The lost distance teleportation had taken a lot out of Twilight, and she slept both soundly and much later than usual. Even so, when the light streaming in through the window finally woke her she still had two hours before her appointment with Silver.
She stretched in the bed, kicking the blanket off so she could feel the sunlight against her coat. On any other day, Spike would have woken her by now and she would have needed to sort books or work on her research. Two hours of completely free time was a novelty for her. The lack of responsibility was refreshing, and she reveled in it.
She stayed in bed for ten more minutes, more because she could than because she wanted too, before sliding out and on to her hooves. She grabbed the coin purse from her saddlebags and pushed the door open with a creak. Before she left, she locked the door and slipped the key into her purse. Room secured, she headed downstairs, hoping to find a place to eat.
To her surprise, when she arrived downstairs the familiar bartender was standing in his usual spot. “Morning,” he greeted. “Sleep well?”
Twilight nodded as she approached the bar. “When do you sleep?” she asked quizzically as she hopped up onto a stool.
“I squeeze in an hour or two when I can,” he responded. “Want some breakfast Dusk?”
“If you’ve got something other than hay fries,” she replied with a smile. “My name’s not actually Dusk, by the way. But I'm not sure I should tell you my real one.”
“I know, it’s just a stage name. Trust me, in this neighborhood, you get used to it. Pancakes sound good?” he said, already heading into the back.
“Pancakes sound great,” Twilight answered. “…I just realized I never asked your name,” she called after a thoughtful pause.
“Call me Flurry,” yelled the pegasus over the sound of crockery. "How many do you want?"
"How much are they?" asked Twilight, hefting her coin purse in an attempt to estimate its contents.
"Nothing. I don't usually serve pancakes; we're actually closed. The room comes with breakfast though, and that's about the only breakfast food I know how to make."
"Oh! Well, thank you. That's very nice of you. Will anypony else be joining us?" Twilight asked, glancing towards the stairs she'd come down.
"Doubt it. There's another unicorn staying here, but he usually stays in his room until the sun goes down," Flurry answered from the kitchen. "Quite the sleeper. You probably saw him here last night, dozing in the back."
"Oh, I remember. Do you know if he the same pony that was lying at the bar the first time I was here?"
"Could very well be. He's been staying here for a couple months now. I make more money off him than the rest of my customers combined. Unless you count the money Silver owes me, which I don't."
Twilight giggled. "With how much you complain about his tab, I'm surprised you haven't cut him off. You know, give him a reason to pay."
The sound of frying batter began to drift out the kitchen door. "You mean kick him out? I could never do that. He's been coming here since this place was my uncle's. Besides, I'm doing fine, I don't really need the money. I just like to complain."
"Does that mean I don't have to pay for the table?" Twilight asked hopefully.
"Have you been coming here for thirty years? No? Then yes, you do." Flurry pushed his way out the door, a huge plate of pancakes balanced on his back. "Now I hope you're hungry. I learned the recipe by rote, and it feeds ten."
"Alright, ready for your first day of train..." Silver trailed off as he pushed through the pub door, seeing Twilight lying face down on the bar next to a heaping stack of pancakes. "Oh no, you let him make you pancakes?"
Twilight groaned in response and pried her maple syrup coated face from the bar. "I'm alright. Just give me a few minutes and a glass of water," she mumbled.
"Where the hell is Flurry? He knew we were going to be training today. FLURRY!" Silver shouted.
"Hey, I told her she didn't have to eat them all. She said it'd be rude not to try," Flurry responded, sticking his head out the kitchen door. "Now get her out of here, I have to clean up for the night."
Silver's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Can I at least get a glass of water before you kick your oldest customer out?" he glowered. The face down purple pony chuckled at that.
Flurry disappeared back through the swinging door. "Glasses are under the bar, sink's behind it. Help yourself. Take the pancakes too," he shouted.
Silver grumbled to himself as his horn began to shine. His magic filled a glass with water and grabbed a cloth from a hook. He placed the glass next to Twilight as he soaked the cloth.
Twilight took a grateful sip from the glass, but spluttered and lost the water when the wet cloth slapped against her face. Her own horn lit up, and the cloth flew from her head onto the bar with a splat. "I can wash my own face, thanks."
"Hey, you overeat like a child, I treat you like one. Sit still," Silver ordered, slipping the cloth from her grip and wiping it across her mouth. "What did you do, rub your face on the plate? Holy shit."
"Woah!" Twilight exclaimed, shocked.
The cloth fell back to the bar as Silver jerked in surprise. "What?" he said, eyes wide.
"Is a sticky face really worth using that kind of language?" the purple unicorn reprimanded.
Silver raised an eyebrow. "Shit? Are you serious? Wow, I knew you were sheltered, but I didn't think it was that bad."
Twilight thought back to the locker room, and the way that unicorn had casually swore at her. "...Does everypony talk like that?"
"Around here they do. Especially in this business. So you'd better get used to it," Silver replied, before giving her face one last wipe and heading towards the door. "Well, let's go. I rented a gym to train in," he said, grabbing the plate of pancakes as an afterthought.
Twilight chugged half the glass of water and hurried after him. "Really? A gym?"
Silver grinned, grabbing a patty from the floating plate and lowering it to his mouth. "That may not have been its original purpose, but it's close enough." He took a bite and chewed happily for a moment. "I forgot how good these were. Now, let's talk strategy. What is your greatest strength?" he said, speaking around the mouthful of chewed dough.
"My magical power," Twilight said instantly.
"Wrong," Silver responded, just as quickly. "In fact, that's your weakness."
"What? But I'm the most powerful unicorn currently known according to the standardized tests."
Silver swallowed. "Sure. And that's great." He took another bite. "But when it comes down to it, you're never going to be better at one single spell than a unicorn who's completely focused on it. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Blast Wave overpower you with her spell?" he asked, before stuffing the rest of the pancake into his mouth.
Twilight mumbled something in the affirmative. She wasn't proud of that. "Fine, then what is my greatest strength?"
"No no, that's not how this works. Guess again."
Twilight scrunched up her face in thought. The two walked for another block, both silent except for the sound of Silver's munching. "...My intelligence," she finally said.
"Nope. That's good, but it's not the answer I was looking for." Silver paused for a second, let out a belch, and continued walking. "Think about your special talent. How does it make you different from a pony like Blast Wave?"
Twilight thought about her fight with the green pony. If she had only known force spells, there was no way she would have won. Blast's spell was just too powerful. She couldn't have won without the ability to teleport. Was that the answer he was looking for? Teleportation?
She rejected that answer immediately. Her special talent was magic, not teleportation. Besides, the teleport spell alone wouldn't have let her win. Once she was inside the blast radius, she still needed a way to actually hit Blast Wave. Both spells were crucial to her success.
"Versatility," Twilight said, her voice confident.
"Bingo," Silver responded through a full mouth. He swallowed before continuing. "That's what we're going to focus on. Most of your opponents will be one trick ponies, and as my parents used to say, 'one trick pony's only got one song'. We teach you enough spells, and you should have a counter for anything they can throw at you." He stopped abruptly, turning towards an old dilapidated warehouse. "Here we are!"
Twilight stared at the old building. "This is our gym? It looks like it should be condemned."
"It was," Silver replied, already walking up the front path. "But don't worry, I checked the local records, and it's not due for demolition until next week," he said, slipping through the front door.
"Oh, very funny," Twilight said, trotting up the path. "...That was a joke right?" she pleaded as she pushed through the door after him.
The inside of the warehouse was just as dirty and rickety looking as the outside. Dust gathered on the floor in an uncomfortably thick carpet, and the graffiti that Twilight was beginning to become accustomed to was especially dense.
Silver trotted into the center of the room, his horn slowly beginning to shine as he walked. Just as he reached the center, he turned back to Twilight. "Close your eyes," he said with a grin, as he closed his own.
A blast of air exploded outwards from the blue unicorn, pushing the dust along with it. Twilight just managed to slam her eyelids down before the high pressure wave of irritants nearly sent her spinning. When the wind stopped and she felt it was safe to open her eyes, there was no dust on the floor. It was all in the air.
Twilight coughed heartily, and heard a similar cough from where she had last seen Silver. The swirling dust reduced vision to around three feet and muffled sound, but she could still make out the older pony's distinctive low voice.
"Well," he was saying "I probably should have thought that through a little more." Another series of dry coughs rang out before he managed to speak again. "You're still near the door, right? Can you open it and then talk in front of it so I know where it is?"
Twilight did as said, choking quietly on the dust the entire time. "Alright, I'm in front of the door," she announced.
"Alright, move out of the way. Let's try this again."
The purple unicorn had just cleared the doorway when a much more concentrated blast of air streaked by behind her. It caught the end of her tail and the purple hair snapped against her flank painfully. More importantly, however, it began to pull the dust out of the air and push it out the front door. Twilight closed her eyes once again against the vicious onslaught. When she opened them again, the air was clear and breathable, and dust only remained in the corners of the room that the spell hadn't reached.
"There we go. Much better." Silver grinned. "I may not always get things right the first time, but I figure it out eventually."
"That's a reassuring thing to hear from the stallion that's going to be training me" Twilight said, flattening her hair back into place with her magic.
"Don't worry, I'm much more competent than I look," Silver said breezily, turning to face her. His own mane stuck up in jagged clumps, a fact he was either ignorant of or satisfied with. "Now, what do you want to work on first: Offense or defense?"
"Well... can't we do both? Why don't we..." Twilight paused and reached deep into her meager knowledge of sports terms. "Spar?"
"Spar?" Silver said with a chuckle. "You want to spar with me? Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself?"
"Ahead of myself?" Twilight asked, anger creeping into her voice. "What exactly are you implying?"
"I'm not implying anything. I'm stating it outright. I could beat you without breaking a sweat," Silver said calmly.
The purple pony's voice steadily grew both louder and more indignant. "I beat Blast Wave, didn't I? And I already knocked you silly once!"
"Blast Wave is an amateur, and you hit me once, when I wasn't expecting it, and I couldn't see you. But hey," he said, twisting his neck in a way that produced a deeply disturbing number of cracks and pops. "I can always use a little practice," he finished, setting himself in a low battle stance.
Twilight copied his stance, lowering herself to the ground and gathering magic in her horn. "Then let's see what you've got, old man," she said, grinning nastily.