Chapter 5: Clash of Egos
Princess Celestia was surprised when one of her guard informed her that the fighter and the child had returned to her city. She had expected them to winter in Everfree, where she suspected they had found the old castle. Even in disrepair it would have made a suitable home.
She was pleasantly surprised to learn that they had made their way to the Sparkle residence. It would seem that this fighter had decided a reunion was in order. Celestia remembered the holiday that was taking place even now and allowed herself a small chuckle. It said good things about the fight considering that he brought the girl home now.
Celestia turned on her heel and returned to her chambers. It was time to set in motion a plan that was formed after the incident. This would require a meeting however, and Celestia had more to impress than the Sparkle family. There was another element that she had to earn the respect of. Celestia walked gracefully up to a piece of clothing that saw limited use these days, but would be perfect for the meeting.
It was a pastel white tunic, with her coat of arms portrayed on the left breast. Golden thread was embroidered at the cuff, neck, and hem. Underneath the finery however was enchanted chain mail that could stop most conventional weapons with ease. With the tunic were finely tailored leather leggings. They were loose instead of form fitting, to allow more movement. Once dressed Celestia added the final piece to the image, tieing her sword to her hip.
Celestia marched from her chambers, the doors being opened by her personal guard who fell in step behind her. The servants in the castles employ bowed as they passed, but many of the nobles in the halls openly gaped before scrambling out of her path. To those in the castle, it looked as if Celestia was heading to battle.
* * *
The Sparkle residence was experiencing a form of peace that had been absent from them for months now. The return of Twilight Sparkle brought smiles all around, even from Shining Armor, who was home on break from the academy. Though the older brother was angry and lashed out at Ranma, only to be flipped onto his back by the martial artist. Shining was reprimanded by none other than Twilight, and soon simmered down.
Now though, they were all exchanging gifts next to the fire. Ranma was sitting against the wall, watching as Twilight smiled brighter than she had in all the time he had known her. It was a sight that warmed his heart, and brought to his mind the bitter memories. His musing were interrupted by a firm rapping at the door though.
“Who could that be?” Velvet asked before getting up to answer it. Ranma already had a sinking suspicion of just who it could be. It was difficult to mask such power after all, and the person in question didn’t seem like someone who would. “Y-Your highness!” the yelp from Twilight's mother only confirmed his thoughts.
“May I enter your home, Twilight Velvet?” A regal voice asked The family were all standing at this point, looking towards the entry way.
“Why, yes your highness. W-welcome to my home.” Velvet stuttered as she led the Princess into the sitting room.
Celestia was standing before them, but oddly not atired in her usual flowing dress. She was instead in what looked like a military dress uniform. These details were just a few picked up by those in the room, which caused tension to rise slightly.
Ranma chose to remain calm. He didn’t want to risk anymore misunderstandings, and with his current grasp of the language there should be less risk of that, but it doesn’t change the event that have already happened between him and the guard. That was not to say he didn’t notice the sword at her waist.
“I am sure you are curious as to why I am here.” stated the Princess. Twilight took this time to move closer to her mother. “I was made aware of your return to the city this morning thanks to my guard.” She looked at Twilight when she said this. Something that made the young girl tense. “I first, want to apologize for any misunderstanding caused by the man in charge of your exam. At no point were any of the children supposed to be subjected to such a task.”
“The true exam was supposed to be levitating a goose egg for three minutes. This would allow us to gage your level of strength and control. If you dropped the egg, or shattered it, then you would need to work on your control. If you magic failed during the trial, then your reserves would not be large enough for the courses ahead of you. Sadly, I had missed the bigot that had managed to worm his way into my school. This has cause you and your family a great deal of distress and for that I am sorry.”
The family was surprised to hear the apology come from the Princess. Twilight looked at her for a moment before speaking. “Umm, apology accepted.”
This seemed to release some minor tension in Celestia that only Ranma noticed. “The next matter I wish to discuss is your magic.” Twilight seemed to shrink in on herself. “You have a gift, more magic than I have seen from any spell weaver in centuries. To have this at such a young age is most impressive, and most dangerous. This is something that can only be brought under control through great practice and study. Which is why I wish to take you on as my student.”
The room was silent as everyone processed that message. Princess Celestia wanted to take Twilight as her personal student. It was such a monumental event that none in her family knew how to responds. The silence didn’t remain though, as a new voice broke it.
“I am afraid that won’t be happening.” All eyes turned to Ranma. The martial artist stood up, his well defined muscles pressing against his blue tunic. His blue eyes locking with the Princess’ own.
“Why would that be?” Celestia questioned him.
“Because I have already taken Twilight as my apprentice in the art. I am not willing to stop her progress here.” Ranma told her while stepping forward and placing a hand on Twilights shoulder. “She is showing real promise, and I look forward to seeing how great of a fight she can become.” Twilight blushed at the praise her teacher gave her.
“What of her magic?” Celestia challenged. “I know that you have none yourself, so how do you expect her to learn? Do you plan to have her stumble through it on her own?”
Ranma kept a calm even though the accusations struck a chord in him. “No. I was going to find suitable teachers for her.” He admitted.
“Then why not let me teach her.” Celestia said with a note of triumph.
“I could also question you. Do you plan on letting her continue learning the art? Do you plan on letting her improve her fighting abilities? Or would you seclude her away and have her focus on nothing but her magic to detriment of all else?” Ranma shot back sharply. By now the distance between Celestia and Ranma has been reduced to just a few inches.
“It seem that we cannot come to an agreement on the matter.” Celestia stated plainly.
“No it does not.” Ranma confirmed.
“Shall we settle this matter elsewhere?” The Princess offered.
“Where did you have in mind?” The martial artist requested.
“The guard training grounds. That should offer both of us ample room.” The princes stated.
“Lead the way.” The martial artist said.
With that, the Princess and the martial artist left the home behind. The tension that had been building in the room broke with the sound of the door closing. The family looked at the door in bewilderment, unsure of what they had just witnessed. Twilight however soon realized what happened and bolted for the door. It didn’t take long for the rest of the family to follow after.
* * *
The training grounds were silent in anticipation. Guards and recruits were standing at the edge of the field as the princess ordered. In the center of the grounds stood the two combatants. Celestia and Ranma were staring each other down. Twilight arrived on the scene soon just in time to witness the first move.
Ranma charged, closing the distance between him and Princess Celestia in an instant. Celestia drew her sword in a flash and slashed it down at the martial artist. Ranma dodged the strike and shot his fist forward in a sharp jab. The princess stepped back to put distance between herself and Ranma. However this left her open and Ranma sent a strong kick at her midsection. The princess blocked the kick with her arm and was sent back a few feet.
The fighters paused and both began tracing a circle, each keeping equal distance from the other. Little by little energy began leaking from each of them. Their auras began to manifest in the world and the results were immediate. The snow and ice around the Princess flashed to steam as she exuded the heat of the sun. In contrast the area around Ranma remained frozen as the chilled air seemed to refuse the heat with all it had. A battle of fire and ice. Both fighters charged forward as if to some unknown signal. Then the still air of that winter morn turned into a howling gale as they met.
The White Princess deflected the blows thrown by the Fighter with her sheath, before lashing out with her blade. The Fighter bent backwards to avoid the slash and responded with a kick. The Princess twisted away and sent forth a blast of magic. The Fighter was flung away yet managed to launch a ball of light at the Princess catching her in the shoulder. Both recovered from the attacks and charged once more.
* * *
It was a few hours latter that saw Twilight and her family sitting uncomfortably at a conference table in the palace. She looked around the room noticing the number of people. There were a lot of them, guards were positioned around the table, forcing those who were not part of the negotiation back. There were nobles looking on from the edge of the room. They kept whispering to each other, Twilight felt uncomfortable whenever one of them looked at her. There were healers in the room as well. They were tending to the ones that held the most attention in the room.
“I will handle her magic education during the winter months.”
“Acceptable. I will be taking her on training trips during the spring and summer months to continue building her strength and endurance.”
“That is a little long of a period for her to be away from home.”
“You didn’t claim it though.”
The two who were casually discussing her future at that moment. Princess Celestia still managed to exude an aura of power and control. Even if she was currently having her chest bandaged for bruised and fractured ribs. Twilight felt this was also a large part of why so many in the room were yelling when they first came in.
“I was going to allow her time for normal schooling, as well as time for her family.”
“Well I need to make sure her instincts stay sharp. Spending most of the year here isn’t going to help in that matter.”
Teacher kept his eyes on the princess during their negotiation. Not even flinching as the healers applied stitches and salves to the many cuts that now decorated his form.
“Well if you’re not going to be reasonable then I will claim fall and spring as well.”
“Yeah, not happening. I know Twilight and if I left her with you she’d whole herself up in a library.”
Twilight tried not to blush at her teacher’s mostly true statement. It wasn’t like she would ignore her training for books… much.
“Are you suggesting I would be lax in her teachings?”
Twilight flinched as she noticed the Princess’s voice was a bit more heated than it had been since the talks have started.
“Not suggesting anything, that was a statement.”
“Shall we take this back to the field?”
“That sounds fine with me, Princess.”
“WAIT!” it took a few seconds for Twilight to realize she was the one who shouted. Blushing furiously, the little spell-weaver pushed forward, “Why can’t you both just, umm, work together?”
“With this neanderthal?”
“With this stubborn shrew?”
The glares they were throwing each other after their simultaneous response were not heartening. “Well… Then I won’t train from either of you.” Twilight said firmly. There was a moment of silence. That moment grew longer. Twilight began to sweat under the look both Celestia and Ranma were giving her.
“I will be working on her magic in the mornings.”
“I will do her training in the afternoon.”
“Combat magics will also be added to the list, that should help keep her from dulling like you feared.”
“I will move the training trip to spring and fall.”
“I will be joining you during the fall term.”
Twilight only managed a whimper as she listened as her new training plan was crafted.