Twilight stared at the upside down scarred face that hovered in front of her. Its one good eye was creased with amusement, and a small smug smile played across its lips.
"Well, I'd say I won," Silver gloated, before glancing down at his coat. "Oh, and would you look at that. I'm not even sweating. Unless I'm mistaken, that makes me right."
Twilight grunted angrily through clenched teeth.
"Doesn't it?" he prompted.
"...yes," Twilight replied. "Happy now?"
"Oh, you're not getting off that easy. Repeat after me: I, Twilight Sparkle, was wrong to question Silver Chimes," the blue unicorn said, his smile growing with every word.
"...I, Twilight Sparkle, was wrong to question Silver Chimes," Twilight muttered under her breath.
"He beat me easily, and is much, much better at this then I am."
"He... beat me easily, and is much better at this then I am."
Silver took a step towards the purple unicorn and arched an eyebrow. "Now say I'm a young, handsome stallion," he said with a grin.
"Let me down you jerk!" Twilight snapped.
Silver stepped back with a sigh. "I guess some things are just too much of a stretch," he said sadly as the glow in his horn abruptly vanished.
The telekinetic force that had been holding Twilight upside down against the wall slipped away, and she fell forwards. She struggled desperately to land on her feet, but her thrashing just flipped her further. She ended up making a complete rotation and landing on her back, where she promptly rolled on to her side and vomited.
"And that's why we don't eat our weight in pancakes before training," Silver said. "Get up."
"I can't. You broke my ribs," Twilight moaned, rolling onto her back, away from the foul smelling bile.
"No I didn't. The force I hit you with was barely enough to crack a rib, let alone break one," Silver said, rolling his eyes.
"You cracked my ribs then," said the purple pony.
Silver sighed, but trotted up next to her. His horn lit up and the red glow scraped the vomit off the floor and out a window before he leaned over the prone mare. He reached out with a hoof and pushed down on her top left rib. He trailed down her body, pushing each rib in turn, and then pushed his way up the other side. "You're fine, get up," he said when he had reached the opposite side of her neck.
"How do you know?" Twilight asked, not moving in the slightest.
"Because at that force, if I had pushed on a cracked rib, you would have screamed," Silver explained in a patient voice.
"...I want to retake the test."
"Nope. On your hooves."
Twilight slowly heaved herself back upright, thinking unkind things the entire way. Her chest was bruised, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the beating her ego had taken. She tried to quiet the anger that bubbled quietly in her stomach, but her efforts weren't helped by the cocky look on the face of the stallion that had trounced her so easily.
"That little battle, short as it was, did show me what we have to work on," Silver said, placing himself across from the purple pony. "Offense. So you're going to try and hit me."
Twilight smiled despite herself. This seemed like a good opportunity to even the scales. Her horn began to glow as she gathered her magic, watching the older pony as he watched her. He was slowly shifting his weight from side to side, the regular motion making him appear dizzy.
As suddenly as she could, Twilight lowered her head, aimed her horn towards Silver, and let loose a blast of pure magic. She snapped her head back up just in time to see Silver standing three feet to the left with his horn shining before a floorboard sprang up and slapped her in the face.
She gritted her teeth against the stinging pain and aimed another blast as fast as she could. Once again she was rewarded with the sound of Silver's hooves dancing across the floor and another plank to the face. A growl rose unbidden in Twilight's throat as she stared up at the grinning stallion. He continued to sway exactly as he had before, but for some reason the purple unicorn now found the movement infuriating.
She lowered her head and unleashed a series of wild, uncontrolled blasts in the general direction of her trainer. She produced burst after burst until spots danced in front of her eyes and her forehead began to go numb from the magical blow back. When she looked up Silver was nowhere to be seen.
"Sloppy," came a voice from her side, moments before a board rose up and smacked her hard under the tail. She tilted forward, sticking out her front hooves to save her face, but her efforts proved futile when the board she was falling towards rose up to smack her nose a third time.
The sudden shock sent Twilight spiraling to the side, landing heavily on her flank. Her already bruised ribs twinged with pain, and she squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them again, a small pool of blood was spreading out from her face, and she could feel something wet dripping down her battered muzzle.
"How are you so fast!?" she screamed in frustration, wiping her face with a hoof as she sat up. Her anger was briefly interrupted when she wondered if the blood would wash out of the longer fur of her ankles.
"I'm not fast, you're blatant," Silver said. "You were classically trained, and it shows."
Twilight leaned over and spat on the floor. "What does that mean?" she asked, relieved to see that her saliva lacked any tinge of red. "Are you saying the princess taught me wrong?"
"No, no, of course not. I may not agree with the princess about everything, but I'm sure she taught you well." Silver trotted towards Twilight, horn shimmering, and the mare felt the board she was sitting on push her onto her feet. "She just didn't teach you for this. Show me your casting stance."
Twilight set her legs farther apart and bent her knees slightly just as Celestia had taught her. She had earned several compliments in Canterlot for her perfect stance. She was sturdy and unshakable in that position; she could stand through an earthquake.
Silver kicked one of her front hooves out from under her, sending her crashing down onto her already bleeding face. "What the hay!?" she snapped, her eyes blazing as she lifted her head from the ground.
"The phrase is 'what the hell'. Use it properly. See something wrong with what just happened?"
"Yeah, you kicked me," Twilight deadpanned, gingerly poking at her nose with the tip of a hoof.
"And you went down like a sack of bricks. Don't set yourself like that, it leaves you too vulnerable. You want to stay mobile," Silver said, bouncing lightly from hoof to hoof as he spoke. "Oh, and you know how you lower your head to attack?"
Twilight began to imitate his light swaying, biting her lip as she concentrated. "Yes, channeling magic straight down your horn improves both power and accuracy," she said, reciting a long ago lesson.
"Which would be great if it didn't make you effectively blind while you did it," Silver replied, sitting down heavily. "Don't do it."
Twilight slowed in her swaying, staring at the blue unicorn thoughtfully.
"I didn't say stop swaying," Silver said.
Twilight's eyes narrowed, and her horn pulsed as a blast of force left it at a right angle and slammed into the older pony. The blow hit hard, and drove him onto his back where he slid almost ten feet.
"Hah! Got you!" Twilight yelled, leaping giddily to her hooves. "Not so smug now, are you?"
Silver didn't say anything. In fact, he didn't move. He just lay on the ground, legs splayed and eyes closed. Twilight couldn't even see his chest move.
"Si... Silver?" she asked, slowly stepping towards him. "Are you alright?"
There was no response.
Twilight burst into a run and slid to a stop at his feet. "Oh no, oh no, oh no, I knew you were old but I never thought-"
A pair of hooves hit her in the chest and she tumbled backwards. She skidded to a stop on her stomach and was about to get up when a hoof on her spine pushed her back down to the floor. "Nice sneak attack," Silver said lightly. "Mine was better."
"I thought you were de- Hurt!" Twilight said, squirming out from under his hoof.
"I know. Honestly, I'm a little insulted. Exactly how old do you think I am?" Silver asked. "Actually, don't answer that. Just for that, we're working on defense now." He smiled a little too wide, his horn beginning to light up. "Get ready to dodge."
Twilight leaped into the air, throwing herself to the side as fast as she could. It turned out to not be quite fast enough, however, and the bolt of swirling colors caught her a glancing blow on the flank. The force sent her spinning through the air, coat stinging from the impact.
Through luck more than skill, she landed on her hooves and kept her footing, skidding across the floor. She ended up facing away from her trainer, but had learned from hard experience that she shouldn't turn to look back at him. Instead, she flung herself into the air again.
The expected blast never came however, and when she landed facing Silver, he was looking not at her but at the door.
"Stop moving," he whispered, holding up a hoof.
"You're not tricking me with tha-" Twilight began, before a magical clamp snapped her jaw shut. "Mmmm!"
"Shut up!" Silver hissed, horn glowing.
Twilight looked towards the door, and the sound of rushing blood in her ears was replaced by voices. "...looking to let it go for up for upwards of half a million," was all she heard before Silver began whispering to her again.
"We have to go. Now," he said, glancing frantically around the warehouse. "That window," he continued, pointing at a large dirty window ten feet off the ground.
"What? Why do we have to go?" Twilight asked, trotting after the stallion as he headed towards the wall.
"Well, you know when I said I rented a gym? What I actually meant is that I found what I thought was an abandoned warehouse."
"Where'd all this dust come from?" came another voice from outside the door.
"Silver..." Twilight growled.
"You know a shield spell?" the stallion asked, looking up at the window.
"Of course, the best in the-"
"Use it," Silver ordered, stamping a foot on the floorboards as his horn let out a supernova of light. The floor under Twilight buckled and snapped, pushing on all her hooves simultaneously and sending her flying up towards the window.
The abruptly airborne mare barely managed to cast the shield spell her brother had taught her before she flew through the window, the glass shattering on the purple bubble. The spell lasted just long enough to protect her flesh from the filthy glass before it failed, and Twilight ended up tangled in the limbs of a tall oak.
Silver backed up from the wall and sized up the distance from the floor to the recently shattered window.
"Hey! What's going on in here!?" yelled a pony behind him.
The scarred pony glanced back with his good eye, smiling easily. Two ponies stood in the doorway with shocked looks on their faces. "Word of advice? Don't pay half a mil. This place is not stable, and somepony broke a window," he said, before charging the towards the wall. He concentrated on the air around him, gathered his magic, leaped as high as he could, and pushed downwards.
The burst of air pushed him higher than he could have gone on his own, and he sailed through the window. The shattered glass left a small nick on one of his knees, but another quick air spell straightened out his trajectory and softened his landing on the other side. His stinging knee gave out underneath him as he landed, and he fell onto his side.
"I am getting too old for this..." he muttered, heaving himself off the ground. "Alright, let's get out of... Twilight? Where'd you go?"
"Up here," Twilight snapped, shimmying slowly down the trunk of the tree. "You know, you could have warned me."
"Could have. But where's the fun in that?" He grinned. "Come on, let's get out of here before they realize they can just come around the back."
Twilight fell the last couple of feet and landed heavily on the grass. She bounced to her feet and ran after the retreating unicorn that had just thrown her through a window. "Where's the fun in that," Twilight muttered to herself. She had changed her mind. Silver didn't remind her of Pinkie; he reminded her of Discord.
As if reading her mind, Silver suddenly seemed to regret his actions. "Look, I'm sorry I sent you flying through a window without your permission. Anything I can do to make it up to you?"
"How about teaching me those air spells?" Twilight asked, catching up the older pony and trotting next to him.
"Well, I was going to do that anyway, but sure. They're not that great offensively, but they've gotten me out of more than a few sticky situations. As I said, I will teach you every spell I know." He paused momentarily. "With two exceptions. No healing spells, and no fire spells."
"Why not?" Twilight asked.
"Healing magic's too dangerous for a non-specialist."
"...And the fire?" Twilight prompted after Silver fell silent.
Silver paused for an uncomfortable amount of time. Twilight was about to repeat herself when he finally spoke. "Just... no fire spells, alright? You can use them, but you'll have to learn them somewhere else."
"Why? What's special about fire?"
"Twilight, I have... a thing." Twilight opened her mouth, but he continued before she could speak. "A past thing. A private past thing."
Twilight looked into Silver's eyes. They lacked the hint of laughter that they usually held. "Alright."
The hint returned in force. "Alright then. Let's get you cleaned up for your match!" Silver said with a grin, looking back to his front.
"Okay."
A few moments passed.
"Wait, my what?"
Twilight sat on the hard wooden bench, fuming quietly to herself. She had sat down between two other unicorns, but after a few failed attempts at small talk on their part they had independently decided to sit somewhere away from the furious purple unicorn.
Every unicorn in the waiting room was watching her nervously. Mentally unstable ponies were not unknown in this sport, but that didn't mean they shouldn't be treated with caution. None of these ponies could be considered entirely normal, but even they knew that the pony whispering to herself could be dangerous.
"I can't believe him..." Twilight muttered. She lowered the pitch of her voice drastically, forcing it into a mockery of Silver's customary growl. "I had to sign you up eight hours early for the bookies." She scoffed, and her voice returned to normal. "Yeah right. He just likes keeping me off balance."
"Nah, I just like keeping her off balance," Silver drawled. "Helps me stay in charge."
"I don't care Silver," replied the earth pony counting bits on the table beside him.
"With power like hers, I'll need to work hard to keep her as my student. Let her get too comfortable, and she'll think she won't need me anymore."
"I don't care."
"She's an up and comer you know. You want to stay in the bookie business? Give her good odds," Silver said, tapping his hoof twice on the table for emphasis.
"Silver."
"Yeah?"
"I. Don't. Care," the pony stated, staring Silver in the eye.
"Alright, alright," the unicorn said, acting offended. Both ponies fell silent for a moment before Silver spoke again. "Speaking of odds, how about a small bet?"
"You know the rules Silver. Trainers can't bet on their pupils."
"Oh, come off it Split. Rules are for strangers, not old friends. Hell, you used to let me bet on myself," Silver said, pulling a small sack of coins from his bag and dropping it on the table.
Split, unofficial head bookie for the Fillydelphia stadium, glanced down at the bag. After a few moments, he reached out with a hoof and pulled the bag towards him. "Your girl's twelve to one tonight."
"Not bad. Who's she up against?" Silver asked, leaning over the table confidentially.
"You know I can't tell you that. Blind match Silver. Surely you haven't gone senile already?"
"Oh, come on. The match is in thirty seconds. What am I going to do, run down and tell her?"
After a moment of consideration, Split told him.
"...Could I get my money back?" Silver asked, reaching out with a hoof that Split smacked away.
Twilight fidgeted from hoof to hoof, standing in the small roofless room she'd been ushered into. Memories of the last time she stood in a room like this kept flashing before her eyes, and she felt herself begin to panic. The mare had never been claustrophobic, but she couldn't shake the feeling that the walls were closing in on her.
The nervous trembling in her stomach eventually reached the point where the overly loud voice of the announcer was a relief.
"Hello fillies and gentlecolts! Welcome to a night of excitement and danger at the arena! We've got five blind matches for you tonight, so let's. Get! Started!"
Twilight began to breath heavily and set her legs into her casting crouch, before she remembered what Silver had told her and rose up into a more agile stance.
"In the red corner, returning after a three month disappearance, the powerful purple pony with the penchant for pain, Dust Shiiiiiiiiine!"
The familiar blast of cheers filled the stadium. Twilight fancied that is was louder than the first time she'd been introduced.
"And in the blue corner, one of the oldest ponies to still play the sport, cash taker, love maker, lust slaker: Spell Breaaaaaaaaker!"
This round of cheering was, for some reason, punctuated by groans. Twilight didn't have long to contemplate what that could mean before the door in front of her crashed open and she was faced with the familiar dusty arena.
The pony that stood across from her was huge. While he was probably a little shorter than Silver, he was also much thicker. Where Silver was muscular, the word that jumped to Twilight's mind when she looked at this pony was 'husky'.
Twilight watched the old yellow pony closely, prepared to dodge anything he threw. However, he didn't throw anything. His horn didn't light up in the slightest. He just began to cross the distance between them in long easy strides.
With a small shrug, Twilight fired a burst of kinetic force at the pony. If he wasn't going to attack her, this was going to be a short fight.
"It seems that the plucky young mare has never been told of this particular opponent!"
The blast hit the stallion full in the chest and dissipated. Spell Breaker continued walking without a break in his stride. The only noticeable effect was a small smile that flitted across his otherwise stoic face.
Twilight froze for a second, paralyzed by confusion and panic. She reached out with her magic and attempted to grab the pony's leg, but she felt her power sputter and fail as soon as it touched his coat.
"Oh. Spell Breaker. I get it," Twilight said without a trace of emotion.
The stallion chuckled, but didn't reply. Without warning he broke into a run, and Twilight suddenly realized he had gotten much closer than she was comfortable with.
Silver's defense lesson turned out to not be wasted time, and Twilight just managed to roll under the hoof that swung towards her head. Before Spell Breaker could throw another blow, she scampered to her feet and galloped to the other side of the arena.
"A near miss from Spell Breaker!"
Twilight turned back to see the yellow stallion walking towards her with the same easy strides. She searched her brain for an offensive spell that might actually hit the magic resistant pony.
She pulled magic into her horn, thinking back to her training session and the projectile Silver had used on her. The swirling bolt of colors wasn't a spell she was familiar with, but she'd seen him cast it several times and she'd always been a fast study.
Her horn crackled as she almost lost hold of the half-improvised spell, but she managed to loose it at her enemy without serious issue. Unfortunately, it proved just as useless as her force spells, and the delay had brought Spell Breaker nearly within striking range.
"Say what you will about Dusk Shine, she does not give up on her magic easily!"
Her second dodge wasn't quite as successful as the first, and a heavy hoof clipped her leg. The impact brought her to the ground much earlier than she had planned, and the back of her head slammed into the packed earth. She squeezed her eyes shut against the pain, but managed to open them again just in time to roll out of the way of a second blow.
"If you're done shooting pretty lights at me, I'd like to actually fight this match," the stallion yelled at Twilight's retreating back.
Twilight's attempts to stave off panic were becoming more and more futile. Nothing she threw at the pony seemed to affect him, and she'd thrown everything she had. She stood, rooted to the ground, and watched the much larger pony approach.
"Looks like Dusk Shine might finally be out of tricks!"
"Versatile!" shouted a familiar voice from the stands. Twilight's head snapped to find the source, and spotted Silver hanging halfway over the edge of the arena, one hoof cupped around his mouth.
"I would like to remind the crowd that helping the players, while not strictly forbidden, is heavily discouraged. Violently so, in the case of trainers," the announcer boomed, a hint of annoyance entering the usually flat voice.
"Versatile, versatile, versatile..." Twilight muttered to herself as Spell Breaker burst into a run. How could she be versatile when none of her spells could effect the pony?
Realization washed over the purple mare. Versatility didn't just apply to magic. If magic wasn't working, she'd just have to try something else.
Her mind kicked into overgear as she stared at the approaching stallion, judging his speed and weight. Her legs tensed underneath as she prepared to spring.
"Dusk Shine seems to be holding her ground this time!"
A moment before Spell Breaker reached her, Twilight released the pent up energy in her legs and flew towards her enemy, twisting in mid air. When she judged that her back legs were pointed towards the stallions face, she kicked out viciously.
Twilight wasn't a heavy pony, but the combined speed of the two ponies provided enough force to knock the larger pony out. Unfortunately, that was only relevant if her hooves hit anything, which they did not.
Spell Breaker ducked under the blow and skidded to a halt. Twilight landed hard on her hooves and ended up directly behind the other pony. The stallion's kick wasn't as avoidable as Twilight's had been, and it connected heavily with her jaw.
The force sent her flipping over backwards, performing a full rotation before landing on her stomach. The crowd gasped from the sight, but Twilight didn't hear it. She had been knocked unconscious at the moment of impact.
Blackness and silence. That's all there was, and as far as Twilight knew, that's all there would ever be.
She stared around at the shadows, knowing that she should be feeling fear. Instead, she just felt dizzy and tired. "Am I dead?" she asked the darkness, not really expecting an answer.
"Nope," a voice said from behind her.
A small scream escaped Twilight's lips as she spun towards the source. Silver Chimes sat behind her, casually smiling at her.
"You've just been knocked out from the pain and impact of having your jaw broken," he explained, pointing at her chin.
"Broken!?" Twilight asked, the work actually managing to elicit some emotion from her spinning mind.
"Or fractured. Or dislocated. Look, I don't know, I'm not a doctor as far as you know."
"What do you mean as far as I know?" Twilight asked, rubbing at her jaw. It didn't hurt, but she did seemed to remember an impact on it.
"Well, I'm obviously not Silver Chimes. I'm your mental representation of him, appearing to you now through the magic of concussions," the blue stallion said, gesturing at himself. "I'm here to give you advice on the match."
"The..." Twilight trailed off, suddenly recalling the battle she'd been fighting. "I have to go back! I'm going to be counted out!"
"It's fine, it's fine. Time's different here, you've got five seconds left. Now, when you regain consciousness, what exactly are you going to do?"
"I... what can I do? Whenever I cast a spell on him, it just fizzles away," Twilight's face fell. "Maybe I should just forfeit."
"Well if none of your spells work on him, maybe you shouldn't cast a spell on him." The image of Silver crossed his eyes and kicked out a hind leg spasticly. "A-doy."
"You don't do that! Rainbow does that when she's making fun of Applejack! Besides, I tried not using magic, and I got kicked in the head."
"Hey, not my fault if you get me confused with your friend. And I didn't say you shouldn't use magic."
"But-" Twilight began.
"Whoops, that's all the time we've got," Silver interrupted, raising a hoof. "Time to wake up!" he said, and slapped her across the face.
Hot lines of pain radiated from Twilight's jaw as it pressed against the dusty ground. Her eyes fluttered open as she regained consciousness.
"One!" proclaimed the announcer's voice.
Twilight jerked to her feet suddenly, recognizing the countdown as nearly complete. "I'm up," she sleepily attempted to mumble, but the sudden spike of pain from her jaw almost drove her her to her knees again.
"Wait, Dusk Shine is not finished yet!"
Spell Breaker stopped in his path back to the room he had entered from. Twilight saw his head dip towards the ground for a second before he turned back towards her, annoyance painted on his face.
Twilight's mind raced madly. Use magic, but don't use it on him. What the hay did that mean? Teleport? What good would that do? Use magic, but not on him. Use magic, but not on him. Use magic, but...
Her horn burst into life. Spell breaker rolled his eyes as he approached her. "Haven't you learned anything yet? Your magic won't help you."
Twilight's eyes squeezed shut. She lowered her head, and barely stopped herself from tensing her jaw. The glow in her horn was reaching blinding levels, and Spell Breaker squinted his eyes against the light.
It suddenly occurred to the yellow stallion that while Twilight was obviously pumping out massive amounts of power, he wasn't absorbing a single iota of it. She was using it for something else. He didn't have the time to consider what that could mean before Twilight jerked her head to the side.
Instinctively, he snapped his head in the same direction, ready to dodge, and was hit from behind by three tons of magically levitated stone and earth.
A moment of stunned silence washed over the arena.
"I sure hope Dusk Shine is planning on putting that dirt back where she found it," the announcer finally said.