlling your magic. Or, should I say, your final exam on the subject.”
Twilight dropped from the bedding in surprise as soon as the word ‘test’ reached her ears, yelping as she hit the floor in a tiny, lavender heap. “A t-test? L-like... r-right now?” she exclaimed in shock as she attempted to pick herself up from her embarrassing fall. “But I d-didn’t know I had a test today. I haven’t had time to study for it yet! I’m not prepared for...”
Twilight blinked as she turned over the rest of her mentor’s words, "W-wait. D-did you say f-final-final exam?”
Celestia watched as the unicorn collapsed back on the ground, already noting the signs of an inevitable panic attack. Poor Twilight, she has plenty of courage and confidence whenever I teach her, but the moment I give her a test, she just crumbles.
Celestia bit her lip nervously as she tried to think of a way to handle the situation. Twilight had always been more than prepared for any test she’d ever given her, theoretical or practical. Still, every time she had mentioned the dreaded ‘T’ word to her student, the tiny mare invariably began fiddling with her hooves or pacing around before diving into a mountain of textbooks in a display of power-reading that sometimes frightened Celestia. When encouragement and praise during her exams failed to bolster her confidence, surprisingly enough, Celestia had elected to simply remove ‘test’ from her vocabulary altogether, often testing her student’s abilities under the guise of a regular exercise. It was sneaky, but effective.
But the test she had in mind today should show that Twilight had managed to bring her surges under her full control. Afterwards, Celestia could finally return the tiny mare to her normal size, and a normal life. This would be difficult, for the test could not be hidden as a simple exercise. Sooner or later, her perceptive student would ask her directly if this was a test, and she would not be able to lie to her.
Using her hooves, Celestia placed her faithful student onto the ornate pillow on her bed. “Twilight Sparkle,” she said reassuringly, calming the tiny mare with a motherly tone, “you have been working hard under my wing for many, many years and recently, you have not had a single magic surge in months. I’m proud that you’ve come so far, but I’m going to have to push you to your limits to make sure that you’ve gained full control over your power.”
She gave a reassuring smile as she watched closely for Twilight’s reaction.
***
It’s an exam.
A really important exam.
The final exam.
Twilight’s hyperventilation began to make its return evident. Oh no-no-nonono! What if I haven’t trained hard enough? What if I haven’t been practicing the right spells? Have I been levitating enough weight recently? What was my last record?
A single purple hair sprang out of place, curling in pointed angles. What if I fail! What if Princess Celestia sends me back to school thinking that I’m a failure and that she shouldn’t have wasted her time on me? What if she grounds me for a decade before I can retake the test?
Celestia watched as a few more hairs on Twilight’s mane followed the first before moving in to nuzzle Twilight, giving her a warm smile as she said encouragingly, "Please don’t be afraid, my faithful student. I have full confidence that you will pass, and there won’t be any consequences in the rare circumstance that you are unprepared. I can just train you a little more, and you can try again next month. I won't think any less of you."
Twilight looked up at Celestia, giving a weak smile and trying to smooth out her disheveled mane and tail. Celestia looked unconvinced at her student’s show. "Please, trust in yourself. I know you can do it," Celestia said as she levitated her student closer, wrapping Twilight in a careful hug that the tiny mare reflexively leaned into.
"Y-you really think so?" Twilight asked hesitantly as she looked up into her mentor’s eyes.
“I'm more than sure, my faithful student. I would even say that calling this an exam is nothing more than a formality. As long as you do not surge a single time, you will pass," Celestia continued reassuringly before levitating her student onto her back.
"W-what kind of exam it will be?" Twilight asked hesitantly, her expression betraying her nervousness and anxiety.
"It’s nothing you haven’t done before, Twilight. It will be a simple levitation exercise, but the most important part of this test is to use as much magic as you can without losing control," Celestia explained calmly before lighting up her horn in its golden aura and disappearing in a flash.
As soon as the pair reappeared, Twilight took a quick scan of her surroundings, noticing the various plant life. Her ears perked as she heard the scampering of animals running to hide in the bushes. "The Royal Garden... Why are we here, princess?" she said, looking up at her mentor.
Without a word, Celestia simply nodded her head vaguely at a nearby clearing, where several boulders of various sizes sat. With a small flash, Twilight relocated herself to the top of Celestia’s head for a better view. “Hmm... that first boulder is roughly Spike’s size. About… a hundred kilograms, give or take,” Twilight mused as she regarded the rest of them similarly. “One, two, three... ten. There are ten of them, each bigger than last one, so each one is a hundred kilograms heavier than the last, correct?”
Celestia gave a small nod, mindful of her student atop her head, "That is correct, my little student. These boulders have been weighed and specifically prepared for your training. You are correct in estimating that the first boulder is about a hundred kilograms and that the last one is one ton in weight. If you look closer, you can see their weights lightly marked on the side," Celestia explained, noticing a tiny gulp from her student as she gestured at the boulders with a hoof.
"Please prepare yourself, my student. Once you are ready, let me know, and we can begin," Celestia stated as she walked closer to boulders in front of her, feeling her student trembling on her head. Two years ago, Twilight managed to lift more than 200 kilograms before she had a magic surge and Celestia knew that Twilight would be intimidated by the idea of levitating the one ton weight.
Twilight nodded once before jumping on the soft grass, walking slowly toward her quarry. The mere look at them was intimidating, especially for a mare whose weight still did not exceed one kilogram.
My mentor believes in me, and I won’t fail her. No matter what, I will lift it! After a brief moment of thinking and meditation, Twilight steeled herself, her fears dissolving as she replaced them with determination and resolve.
With a wave of her hoof, Twilight signaled that she was ready. With a tiny smile, Celestia walked forward, only slightly behind Twilight now, "To begin, we will need to find out your limits. Your first task will be to lift each of those boulders for ten seconds each," Celestia explained calmly and encouragingly.
Twilight just nodded as she took up a more stable standing position, her horn lighting up as she focused her magic on smallest boulder. To her surprise, the hundred-kilogram boulder lifted easily off the ground. Her magic contained solidly within her horn, Twilight held the boulder in the air for the ten seconds before setting it down gently and moving to the next one, her elation growing as she began to discover the extent of her growth.
***
For the next few minutes, Twilight was levitating boulders off the ground one by one, each time she felt more and more pressure on her body. Her legs flinched a little when she reached a half-ton weight. Celestia watched in admiration as Twilight dropped the boulder to the ground. As she felt the ground under her hooves trembling, it did not took long before six hundred kilograms boulder was being levitated. Twilight, you never cease to amaze me. I knew that your raw power is strong, but being able to withstand pressure that increases your own weight more than twenty times while standing on your four hooves can put even the Royal Guards to shame.
Wasting no time, Twilight levitated the next boulder. Despite her best efforts, her levitation spell broke after six seconds, "I... 'huh' am sorry p-princess, 'huh', I cannot... it is... too heavy," Twilight spoke, panting heavily. Celestia knew that there had to be limit of magic her student could focus at once, but the fact that Twilight just simply given up her hold on the weight instead of having a magic surge was encouraging.
"Oh Twilight, you have already passed my expectations," Celestia replied with pride in her voice, that only made Twilight blush, further boosting her confidence and dissuading her fears.
"Thank you princess, what is my next task?" Twilight yelled, so her mentor could hear her more clearly while she recovered from her short exhaustion.
"Now, my little student, this is where your final exam begins,” Celestia’s smile vanished as she turn her head and hang it down slightly, guilted expression on her face. “I am truly sorry, Twilight, but this next task I must ask you to perform will be a very exhausting and painful experience," Celestia admitted, sadness and regret prevalent in her voice, unable to look into her student’s tiny eyes.
"Please do not worry, Princess, I am ready to handle anything you ask of me!" Twilight replied cheerfully to her mentor, as much as Twilight was worried of failing her mentor expectation, she was not afraid to push herself to her own limits.
"Your task my faithful student will be to levitate the 600 kilogram boulder, and than keep it in the air as long as you can. To make this exam harder, I will feed my magic into you to refill your reserves, making this a test purely of willpower," Celestia informed Twilight about the rules of her challenge, her voice now professional but still encouraging.
"You will need to endure a lot of pain, but I trust you, my faithful student, that you will not drop this boulder without doing your best," Celestia continued with trust and expectation in her voice.
"Of course! I will not release it without doing my best, it would be cheating.” Twilight stated as she stood on her two hind legs, putting one of her tiny forehooves across her heart, while other in the air, her eyes closed, ”I swear as your little faithful student, that I will not drop this boulder, as long as there is even the tiniest bit of strength inside me!" Twilight promised with pride in her voice, knowing well that by cheating during training or exam, all she would do is to lie to herself.
"You can start whenever you are ready," Celestia spoke as she stepped back, not wanting to break her student’s concentration.
***
After minutes of mental preparation, Twilight focused her magic into her horn, Celestia watching from a distance. Slowly but steadily, the 600 kilogram boulder was levitated off the ground. Even after Twilight absorbed the effect of my protection spell, I still find it impossible that she reached that level of raw power, not only learning how to control it, but also develop it further with demanding training, Celestia thought proudly. Twilight’s huge magic potential was not the only reason she was so proud, What is even more spectacular, is Twilight’s physical strength. While earth ponies’ inner magic increase their strength and endurance, aside from enhancing food to grow faster and more bountiful, increasing their stamina to work very long and hard. Unicorns’ muscles and bones are designed to improve their magical throughput, so they can cast more powerful spells and use magic more efficiently. As a result, their endurance and physical strength is much weaker in comparison.
Celestia was thinking about Twilight physical strength, as she observed her student from five meters’ distance, noticing that she struggled under the boulder’s heavy pressure, The levitation spell naturally occurs for every unicorn, no matter what their special talent may be. It is their magical muscle, and since most unicorns don’t levitate too much weight, they can hardly feel any pressure, but in your case, Twilight, it is much different.
“Come on, Twilight, don’t give up!” Twilight growled as she gritted her teeth in determination. She tried to keep a steady flow of her magic into her horn. Nearing the two minute mark, keeping boulder in the air as feeling pressure on her body was making her task harder. Twilight’s tiny hooves trembled as she did her best to keep standing upright, sweat falling from her head like water from a fountain.
Celestia cast a scanning spell, to check on Twilight’s magical reserves. As she expected, most of it was already depleted. To prevent the test from totally depleting the unicorn’s dry, Celestia walked quietly towards her student and lied on the ground as she lowered her horn carefully, and once it was several centimeters above Twilight's horn, she send a tiny bit of her magic to her student, refilling her exhausting reserves. Twilight slowly opened her eyes as she noticed the magic transfer, but she quickly closed them to focus on task at hoof.
As Celestia was done with magic transfer, she sent a wave of healing magic through her, to heal a little bit of the damage that Twilight’s body already received from the pressure alone. Once the test will be over, your body will need to heal naturally, but for the sake of the exam it should be enough to keep you from surrendering too easily.
***
As a bit of the pain in Twilight’s body was expunged, her resolve increased. My mentor shared her magic with me, she trusts me, she expects me to do my best, and I am not going to fail her!, Twilight thought as she tried to ignore her growing pain and exhaustion, even with Celestia’s magic and healing spell assistance, her body was slowly getting tired.
Twenty five minutes passed, and Twilight’s willpower started to wane. Despite being refueled with her mentor’s magic, and being healed over and over, her body was slowly reaching its limits. As Celestia watched her student struggle in pain and exhaustion she thought, Poor Twilight. Any other unicorn would have given up a long time ago from the pain alone, but you are fighting it with all your might. You are willing to endure such pain for me, I wish you would be as committed to your own happiness.
So far, not a single magic surge, but I need to be one hundred percent sure. Please, forgive me Twilight, but I will need to push you a bit further.
As Twilight was still doing her best to keep the rock steady, Celestia started to transfer another portion of her magic into her student. However, instead of fuelling Twilight's reserves, she sent her more than her body could store, making Twilight’s magic far stronger, at the cost of the same magic becoming more dangerous and harder to control.
I know it will hurt, but if you manage to use more magic than you have without losing control, I will be sure that you are ready, Celestia thought as Twilight’s magic was already pushing past one hundred fifty percent of her limits. Now, it’s time for the final push. Celestia teleported herself on the boulder hovering in mid-air, and the moment she was standing on it, her gaze focused on her student.
***
“Sssso h-h-heavy, but I h-h-have to endure, for m-my-myself, for C-Celestia,” Twilight told herself courageously. She felt increasing pain and pressure, as if the boulder she was levitating suddenly became more heavy for some reason. Princess Celestia probably levitated a 300 or 400 hundred kilogram boulder on top of the one I’m levitating, to increase the difficulty of my test, she thought, but decided to soldier on, after all she made a promise to give her all, and she was going to keep to it. Furthermore, she could feel her magic getting stronger than before.
The problem however started when Twilight felt pain in her hooves. Despite her best efforts to keep her trembling legs working, after ten seconds she fell, now lying on the grass and dirt while her body was pinned by thirty-six kilograms of pressure, yet her horn still working.
“I c-cannot withstand s-so much p-pressure... why I even t-thought it was a g-good idea to stand in the f-first p-place... as if the t-task was not h-hard enough already,” Twilight ruefully admitted to herself, as the pressure pinned her body to the ground.
After one minute of fighting the steadily increasing pain in her horn, and despite her best efforts to stay awake, Twilight lost consciousness. A few seconds later, the boulder with Celestia standing on it crashed down onto the grass, two meters away from tiny unicorn.
Celestia jumped from the boulder and bounded towards Twilight, lowering herself to get better view of her student. She knew that after using healing spells so many times on Twilight during the exam, they would no longer be effective. Instead, she cast a scanning spell.
I hope that I didn’t push you too hard, Twilight. You have become very tough in past years, but even you have your limits.
The scanning spell showed several injuries on Twilight body, the worst being her sore hooves from resisting heavy pressure, and her tiny horn from channeling too much magic. Her other body parts were also injured slightly from the pressure itself, but nothing serious. She sighed relievedly as her fears for her student’s well being vanished. It seems that it is nothing that a doctor’s assistance cannot fix. What a relief.
I waited so long for this moment. You can finally return to your original size, no longer forced to work yourself to your limits, no longer living in fear of being crushed. But... as much as I would love to reverse the shrinking spell now, I cannot with you in your current condition, Celestia thought, feeling happiness and disappointment at the same time.
Celestia slowly levitated her student onto her back, and conjured several magic ropes to keep her student safe from falling off, and teleported to the castle’s medical wing.
Several hours passed as Celestia delivered Twilight to the castle’s medical wing, as it was a place destined to treat royalty, nobility and even guards around the castle.
Celestia herself, as a powerful alicorn ruling her kingdom peacefully for so long, had not needed medical assistance in hundreds of years. The last time she was required use its facilities was when she tried to negotiate with Dragons or Griffins, or when she stopped monsters and demons from escaping from Tartarus where her power and endurance was put to a test. Other than that, most of the smaller threats were solved by her guards.
I must say, it has been a very long time since I had cause to use the facilities in this place myself, and as much as I am glad that the past couple centuries were peaceful, it was far too peaceful. After all, this world is full of powerful artifacts, demons and monsters. I feel as if it’s just a long silence before a powerful storm, Celestia thought outside of the room where her student was undergoing medical attention from her best doctors.
Usually, the doctors did not find Twilight’s wounds as anything what cannot be healed with a night’s rest, but after today exercise, one of the doctors politely advised Celestia not to push her student that far in her training, I am more than sure that the only reason the doctors didn’t yell at me for being so reckless with my student was because of me being a ruler of Equestria. I must agree with them, though. I still remember how careful I was when I took Twilight as my student. Over the years, I not only even started to neglect taking proper precautions with her, but I even started to push Twilight in her training, giving her tasks that could easily be dangerous, considering her size, Celestia thought, feeling guilt and remorse for the test’s harshness.
"No matter, your trying times are coming to an end very soon, my faithful little student. Once your health improves, I will return you to your proper size, and everypony will see you as equal. You will be able to meet and spend time with ponies of your age, your magic training and studies won’t be nearly as dangerous or trying as they were before," Celestia mused aloud to herself as doctor approached her.
"Your majesty," stated one of unicorn doctors who just moment ago emerged from room where Twilight Sparkle was being treated, he made a small formal bow.
"Speak," Celestia replied calmly, not wasting time with formalities.
"Miss Sparkle received far more damage than she usually does, luckily, her body’s healing abilities have improved during her studies. While she doesn’t recover as fast as earth pony, for a unicorn, she is quite tough," the doctor lectured as he explained princess her student health status in professional tone.
"We had to use a very strong healing spell on her, considering that the weaker ones were rendered ineffective," continued doctor as Celestia shake her head in understanding.
"She is stable, and slowly recovering. Though her bones fractured in several locations, they did not break. I assume that it is thanks to the protection spell you cast on your student?" the doctor asked, as he captured Celestia attention.
I stopped casting protective spell once her body absorbed its effect, Celestia thought as she listened the doctor’s diagnosis.
"Her body was refueled with magic several times, at some point it even exceed her body’s capability. I assume that you shared your magic with her, princess?" the doctor inquired, as Celestia nodded in affirmation.
"I see... considering her condition, she should sleep at least two days, until she makes a full recovery, she really pushed herself today," stated the doctor as Celestia felt a bit of sadness, but keep it hidden under her emotionless mask.
"I understand, I will inform her family, Spike and her foalsitter that she is currently being treated. Are they able to visit her?" Celestia asked firmly.
"Just visit, yes, but nothing more, Twilight needs two days of undisturbed rest to fully recover from her training-" the doctor explained as Celestia nodded her head again. He continued, "-also, with all due respect... I would like to advise you to make your student’s training less strenuous for the near future."
Celestia did not break her eye contact with the doctor, which made him a bit nervous. She knew that as with every doctor, he wanted to keep his patients from continuously hurting themselves. "I don’t think it will be an issue any longer, now that I know that my student is capable to control her magic, even under tough circumstances. Once she wakes and heals up, I will return her to her proper size.” Celestia replied with authority in her voice, breaking from her neutral expression into a big grin.
"That’s... very good to hear, your majesty. I will inform her about it once she feels strong enough to talk, and of course I will send someone to inform you as well, though I would not want to disturb you from your duties," replied the doctor relievedly, a bit hesitant in talk toward his ruler.
"Please, do not hesitate to inform me the moment Twilight is in better condition, I will gladly postpone my duties to visit her," Celestia added as she turned around and made few steps towards the exit. "I must be on my way, please take good care of her."
The doctor just nodded his head in agreement and made a half-bow to Celestia, leaving to attend her duties. There is some extra work I have been meaning to do... I may as well get it out of the way while Twilight recovers, so that I will have more free time to spend with her when she gets better. Celestia thought as she kept walking towards her throne room. Since Twilight will no longer be vulnerable, I can inform the nobles that they can arrange meetings with her. I have given them my word, after all, and since Blueblood met my conditions during his meeting with Twilight, I will have to let her attend public appearances.
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twilight for OP
This updated?
Woohoo!
Sun Butt.... You realize when the nature of this 'Final Exam', and the fact it injured Twilight, is made known to her family, you're liable to be slightly confused. See, the treatment you're going to get from them is going to make you think you're in one of the 'Non-brony verse' stories with TD. ...But I'm sure the black-eye will heal in time. XD
And then Twilight says "I like being tiny" and freaks everyone out.
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She would live thru all of them at once. Four punches at once!
3265306
Heh. Yeah. Or she returns to her normal size and subsequently destroys part of that castle trying to open a door. That'd be... unfortunate.
i still love how. in this world. blueblood is still a dick. but he is not at the same time. i hope to hear more from him :P its good to see him not be the villain one a change.
It's funny, how you have Celestia recall the doctors asking her politely not to do it again, and then you put in an entire scene with a doctor politely asking Celestia not do it again.
3265682
Do not underestimate the doctors, they can be stubborn and repetitive to make sure that their patient will get the 'stop hurting yourself' into his head.
In this case, both Celestia and Twilight is on their 'stop doing that' list.
3265863
You know you can reply to several people in one longer comment, right?
Not that I have something against it, but it's kind of strange to see so many short comments one after another.
And yeah, that's the doctors for you!
Though I noticed in general that you tend to repeat the same information over and over again.
Like this:
I remembered that instantly from one of the previous chapters. And the last time I read anything of this story was when you updated last time. That's an issue. This kind of repetition can only annoy readers. We know that, we read that in a previous chapters.
I understand that Celestia repeats herself, it's quite normal. But she reflects on Twi in almost every chapter where we see her perspective and it starts to get tedious to reread again how proud Tia is of her student. We know, we've been in her head numerous times when she considered that.
Sorry for that little rant, I'm trying to pinpoint an issue and I fail to do it properly. It is a difficult subject to approach.
And I'm repeating myself... oh, how delightful...
Anyhow, the fic is going great! I assume we are getting to the end? Is the plan to stop this fic upon Ponyville and continue the story in a new one? Or one big story?
Keep up the good work!
Just a thing i noticed.
Than. 'more than prepared'
if I should feel
honored
__________________________________
least
makes a
__________________________________
needs
___________________
Awesome chapter. I'm glad with how well this story has progressed. You've done a good job on this story, keep up the good work.
Twilight more physically strong than any unicorn?
Could not be the result of the protection spell being absorbed alone?
Do I sense foreshadowing?
Woooo! Looks like Twi's in the clear.
Good chapter, though honestly, I was surprised that she overcame the magic surges, and will be returning to normal size. I thought she was going to remain tiny during and after the events of Nightmare Moon's return?
The notes at the very end mentioned the lack of time editing.
Indeed, college is sucking up all of my time and more often than not, I'm not in the state of mind to edit this when I actually do have free time. I'm still not sure when I'm going to get the time to begin editing properly, so I apologize if this story is coming out much slower than others.
And now I have to go study for the O. Chem exam. Oh joy.
3266393
My O.Chem exam was this Thursday. I think I did ok.
3266029
Actually, "honoured" is a British English spelling. Perfectly valid.
3266031
I think she just works out; maybe even lifts.
Ok, so she lifted.......a 900-1000 kilogram weight?
How big is the average unicorn? I suppose that a very rough estimate of her full power would be that amount multiplied by the average weight of a unicorn (In kilograms, of course.)
..Or, in other words....
She is the Captain America of unicorns.
3267070
Ah! Well I learned something new, thank you for that.
Okay, that was nice. There are several minor errors though. There are a few instances where you used "took" instead of "take". Along with a few other problems. Mostly words that are either in the wrong tense or not in the plural form they should be. I suggest reading over your story again to find these. or asking your editors to.
ITS THE FINAL EXAAAAAM [De-de-der derrr, de-de-de- de- derrr] ITS THE FINAL EXAAAM!! OOOOOOOOOOOH! ITS THE FINAL EXAAAM!!!
Get the reference?
Kinda want to see tiny twilight meet friends and fight Night Mare Moon. Also, wouldn't being that small for that long cause problems if she were to suddenly be big again?
3265953
My editor warned me about the repetition issue, however when I organized vote I just choose version what most people vote on, so sorry if you didn't like it and I can only hope that it didn't annoyed more people (enter the link and check vote if you do not believe me ).
Oh, we are not getting to the end just yet, trust me, there is still a lot to happen. As for your next question, I plan to stop this story when time of Nightmare Moon return will come, and start Twilight going to Ponyville as a sequel, and here is a good news. My pre-reader told me that sequel even at stage where it was not edited, is far more enjoyable then this story after editing, so I can assure you, there is much to look forward too.
The problem is that, my sequel have already over 24 chapters while my editors are low on time, that is why I need my editors to give up a bit of quality for more quantity to get to the sequel faster.
I am not used to do it, but I will try this time, just for you.
3266004 3266029
Thanks for pointing out mistakes, I will fix them right away. Also, it just prove what happen when I try to update faster without giving my editors enough time to fix all mistakes, however I really want to get to the epic sequel as fast as possible without cutting off any chapter I already wrote, so I hope you all can forgive mistake or two.
3266031
I wont answer your question to not spoil anything, maybe you are right, maybe wrong, you will need to find out as the story update.
3266380
Maybe she will stay tiny, maybe not, you will need to read it to find out, and trust me, from now on, everything will start to become very unpredictable.
3266393
That is why I asked you over and over and I will ask you again, focus on your guards and do minor editing, instead of rewriting anything, while I will search for additional editing assistance. Sequel already have 25 chapters, and if you cannot find time to edit my story as you used too, at least focus on part what you like the most, your guards.
3267070
Oh, she lifts, she lifts more then any other unicorn would even bother to. Didn't you read how Twilight mention about her trusty check-list, right now her schedule is: Train magic raw power, when low on raw power, excessive, when low on stamina, go back to training raw power, and then excessive again, when low on stamina and magic, take a break and read books and study, late at night rest, and next day do all over again.
You cannot underestimate Twilight organizing skills, she will make a great athlete if she just put her check-list into it.
3267091
Well, I set up those rules for my fanfic:
Average filly 15-25 kg.
Teenage mare/colt 25-60 kg.
Grown up mare 60-110 kg ( mane 6 members are around 100 kg ).
Grown up stallions 60-200 kg ( Blueblood is a bit fat, so he gets 210, probably ).
Alicorns 15 - 400 kg ( up to how old they are or how much magic they posses, Luna was almost like a teenage mare after she got struck with elements, but almost as high as Celestia on Nightmare Night ).
Twilight size is 1/100, so she weight around 1 kg, give or take ( her protection spell double her strength, endurance and magic, so she have 1/50 raw power and physical strength she would normally have ).
Now, in the show, Twilight walk wtih TOM on her back in Discord episode, TOM weight is in my estimation 1.5 TON, so 15 times above Twilight's weight.
Now Twilight from the show being shrunk and given protection spell, would be able to walk with 30 kg weight on her body, despite being 1kg heavy are mare.
When Twilight levitate Ursa Minor and giant bottle of milk, I assumed that their combined weight is 40 tons ( 400 times Twilight's weight ), so Twilight from the show shrunk and under protection spell can levitate 800 kg.
So what I did is basically let Twilight do what she can already do in the show, however because of her more harsh regiment as tiny mare, she gets even stronger, especially in her physical part. However I can assure you, Twilight in my story is as close to Twilight in the show as it can be, just a bit stronger and far smaller.
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When my editors will find some time, they can fix it, I can only hope it is not a big issue.
3267501
Not really, sorry.
3267864
Yes, it would, as Twilight is quite used to her new environment.
3267501 How could someone dislike this? Is it considered spam or what?
3268130 The Final Countdown - Europe
Migod this was a good chapter... MOOOOAR! At least give us a chapter with Twiny's reaction to her final grade.
3268699
Final Countdown... how long it has been since I listen to this song, now I get it.
3268845
Be patient my padavan, this is part where thinks start to get complicated.
3268130
Meh, it's fine. It is a testament to the fact that I love this story. I mean, if I can remember one small note from four chapters away and after such a time then that means I like it!
Gee, multiple answers just for me... I feel honoured.
You know that the question whether Twi lifts was a joke, right?
Sequel is in the works? Great!
Keep up the good work!
3268130
It's alright, we'll understand if you have to wait for your editors, but are excited about getting to the epic sequel right away. But it's better to have it out looking nice and neat than rushing it out
.
I'm excited to see what you write next in this series
.
3265367 "Why do I keep getting HOOFED IN DA FACE?!?" D:
3269606 Oh god.. I will wait then :3
3278191 Mini Twilight is fab fab tho
Looks good so far. A bit sad Tiny Twi is going to grow up properly, but hey, it had to happen eventually.
And damn, she's tough and in more ways than one. I would have failed that test, no joke.
...That strength of both will and body will serve her well in the future. And now I have a mental image of Twilight wrestling Chrysalis to the ground and immobilizing her with the pony version of a wrestling submission hold and Chryssy loudly screeching in indignity about it all and wondering how the heck a unicorn, supposedly a physical weakling, can hold her, who is almost twice the size of every pony there is.
(giants like Big Mac and Celestia do not count, they're freaks of nature, lol)
Keep up the good work!
This chapter has been out long enough for this to have been fixed.
3290265
Would you point out where are mistakes what need to be fixed and I will do it.
3291304
Needs to be revised.
Needs to be revised.
Needs to be revised. Think, why would Celestia just randomly belt out her secret plans to some doctor?
Small revision needed.
This part is particularly hard to understand,
3291431
In Twilight case, medical assistance was necessary 24/24, she have many doctors from royal hospital who are fully loyal to her and can keep quiet in her plans, they know what is going on.
Thanks to this, whenever Twilight's parents ask doctors do Twilight hurt herself, they keep those informations as secret from them, or assure them that there is nothing to worry about ( something what Twilight and Shining Armor do not tell their parents in worry that they would try to take Twilight away from training her magic.
As for the rest mistakes, we will see what we can do.
3291431
Fixed, how is now ?
3291536
The revised part
While Twilight recovers for two days, I’ve got some free time after I raise the sun and lower the moon. I will need to use this time in the future for my other duties. That way, I can spend more time with Twilight
still confuses me. A breakdown of what's clear and what's not:
* Celestia has some free time after she moves the celestial bodies
* She would not have this free time once Twilight recovers? (strongly implied, but ambiguous. I suspect you did not intend to imply this.)
* a) This time would normally be spent with Twilight, but during her recovery that will not be possible? (ambiguous whether the time is acquired as a consequence of Twilight's need to recover, or these two propositions are unconnected logically. The statements following this one implies that these propositions are -un-connected logically, in which case the While X, Y structure is the source of the problem), or
* b) Previously, she would use this time to rest or relax herself; she plans to sacrifice this for time with Twilight. (This seems like the correct conclusion, but it took me writing out this breakdown to realize that was your intent)
3301586
How about this, does it work ?
3302308
Aha! Now I understand! Yes, that's clear.
I suggest changing
"I can as well get it out of the way"
to either
"I may as well get it out of the way"
or simply
"I can get it out of the way"
(This is simply about using idiomatic English; as a native English speaker "I can as well" reads awkwardly. Also, I noticed you wrote "while Twilight recover" -- "recovers" is appropriate in that context.)
3265834 No seriously, she's so, so incredibly op... But then again, probably not just her, but to an extent the whole ponykind, even disregarding their leadership. Humans have no place in a world like this. Or gotta bring really, really big toys, and play really, really smart and safe. Headbutt would squish them, in any sense of the phrase.
One question though. Is Twilight tiny for good? Or is that about to change?
3317468
Keep in mind, Eqeustria is a place where a group of stalions were able to pull entire train for hours on rather high speed. Big Mac under love potion could pull entire house ( 20 tons ), Twilight levitate Ursa Minor and giant bottle of milk ( I do give it 40-50 tons ) and just like Rarity, she walked with 1.5 tons TOM on her back.
In case of durability, Twilight survived Pinkie Keep episode, Rainbow Dash crashed into solid rock many times. And in Dragonshy episode, Dragon pushed them into a rock, and while rock cracked, mane 6 seemed hardly even injuries.
In terms of fire power, Twilight horn can shot powerful beams what made holes in stone walls ( a walking RPG anti-tank weapon ) or she could act like heavy Gatling gun.
In Death Battle, Rainbow Dash defeated Star Scream ( sure, it was a pathetic old verion of deception, but it was still an achievement ).
Long story short, ponies having high affinity to magic can use it to become stronger and more tough, and that is what Twilight is doing, to survive being to tiny, her body have to adapt to harsh environment.
If you compare Equestria to real world:
a) 1 F16 would have a run for his money against 10 pegasi royal guards.
b) Armored tank would face 5 unicorn guards on equal ground.
c) Earth Pony guard can fight against around 25 well trained and equipped soldiers.
d) No clue how fight between Celestia and a battleship would go, but it should would be a long battle ( hard to hit something so small with huge calibre guns ).
e) Humans military outnumber ponies 1000 to 1 ( Equestria seems like a place with 1000-10000 ponies each town, they are very powerful, but rather low on number, after all, changeling invasion force was around 10000, and they took over Canterlot, a capital of Equestria where most of military power is being held ).
That is something you will need to find out. Next chapter is coming out in exactly 7 days.
Also, since I asked one editor to edit chapter 10, while second one to edit chapter 11 and 12, I hope to upload 3 chapters day after day to not leave peoples on cliffhanger for to long, but it is all up to how much time Georg will have.
3318230 It's... Not like that. It's not numbers that matter. It's what you do about them. Your comparison is the example of headbutting :3 Going badly for humans. Not at all what I had in mind when I was typing that, but that's... Definitely not here.
Okay, I suppose. Even if I do think working with pre-readers like that will get you to 0 chapters in a long, long while :D