"They're fighting so intensely, I've never seen so many of these spells before."
"Who do you think will win between the two of them?"
"I hope Aurora wins, but Sunset Shimmer is really powerful. After all, she became the Princess's student earlier than Aurora."
"But Aurora is also very powerful. Their magic levels should be about the same, right?"
"Aurora is my friend, I think she will definitely win! Go, Aurora!"
The foals surrounding the depression watched the magical sparring, all wanting to know who would be the final winner.
Furthermore, since both ponies were students of the Princess, out of a sense of competition, everyone was very curious about who was more powerful.
The sound of discussion and the commotion caused by the magic gradually attracted other The foals in the park, which made the crowd of onlookers grow larger and larger.
This even included some unexpected ones.
"What's going on? Why is everyone heading in that direction?"
Princess Cadance watched as the ponies, who had been lounging about, all suddenly ran in the same direction with purpose, and couldn't help but look up in confusion.
"Uh, I'm not sure either. Did something happen?"
Shining Armor was also puzzled; on his way back from buying drinks, he had noticed that the passing ponies all seemed to be attracted by something.
But he was out for a picnic with his sister and girlfriend, and with a mission at hand, he couldn't just leave to join the crowd.
"By the way, where is Twilight?"
Princess Cadance suddenly realized a pony beside her had been missing for a while and asked immediately.
"Wasn't she playing ball with you the whole time?"
Shining Armor placed the drinks he had bought on the picnic blanket, indicating that he had just returned and knew nothing.
"Oh, she seemed to go pick up the ball, and then I saw The foals all heading there..."
Princess Cadance's words came to an abrupt halt. She and Shining Armor exchanged a bewildered look, and immediately realized that something was very wrong.
On the other side, the lone Twilight Sparkle did not know that her brother and sister were nearly going crazy looking for her.
Running out to help Princess Cadance pick up the ball, Twilight Sparkle happened to hear passing The foals saying that there were two Little Unicorns nearby dueling, using many unseen high-level spells, and it was said they were students of Princess Celestia.
The great figure who raised the sun into the sky during the Summer Sun Celebration automatically appeared in her mind.
The Princess's students must be very powerful ponies!
She didn't even have time to think about the consequences of wandering off, her body just moved on its own, and she ran along with these The foals to watch the excitement.
Before long, Twilight Sparkle saw the depression surrounded by the crowd. She held the ball with her magic and, just like at the last Summer Sun Celebration, managed to squeeze in with great difficulty.
She saw two Little Unicorns casting spells at each other in the depression, and she even recognized one of them.
It was Aurora! She had actually become Princess Celestia's student?!
And there was another yellow-furred pony, who was also the Princess's student. But why were they fighting?
"So, you're saying they're using a bunch of high-level magic just to hit the other with a simple spell?"
"Yeah, who knows what they're thinking, but it's quite exciting to watch."
"Do you bet the blue one will win?"
"No, I think the yellow one has a better chance of winning!"
Listening to the noisy voices around her, Twilight Sparkle still hadn't figured out the situation. However, there were a few ponies around her age cheering for Aurora, and since she only knew Aurora, Twilight Sparkle also hoped Aurora would win.
But they were both so amazing. They weren't much older than her, yet they knew so many spells and were so skilled at using them.
If her own magic level could reach their degree, could she also become the Princess's student?
The dazzling light of the magic made a beautiful vision appear before Twilight Sparkle's eyes, but thinking that she was just an ordinary pony without even a cutie mark, and that even her Levitation Spell was not very proficient, she felt a bit disappointed.
She seemed to have a long, unreachable road to go before she reached the level of these two ponies.
The emotional dip caused Twilight Sparkle to forget that she was still using a Levitation Spell to control the ball to prevent it from rolling away, and in that moment of distraction, the uncontrolled ball rolled down the slope.
"Oh no!"
Twilight Sparkle hurriedly tried to use the Levitation Spell again to retrieve the ball, but the more anxious she got, the worse she performed. Combined with her sudden chaos, which disturbed the ponies nearby who were intently watching the show, in the crowding, someone kicked it, and accidentally knocked Twilight Sparkle down.
"Ah—!"
Rolling all the way down, Twilight Sparkle felt dizzy, and by the time she came to her senses, she had already landed in the depression.
Seeing the purple pony suddenly appear in the middle, Aurora and Sunset Shimmer were both stunned for a moment.
And Sunset Shimmer, who was in the middle of moving, didn't have time to stop her ongoing action. As misfortune would have it, the ball Twilight Sparkle had dropped happened to roll right where she was about to step.
Stepping on a ball suddenly caused Sunset Shimmer to slip, and the magic she had stored on her horn was fired off in the process.
That spell ricocheted wildly around the field, and Aurora's clever brain instantly calculated the direction the magic would eventually fly, which was exactly where Twilight Sparkle was.
"Damn it!"
This was truly... it scared Aurora so much she started using profanity, luckily not heard by other The foals.
The incident was sudden, the situation urgent. Aurora didn't have time to think; she activated Teleportation Magic in advance.
Twilight Sparkle saw the beam of magic rushing towards her, so scared that her hooves went weak and she couldn't make a move to dodge, only able to curl up and cover her head.
But a light grey-blue Little Unicorn appeared in front of her with a 'pop'. Through the cutie mark, she recognized this pony as Aurora.