The First Test
The First Test
"Come on, Twilight! You're going to love this!"
"Dash, you still haven't told me what it is you want me to see."
"Trust me! Treat this as payment for something you did for me awhile back."
Twilight stopped suddenly, her eyes narrowing. "Payment? Are you pranking me or something? Oh, I knew this wasn't just an innocent little gift. You're probably teaming up with someone. Pinkie Pie! I know you're there!"
Rainbow Dash, who had been flying at a pace similar to that which a pegasus would use to not completely lose a rather slow unicorn in the dust, stopped as well. "No, no, no, of course not, I'm not trying to prank you, Twilight, this is honestly something that I want to show you!"
"Give me one reason why I should believe you, Rainbow. Last week you replaced my feather pen with a phoenix feather. You burned my letter to Celestia!" Twilight said, skepticism embedded in her tone.
"Er..." Rainbow thought for a moment. "Because... trusting your friends is a huge part of the magic of friendship...or something?" Rainbow Dash smiled, her ears folding down the side of her head and her eyes staring right into Twilight's.
"Ugh, fine. But I swear, if this is some sort of a joke, I'm turning your wings into chicken wings for a week."
"Deal!" Dash shouted, before shooting off again, flying towards the town square. "Just follow me!" she yelled, leaving Twilight about half a mile behind her before the purple unicorn even knew what had happened.
"Pinkie Pie should stop giving Rainbow free coffee from Sugarcube Corner...she is way too hyper." Twilight sighed and jogged off towards her hyperactive friend.
After two minutes of Twilight slowly making her way towards town square (with Rainbow Dash impatiently tapping her hooves all the while), Twilight finally made it to where Rainbow Dash was standing, a bulletin-board.
Upon arrival, Twilight was nearly sweating. "Okay, Rainbow, what is it you wanted me to see?"
Rainbow Dash smiled. "This! Behold, the perfect sport for an Egghead like you!" She made a large gesture with both her wings and hooves towards a small scroll pinned up to the bulletin-board.
Ponyville Dueling Club
Think you're a talented unicorn with the will to out-duel others with the same ambition? Are you willing to push your mental power to its limits? Do you have the skill to weave your magic perfectly to counter the spells of your opponent?
If you're up to the task, join the Ponyville Dueling Club!
First session begins at 9 AM sharp on the 14th. Meet at the lake behind Town Hall.
Come prepared.
"So, what do you think? Wanna shoot magic lasers or whatever type of combaty-magickey stuff you unicorns can do?"
"Um... I... don't know" Twilight replied, stammering slightly.
Rainbow Dash groaned. "But why not?"
"Well..." Twilight drew a circle in the dirt. "I don't mean to be arrogant, or overconfident, but I'm afraid I might hurt somepony."
Rainbow face-hoofed. "Twilight, it's a dueling club. You're meant to try to hurt each other."
"But I don't want to hurt anypony!"
"If you do, it won't be any sort of serious injury. Look, on the bottom of the flyer it says 'No spells higher class than three'. Does that mean it's safer or something?"
"Well...sort of. Class three spells are things like basic water or air based magic, plus things like levitation and other non-deadly spells. You can still possibly hurt someone with them!"
"But is there less of a chance?" Rainbow Dash cocked her head.
"Technically speaking, yes, but—" she couldn't finish her sentence.
"Then sign up! Please, Twilight? You made me love something that you love, so I want to return the favor and be able to relate to you more as a friend. Please?" Rainbow Dash was bending down, looking up at Twilight with the saddest, most adorable expression she could possibly muster without vomiting.
"...Okay, fine. I'll sign up. But if I don't like it, I'm quitting." Twilight said, staring down at Rainbow Dash.
"Yes!" Rainbow Dash jumped up into the sky and did a backflip.
"I don't have a pen... how am I supposed to si-"
"Here you go!" Rainbow Dash produced a feather pen, already dipped in ink, and held it out to Twilight.
"You knew I would agree, didn't you?"
"Fluttershy taught me how to beg. Was I good?" Rainbow Dash had a huge grin on her face.
"Ugh. Fluttershy has to know when not to give ponies things they may misuse" Twilight said under her breath.
The next day was sunny and Rainbow Dash was outside of Twilight's door a full two hours before her first session was meant to begin.
"Twilight! Are you up?" she yelled, excitement filling her voice.
After a brief pause, Twilight opened the door. "Rainbow...what are you doing here? I'm not due at the lake for another two hours."
"Well, yeah, but don't you want to talk strategy? I thought we could get some breakfast at Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie gets me this great deal for free coffee and I'm sure she'd give it to you as well..."
"Wait... strategy? What do you mean, 'strategy'?" Twilight asked.
Rainbow Dash stared at the purple mare as if she were insane, her left eyebrow raised in question. "Twilight... you never thought about what kind of spells you would use? How you would counter other spells?"
"We signed up yesterday and I didn't have much time to think. And even if I did, what exactly am I supposed to strategize about when I haven't even been to one session yet? It's not like it's a tournament or anything..."
Rainbow Dash smiled. "Don't worry Twilight, I'll help you."
"You don't know anything about magic, Rainbow." Twilight replied, blinking.
"No, but you can teach me. At Sugarcube Corner. Now?"
Twilight sighed. "Fine." She stuck her head into the library. "Spike! I'm going out to Sugarcube Corner. Do you want anything?"
"Not now Twilight, we're doing a raid..." Spike replied, dazily.
Spike's addiction to his new game, Land of Lovecraft, was completely obvious by his messy scales and empty cups of tea.
"Are you sure? They have those sapphire snickerdoodles that you like!"
Suddenly, Spike's head appeared out from an open doorway complete with a headset. "Okay, fine, get me six of the snickerdoodles, please? Thanks." Just as quickly as he had appeared, he melted back into his room. "Alright, I'm back guys. Can someone buff up our Pegasus? Does the Medic have mana?"
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Alright, let's go.
.............................................................
"No, Rainbow Dash, class three magic does not include turning their horns into licorice."
"Are you saying it wouldn't be a good way to fight?"
"No, I'm sure it would work, but that's transmutation, which is class four magic."
"Ah, that's a shame." Rainbow Dash drained the rest of her super-sweetened black coffee, which had been her third cup that morning. Twilight, however, had only just finished her first cup.
"You know, if your heart hadn't already taken the stress of a Sonic Rainboom multiple times, you would probably be dead right now" She joked.
"Heh. Funny." Rainbow Dash looked over to where Pinkie was icing a cupcake. "Pinkie, can I have another cup?"
"Uh... Dashie... Mr. and Mrs. Cake say that if you want any more coffee, ever, you're going to have to pay for it." Pinkie sighed. "I told them they were being party poopers, but they wouldn't listen. Sorry."
"It's fine. Half of what I normally drink should keep me running. Hey, you wanna come with us?" Rainbow asked, suddenly perking up a bit more.
"Where are you going? I like to go places. Are you going swimming? Or skydiving?" she replied, leaving her work mode and ascending into pinkie mode.
"No, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash made me sign up for this unicorn-dueling club, and today is my first session. Didn't you hear us talking about magic?"
"Of course, I heard you. I didn't know what it was for. Maybe you were turning Dashie into an alicorn?"
"You can't just make anypony into an alicorn, Pinkie. When outlined on a punnett square, the only possible way for an alicorn to be born is—"
"Twi, please don't talk like that when we're at the dueling club. Even if these people are smart like you, they still think like athletes" Rainbow interrupted.
Twilight narrowed her eyes.
"So, how about it Pinkie? Wanna come watch Twilight shoot lasers?"
"I don't know how to shoot las—"
"Sure, Dashie! Lemme just go tell the Cakes that I'm going on break. Should I pack us some lunch? Or is it still breakfast? Pickles." Pinkie narrowed her eyes, concentrating on the difference between various meals. After deciding that brunch would be the best option, she walked off.
"I hope she brings something caffeinated..." Rainbow Dash said, sadly eyeing her empty cup of coffee.
After Pinkie finished packing her not-exactly-brunch-but-sort-of meal, the three mares headed off towards the lake. Twilight was racking her brain for any type of combat spell that she knew. She didn't know many as most of her stuff was pure utility. Most of the combat magic that she did know was due to the Element of Magic, which was class ten magic, and wouldn't help her much.
Crowded around the lake were around twenty or so unicorns. Most of them were ponies that Twilight had never met before, but one familiar green mare caught her eye.
"Hi, Lyra! I didn't know you were any good at magic."
"Oh, hi Twilight. Yeah, Bonbon said I should sign up for this. I guess I can do a bit of magic, but you can definitely do more."
"Oh, don't be silly. I'm not that good with magic"
"Are you kidding? Twilight is going to wipe the floor with all of you!" Rainbow Dash said with her voice tingling with pride.
"Rainbow!" Twilight's face was bright red.
Lyra glared at Rainbow Dash. "I'll see you later, Twilight..."
"Rainbow, what the hay is your problem. You know I hate boasting."
"Oh, calm down Twilight. It's just a little bit of friendly trash-talk. Competitive stuff." Pinkie cooed, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "Do you want to hear a song about it?"
"Oh I don't think that will be nec—"
"Fiillies and gentlecolts!" a loud, deep voice boomed across the lake. "I want all of you in a circle facing northwest at exactly 84.49 degrees!"
Murmurs rippled through the crowd. "But that's not fair!" one pony yelled.
"Yeah! We didn't know we were supposed to know any math!" another agreed.
"Twilight, I'm sorry, I didn't think you would have to be prepared for something like this..." Rainbow explained while staring at the ground with guilt.
"Why are you smiling, Twilight? Did Rainbow spike your coffee?" Pinkie asked in an attempt to cause laughter.
While she didn't laugh, a smile did appear on her lips. Although it was for a different reason. "No, but I wouldn't expect any less of her. I'm smiling because I know how to solve this."
"How?!" Pinkie and Rainbow Dash spoke in unison.
"Just you watch." Her two companions looked skeptical, but didn't say another word. Using a proportions spell, Twilight drew a perfect circle in the dirt, and stood in the center.
"Done."
Both ponies were staring at the circle with the expectation of something extraordinary. But, confusingly, the circle was just a circle.
"Twilight... what exactly did you do?"
Twilight answered her pink friend with a smile.
After a few minutes, the voice spoke again. "Alright! Anyone who has not managed to complete the task, please step to the right of the line!". Nopony could see a line. In fact, nopony could see whoever was talking!
"What line?" a few ponies yelled. As if on command, navy blue fire tore through the soil, burning a dark line.
"That one!" the voice boomed. Little more than half the ponies moved to the other side of the line. One pony in particular remained on Twilight's side, and she caught the lavender mare's eye immediately.
"Trixie..." she huffed. The last time she dealt with Trixie, she had been surrounded with an air of over confidence, but now... she was different. Her arrogance was still evident, but her confidence somehow appeared to be... deadlier.
The blue unicorn's horn was glowing, and her head was being held in place towards a particular direction, assumed to be 84.49 degrees north-west.
"Ready or not, here I come." Suddenly, the water swirled, and a gush of it poured onto the land. After a second of no movement, it gushed in mid air, filling up an invisible mold in the shape of a unicorn. Once the spell was completed, he was bone dry, and even fully clothed in light blue robes to contrast with his navy blue body. The source of the voice had finally appeared.
"Hello, everypony. My name is Archmage Cobalt Star. You may call me Archmage, or the Archmage. If any of you call me Cobalt, or Star, or ArchC, or anything that you foals are saying nowadays, I'll shapeshift your horns into licorice."
"I told you it was a good idea" Rainbow Dash whispered to Twilight.
"Shh!" she retorted.
"Now, the unicorns on the side that I am standing on are the ones who at least tried to pass this test, and are therefore much better then the rest of you, and I prefer them. Those of you on the other side, feel free, no, feel encouraged to despise the ponies on my side" the Archmage said, bowing towards the unicorns he 'preferred'.
"Alright, preferred-ponies, let's see how you did." The Archemage's tone was like chloroform: sickly sweet and intoxicating, one pony can only take so much of it before they are lost in its web of numb shadows.
The Archmage waltzed through the small group of eight or so ponies, all standing perfectly still, trying to point in the proper direction. All but Twilight. Trixie, Lyra, and two ponies that Twilight didn't recognize passed and the four others failed. At last, the Archmage approached Twilight.
"What is your name, unicorn?" he asked.
"Twilight Sparkle, Archmage."
"Well, Ms. Sparkle. Please tell me how in the name of Celestia you are pointing in the correct direction, when you are facing a completely random direction in comparison to the other ponies who passed?" he asked, his voice still threatening yet seductive.
"Alright, Archmage. May I write on the ground the instructions that you gave us?"
"You may" he said with an eyebrow raised.
Twilight concentrated for a moment, and manipluated the dirt via magic, spelling out the instructions.
"Are these correct? 'I want all of you in a circle facing northwest at exactly 84.49 degrees."
The Archemage looked down at the dirt drawing for a moment, not even humoring Twilight with a closer examination, and simply said "Obviously."
"Then I did your task correctly" she said confidently.
"Oh, did you now?" he replied, voice growing in volume. "Well then, Twilight Sparkle, can you tell us exactly why you think I should pass you?"
"You didn't have a comma after circle."
"...Excuse me?" The Archemage's voice had completely lost any threatening tone, and was now laced with confusion.
"You said that, as I had written it down, your command was correct, yes?"
The Archemage nodded, his eyes narrowing.
"Well you did not have a comma after the word 'circle'. Because of basic grammar laws that I am sure someone of your intelligence understands instead of your task meaning that WE need to face 84.49 degrees north-west, the CIRCLE needs to face that direction. Since my circle is indeed a perfect circle that I have summoned by a basic proportions spell to ensure perfection it has no side that is any more or less from another. This means that it is pointing at EVERY angle, equally. So, I am indeed, standing in a circle that is pointing at 84.49 degrees north-west." Twilight took in a breath. "Any questions?"
Stats
Page generated in 0.028 seconds
Total duration
1,010 users online
1,407,139 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Looks interesting. Tracked.
Very interesting premise. It somewhat shocks me that I haven't seen it before
Just a hint of warning, it isn't REALLY a comedy, but thats the only fitting tag, and it has some humor in it.
-Whooves
Interesting I shall track
You show promise. Keep it up!
Best. Rules lawyering. EVER.
Heh, I didn't know Twilight took instructions so literally. Who wants to bet that she defeats all of her opponents by lecturing them rather than actually using magic? Loss through boredom!
This has caught my interests so I'll be following!
Clever
There will be a grammar update on this in like twenty minutes, for anyone who noticed the mistakes. I got some help, and I hope that I won't make errors like I did again.
I see Celestia taught Twilight MORE than just magic
I've seen a large amount of "dueling" fics lately. It just so happens that I like fics like these.
959622 Magic dueling in particular? Or just combat is what you've seen.
First thing that came to mind was Moonstone Cup, which was great, even if the ending was a bit much. Duel Nature also comes to mind.
This is relevant to my interests
I shall continue to read this, for it looks like it may be interesting. I do request, however, that you pass it through Microsoft Word (or a spellchecker of similar ability) next time. There are some spelling and grammatical issues which are somewhat distracting, which is made extra-ironic when the punchline of the chapter is grammatical trickery. If you don't have MicroWord, I'd suggest literally speaking the chapter aloud. You'll hear awkward phrasings and pick out misspellings/improper usages more easily if you are listening to the words themselves, rather than filling in what you know should be there in your mind.
960381 Don't worry, consider any errors nonexistent. I have only added in the edits that a friend gave me to about half the chapter. In the future, there will be little to no errors.
960548 Actually, The Archemage rapes her out of pure anger in the second one.
The world may never know...
Land of Lovecraft! Oh, the LOLs that were had!! That was too good.
EDIT: And OMYGOSH I LOVE IT WHEN TWILIGHT GOES ALL SMART-MODE! This shows promise.
Interesting idea. I had some issues, though. I don't get RD's logic for convincing Twilight to join that club. Twilight is into reading, but RD isn't some magical duelist
That's a minor thing though. Twilight herself, however...you make her much snarkier than she ought to be. "Hi, Lyra! I didn't know you were any good at magic." Rude much? Also, her way of "passing" the test was not well justified. Twilight should be smart enough to know what he's talking about the first time. She's too humble to play things like that.
Also, the WoW reference was pretty out of place. I don't know about you, but unless Spike's game is gonna play a role in the story somehow, something that blatant really breaks the immersion. I don't know if it will or not, but I'm just putting that out there
960643 1. Yeah, the connection isn't extremely tangible, but i see it that Rainbow wants Twilight to enjoy a sport, nomatter what it is. She picked this one because Twilight likes magic, just like how Twilight gave her the Daring Do series because Daring Do is similar to Rainbow Dash.
2. Twilight isn't new to being rude to Lyra. In ep. 1 she completely ignores her. Im lying through my teeth, actually, i have no reason for twilight snarkiness. Good find.
3. Twilight hates show-offs, and she hates mean people. Cobalt Star is both. Outsmart him in front of his classmates? Pro plan. Twilight isn't above making people look bad, as seen in part one of the season 2 finale, albeit that was for the safety of her brother.
4. You think it breaks the immersion? While it is a cheesy reference, I think it adds more life to the story. While its just a small thing, it gives the story something a reader can relate to, and I think its much better then having Spike be just standing there, or sleeping.
Also, side note, this story has 42 likes upon posting of this. Becaues im a huge nerd, i'm very pleased by this number. +rep if you know why I am.
Probably not gonna happen, but I can almost see Twilight and Trixie finding common ground in hating this obnoxious douche... arrogance and failure indicates that he's likely completely worthless and will 'discretely' cheat to win, possibly only to get shot down by a basic magic bolt (Just creating semi-solid magic, the product of ALL spells come to think of it, and launching it from ones horn. Potentially takes less effort than levitation, so will possibly be classed as level 2 max). Never seen a story like this and am personally curious where it'll go. Perhaps Twilight'll make friends and/or enemies? She strikes us more as the type who is utterly oblivious to any and all ill will directed towards her so she's probably never had an enemy/rival in her life.
Ah, the life, universe and everything?
Oh snap!
:thumbsup: I'm looking forward to the next chapter! Good job so far
Trackadelic!
959108
if it's not pure comedy you should consider adding a note in the description that says just that or at least something similar. also, it feels like "slice of life" might work as a tag
964431 It was originally (before posting) listed as Comedy/Slice of Life, but then I realized it's about a magical dueling club.
Chapter Two will be out in a day or two.
I laughed so hard at Twilight's victory over Archmage's direction issues.
Twilight is such a smartass
1064766 I can respond to this in one of two ways.
1- Don't you mean she's a smartpony? She clearly is not a donkey!
2- Better to be a smartass than a dumbass.
Either way...
1065106
Smartflank, you have to go from ass to the pony equivalent.
Also, that was the coolest thing I have ever read Twilight do. Even if I had figured the instruction out as I was reading it. Grammar and Logic like a boss.
Looks interesting, I just hope you don't make Trixie look stupid. Too many fics end up doing that.
Friggin people, kissing up to the Crown via the 'personal student'...
(minor rant below)
I mean for hell's sake people! Magic is HER special talent too!
But for some reason, everyone just assumes she isn't much better than the magic version of 'walking and chewing gum'.
Anyhow, sorry about that, it looks like a good read.
Yea, I have alot of them, egghead
Anyone else think she was going to make a arrow facing 84.49 degrees in the circle and tand on the sorrow, was that just me?
Great first chapter. I am definitely going to read the other chapters.
One thing I noticed, in the last bit of the story you said 88.49 degrees twice rather than 84.49 degrees. Just thought I'd mention that.
(Does not change my mind about how good the story is though)
Archmage, you got OWNED!
1065106
That's what I always say when someone calls me that.
Twilight Sparkle...
You are entitled to this picture.
weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/kelso-burn.jpg
Seriously, that was bucking brilliant.
Twilight is owning the shit out of him. LOL
Oh god Twilight, you smarmy git. *facepalms* also sadly I suspect Dash is in character here much as it grates at the idea of her wanting a friend to sign up for something so she can relate to them more.