Cold Edge Anon Part 5

> Twilight replies,
"If you say so. The next thing you need to learn is levitation. Choose a pebble."
> You clear the ground in front of you and roll a small pebble into the middle.
> When you look back up, Twilight is behind a second shield.
"...Really?"
> Twilight nods.
"You will be at least partially focused on me, and you tend to err on the side of excess."
> She actually sounds very calm, so it probably is just a precaution.
> She continues her lesson.
"The trick here is to surround the pebble as closely as possible, without clipping the edges."
> ...
"You mean to tell me, a botched levitation can cause dismemberment?"
> Twilight paused, considering her answer.
"Only if you are extremely incautious. Whatever is outside of your magic will experience inertia normally, which can cause stress fractures along the interface between the spelled and unspelled parts of whatever it is you're levitating."
> Okay, levitation is no longer nightmare fuel.
> You pull on your mana pool, encasing the pebble in a roughly spherical aura.
> Very cautiously, you will it to rise.
> Rather anticlimacticly, it does just that.
"Well done, Anonymous. Now for the last lesson, we'll see how you react to magical detonations."
> Wait, what?
"Wait, what?"
> Twilight perches on a low cloud, a third shield surrounding her.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I just want to know how you react to significantly large magical events."
"Shouldn't I have a shield too, just in case?"
 > Twilight shakes her head.
"It would confound the results of the test. Real detonations are unexpected, so unless you spend your entire life in a shield, you need to know how you would react. In fact, you should also close your eyes."
> And to think, not an hour ago, you were fighting for your life against this pony.
> Wait.
"You sure it's not so that you can remove a dangerous cannibal without resistance?"
> Twilight looks somber.
"We may have gotten off on the wrong hoof, but I am a pretty good judge of character. I know you are no cannibal. The question is, do you trust me?"
> You stare at her for a long moment, then close your eyes.
"Any time you're ready."
"Bombs away!"
> Well, she sounds cheerful.
> You wait in tense silence.
> And wait
> Just when you start wondering if anything is going to happen, nothing does.
> Okay, this is getting ol-
> Sound and fury, literal anger assaults your ears. You open your eyes to a world of red.
> There is a deep thrumming in your chest that steals the words from your mouth.
> Fear courses through your veins and you summon a thick sphere of ice around yourself.
> The ice steams and melts from one direction, the direction your ears belatedly inform you where all this originated.
> You pull on your mana pool and levitate your bubble of safety to the height of the clouds.
> As abruptly as it came, the detonation faded.

"...What in the name of fiscal responsibility was that?"
> You would have yelled, but your voice is still recovering from the magic nuke.
> And she just smiles, as innocent and as cute as you please, like she didn't just arrange a visit to the elemental plane of wtf.
"Interesting."
> That's all she says.
"No! You do not get to say 'Interesting' after dropping a magical bomb! You say, 'wow, sorry, I had no idea it was that strong' although that raises a whole host of other things about which I would be justifiably angry about!"
> Now she's giggling!
> You feel you ought to do something suitably dramatic, but you don't know where you are, and a magical princess pony has nukes at her disposal.
> You end up just sitting in your ice bubble as you descend to the ground.
> Twilight lands soon after, her laughter having run its course.
"I'm sorry, it's just that that wasn't a bomb. I cast a fear based illusion which you filled in quite nicely. And then you started throwing a tantrum, and it was just too much!"
"A tantrum? A tantrum! I-"
> There she goes again, giggling behind her hooves.
> You sigh.
"Did I at least pass the test?"
> She sobers up somewhat, though a smile still plays about her lips.
"You did quite well. I am no longer worried that you will react inappropriately when horribly surprised and -"
> She giggles again.
"-provoked."
> If she wasn't so cute...