//------------------------------// // Issue 2.8 ~ Training Exposition // Story: It's All A Little Strange To Me // by Essay Jay //------------------------------// “Another sparring match?” Starlight groaned, having to pull on some practice gloves. “I thought that was a one time thing.” “Nothing ever happens once, Starlight,” Jade said. “Besides, you need the practice.” “But when am I ever going to need to fight?” Starlight asked. “My friends can just zap all the enemies with the power of friendship and harmony.” Jade sighed. Looking over at Starlight, she sighed again and finished her equipment of training gear along with Starlight. Starlight frowned. “What?” Jade sighed some more. “What?” Jade walked up to face Starlight. “Do you seriously believe that?” “Believe what?” Jade waved a hoof. “That you can just shoot some rainbow powers fueled by friendship to eliminate extra dimensional beings above and beyond this world’s magic?” Starlight fumbled for words, raising her eyebrows as she blew air from her lips. “Er, uh, huh… y-yeah?” Jade snorted. “It’s a small universe, Glimmer.” Frowning, Starlight squinted at Jade. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Jade shook her head. “You’ll find out.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” “All in good time.” Starlight sighed and finished putting her practice gear and stepped back, watching Jade finish her own preparations. Hearing another group of trainees shuffling, she turned to glance over. What she saw was the Ancient One pacing around the group, watching their session. She watched as the initiates grunted and moved as one, whether they had talons, hooves, or claws. They moved with grace and precision, such that Starlight still hoped to gain. Biting her lip as a question surfaced to her conscience, a question that had been plaguing her since she had arrived, she looked back to Jade. “Just how old is the Ancient One?” Jade paused. “Hm?” “The Ancient One. How old is she?” Jade smirked and finished her own preparations. “Nobody knows what the Sorcerer Supreme’s age is. Only that she’s Coltic and she never talks about her past.” Starlight frowned. “What? You don’t know?” Jade raised an eyebrow. “If you’re asking me, I’d venture to say she’s at least a thousand and counting.” Starlight shook her head. “So you mean to say you follow her, even though you don’t know?” Jade shrugged. “They’re not my details to share. For me? I know that she’s wise and strong, kind yet ruthless. She helped me quite a bit in my own… spiritual journey.” Finally she began to pace around Starlight, and Starlight paced around in kind. “Remember to always keep your eyes on the enemy when confronting them head on.” “Yeah, I get that.” Starlight breathed. “If they’re too powerful, don’t use your brawns,” Jade said, stepping forward and jabbing Starlight before grabbing her foreleg and flipping forward. In one swift motion, Jade had pulled Starlight into a headlock. “Use your brain.” “Gack!” Starlight squirmed. “You know,” Starlight choked out, “You -urk- suck at teaching!” “Only because you don’t listen, Starsicle,” Jade grinned. “Trust your teacher, as I do with the Ancient One, and don’t lose your way.” Starlight braced herself before rolling forward, tossing Jade off of her. Gasping for air, she gripped the stony ground before getting back to four hooves. Once up, she took a few steps away and began to circle against the recovered Jade. “Like Mordo did?” Starlight said, rubbing her throat and grimacing. “He was taught here?” “Correct.” Jade nodded. “When he first came here, he was a weathered, broken griffon. He had lost everything dear to him, and he searched for his purpose in the mystic arts.” Starlight watched as Jade advanced again, and sidestepped quickly, attempting to trip Jade up. Stumbling forward, Jade used the momentum to go into a roll and quickly come back up to four hooves. “He was a brilliant student, ya know,” Jade said. “I knew him as well. Smart, but proud. Headstrong.” Starlight gasped as Jade tripped Starlight up herself and she ended up on her back. “He questioned and rejected the Ancient One’s teaching and left Kamare-taj.” Starlight rolled away as a hoof came down to her barrel in an attempt to wind her. Jade continued as Starlight got back up. “The close friends he made with initiates at the time followed him like sheep, seduced by false teachings and ways.” As Jade moved forward, Starlight got low and dove for her legs. Jade skidded, but fell muzzle first into the cobblestone. Starlight quickly put Jade into a headlock of her own and licked her lips, breathing triumphantly. “Hah!” Starlight grinned. “And he stole some of those forbidden pages, right?” “Oh yeah!” Jade wheezed, before throwing Starlight off of her. Starlight yelped and rolled to a stop, nursing her horn as it had made contact with the ground. Breathing heavily, Starlight panted. “So, uh… what did it do?” Jade panted herself, and patted a rack that she had backed up against. “No more questions, Glimmy Glam.” Starlight narrowed her eyes at the name. She then watched as Jade pulled a small staff from the rack and grinned at it before facing Starlight. Frowning, Starlight cocked an eyebrow. “What’s that?” asked Starlight, pointing at the object. “That’s a question,” Jade smirked. “I said no more questions.” “But you didn’t have that last time we trained-” “This is the Staff of the Living Tribunal,” Jade interrupted, explaining. “Don’t ask me where the name came from, because let me be real, it’s tacky as all Tartarus.” “Uhhhhh-huhhhhh…” Starlight nodded, squinting at the piece of unassuming wood. “This is one of many relics,” Jade said. “Like the Wand of Watoomb, and the Bolting Boots of Voltor.” “The Wand of what now?” Starlight’s muzzle scrunched. “They really just… roll off the tongue, don’t they?” Jade shrugged. “Hey, don’t look at me. I disagree with ninety percent of the names out there so…” Starlight made an about face. “Okay, and what do they do?” Jade answered by twirling quickly, swinging the staff around. In a blink, the staff stretched with glowing green power and stretched like a lumbering snake. In one swift motion, Jade, had jumped into the air, using the momentum of her twirl into twisting mid-air, and whipped it at the ground, scorching the surface of the cobblestone with fresh hot mana. “Whoah…” Starlight murmured, her eye twitching at the sight of the mark. “When- uh… when do I get my relic?” Jade landed twirled the staff in a hoof before planting one end into the ground. The loud clack it made caused Starlight to flinch. “When you are ready,” said Jade. Starlight glanced at the staff again before centering her eyes on Jade. “I think I’m ready.” Jade snorted and giggled, shaking her head. “The relic will decide when you’re ready.” Sighing, Jade began to twirl the staff in her hoof before advancing on Starlight. “For now, conjure a weapon.” “Wat.” “A weapon. Your hooves. Make a weapon.” Jade rolled her eyes at Starlight’s puzzled face, momentarily resting her staff. “Seriously, just try. It’ll come to you.” Starlight, frowning, looked down at her hooves before looking up at her horn. Sighing, she closed her eyes. “This would be a lot easier with my horn…” “Yeah, well,” Jade said, “Your horn is out of commision right now.” Glaring at Jade, Starlight pursed her lips. Closing her eyes, she centered her focus into the powers beyond that surrounded her. She could feel their strength, untapped, yet she could not seem to understand it. Breathing, she focused on what she needed, and the answer came to her in a whisper. A faint prompting. An idea. Swirling her hooves, Starlight stomped one down before swirling it. Hitting her foreleg, she slid her hoof down quickly before planting her hooves down again and spreading them apart quickly. Suddenly, between her hooves appeared a sparking, vibrating construct of pure turquoise mana. Widening her eyes in wonder, Starlight sat on her haunch and flicked a hoof, watching the the mana wave around like a whip. “Yes!” Jade cried, pumping a hoof. “You’re getting it!” Before Starlight knew it, Jade had blurred forward and empowered her staff. “Gah!” Starlight yelped, gripping the mana with both hooves, closing her eyes, and bringing it up in defense. The loud clash of relic against magic echoed, but Starlight couldn’t take notice for adrenaline was now coursing through her. Opening her eyes, Starlight saw the grinning face of Jade behind a two-hooved grip of a staff against her mana. “Fight!” Starlight gasped as the Jade took her staff and took another swing. Reacting quickly, Starlight balanced on her hind legs and used both hooves to block the bending staff. Wobbling precariously, she stumbled onto her back as Jade spun and skidded to a stop. “Fight like your life depends on it, Starlight!” Jade hollered, twirling her staff and jumping into a finishing arc against Starlight. Starlight widened her eyes as she foresaw the attack and rolled to the side at the last second, the staff leaving behind a trail of charred stone as Jade landed. Her form beared down on Starlight, and she placed a point of the staff against Starlight’s neck. Starlight could feel the wood barely a hair’s length away. “Because one day,” Jade puffed, “It may.” From afar, the Ancient One looked at the sparring duo curiously. Starlight panted, and her mana whip fizzled away. Watching as Jade flipped the staff onto her back, Starlight rested easy. Her blood still tingled with electrifying fear, and she blinked up at the sky, properly winded.