Cotton breathed back in and looked up from the textbook on the ground in front of her. "Did that help at all, Aqua?"
"Um, give me a minute. I think it'll help, though."
Cotton nodded and closed the magic textbook with the bookmark in place. "Alright." As Aqua faced the ground in concentration, Cotton looked upwards at the rest of the foyer. The foals and fillies were mostly in bed by now, with how late it is. It wasn't quite bedtime for them yet. Another hour, give or take.
Cotton looked at the clock on the far wall.
Yep, another hour. Cotton began stretching. It felt terrific after not moving for a while. Cotton had been reading passages aloud from one of the magical textbooks recommended by Inkwell. Cotton's focus drifted to her fetlock. She raised her right hoof and stretched it out gingerly. Still a little sore. Kind of like going on a run... It has been a long time since I went on one. Aqua had been struggling with the light spell, so she offered to help. Cotton knew Aqua didn't really find learning that fun but, despite her hyperactivity, the little filly calmed down and sat in place while Cotton read to her. It's kinda cute... Though if Cotton was reading something like an adventure book, Aqua would even stop levitating those training balls she somehow kept getting more of.
Cotton turned back to the said filly, who was still concentrating. It's... impressive how much she's improved. With how Raven describes every little detail about the magic and what is average, Cotton, at the very least, knew that Aqua was improving at her telekinesis exceedingly quickly. Hm... I wonder... Eyes having drifted off while thinking, she looked back at the filly.
The first thing Cotton noticed was that the filly was beginning to sweat, concentrating hard on her task for light. Cotton smiled. It's inspiring. Just how much effort she's putting in. It's just like how I was with cleaning when I was young. It's always cute to see that passion in these ones. She looked up at the dwindling amount of little ones still awake in the foyer. They always try their best, and all we can do is try to help them. Her smile began to droop and she deeply sighed. ...to be young...
A small flash to her left. Cotton looked and smiled. She did it! The little filly was lightly panting with a small light emitting from her horn. The light wouldn't light up a dark room enough to read, but it was a light nonetheless. Cotton watched Aqua hold the light and began to frown. I... Wait... why did Raven assign a light spell to a blind pony? Maybe just to practice? I'll ask next time. Shaking her head, Cotton focused back on the filly and her light... Only for it to cut off suddenly with a gasp.
Cotton leaned over and wrapped the filly in hooves and wings. She leaned down to whisper, "Good job... How do you feel?"
"Like ass."
Cotton snorted with a smile and pulled away, leaving her left wing on the filly's back. "Now now... Language. Buuuuut... I'll let it slide this time."
"You better," Aqua quietly said with that lopsided grin of hers.
The two sat together, in their corner for a few silent minutes in content. Cotton glanced at the clock. "Alright, young lady. I know you like staying up late, but after that workout, you're gonna be tired. It's time for bed."
Cotton turned back to the filly, only to see a snoring pile of fur. Cotton smiled and shook her head.
I wouldn’t say that having a blind person learning light magic is sadism per se, but it definitely requires a good explanation to justify.
11301014
Imagine having your talent being good at light spells and related, only to be made blind... I imagine it'd make for a depressing character. At least, they'd be the best at making flashbangs...
11301073
They’d get through with only half to one third the damage. Ears could still get blown out and depending on proximity its still an explosion.
11301082
Now, I'm not an expert on the topic but, I'd assume that the bang part of flashbang is a side-effect caused by the nature of how flashbangs work. In a time where a flashbang is needed, a deafening effect would also be beneficial, thus causing the manufacturers to increase both effects rather than one. The fact that a flashbang uses magnesium makes a loud sound inevitable.
With magic, however, the catalyst is the magic, or mana, itself. In most media, active magic has a sort of twinkly sound effect or hum to it. With a modified light spell, I imagine you could fine-tune it to either have a sound or not. A traditional flashbang wouldn't be as effective against Aqua as a flashbang tuned to making a louder sound, rather than light. A concussion or stun grenade, if you will.
If Aqua could instead create a powerful flash of light with no sound, she would have an advantage in any combat situation. Like staring directly at the sun for a minute. Or staring at Celestia too long.
11301400
True, though I wouldn’t necessarily call it a flash bang if its missing the bang part. Admittedly there isn’t a commonly used light based blinding agent that doesn’t include a loud noise, so the only name I can think of that might get that across is solar flare if you’ll pardon the dragon ball reference.
Also even then it would be one hell of a weird test. Aqua would basically walk into a room with a volunteer and ask them to stare at her horn and have to judge how effective it is by how loud the screams were.
11301807
Heh. "Hey, can you look at my horn for a minute? I wanna try out this new spell... Okay, thanks. Let me know if you go blind."
11301811
Snerk
11301400
Stun grenades are designed specifically to be extremely loud when they explode. 170+ decibels. They are known to cause permanent hearing loss. It's part of what makes them so disorienting; the flash blinds the target/s, while the bang deafens them, and without the two primary senses for at range detection the targets can be easily dealt with. It's incredibly effective.