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// 11 - Guarding Bodies 
// Story: A Dangerous Sparkle 
// by David Silver 
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The next morning, Spike and Twilight roused together. They had been lodged in the same small room. There was a desk with writing equipment, and a double bunk bed. While not as spacious as their old home by far, it was enough to rest their weary heads at the end of the day. Light was provided by strange torches that burned without heat. They could be covered to suppress the light, and no smoke or burning would escape a simple cloth covering.

They compared notes of their training with bright faces. Twilight started eagerly, "The arcane writing they use here is almost identical to what we use! I guess magic is a constant."

As she tapped her chin in thought, Spike leaned over from the top bunk he was perched in, "I got to fight with Fast Shadow." At Twilight's shocked expression, he held up a claw, "At her request! It was a sparring fight, but she didn't hold back. We were kinda tearing into each other pretty good."

Twilight raised a brow at him, "You look pretty good for 'tearing into' each other."

Spike wobbled a claw in the air, "More of that divine magic stuff. It's really good for healing. So what'd you learn besides penmanship?"

Twilight snorted, "It was only the first day, and he put me to bed like a foal. I would have stayed up studying all night long! There's so much to learn and I have to figure out the spell to get us home eventually."

"Eventually?" asked Spike with a dubious tone.

Twilight shuffled her hooves guiltily, "Well I do want to learn that magic. Think of the benefits it could have back home! We could mend injuries, make diseases take a hike, all kinds of things!"

Spike snorted softly as he dropped off his bunk and landed on the ground beside the bed, "And what makes you think it'll work there?"

Twilight raised a hoof, "I have a theory! Since the power comes from the gods, and the gods don't even live in this world, I should be able to reach them from any world, once I learn how." She clapped her fore-hooves together in an eager motion before grinding them against  one another in a slow scheming motion, "Just think. I'll be the one bringing Celestia and Luna a whole new kind of magic. This will make Starswirl's lost spell almost pale in comparison."

Spike didn't look entirely convinced, but the manic gleam in Twilight's eyes told him arguing would be fruitless. "Well, good luck learning the basics first. They won't call back Dawn until you're done."

Twilight's expression soured as she flopped onto her belly on the soft bed, "I know, I know... I wish they'd get straight to it."

There was a knock on the door before it swung open, revealing Under Score. "Ah, you are awake. Good. I expect you in the library in half an hour. Go get something to eat."

As Spike gave a sharp salute, Under shook his head, "Not you. Fast Shadow has more training in mind for you. You are already a talented scribe and 'number one assistant', we hardly need to work on that. You would do well to eat as well though. She will find you in the commons."

Spike felt a combination of feelings, wanting to go with Twilight out of habit and comfort, but also wanting to learn what Fast was offering. "You sure you're gonna be OK, Twilight?"

Twilight snagged him with a fetlock and brought him over for a quick hug, "We've both got to do our best. Besides, Under won't let me do any independent research for the first week."

Under addended, "If you perform your duties well."

Twilight looked all the more resolved, "I don't plan to fail a test now. Let's fuel up and get started."

Under excused himself, and the two friends quickly dressed themselves before moving to the common area with all the pillows. Food had already been set out in a buffet style spread on a long table for anypony that wanted any, or should that be anyone? Besides the faces they were familiar with, one of the winged felines was present, nibbling on some food of her own.

While Twilight went off to eat voraciously and start her study, Spike approached the new figure, raising a claw. "Hi there. We haven't met before. I'm Spike."

She looked him over from top to bottom, swallowing her food with almost purposeful slowness. "First dragon I've seen in the Seekers," she said with a sultry tone, "My name is Sasha, young one. I'm sure we will meet again." She pushed away from the table she was close to and moved past Spike, brushing him with her long tail before she was gone.

Spike scratched behind his head with some confusion before Fast appeared at his side. "Have you eaten yet?"

"Not yet," quickly reported Spike, spinning to face her.

"Good. I would knock it out of you anyway. Save it for lunch." She flicked her head towards the exit and turned to go. Spike, though nervous, followed after her.

They went out and around the building to where they had worked the evening before. Spike could see where he had left his blood alongside hers still in the dirt and it made him shiver. "So, uh, are we Seekers now?"

Fast shook her head as she moved towards a crate, prying it open with the end of her long lance, "Of course not. You have not yet chosen to. We've decided to lend a hoof because, to be frank, you interest us. You are plane walkers, but clearly not outsiders. We have very little information on the other worlds, other, how do they say..." She drew out a straw mockery of a pony and began to drive its wooden legs into the ground, "Other prime worlds, or planes. But let's not get distracted by that. That's for wizards and scholars to argue about. We're warriors."

She advanced on Spike and began nudging him towards the dummy, "We protect, we fight, and we keep our heads clear of little things like politics. Today, this little dummy is your friend. Pretend she is Miss Sparkle, head in the clouds, and mind on some amazing new spell she just has to learn."

Spike snorted at the mental image before poking the dummy  he was now standing aside. "Alright. What do I do with her?"

"You protect her," she instructs simply before moving her lance to poke the dummy, "And she's hurt. You're going to have to do far better than that."

Spike gasped, "No F..." he trailed off as Fast gave him a dark look. "Right, no such thing as fair in a fight. Alright, come on." He swiped aside her lance and snapped at her, forcing her back a step.

"That's better. If I'm busy fighting you, I'm not poking her," she encouraged, lashing out at him with a hoof-blade smoothly. Spike noticed it was adorned with her trinkets again, making counter attacking much more difficult. "But that's only the first step."

The two pressed on vigorously as the sun rose higher into the sky. With her jewelry in place, Spike found that scoring marks on her was a much rarer thing, and she scored a frustratingly large number of hits on the Twilight dummy. A sudden charge had her backing away when she suddenly held up a hoof. "Just a moment. Those horns, have you tried using them?"

Spike looked up at them but shook his head, "They used to just be fins. They became more like horns when I got here." He suddenly grinned, "Guess I'm more of a spike now."

Fast Shadow rolled her eyes at the pun, "Funny, but not what I'm going for. You have horns, you should use them. They look sharp enough to discourage someone. Hold still a moment." She raised a hoof and pressed the frog of her hoof gently against one of the horns just to yank it back swiftly, "Ooo, yes, very sharp. You're doing yourself a disservice not using all the weapons given to you."

They returned to battle, but Spike was eager to learn, and began trying to catch her on the horns whenever the opportunity presented itself. He had become a dangerous ball of spikes and electricity, enough to keep even the seasoned warrior constantly on her guard as he pushed her further and further from the Twilight dummy. Apparently feeling Spike had learned enough of general placement, she suddenly bolted. Leaping over the dragon and lashing out a hind hoof that more stung than actually injured him, she was past him and ran her lance deep into the dummy. "Your enemy will not always oblige you to a one on one fight. Of course," she spun around to face him again, "Such charges leave the defenses open. You have to be ready to take advantage of them. I should have lost my belly leaping over you like that, but here I am, guts intact."

Spike blanched at the mental image of hurting Fast in such a way, which only drove her into soft laughter. "If you're afraid of hurting, or being hurt, you can't be a warrior. I'm not here for you to be soft on me." She directed a hoof at the building they were beside, "There are plenty enough healers in there to tend to our ouchies, so you should treat me as a deadly enemy."

As she spoke, Spike suddenly washed her in a curtain of crackling force. Though caught mid-speech, she was still fast enough to avoid the worst of it, and came in with her lance leveled. Spike tried to knock the weapon aside, but it found purchase in his arm and he went down under her, the weapon piercing deeply and pinning him to the ground. He howled with pain and bore his teeth at her, looking like he was getting ready to blast her again.

She drew the lance back swiftly and brought down her hoof between his legs in a sudden and impolite strike. Spike's electric breath fizzled out as he curled into a ball of misery and began to cry. This was far more pain than he remembered suffering before with his perforated arm and abused groin.

"Walk it off," said Fast, but her tone was soft and caring, the acidic bite gone. "Come on, I think it's time we freshened up, and you can have that food I denied you earlier."

Spike wobbled to his feet, world spinning and stomach roiling with nausea. "Not sure... I want food right now."

Fast reached down, grabbing him at the nape of the neck and tossing him up onto her back, "That's why I didn't let you eat breakfast. Come on, you earned a break." she said in an encouraging tone, taking the injured dragon inside to recover.