Beyond Blind Eyes

by Lunaric

For One is left Wanting

Sky cleared her throat. "I'm sorry little one, I had forgotten about your background." Another clear of the throat. "An easy way to put mana into something is to visualize yourself grasping it with telekinesis, but without the will to move it."

"A-ah. Thanks..." Aqua's head perked up, and Sky could see a small smile on her face.

"It's an elementary way to go about it, but it works. You'll learn more about it later." Sky leaned down with a matching smile. "Well then, little one, are you ready?"

"Yup!"

"Then, begin!" Aqua then leaned down and bonked her head. She moved it left and right, taking two tries to get her horn into the correct spot. "Remember you don't need to pour in your mana, only a little is needed." Sky reassured the filly. Sky didn't think Aqua needed it, but it would be appreciated nevertheless. Looking towards the little one, she seemed to have steadied herself and was simply focusing on transferring her mana.

Turning her attention to the gems on the device, Sky noticed that they were glowing as usual when being used. However, none of the main gems were glowing enough to show any proficiency. The clear gem used simply to input your magic, however, was much brighter than usual. Her eyebrows rose. Strange... I'll have to contact her. Sky put a hoof on the filly's back. and she noticed just how small the filly was. "That's enough. You did well."

Aqua jolted. "A-ah... Okay, what does it show?"

"While it's nothing to be ashamed of, it didn't show any specific proficiency."

Aqua slumped. "Oh... that's... Damn."

"Hey, language." Aqua shrunk in on herself.

"Oh, right... sorry."

At least she's sorry. Sky cleared her throat. "The clear gem that you put your mana into, however, shone brighter than the rest. Perhaps there is something to look forward to in this regard..." Aqua's little smile came back. "Alright, next one?"

A nod. "Sounds good."

"For this next test, we'll be testing your finesse in mana manipulation. You're going to and turn this dial, but keep it from turning out of this area in the middle of it. First, you need to put this aptitude ring on... Oh, right. Let me get it for you." Sky levitated the ring over and onto Aqua's horn. It fit down to the base with extra room to spare. "Oh dear, it's a little big for you. Hm... I'll be right back."

Sky trotted quickly back into her office as the three left in the testing room chatted to each other about some nonsense. She rarely paid any attention to those airheaded maids nor the dull guards. She dug through a small top drawer in her desk. Pulling out a smaller aptitude ring. The gem on this ring stuck out more than it did on the other ring. The gem's size couldn't change or the ring wouldn't work. Shaking the useless thought from her head, she turned back to the training room and went in.

Sky trotted up to Aqua and pulled the original ring off her horn via telekinesis before replacing it with the new one. "Ah. there we go; fits like a charm... Hm... Grabbing the dial might be a little awkward, but follow my lead." Sky levitated the foal's hoof and touched it to the dial. "This is the dial. You will need to turn it about halfway to the other side and try your best to keep it there. Understand?" Aqua nodded. "Good. Begin whenever you're ready."

Noticing the beginnings of Aqua's telekinesis, Sky subtly pressed a button on the side of the dial. Hope her training with those weights she brought has paid off.

The dial slowly spun toward the middle. "There you go. Try to keep it there, Aqua." The device was designed to twitch this way and that with varying levels of pressure. Most foals could only make the dial twitch slightly less than usual at their best and make it twitch even more as their worst. The average adult could reduce the twitching by a moderate amount. Sky herself could almost minimize it completely. She was the vice principal and was very proud of herself. Princess Celestia was quite a lot more skilled than her. She was approximately ten percent better than Sky at keeping the dial still. It would still twitch.

Giving Aqua a few seconds to acclimate to the device, Sky recognized the slowing of the dial... Only for it to continue slowing down. Sky's eyes widened. A few more seconds and the dial was barely moving. Eventually, the dial's twitching steadied at a minimal twitch.

"Uh..." Sky shook her head and cleared her throat. "T-that's enough, little one." Aqua's magic cut out and the dial went back to its default movement. Sky pressed the button on the side and turned off the device.

Lightly panting, Aqua asked, "H-how did I do, miss Sky?"

"You... You did good, Aqua." Sky patted the top of the foal's head. "You did really good. You're about as good as I am at controlling your mana flow. I'm impressed."

"I-uh. T-thanks. I've just had a little practice." With how good you are, I wouldn't call that little by any means.

"Well, I'll give you a moment to regain your breath then we shall continue with the last test." Sky floated the ring off Aqua's head before floating it and the dial back to the side. "Are there any questions you want to ask about the school or magic?"

"W-well, I did want to..." Aqua froze as Sky's words sunk in. "Wait, are you saying I'm in?"

Sky smiled. "Pretty much. Your skill with controlling your magic is easily good enough to be proud of. We just have to continue with the last test."

"Ah... T-thanks... Oh yeah, I did want to ask." The filly tilted her head to the side, with her ears and mane flopping about. Aqua rubbed at her eyes with her hoof. "Do you know of any teleport spells?"

Sky hummed with a smile. "There is. I'm surprised you know of them. The easiest one to perform is a personal teleport spell, meaning you can only take yourself. It is also a high-level spell. Normally it would be hard to control, not to mention avoiding a miscast. But with your control, it would be achievable. Assuming, you had the mana to expend, that is... Do you think you're ready for the last test?"

"Yeah..."

"Alright." Floating the third and bulkiest instrument over, she placed it in front of the filly with a clunk. "For this one, you have to lay your horn down in the groove at the top of the device... here, let me help." Lightly pushing Aqua's head down so that her horn was atop the device. The surface area While the maximum surface area wasn't the most important factor, it could still change the outcome. "Make sure to keep your horn completely against the device. It helps the reading." Before anything happened, Sky checked the sides of the tube, inspecting the gems on the side. Two gems were on the side of the tube. The top one shined in relation to how much mana was being transferred per second. The bottom one, for how much total mana had been put into the device.

"Do you remember how in the first test you only needed to put in a little mana?" At the filly's nod, she continued. "This test is the opposite, try your best to pour in as much mana at once as you can. Keep the flow as high as possible until you're out of mana. Also, before you start, this might be very exhausting, so just a heads up." Sky pressed a button on the side. "Begin when you're ready, Aqua."

And begin she did.

The top gem lit up like a condensed bonfire for a full second before suddenly dulling back to what it was before the test.

The bottom gem barely lit up at all.

What? Is that it? How could she put out all her mana that fast, and have the total be so below average? Recomosing herself, Sky noticed the maid holding a panting Aqua.

Clearing her throat, Sky came closer to them and sat down. "A-are you alright, little one? That was quite a display." Both of them looked down at the filly. A weak and slow nod. "Good to hear. Well, there's good and bad news... Your mana output is bafflingly high, and yet your maximum mana seems to be..." Sky cringed as she looked back at the lower gem. "Below average..." A sniffle came from the filly. "Hey, hey... It's okay." Sky wiped Aqua's eyes with her hooves. "Your ability is more than enough to get you into the school. You're in." A tiny smile blossomed on the filly's face. That's a much better look than the tears. "You're a unique pony. I look forward to seeing how you'll improve the efficiency of spells." Sky backed up with a smile.

"... T-thanks..."

"Besides, you can improve all of your abilities with practice and training. I've seen ponies with tiny mana pools grow to have huge ones. You're going to be fine, Aqua..." Sky got up and peeked into her office. The clock on the wall said eleven twenty. Ten minutes left. "I'm sorry, but my time is up. I need to get ready for my next appointment."

The maid picked up Aqua and put her on her back between her wings. The guard simply nodded before walking towards the door. The guard and the maid exchanged words. The maid followed after a moment. "I'll send word to you for your next step soon, Aqua. I'll see you soon." Sky gave a wave and received a tiny hoof in the air. "Oh, don't forget these." Sky levitated the two training balls into the maid's bag.

A quiet, "Thanks." came from the filly.

Sky got one last glance of Aqua before the trio headed out the door. No cutie mark still. Surprising. I couldn't even count how many foals have left the testing room with one. The little white filly barely even looked awake.

Sky noticed her hooves were tingly.

Looking down at her hooves, Sky noticed they were smeared with a cosmic purple.

Oh. Oh, Celestia.

Author's Note:

Another long chapter. Longest so far. It's almost 3 of my usual chapters long. I'm quite happy about this one.

Aqua is in for an interesting time at school.

Comments

[GlitchyFox]

Looking down at her hooves, Sky noticed they were smeared with a cosmic purple.

i dont understand. should i know what this means?

[Lunaric]

11071147
Nope. This is something unique to this story.

[link4]

11071147
I just assumed either lulu or aqua had more mana than the gem showed... it just didn’t all go to the gem and instead went els. However I think it’s possible this was expected by sky- was rather eager to get them gone. Sky likely has something going on

[GlitchyFox]

11071262
well she is learning blind so she linkely is doing things slightly diffrently and maby more effective

[Ziper Ace]

Oooh does she have Dark magic?

[Fireeaters]

The colours, Mason, what do they mean?

[Zepher]

11236097
Purple is the color for magic in general. Usually.

[Poparakelis]

Looking down at her hooves, Sky noticed they were smeared with a cosmic purple.

?

[Pony addiction]

I know i'm late but this is the most recent chapter i've read.

If you pay attention, Sky wipes Aqua's tears from her eyes

Clearing her throat, Sky came closer to them and sat down. "A-are you alright, little one? That was quite a display." Both of them looked down at the filly. A weak and slow nod. "Good to hear. Well, there's good and bad news... Your mana output is bafflingly high, and yet your maximum mana seems to be..." Sky cringed as she looked back at the lower gem. "Below average..." A sniffle came from the filly. "Hey, hey... It's okay." Sky wiped Aqua's eyes with her hooves. "Your ability is more than enough to get you into the school. You're in." A tiny smile blossomed on the filly's face. That's a much better look than the tears. "You're a unique pony. I look forward to seeing how you'll improve the efficiency of spells." Sky backed up with a smile.

That's where the cosmic purple came from.

[Victor07]

11707536
She was crying pure undistilled magic