//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: Matchmaker; Love at First Fight // Story: The Tale Of A Lost Wolf // by Solaris Night //------------------------------// Sunlight poured through the windows as they made their way across the Kanisars room. Eventually they found their way to his bed and shone onto his sleeping features. Trider rolled over trying to shield himself from the assaulting rays. Once safe he sighed contently and resumed his sleep. "Are you gonna sleep through the entire morning?" said a soft voice. Trider grunted as he cracked open one of his eyes. He saw that over his sleeping form stood Rose who was smiling to herself. "Deja vu." he mumbled as he threw the blanket over his head. "Go away." was all he said before snores began to fill the room. "Oh my. What am I going to do?" she said in mock tone as she put a hand on her cheek. A menacing grin stretched across her face as her horn began to glow. In a flash of light a mass of water appeared above the bed. "You sure you don't want to reconsider?" she asked. "Fuck off!" "Suit yourself." Without warning she dropped the water onto the Kanisar who jumped out of bed screaming. Soaking wet he stood in the middle of the room, glaring at the mare. Rose could only giggle as she saw him, water dripping from his form. "You wanna play it like that, huh?" he growled. "Fine, I won't show mercy." The mare looked at him slightly scared, the tone of his voice sounding threatening. Before she could react however Trider walked up to her and began to shake the water of like a dog would. "Stop that! Stop! Please!" Rose begged as she was assaulted by drops of water. When Trider was finished he looked at her with a smug grin. "Now we're even." The mare gave him a deadpanned look as they stared at each other. Eventually they smiled and their smiles grew to laughter. Once their laughter subsided Rose's horn glowed again and they, as well as the bed were dry once again. "Handy." Trider said as he scanned his body to see it was bone dry. "But why did you have to wake me in such a way?" he asked her. "Two reasons." she said as she raised two fingers. "One Miss Twilight said you are often very difficult to awaken, so I resorted to the technique our drill instructors used when we were unwilling to get up early. And two, I was told that you had lots of important things to do today and didn't want you to miss out on them." Trider groaned as he remembered all of the things he promised to do. He walked to a stool that was in the bedroom and picked up his clothes. "Well we better get started. We've got lot of shit to do." Rose watched him as he put on his clothes and raised a brow. "A mare could get used to this." she said as Trider put on his undershirt. "Next time I'll charge you ten bits to watch the show." "Only? Now that's a deal I can get behind." The two laughed again. Once the Kanisar was done changing they went downstairs and instead of going for the kitchen Rose headed straight for the door. "Aren't we gonna have breakfast?" Trider asked confused. Rose opened the door and motioned for him to follow her. "We are. Only we'll be eating it at a diner, Miss Twilight and Dyna are already waiting for us there." The man shrugged as he followed behind her, towards his would be meal. "Alright, here I come!" Rainbow exclaimed as she hovered a several feet above the ground. Trider nodded, telling her he understood. With affirmation she began descend towards him, building up speed. While she was flying downward she began to spin around, like a corkscrew. The Kanisar got ready to block the incoming attack by raising his arms. The attack however didn't connect. Right as she was near him and tried to spin around to deliver a spin kick, she lost control and crashed into the ground. Groaning she tried to pick herself up from the small crater she had created, rubbing her head. "You ok there Dash?" Trider asked offering a hand to help her up. The mare gladly took it as she got back onto her hooves. "I'm fine." she said as she dusted herself off. "I just wish I could do the damn kick already. We've done it like a gazilion times." The Kanisar chuckled as he put his hand to his forehead. "Maybe you could do it, if you didn't try to spin like a madman." She glared at him and pouted. "No way dude, this move has to look as awesome as possible, if I'm gonna be using it." Sighing Trider put a hand onto the mares shoulder and looked her in the eyes. "Dash." he said in a serious tone. "You're an idiot." The mare glared at him and tried to rebute, but he cut her off before she could. "Moves don't have to be be flashy, they just have to get the job done. So why do you wanna do unnecesary maneuvers to make more difficult." "Like I said, cause I want to look awesome when I do them. Do I need any other reasons." she then looked at him and scoffed. "And who are you telling that flashy moves are ridiculous? You do that all the time." "Yeah, but when I do them I don't intentionally make them flashy to make myself look awesome. It happens naturallly." Dash gave him a deadpanned look at his statement and crossed her arms. "Alright, I don't want to waste any more of my time so what about we compromise. Try to do the kick without the spin and once you master that you can add whatever whistle or bell you want to it. Is that ok?" The mare thought over his suggestion and once she was done she shook her head. "Yeah I can do that." "Great. Then get your ass back into the air and try again." he commanded. The pegasus gave him a mock salute and flew up into the sky so they could continue. Meanwhile not too far away, under the shade of a tree, Rose sat on a small rock and watched as Trider and Rainbow Dash went at each other yet again. As she watched the spectacle, she heard the flapping of wings and without looking at who it was she greeted the new arrival. "Took you long enough private." Dynamism huffed as she sat down on the ground beside her superior. "Sorry for that. It took slightly longer than I anticipated to get Miss Fluttershy back to her cottage. I swear that mare is scared of her own shadow." Her gaze fell onto the scene that was playing out not too far away from their spot. "What are they doing?" "Trider is helping Miss Dash with practice." Rose explained. "You already read that Miss Dash and Trider fought not too long ago to settle a grudge between each other, right?" Dynamism nodded and the unicorn continued. "Well, the match ended in a draw, so they decided they would take some time to train and then fight again." The dragon-pony scratched her head in confusion. "Then why is Trider helping her? Wouldn't it be better if he didn't?" she asked. "That would be most logical thing to do." Rose said as she looked at the duo again. "But Trider isn't like that. He hails from a warrior race and seeks the thrill of combat above anything else. By helping Miss Dash with her training he is making her stronger and therefore making the future battle more exciting for himself." Dynamism stared at her for a moment, then looked at the Kanisar and then back to the mare. "I don't get him." "Not many do." They continued to watch their training until the sun began to set. "Alright that's all for today." said Trider as Rainbow landed on the ground. "You've made some real good progress, can't wait until we duke it out once again." He and the mare fist-bumped and smiled at each other. "Same here Trider." "So you two are finally finished?" asked Rose as she and Dynamism approached them. "Thank Luna, I thought you guys would be here all night." whined Dynamism. "Well, excuse me for trying to spend some quality time with a friend of mine." he said with sarcasm, while rolling his eyes. "At least we're done for today, so we can just go home and relax." "Not yet." said Rose earning a confused look from everybody. "While Dyna was escorting Miss Fluttershy and you were exchanging blows with Miss Dash, Miss Twilight came by and told me to tell you that we will be heading towards the train station once you were done." "Why?" asked Trider. "Apperantly Sir Spike is arriving home today and we will meet him there." explained Dynamism. Triders expression lightened at the thought of the drake finally coming home, from his Canterlot visit. "Well what are we waiting for. let's move it." He turned to Rainbow and gave her a smile. "Well see ya." he said as he began to walk towards the station. "Make sure you practice what I told you today." he added. "Yeah, see ya." she said her goodbye and flew into the sky. Smiling the Kanisar picked up his pace and the two guard mares followed him. "It seems you have quite a good relationship with Miss Dash, despite the rough starts I read about." Rose commented as they walked. "Eh, depends on who you ask. Some will say we're two best buds, while others say we would rip each others throats out, if left unchecked." he said, earning a chuckle from both mares. They continued to discuss different subjects as they made their way to their destination. Soon they arrived at the station and they waited for the train Spike and Rarity will be arriving with. Half an hour later the locomotive stopped in front of the station and all the passangers exited. The trio looked over the crowd trying to spot their friends and they didn't have to look for long. Out of the mass of ponies a giant tower of suitcases and shopping bags could be seen, signaling them there is where they were. They walked over to the two and could see that while Rarity carried only two small bags, Spike had to lug the enormous tower by himself. The young drake was sweating bullets and his legs seemed like they would give out at any second. "I see you're still driving Spike to the ground with your slavery, huh Rarity?" Trider exclaimed as they got close to the duo. Rarity looked over to him adn scowled. "For your information Trider, Spike voulenteered to carry my luggage by himself." the mare said with a raised nose. "Yeah, after you seducted him into it." he thought, but he soon went over to the poor dragon. "Here let me give you a hand." he offered and took half of the pile, releiving some of the burden off of Spike. "Thanks. I don't think I would've made it all the way back to the boutique by myself." he said in gratitude. "It's a pleasure to meet you once again Miss Rarity, Sir Spike." When the mare and the dragon heard their names being mentioned, they turned their heads towards the two new faces, only now noticing them. "Who are these guys?" asked Spike with a raised brow. "Oh yeah, kinda forgot about them. Spike, Rares these are Rose and Dyna, Royal Guards that Celestia sent to keep an eye on me, as my punishment." Trider explained as he walked over to the guard mares. "We've met before actually. On the night before the wedding, I was slumped over Trider here after I took one drink too much." Rose bowed her head. "I am Sergeant Rose Blade and this is my companion Private Dynamism." "Hey." was all Dynamism said. Spike walked closer to the dragon-mare and looked her over. "Oh yeah I remember you. You're that awesome half-dragon pony aren't you?" he said earning a blush from the mare. No one noticed it though, with the exception of Rose, who only smiled. "Well it is an honor to meet with such beautiful and noble mares like yourselves." Rarity said as she too bowed her head. "If you ever need any help or new dresses don't be afraid to come and ask. I mean after all," she said as she glared at the Kanisar. "You are in charge of looking after him. He can't help, but get himself into trouble and when he does it usually ends up in something blowing up and his clothes getting torn." "And yet you still make me new ones everytime." Trider teased. "Only because it goes against my code of everypony deserving to have something nice to wear." she humphed. "I swear if I wasn't the Element of Generosity you would be walking around naked. Not that it would probably bother you." "Love you too." the Kanisar rebuted, earning a snicker from everyone, but Rarity. "You guys sure have a serious love-hate realtionship, don't you?" asked Dynamism, as her fit passed. "We sure do. We love to hate each other." Trider said as he gave Rarity a half-lidded look. "Don't we honey?" As an answer he received both of the mares bags, that she was carrying, on top of his pile of luggage and she scoffed. "Don't call me honey, you brute." she then sighed and flicked her hair over her ear. "At least we agree on one thing. The 'love to hate' thing that is." While all of them were laughing, Rose walked over to the fashionista and spoke to her. "You are exactly like my parents said you'd be." Rarity looked at her with a puzzled expression. "Really? And who would your parents be exactly?" "Fancy Pants and Fleur de Lis." Raritys eyes widened as she gasped loudly. Suddenly she grabbed Roses hands into her own and stared into her eyes. "You're daughter of the Fancy Pants and Felur de Lis?" she asked, with barely contained excitement. "Indeed." affirmed Rose, caught off guard by the mares sudden excitement. "Oh I can tell we'll be the best of friends already." the fashionista said as she dragged the guard mare by her arms. "We have so much to talk about. How is Fancy doing? How about your mother? How do you get your hair to be so silky smooth?..." Rose was assaulted by a plethora of questions, as she looked at the rest of the group with pleading eyes. But it was in vein as she was caught in Raritys iron grip and none dared to mess with the tailor when she was like that, not even Trider. "I pity her." said the Kanisar. "Amen." agreed the other two. It was getting late in the evenin and the guard mares and Trider were making their way back to the library. Spike left before them saying he was too tired from whole day of shoppin or something like that, so the other three had to entertain Rarity for a couple more hours. "I can't belive that mare can talk for so long. I contemplated on knocking myself out to stop the torture." whined Dynamism. "I bet you would've been able to go through it, if Spike was there to keep you company." Rose said with a massive grin. The statement made the dragon-mare lose her footing and she nearly fell, but she kept her balance. She looked at her friend with a bright red face. "I-I don't know what you're talking about." she said as she turned her head away and pouted. Rose giggled at her reaction, which earned a questioning look from the Kanisar. "What you two talking bout?" he asked nonchalantly. Rose turned to him and smiled. "It appears our little Dyna has a crush on a certain purple dragon." she explained, while Dynamisms face threatened to burst into flames. "Is that so?" Trider said, while throwing the young mare a bemused look. "As his master you have my blessings to court him. Now you just have to get a permission from Twi and you're set." Dynamism wanted to bury herself into the ground, from their teasing. "There is a problem, however." said Rose, earning the attention of them both. "Spike is still a juvenile. So if she tried to hook up with him, she could be sent to jail. Not to even mention Spike might not like to date an older woman." The reality of her words sstruck the dragon-mare to the core and her expression became depressed. "I wouldn't be so sure. For you see our little drake has a crush on a certain pain-in-the-ass white unicorn dress-maker, so I don't think he would mind hitching up with an older woman. On contrary he might like it." He then raised a finger before he continued. "Plus Spike is already 17 and the legal age here is 18, right? So just wait one year before you decide to screw with him and you're safe." The two mares looked at him in astonishment. "You make a good point. It might just work out." Rose said as she looked at the other mare. "You can even start building a relationship, as we speak. As long as you don't have sex with him." Dynamism couldn't decide if she should be happy or shocked at what her friends were talking about. "Are you guys seriously making plans for my future before me? That's kinda fucked up, y'know." The two however didn't pay her any mind as a plan began to formulate between the two. "Tomorrow, you and Spike will probably go on your one of your training sessions, right?" "Yep." She nodded and continued to hatch their plan. "So while you two train or even before, you come up with an excuse so Spike can be alone with Dyna and from then on their relationship blossoms." Trider rubbed his chin in thought and nodded. "That sounds like a good plan." "Excuse me? Do you guys even realize I'm still here?" Dynamism cut in between the two, clearly flustered. "We do and I hope you were listening to our little plan, so you know what you have to do." Rose said as she turned the mare towards herself and placed her hands onto her shoulders. "You can't be serious!" the dragon-mare exclaimed, while becoming more and more frustrated. "But I am." Rose answered with a smile, which unnerved Dynamism. "It's fool-proof. This way you can get closer to Spike and become a future couple." "However there is one problem." said Trider earning the attention from both mares. "If Spike goes off to flirt with Dyna, then who will I be training with? Don't get me wrong, I also want them to get together, but I also want to spar with someone, since I haven't been able in a while." Rose walked up to him and spoke. "I could do it." Trider looked at her skeptically, but before he could argue she pressed a finger to his lips. "Although I'm better proficient in sword fighting, I'm no pushover when it comes to hand to hand combat." With that said she walked ahead away, while tracing a finger across his jaw line. She gave him a sultry look, before she added. "Let's just hope you can handle me." With a sway in her hip she walked away, leaving behind a flabergasted Dynamism and slightly stunned Trider. "That woman." he thought as he smiled and followed her. "She's trying real hard to rile me up." A fist connected with Triders palm, as he blocked Spikes attack. Following it up, the young drake spun around trying to hit the Kanisar with the back of his foot. The man however predicted it and blocked that as well, leaving Spike in a very bad position where one of his arms and legs were locked in place. But that didn't stop him as he used his tail to push Trider away and quickly counter-attacked. With a flurry of punches he began to push the Kanisar back. Without warning Trider grabbed both of his arms and stopped his assault. Before Spike could react he delivered strong headbutt, making the dragon stagger backwards. Before he could fall however the Kanisar grabbed him by the hand. "Ok, I think that's enough for now. Take five." he ordered. Spike didn't even had to be told so and he sat down on the ground, sweating and breathing heavily. "I'm either out of shape or you're being rougher." the drake said as he laid his body on the grass. "Both." Trider replied with a bemused smirk. He walked over to his shirt that he and Spike also discarded and wiped the sweat from his forehead. It's true that Spike became slightly sloppy, because they hadn't trained in a while, but he had to admit the drake was making a remarkable progress. Gone was his slightly chubby body that was replaced with a well toned form, that made mares drool over. His fighting also improved drastically. His reflexes and techniques were becoming better with every spar they had and he even started to implement his unique body features, like his tail and fire breathing. Though they limited the latter due to Raritys whining over his burnt clothes. "I've found myself one heck of a student." he thought as a smiled stretched across his face. "You were right Commander. Seeing your student progress is one of the best feelings a master can experience." His gaze then fell onto the two mares that were watching them. Rose stood there calm and with a stioc expression, while Dynamism fidgeted with her fingers and was blushing furiously. Probably due to seeing Spike without his shirt. He then caught a glance of Rose indicated towards the other mare with her head. Trider understood the signal as he turned to his pupil. "Get up Spike. I have a special training planned for you today." he said to the drake, who rose from the ground with a groan. "Please tell me it's not like that time with the bull." he whined, the images of that particular training flashing through his mind. "Nope. It's something much worse." he said, making Spike look at him in fear. "Today you'll be sparring with Dyna." he said as he pointed a finger the mare. Spike tilted his head as he looked at her, then switched his gaze back to the Kanisar. "Why?" Trider sighed as he rubbed his neck. "It occured to me during my training with Dash that you might come across opponents that will be capable of flight. So I asked Dyna if she could help you with your training and show you how to defend and attack against a flying enemy." "And what will you be doing in the mean time?" "I'll train with Rose while you'll be busy with flirt-I mean, training with Dyna." Trider said, while smiling sheepishly. Spike gave him a skeptical look, before he shrugged. "Fine with me." He ran towards the two mares and came to halt in front of them. "Hey Dyna, Trider told me what's up. So, you ready?" The mare simply nodded, as her eyes took in his bare chest. "Ok then. Let's go." He grabbed her by the hand and dragged her off. Rose merely chuckled as she watched the two go off. "Have fun you two!" she exclaimed before they were out of hearing range. Turning towards the Kanisar her smile grew as she started to walk towards him. Trider cracked his knuckles as she got close. "Hope you weren't all talk yesterday, cause I'm expecting to at least sweat a little bit." Rose discarded her jacket, which left her with a tight fitting T-shirt and sweat pants. "Trust me, by the end of this sweating will be the last of your worries." she said as she winked at him. Taking that as their cue they both got into their battle stances. Trider decided to make the first move as he closed the distance and tried to land a blow to her stomach. Rose however deflected the punch downward and then swiftly kicked him in the side of the face. The Kanisar wiped his mouth, traces of blood evident. "Atta girl." he mumbled as he got back into a stance. This time deciding to be more careful, he began to circle her, as she did the same. With a mighty roar he charged her again. As he got close tried to kick her in the head, but she ducked his kick and sweep kicked at his exposed leg, making him lose his balance. Trider however did a full back-flip and landed on his feet and using them he jumped at the crouching mare, tackling her to the ground. As he laid over her, pinning her arms under his, he looked her in the eyes and grinned. "What's wrong sweetie? Didn't you say you'd make me sweat?" he taunted her. Rose responded with a swift lunge of her knee. Trider felt his entire body erupt in intense pain as he rolled away from her. The mare jumped back to standing position and faced him. The man tried to get up, fighting the pain that emanated from his groin. With shaky legs he got up and looked at her. Before he could react the mare grabbed him by one of the arms and tossed him over her shoulders. Landing with a loud thud, pain seared through his back and before he knew it, it was him that was now pinned under the mare. She closed the distance between their faces, until they were inches apart. Her mane cascaded on both sides of his heads, blocking them from the outside world. "You kicked me in the dick." he said with a pitch higher voice. "Why?" "All is fair in love and war, sweetie." Trider took a second to collect himself and get his voice to it's normal tone. "So which one is this?" The mare shrugged as she got even closer. "Who knows?" she whispered as their lips closed the distance. "What are you two doing?" Trider and Rose looked towards the source of the voice and saw that Dynamism and Spike had returned. Shaking his head the Kanisar pushed the mare off of him and quickly got up. The mare simply looked at him with a questioning and hurt expression, but he didn't notice. "N-nothing." he said as he cleared his throat. He then looked at the two and raised a brow. "More importantly what are you two doing here? Didn't I tell you to train with Dyna?" "We were about to, when Rainbow came and told us we had to go to Canterlot. She also told us to get you two." Spike explained. Rose and Trider looked at each other, before looking at the dragon again. "What for?" he asked. Spike scratched his head and shrugged. "Not sure. All she said it was about some important test." Trider groaned as he facepalmed. "Great there is a test now." he sighed as he picked up his shirt and began to head back to town. "I hope I get to smash something."