Brawler wasn't sure what he was expecting when he asked Twilight for magic resistance training, but it definitely didn't involve wearing a helmet with blinking lights that was wired to a machine with more blinking lights while Twilight quadruple checked her foot long checklist.
"For the last time Sparky, NO, the helmet isn't causing me any sort of pain. But if you recheck that list again I'm going to hang myself on these wires," he said.
"Well excuse me for being cautious! If the helmet was placed on you incorrectly your would brain would be continuously electrocuted during experimentation. Now you wouldn't die from it since you're a Pegasus but you would likely pass out from the pain within thirty seconds. Equally disastrous things could happen if any other piece of equipment isn't functioning at 100% capacity so please be quiet and let me finish!" said Twilight.
Brawler decided to shut up. While Twilight finished up her final check he looked around. They were in the basement of Twilight's castle and apparently she had repurposed it as a laboratory. There were big machines with blinking lights all around them and a few tables were covered in test tubes filled with various bubbling chemicals.
Really hoping she doesn't turn out to be the mad scientist type while I'm hooked up to this thing.
"Okay, everything seems to be in working order. Are you ready to begin?" asked Twilight.
"Just pull the bucking switch already," said Brawler.
"Taking control measurement in 3.. 2.. 1.. Begin."
The lights on the helmet started blinking faster and the machine began beeping rapidly. Brawler felt a small tingling sensation going through his skull that seemed to grow as more time passed. Then right as it was starting to become painful the machine make a loud 'DING!' and everything returned to normal.
Brawler blinked a few times.
"Can you remind me why I'm hooked up to this thing?" he asked.
Twilight was examining the lights and screens on the machine the helmet was wired to.
"This machine takes measurements of a pony's inner magic. How strong it is, where it gathers in the subject's body, etc. Your inner magic gathers most in and around your wings, and is slightly weaker than average," she said while writing notes on a clipboard.
"Because I'm a Pegasus who hasn't done weather manipulation for awhile?"
Twilight looked up, surprised.
"Uh, yes, most likely. To be honest I thought your magic would be weaker because you can't have done a lot of flying in that cell."
"I had enough room to hover and to do wing-ups."
"Ah."
Both ponies stayed quiet while Twilight finished her notes. When she finished she trotted to a nearby table, set down the clipboard and picked up another one. She trotted back over to him.
"Um, we'll have to do this two more times," she said.
"Once with you holding me with magic and then once with me resisting it?" asked Brawler.
"U-um, yes! How'd you know?"
"Sparky, I'm not a dumbass."
"I didn't mean that! It's just, I haven't met a whole lot of ponies who know about the scientific method. How do you know about it?"
"Ugh, my Father liked to experiment with the weather. Just stupid shit like 'how does a rainbow react to being hit with a force zero tornado?'. He'd lecture about it at dinner and occasionally drag me along to watch. Then later he would quiz me about variables," Brawler sighed, "It was boring, but at least back then he cared."
"Back then? You mean he doesn't now?" asked Twilight.
Brawler scowled.
"Forget it."
"But-"
"I said forget it!" said Brawler, raising his voice slightly.
Twilight narrowed her eyes, but nodded. They stared at each other for a few moments.
"Can I sit down for the next two tests?" asked Brawler.
Twilight blinked, then shook herself.
"Of course. That doesn't cause any magic interference so go ahead."
Brawler sat and Twilight prepped the machine for the next measurement.
"Now this test requires you not to resist, are you okay with that?" asked Twilight.
No.
"I'll live," said Brawler.
Twilight nodded and slowly wrapped him in a low powered telekinesis spell. Brawler grit his teeth, but kept his temper under control.
"Beginning measurement in 3.. 2.. 1.. Begin!"
Once again the lights blinked and the machine beeped and once again Brawler felt his brain tingle. It was easier to ignore this time since he knew what to expect, so he focused more on keeping his anger under control. After about two minutes the machine dinged and Twilight released him. Brawler let out a sigh of relief while Twilight took notes on the machine.
Neither of them talked this time. Twilight simply finished her notes then went to get her third clipboard.
"Alright for this last test I'll attempt to hold you with the same strength telekinesis as before. You put up as strong a resistance as you can, it won't matter whether or not you break free," said Twilight as she trotted back.
"Maybe to you it won't," muttered Brawler.
Twilight didn't hear the comment.
"Now I know that while you resist you tend to get angry, if you do so here please direct your rage on something other than me. I quite like my teeth."
Brawler chuckled.
"You've been brainstorming my kind of jokes to get on my good side haven't you? Anyway I quite like life outside of prison so you're safe."
"Alright, please don't start resisting until after the measurement has begun," said Twilight as she wrapped him in telekinesis, "Beginning final measurement in 3.. 2.. 1.. Begin!"
Brawler immediately started growling. It wasn't just that he tended to get angry when he resisted, anger was the only way he knew how to resist. He let all his angry thoughts out.
She's taking away your freedom! She's Sunshine's student! She's gonna try and 'convert' you to be a bucking pussy in the name of peace unless you break out right now!
Despite all these angry thoughts, Brawler couldn't bring himself to hate Twilight. He didn't consider her a friend, but every time he tried to convince himself to hate her the image of her defending him popped into his mind.
Okay, can't hate Sparky, I'll hate somepony else.
He pictured that bastard of a guard standing in front of him. That stupid smug grin and 'higher than thou' attitude, then he pictured the bastard's horn glowing.
"GRRAAAH!"
Something exploded inside Brawler, he felt the spell shatter off of him and he lunged at his imaginary opponent. He was slightly shocked when he felt his hoof punch nothing but air. Then he remembered what he was doing and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. When he turned back to Twilight he saw that she had fallen on her haunches and was rubbing her forehead in pain.
"Shit, Sparky are you alright?" he asked, trotting to her side.
Twilight groaned.
"Migraine. Uggh, alright, I think it's passed."
Brawler helped her up.
"You sure you're okay?" he asked.
"Yes, it's just a mild headache now," Twilight rubbed her forehead once more then gave Brawler a weak smile, "I suppose I should've expected having my magic being blown apart to be a bit painful."
"Heh, well, did you at least get the data you needed?" asked Brawler.
"Let me check," Twilight walked over the the machine and examined it, "Yes I did. I'll copy it all down and I tell you my conclusions as soon as I finish examining it. You might want to head upstairs, it'll take me about ten minutes. You can grab a snack from the kitchen while you wait."
"Alright, thanks," Brawler turned and headed for the stairs. As he trotted out of the basement he heard Twilight talking to herself.
"Showed genuine concern for me when I was injured, that's progress at least."
Brawler shook his head.
Sheesh, does she keep notes on EVERYTHING she does?
Brawler wasn't hungry so he headed back to the castle's library, sat at a table and waited.
Ten minutes later Twilight arrived at the table with a folder full of notes.
"Well, I managed to figure out just exactly what you're doing to resist telekinesis, and a way for you to make it more efficient," she said.
"Great, let's hear it," said Brawler, leaning forward.
Twilight sat down and pulled a few diagrams out of the folder. The first one was the silhouette of Brawler surrounded by a thin, squiggly, purple, line. The second was almost exactly the same, but now there was a red squiggly line between the silhouette and the purple line. The last diagram showed the red line pushing out away from the silhouette and the purple line shattering.
"The first diagram is me holding you without you resisting, the second is me holding you while you resist, and the third is you breaking free," said Twilight, "The lines represent magic and are color coded to our fur color."
"So, I'm basically just pushing magic out?" asked Brawler.
"That's the basic explanation, yes. Now you're pushing magic out from everywhere, in order to break free you only need to disrupt a small area of the spell."
"So I'm being really inefficient."
"Yes, I calculated the strength of the push and found that if you were a Unicorn lifting something you'd only manage to move something like a rather large book. I was holding you with the strength needed to lift a clipboard so you broke free."
Brawler sighed.
I gotta long way to go.
"All you need to do to improve efficiency is condense your magic into a smaller area and then push it out. I would recommend one of your wings since that's where your magic gathers naturally," said Twilight.
"Slow down Sparky, I barely know how to just push magic out. All I do is get really pissed then it just happens. How am I supposed to condense magic into one spot if I can't control it?" asked Brawler.
Twilight rubbed her chin.
"Hmm. Well if a Unicorn is overcome with powerful emotions they'll involuntarily cast a weak spell. I suppose that's your current method of escaping but I don't know how to teach you about basic magic control. It'd be like Spike trying to explain how he uses his thumbs," she said.
"I thought Unicorns went to school to learn magic," said Brawler.
"Manipulating magic to one's horn is easy, the mental steps required to shape magic inside the horn are difficult," explained Twilight.
"Okay, okay, I get it. Easy as breathing for you, almost impossible for me," said Brawler.
"Well, I wouldn't go that far. Once you locate the magic inside yourself manipulating it should be a breeze. It's just how do you find it? Hmm," Twilight tapped her hoof on the table while she thought.
Brawler tried to come up with ideas but he had absolutely no idea what to do. After about a minute, Twilight's eyes lit up.
"I got it! Meditation!" she exclaimed.
"Meditation?"
"Clearing one's mind and listening to their body. I sometimes do it to calm down or to locate all the magic inside me if I'm about to perform a spell that will drain my reserves," she explained.
"So if I, 'clear my mind', I'll be able to feel my magic and learn to move it around inside me?" asked Brawler.
"In theory at least, hold on," Twilight vanished with a flash of light, then reappeared with a book five seconds later.
"Here, this should help," she said, floating the book over to him.
"Magic 101?" he asked, leafing through a few pages.
"Chapter four is all about meditation. Various techniques, what you'll feel when doing it right, stuff like that. It should help a lot," said Twilight.
Brawler closed the book.
"Well thanks for everything Sparky but I think I've had enough magic for one day," he stood up, "Can I borrow the book?"
"Of course, this is still a library. Do you need anything else?" asked Twilight.
"Actually yeah," said Brawler, "Can you tell me where to find Dashie and Pinks? I wanna set up sparring matches with them for tomorrow."
"Oh, um," Twilight shifted uncomfortably, "Right, well Rainbow Dash lives in the biggest cloud house in Ponyville so you can't miss it. And Pinkie lives and works at Sugarcube Corner, which is shaped like a large gingerbread house so you should be able to see it from Rainbow Dash's house."
"Thanks," Brawler put the book under his wing (he had left his saddle bags at the dojo) and turned to leave, but then he turned back.
"Don't be too worried about your friends Sparky, they're the closest thing to friends I got and I don't want to lose them."
"You don't think you're fully friends yet?" asked Twilight.
"We've barely known each other for a day and I really don't want to jinx it," Brawler turned again and trotted for the exit, "See ya later Sparky."
"Bye Brawler."'
He exited the castle and headed back to the dojo. It took him ten minutes to get there and he saw the sun was now hanging low in the sky.
Huh, spent longer at Sparky's than I thought.
He put the book on a shelf in the library then walked back out and looked up. It only took him about a minute to find Rainbow Dash's cloud house and then another minute to fly over to it. He knocked on the door and waited. A few moments later Rainbow Dash opened it.
"Oh hey Brawler," she suppressed a yawn, "Need something?"
"Just making sure you're still up for the sparring match tomorrow," said Brawler.
Rainbow Dash smirked.
"When and where shall I kick your flank Brawly-boy?" she asked.
They chuckled.
"At the dojo around noon. Oh, and a few fillies who call themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders are going to watch, you okay with that?"
Rainbow Dash shrugged.
"Sure, why not? But, squirt might hate you a bit after we're done."
"Who?"
"Scootaloo. She's like my little sister, and she's not gonna like you kicking my flank tomorrow," said Rainbow Dash.
"I thought you were gonna kick mine," said Brawler.
"Come on Brawly-boy we both know that's not gonna happen for awhile," said Rainbow Dash.
"Well step one is confidence, Dashie. And if you're looking for advice try some aerial attacks, you might be a bit of a fighter but anypony can tell you're a flyer before anything else."
"Only a bit of a fighter?"
"I beat you in less than two minutes last time."
"Oh buck you... But thanks, I'll keep that in mind tomorrow. See ya then," said Rainbow Dash.
"See ya."
Rainbow Dash closed the door then Brawler looked over the edge of the cloud. After a few moments of searching he saw the giant gingerbread house and flew down to it. He saw that the place was still open so he trotted inside. A yellow Earth pony stallion was behind the front desk and he looked up when he heard the door.
"Hello sir, welcome to Sugarcube Corner! How may I help you today?" the stallion asked.
"I'm looking for Pinks, she around?" asked Brawler.
"You mean Pinkie? She's in the kitchen right now but she should be done in a few minutes. In the mean time can I get you anything?" the stallion gestured to the many pastries around the room.
Brawler's mouth watered.
"I left my bits at home," he said.
"Oh, Pinkie always insists on giving a free sample to new ponies. Take your pick."
Brawler tried not to stare at all the delicious looking deserts around him, he failed miserably.
They're nothing but sugar and bread. You start eating them too often you'll lose all your muscle.
He had already eaten more deserts than he was usually comfortable with when he had escaped from the dungeon. Apparently Celestia had one hell of a sweet tooth, there had been three different cakes in that lunch.
Work it all off, then come back. Work it all off, then come back.
After chanting the sentence in his head a few times he opened his mouth, then caught a whiff of peanut butter. He caved.
"You got any peanut butter bars?" he asked.
"Plain or with chocolate?"
"With chocolate."
"Coming right up." The stallion walked from the desk to behind the counter, ducked beneath it, then came up holding a plate with a chocolate peanut butter bar. The stallion placed it on top of the counter.
"Here ya go."
Brawler trotted over and grabbed the plate.
"Thanks." he said. Then he walked over to a booth and sat down. He stared at the treat for awhile, then shoved it into his mouth. He tried to savor it, he really did.
But it's so bucking good!
He swallowed it after a few quick bites, and immediately wanted another one.
NO! I've already had enough desert for the next month. I don't need anymore. That bar was still pretty damn tasty though.
"I like it when you smile." Pinkie's voice shook Brawler out of his thoughts. He looked up and saw her sitting in front of him... after appearing out of nowhere.
I'm gonna have to get used to that.
"Well I like it when anypony smiles but you don't smile that often so it's extra special," she continued.
"What do you mean? You've seen me smile plenty of times," said Brawler.
"No silly, I've seen you GRIN plenty of times, there's a difference," said Pinkie.
Brawler decided to follow Applejack's advice and not question Pinkie's logic.
"So why'd you smile when you ate the bar?" asked Pinkie.
"Uh, it was just really good I guess," said Brawler.
"No backstory connected reason?" asked Pinkie.
"What?"
"Did the taste of the bar make you all nostalgic for a time before the story started?"
It's Pinkie, don't question it.
"No, it was just really good."
"Not really yummy?"
"Pinks, can you picture a guy like me saying the word yummy?"
"Sure I can, you just did!"
Brawler sighed.
"Never mind. I came here to ask if you were free for a sparring match tomorrow," he said.
"I thought you were sparring with Dashie," said Pinkie.
"Yeah, but the more the merrier right?" said Brawler.
"Okay! I should have enough free time for a few fights. Where are we gonna do it?"
"At the dojo around noon. Oh, and some kids calling themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders are gonna watch."
"Okay! I'll bring some snacks."
Brawler chuckled.
"Alright Pinks," He stood up, "I'll see you then."
"Later Brawly!"
Pinkie bounced back to the kitchen and Brawler trotted out the door. He paused when he stepped outside.
Do I have anything else to do today?
He tapped his foot, then nodded.
Right, buy some real food.
He flew back to the dojo to grab his bag, then flew to the market. He wandered through the booths and eventually bought a bag of carrots from an orange mare for five bits. He put the carrots in his saddle bag then flew back to the dojo. Once he was inside he decided to move the sofa to the empty storage room, after he did that he sat down and munched on one of the carrots.
Note to self: Return the cart to the store tomorrow.
Once he had finished a few carrots he decided to take a closer look at the dojo. He had only really spent time in the library and storage room, it was time to check out the sparring hall and workout room. The storage room was next to the weight room and library so he headed to the workout room first.
The room, like the others, was the size of a large living room. It had a bench with a set of barbells, a large collection of dumbbells, a chin-up bar, and, much to Brawler's delight, several punching bags. The bags had hooks on the top of them and when Brawler looked up he saw that there were also hooks on the low ceiling. Brawler grabbed a bag and flew up to attach it to the ceiling. Once it was attached he landed and hit the bag with a few quick jabs, then he looked around the room. It was spacious enough for one pony to be using each piece of equipment and for one more to do planks or push ups/wing ups on the floor.
Not that that many ponies would be in here at once, but still nice.
He then moved to the sparring hall, which was also the entrance room. Brawler briefly wondered why he didn't remember much about the hall since he walked through it every time he came back to the dojo, then he looked around and saw why. The sparring hall was very bare bones. All it was was a wood panel floor with black tape outlining a square that was sixteen square feet. There was a bit of carpeting on the wall to the left of the entrance for spectators but other than that the room was plain. Brawler paced back and forth across the square a few times. A few of the boards creaked but thankfully none were loose.
Well it's better than nothing I guess. Still, a real ring would be nice. Wonder how long it would take to save up for one?
Brawler shook his head. With his current employment it would probably take a few years. A big part of him doubted Sunshine would let him stay free for that long.
She already tried guards, it's only a matter of time before she tries something else.
He looked out the window and saw that the sun was about to set. He turned and trotted back to the storage room.
Moping about it won't do any good. Enjoy freedom now, worry about Sunshine later.
He reached the sofa and laid down on it. As he was getting comfortable he glanced at the library. The book Magic 101 was on a shelf in there.
"Eehh," Brawler rolled onto his side and closed his eyes, "I'll read it tomorrow."
He fell into a dreamless sleep in five minutes.
Up in the clouds, a different Pegasus decided to stay awake for a few hours. Something that she definitely wasn't used to.
Rainbow Dash let out a long yawn, then slapped herself.
Come on, you're almost finished.
She was sculpting the model of a pony in clouds. The clouds she was using were building class 2, so they were solid but had some give to them. (About as much give as a sandbag, as a matter of fact.) She finished scraping some fluff off the top of the model's head, then tossed the cloud chisel away and looked her work over. The body was roughly the shape of Brawler's but it didn't have wings. She also hadn't bothered sculpting any hair or a tail so it only really looked like Brawler if she squinted.
Not that it matters.
She got into her karate stance and started throwing quick jabs at the training dummy. As she hoped, the clouds were solid enough to retain their shape, but not so solid that it was like hitting concrete. She started throwing in the occasional spin kick, or side step. She wanted her form to be perfect for tomorrow's match.
Rainbow Dash didn't think she'd win tomorrow by any means, but she wanted to put up a good fight. For one thing, Scootaloo would be watching, and Rainbow Dash knew her little sis would be heartbroken if Brawler beat her as easily as their first match. But the other thing was that Rainbow Dash wanted Brawler's respect. Yeah, part of her was still scared of him, but she couldn't deny that he was really good at fighting. An activity that was second only to flying in her book.
Both of these things made her really want to last longer than a lousy two minutes.
Rainbow Dash stopped throwing punches and started hopping from back hoof to back hoof in front of the dummy, keeping her front hooves up.
Brawler's advice came back to her.
Try some aerial attacks.
Rainbow Dash took off and dive bombed the dummy three times. Once punching the front of the head, the next kicking the side of the body, then finally slamming the top of her back hooves onto the dummy's back from above. She jumped off the dummy and frowned as it reformed.
He'll be expecting that. They're all really obvious and he probably already has a plan to keep me on the ground.
Rainbow Dash tapped her hoof and grit her teeth.
I need to attack him and take off at the same time, how the buck do I do that?
She ran through the list of moves she knew and tried to picture herself taking off while doing them. For awhile, nothing clicked, then she remembered Brawler's uppercut. That was upward motion if she ever saw it, and Karate had a few similar punches.
Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin.
That punch hurt like hell.
She glanced at her wings and flapped them a few times.
With a little wing power, I bet even Brawler's gonna be reeling.
She crouched down, her right hoof beneath the dummy's chin, readied her wings, then shot upward. Her hoof smashed into the dummy's chin and her wing beats pushed her up a few inches above the dummy's head. Rainbow Dash looked down and saw that she was now facing sideways to the dummy.
Mmph, no good. I can't immediately follow up with a dive bomb now.
She glanced at her left hoof.
Maybe both at once?
She landed, walked back in front of the dummy, crouched down, readied both her hooves and her wings, then shot upward. Both her hooves connected to the dummy's chin and she felt herself take off. But this time the punch made her lean backward, so much so that she had to backflip to correct herself.
Once she had her bearings she looked down and saw that the dummy's attachments to the 'ground' cloud had stretched a bit.
"Hmm."
Rainbow Dash flew down, grabbed her cloud chisel, then detached the dummy from the ground. She tossed the chisel away and crouched down, readying the punch. Then once more she shot upward, hit the dummy it's chin, then quickly used her momentum to backflip. She looked for the dummy.
It was airborne.
Rainbow Dash grinned.
She sped forward, grabbed the dummy's chest in mid air, then slammed it into the ground. She picked her front half up then punched the dummy's face.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Rainbow Dash started panting and got off the dummy. She shook her head. It took her a few moments to regain control of her breathing. Once she did she broke down the dummy (planning to make a better one later), grabbed her cloud chisel and headed inside. She set the chisel on a table then trotted upstairs to her room.
When she got there she collapsed onto the bed, and stared up at the ceiling. It felt like a lot was going to happen tomorrow, yet her fight with Brawler wouldn't even take ten minutes.
Heh, well I guess a hell of a lot's going to happen in those few minutes.
She rolled onto her side, and started thinking about Scootaloo. Unless Rainbow Dash had a little heart to heart with the kid tomorrow she was gonna be disappointed. And even if she understood that her idol wasn't gonna win, she'd be more than disappointed if Brawler won easily.
I might not beat you tomorrow Brawly-boy but you're gonna have to bucking EARN your victory.