//------------------------------//
// 140 - What Have We Learned? 
// Story: Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat 
// by David Silver 
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Nefertari crooked a claw as she turned. "We won't do this here. We have to show some constraint." She seemed amused at the very word she ended with and led the way to what looked like a small gym. There were guards there, working out and sparring.

Walking with the utmost confidence, she made her way to one of the pads that littered the room. "The good Ambassador and I are about to duel. If you value your pretty little hides, you'll give us some room. Watch, if you like. You may learn something."

Silver's ears perked up. "Duel? That's a loaded word."

"Don't fret, my magical opponent." She lowered into a ready stance, claws splayed out and ready to strike. "To the first blood. This may be over very quickly, but that would be disappointing." She curled her fingers, tucking those dangerous claws away and promising a pummeling instead.

The guards began to take notice of the two known figures preparing to battle and formed a loose circle around the two, Night and the foals included. "Don't let her intimidate you, stupid stallion. You agreed to this, make her regret offering!"

Silver quirked a little smile at his wife's encouragement. Letting magic run freely through his horn, he felt his intricate shield spring into being, interlocked before spreading out just a little, ready to be forced back together. Little licks of flame emerged between them. He was ready to test his new, improved, spells. "Ready."

"That looks new." Nefer raised a brow. "So perhaps you weren't entirely deceiving. Good, a foe that doesn't adapt is one broken easily." She looked aside at one of the many ponies watching them. "You! Call when to begin."

The pony started before looking around and grabbing a pail. "On your mark... get ready..." He brought down a hoof, ringing against the metal of the pail, and it was on.

Nefer ceased being where she was. In a frightful display of speed, she was before Silver, driving a fist at him and testing his shield in the most direct way possible. The panel she hit sank backwards with the intense speed, not even trying to stop her, but it hit other panels, which hit other panels, and resistance began. The flame gathered, unable to escape between the panels, and they became an angry white of gathered energy. She was forced to wrench her fist away, the fur of her knuckles smoldering slightly. "Very good..."

Silver let out a little breath of relief. He hadn't been absolutely certain he could handle the strain of the new spell under a real threat, but he was still standing. It was time to counterattack. He reached with his magic, sneaking it around her without being in her way. He would always know where she was. "Not going to run?" He said in a taunting voice.

"From you, little pony?" She flexed her fingers, looking eager to carve him to pieces. "I should think not." With a sudden clenching of those fists, a new energy gathered around them, dark purple and carrying the faint whispers of distant figures. "Let's compare magics."

Silver had seen enough anime, and old dreams, to guess where that was going and tensed, ready to spring. He didn't have to wait long. She brought up a hand and a beam of angry howls emerged. He popped between here and there, appearing over her head and floating in a cocoon of his own telekinesis. He tugged with a mighty pull at the magic he'd encased her in, yanking her off her feet.

She fell over with a thud of her bottom and the crowd cheered wildly for 'their' pony. She didn't remain prone for long, smoothly rising to her feet and letting loose with a twin blast, her hands brought together. Silver darted away, forced to dodge, bob, and weave around the beam. He wasn't sure what it would do to him, but he had no desire to find out. The ceiling didn't show any signs of harm for being struck by it, so he assumed it was mental in origin, or perhaps it would just scramble something organic nice and good.

"You fight like a rabbit," snarled Nefertari before she broke into a loud, barking fit of laughter. "I will hunt you down, little rabbit." She faded from being, but Silver could feel where she was within his influence even as she came for him with intense speed. He put all his focus into a new wall. He fell from the sky even as she crashed into that floating wall. They both hit the ground, but one of them with their hooves, and the other in crash.

"She's sprung a leak," called one of the guards.

Nefertari wiped her nose to find that she had begun bleeding a little. The spar was over, or was it? "It's nothing. I'm just getting warmed up. Don't you dare call it now. It's been too long since I've been in a fight worth calling the title."

Night scowled from the circle. "This is how ponies get hurt. Accept your defeat."

Silver dipped his head a little. "We can spar again another time, promise." He felt giddy for his victory. "Maybe you'll get me then."

Nefer's clawed fingers flexed uneasily before she gave a tense nod. "Another time then..." She turned away with a grunt. "Twice..." She vanished.

Silver could tell what direction she had gone until she was too far. His sense had become fairly sensitive, but the range was quite limited unless he was focusing on it.

The crowd was wild with clops, stomps, and cheers. Night approached him and gave a hug. "That went better than I expected, I hope you don't mind my saying. You do know she'll be smart to these tricks the next time you face her."

Silver gave Night a little nuzzle. "I'll have to keep practicing and learning then. She had me scared a few times."

Night cuffed him lightly on the head. "She had me scared the whole time. She treats fighting like a pony might a game of darts, just another game, and one she's good at. You surprised her." She glanced away towards the crowd as it began to disperse. "If it was a real fight, she would have won."

"I had more tricks," complained Silver with a bit of a pout as he resumed his trot towards his office.

"I'm sure you did." Night rolled her eyes. "But you dropped everything to stop her. She would have sprung up and tore into you before you put up that shield again if it was a real fight."

He swallowed nervously at the thought, but he couldn't think of a direct argument. Sure, he'd try to bring the shield back online before she got him, but would it have been fast enough? Who could know?

Banishing thoughts of the battle from his mind, he nudged open the door to his office and stepped inside. It smelled just a little stale and he pushed the door open the rest of the way to help it air out. "You can tell we haven't been working here."

Night nodded as she entered. "They kept it clean for us, but nopony's 'lived' here, so to speak. Ah, there's the mail you were expecting." She trotted to the desk, where a small mountain of letters awaited reading. "Well, only one way to get through this." She snatched at one and ripped it open. "Junk. Junk. Junk. Already out of date..."

"Out of date?" Silver hopped up onto his chair, letting it spin once before he stopped it, facing his desk. "How do you mean?"

"Invitation to a party that already happened." Night raised a brow. "Not much we can do for that."

With a pop of magic, Morning appeared on top of the pile of letters and grinned at Silver broadly. Silver couldn't help but smile back and lifted his foal in his magic. "You've got the right idea, but we have to go through those." He gave a little nuzzle before putting Morning down on the ground and lifting Clear free of Night to put beside him. "You two can play together."

And so continued the task of digging through mail. As it became time for lunch, they had tossed out the unimportant mail, organized the out of date mail, and had a new stack for relevant mail, announcing things like the arrival of other humans that may need help or just friendly letters from friends or clients both. Both Night and Silver were pleased with their progress.

"One thing." Silver looked towards Night as he hopped off his chair. "How did you know my shield was down?"

Night blinked at him. "What? That shield has fire coming out of it. It's not hard to see when that's not there. Your normal shield, not so easy, but that one, I'd have to be blind to miss it."

Silver shook his head. "Sometimes the obvious hides in front of our nose. So what would you like to snack on today?"

They gathered up their foals, one to a parent and went out to visit a friend and get something yummy to eat at the same time. They ended up at Just Desserts, as cheerfully decorated as always.

Surprise grinned at seeing them. "Hey there! You brought the whole family!" She tapped at the counter. "Come right on up and tell me how everything went."

Night hopped up and set Clear down on the seat beside her. "Spent the morning battling eager Anubite ambassadors, then organizing a lot of mail."

Surprise tilted her head a bit even as she popped open an oven and pulled out a steaming tray of fresh muffins. She set it on the counter and grabbed a frosting bag applicator and squeezing merry amounts onto them, converting them into cupcakes. "Here you go! For busy busy ambassadors. I didn't know they battled for a job. I thought they just talked and stuff."

Silver smiled, lifting a cupcake in his magic and sharing it with Morning. Morning took a big chomp out of the floating pastry and made a delighted noise before Silver got his own bite in. "Mmm, delicious. You're getting even better, Surprise."

Night rolled her eyes. "Most ambassadors battle with words, this one decided to do it with magic and fists. He even won, this time." She snatched a treat with a skilled wing and made short work of it. "Scared me, but he pulled through."

Surprise looked a bit confused. "Was it a for-real fight?"

Silver shook his head. "We're friends."

Night raised a brow at him.

"What? We're at least peers. We were just fighting for fun, and to practice."

Surprise bobbed her head. "Oh, like Rainbow. She and AJ loved a good wrestle if they were in the mood. Those two love competing, but neither of them would want to actually hurt the other. Like that, right?"

Night nodded. "Sure, except one of them is a trained warrior with knives for fingers and angry ghosts for magic. Other than that, exactly right."