Trial One: Steel and Will (R)
Dog lay on her back, tossing a small stone she had found on the last walk back to her room. The rock sailed up into the air, almost brushing against the ceiling before falling back into her waiting hooves where she readied it for its next trip to the ceiling and back.
Her textbook lay forgotten beside her bed, lying closed with a simple bookmark resting on top. She didn't need it anymore, having spent the majority of yesterday reading and then rereading the entirety of it with ease. It was relatively simple for the studious young girl, but it had taken its toll. Having memorized the entire textbook in a day made her want to do little else than toss her stone, which she named Tom, up and down while the information settled in her brain. Worst of all were the math and history sections as they demanded she commit the dates and formulas to memory lest she forget something important.
The rock brushed against the ceiling, just barely touching it once more before landing back into Dog’s outstretched hoof. The screaming had become background noise to the filly by now, barely noticed above her own thoughts, save for that one creature whose wail seemed to make her very soul vibrate out of her body. That was always disturbing, no matter how many times she heard it.
As she tossed her pet rock up once more, she idly ran through her memory, mentally testing herself for any bit of information that seemed wrong. I will not disappoint Father, I will learn everything! Well, maybe not everything, she admitted to herself. But everything he told her to learn, of course.
A sudden knock came from the door, stealing Dog’s attention and making her rock land squarely in the middle of her head.
“Ow.”
She rubbed her face with a hoof, looking cross-eyed at the spot the rock had landed, or at least trying to anyway.
Shaking her head, Dog quickly remembered the golem no doubt on the other side would need a command.
“Please enter!” Dog shouted.
The please part wasn't necessary, but there was some part of her that felt guilty about commanding the golem without at least being polite, even though it lacked any intelligence.
The great steel door to her room opened to reveal the usual dull grey bipedal golem standing outside her room. With the door open, the screams poured in, making Dog shudder involuntarily, the barrier to her room at least dulled them somewhat.
The rumbling sound of the golem’s voice drew the filly from her cringing.
“Lord Tirek will be arriving in five minutes to see how far you have gotten in your textbook," announced the unthinking creature. "Also you must consume this vial of medicine.”
The golem placed the aforementioned vial on the ground and without even so much as a goodbye, the golem closed and locked the door, leaving Dog alone with her thoughts.
The filly blinked a few times before her eyes went wide.
“A test? Oh my gosh, I have to review everything!” Dog shouted.
Her uncoordinated hooves grabbed the book and opened it to a random page, her eyes scanned the page in seconds. As she flipped to the next page she stopped, slapping a hoof to her oddly empty forehead.
“There is no way I can read the entire thing in five minutes! I need to think of another way," Dog muttered to herself.
The filly’s eyes squinted and she stared at the book for a moment.
“Or can I?” She thought aloud.
She shook her head. No, there was no way she could read the entire thing and retain anything. She might be able to finish about twenty-six percent of it, but not the entire thing.
She stopped and placed the book back down, slapping her forehead after realizing she had nearly forgotten her medicine. Scampering over to the door she scooped up the small glass vial and tossed aside the cork and downed it quickly. Her father said it was to help with the burns but she wasn't convinced. The vial tasted horrible and made her insides feel all turny but didn't seem to help with the burns. Putting the vial aside beside the rest of the empty ones she quickly got back onto her bed and popped back open the book.
She flipped to the table of contents... or at least tried to anyway. She wasted a precious eleven seconds trying to turn the pages with her dumb, uncoordinated hooves that didn't seem to know how to turn a page. Once at the table of contents, she placed a triumphant hoof on the page and began to skim down the list of chapters, trying to find a chapter or subject she might have forgotten. Nope, she had read the whole book cover to cover, twice, and she hadn't missed a thing.
Whew, that was one worry gone. With a grin she set about reviewing every chapter from start to finish, thinking about everything she learned from the chapter and then skimming the sections she wasn't confident in. She had finally reached the last page when the door to her room suddenly opened without warning.
“Aaaaaaaaah!” the filly screamed, falling backwards and tossing the book at whoever had come through her door unannounced.
When she peeked out from behind her hooves, she gasped.
“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry father!” Dog exclaimed.
Tirek’s eye twitched and the book that had nearly collided with his face threatened to bend under his powerful fingers, the spine warping and the cover threatening to split. After a long second he tossed the book to the ground and took a deep steadying breath, telling himself over and over that no, he should not physically reprimand her. It would be over kill.
With his anger back under control, the centaur looked down at the shaking filly looking up at him with big, pleading eyes. For a split second, he considered the possibility that she had not lost all her magic and she had somehow managed to charm him with those giant puppy dog eyes of hers, but the moment passed.
“It's okay. Now then, did you finish your medicine?” Tirek asked, to which the filly nodded.
“Good, how far did you read?” Tirek inquired further.
The centaur smirked, expecting a few chapters, maybe five if he was lucky.
“Oh, uh, I finished it," Dog answered.
The room was quiet for a moment as the centaur’s mind raced to catch up. The filly gulped.
“Was I not supposed to?” She asked hesitantly.
“No, actually, that's perfect,” Tirek stated.
Good thing I finished all the tests before I even had her start reading. With a snap of his fingers, a small pile of papers appeared before the filly, along with an ink pot and quill.
“You have one hour to finish the test," Tirek declared.
With a second snap the book was gone. To think she was able to absorb all that in a day… I knew she was smart after reading the entire book on the planes in the same day but this was much denser reading material.
The centaur raised an eyebrow. “Why are you still shaking?”
The filly’s teeth clattered as she tried to speak, forcing her to stop and gulp. “T-t-t-tests are scary.”
The centaur rolled his eyes and sighed. I guess this was bound to crop up eventually.
“Look, Dog, you are going to have to complete many tests, and you can't complete them properly if you can't hold a quill, right?” Tirek offered.
Dog shook her head and shivered. “N-n-no.”
"That means you must conquer this fear and complete this test. I know you will succeed. See you in an hour," Tirek remarked.
The centaur slipped into the hall and firmly shut the door behind him, the soft click of the lock a grim reminder of the finality of it all.
Her father was right, she couldn't give up just because she was being a big scaredy cat! The fear made her teeth chatter and her hooves sweat, images of swirling purple destruction, and a phantom pain from her forehead distracting her.
With slowly mounting courage the filly gripped the quill with her hooves and began to fill out the test as best she could. First was math. Though she had worried she had forgotten something, it seemed as though it was unfounded as she quickly flew through that section with ease, the numbers and equations coming to her mind as if it were second nature.
With that out of the way, she breathed easier, flying through the history and science in no time at all. She had wished there would have been more history to read up on, but her father’s book had only detailed the very beginning of existence and some of the theories around it. Though it did touch briefly on the early history of Tartarus, it ended right before the start of an event called the First Incursion War. There were so many interesting conflicts, grand events, and larger-than-life individuals, and the book stopped before she could even get to it. When she had read through it the first time she had nearly thrown the book in anger.
Science took her mind off things and helped her understand some of the stuff her father had mentioned, like the states of matter and how magic interacted with the world. That last part had again left her wanting more. Though she couldn't use magic herself, being only a lowly imp, she felt drawn by it, as if there was a part of her that yearned to learn how to use it. In the end, she merely wrote it off as just a silly dream of having special powers, but something about that felt hollow.
The rest of her subjects were easy; Intro to Law and Contract had sounded scary, but it turned out to be a matter of memorization for the most part, though she had been intrigued. It seemed as though almost every demon was bound by a particular set of laws that no one knew, not even them. The oldest demons in existence knew these laws but rarely exploited them lest the truth be revealed. If she knew the laws that governed all demons, she could potentially rule Tartarus. The book had stated that was a fool's errand very early on however, and listed many an aspiring demon lord that had begun their search for the ancient laws only to vanish after digging too deeply for their own good.
Even with the book’s firm warning, she was still intrigued by the prospect. She knew through her book on demons that Tartarus itself was an enormous plane of existence, having been made larger to properly hold the souls that flowed there from the other planes, making it nearly the largest plane in existence and thus virtually impossible to govern. The law section had hinted at an ancient figure of legend who had created the laws to rule Tartarus, having learned the hard way that trusting demons to follow his orders was nearly impossible. It was also said that this mysterious first lord might very well have been a myth and merely a way to explain the laws’ existence.
The rest of the chapter was interesting as well, detailing how to write a contract with a mortal and how to best fool them, though again it did not complete this lesson, stating advanced techniques would be given in the next volume. Interesting though the rest of the chapters might have been, particularly the brief mention of magic, it paled in comparison with the untold power that binding mortal souls could produce for the demon.
By now she had finished the test, having rounded out the short quiz with a small section that tested her knowledge of words and sentence structure. Something her father had said was important for any filly to learn as a small vocabulary leads to a small mind... or at least that's what he said, anyway.
Dog wasn't sure how much time she had left, but since her father had not returned she assumed she still had at least a few minutes. Quickly she went over her work, double- and then triple-checking everything. Breathing a sigh of relief, she put the pages down, then pushed them into a nice neat stack with the quill and ink set far to the side, lest some tragedy happened and her test be ruined.
At the beginning of the test, her hooves weren't quite up to the task of writing, but by the end of it, her penmanship was at least consistently legible. A sudden knock on the door drew the filly’s attention up. It was a single hard knock, her father most likely. He had stopped simply teleporting into her room; the last time he had, he interrupted her use of the bucket in the corner of the room. However, he still did barge in after a short warning.
“C-come in!” Dog called.
The door opened, revealing her father wearing a set of thick-rimmed reading glasses.
“All done?” He asked.
Despite the looming fear of failure Dog smiled, there was something about the glasses that made the grizzled old centaur seem downright… cute.
“Yes, when can I start on the next textbook?” she asked eagerly.
Tirek lifted an eyebrow and smirked.
“It seems as though you are progressing faster than I thought. I will need to write the next tests which will take a few days. In the meantime I have something else planned for you," Tirek replied.
With a snap of his fingers, he summoned several large pillows and gently lay down on them, taking Dog’s completed test in hand and, with a quick adjustment of his spectacles, began to read.
Several long minutes were spent in increasingly anxious silence. Dog had been confident in her work when her father had first entered, but now that he was here she couldn't help but try and read his facial features in an attempt to discover how she did. Every time he frowned she winced, every time the corners of his lips turned upwards she tried her best to contain her enthusiasm. Finally, she could bear the silence no longer, and just as Tirek flipped to the next page she spoke up.
“What will the next textbook cover, father?” She pressed.
The centaur said nothing for several moments, making Dog quake in fear, assuming she had done something wrong.
“The next textbook will cover the rest of the laws of Tartarus, contract law, and Tartarian history. The one after that will contain the last of the basic stuff like math, and science, as well as cover the basics of the soul and magic,” he replied, all the while calmly marking the last of her test.
Dog couldn't help but grin; finally something more challenging, and a conclusion to those darn cliffhangers the first textbook had set up! She was so excited she couldn't help but do a little happy dance on her bed. But wait, Father said that wouldn't come right away. She stopped mid-dance and plopped back down. Augh, she hated waiting.
Thankfully for her painfully short attention span, Tirek had quickly run through the last of the test and, after some brief mental math, he smiled.
“Good, you passed with flying colors. Though you should reread the algebra chapter,” Tirek stated.
A huge smile bloomed across the filly’s bandage-clad face and she couldn't help but squeal in joy, hopping around her bed with a huge grin on her face. Tirek rolled his eyes and let the filly jump around for a few more seconds before shushing her.
“Yes, yes, you did good, but it is not the time to celebrate. I have more training lined up in a few minutes," he informed.
Dog stopped jumping and frowned. More training? Already? Well, she supposed she was done with the first textbook rather quickly so it made sense, though she still felt as though she deserved something for her success.
“Father?”
“Yes, Dog?”
“Can I have something nicer to sleep on? Or something more to read?” Dog asked suddenly.
She gulped, looking away from her father’s stern gaze.
The centaur’s anger flared for only a moment before he remembered who he was dealing with. She had done well and her accommodations were less than comfortable. He considered accepting her request for only a second before shaking his head. The abysmal accommodations were all part of her training; she must become tough, strong, and able to endure hardship or else she would not make a good pawn in his game.
“No,” he answered.
Dog’s face fell.
“Not yet,” Tirek quickly added. Why did I say that? He thought.
Like a light switch being flipped back, her face lit back up.
“Really?” Dog asked, wide-eyed.
“After you have completed your first trial I will find you a better bed and more to read,” Tirek confirmed.
The filly’s eyes shone and she looked ready to launch into another one of her ‘hugs’. Cutting that off at the pass, Tirek lifted a hand to silence the filly’s enthusiasm.
“But that means you are going to have to train hard and learn quickly, understood?” Tirek stated firmly.
“Yes, master!” Dog proclaimed.
“Good, now it’s back to the gym," Tirek declared. "If you are going to survive your trials you are going to have to learn how to wield a weapon. Though you lack my dexterous digits, I’m sure that with practice your hooves will be more than a worthy substitute.”
Dog nodded excitedly, hopping off her bed and dashing over to the door, where she stood impatiently, shifting from hoof to hoof. Tirek stood up much slower, his back cracking as he reached his full height, wincing at the loud crack, and limped over to the door.
“Are you hurt, father?” Dog inquired.
Tirek waved a dismissive hand at the filly.
“No, no, I am merely old and I’m afraid I have done too much sitting lately, is all,” Tirek answered.
The centaur opened the door and entered the hall. The screams became louder, but he hardly seemed to notice. Dog, on the other hand, winced, her ears falling flat against her head. Though it wasn't quite as bad as it once was, the sounds of screaming still made her feel strange. She knew she wasn't the one in pain, but something about hearing a being in such pain made her feel a modicum of their agony.
Stowing the thought aside, she quickly caught back up to her father who was waiting by the door at the end of the hall, eyeing her curiously with a frown across his face.
“Come along, Dog, we have much to do,” He urged.
The filly scampered up to her father, following close behind.
Several minutes passed in silence, with only the clack of their hooves breaking the monotony of traversing the tower. Though Dog was tempted to ask questions about the halls they passed and the things they saw adorning the tower’s walls, she sensed as though her father was disappointed in her for some reason. So she merely stayed quiet, ruminating silently on what she might have done.
Her father finally stopped before a familiar door. Pushing the portal open, he walked inside the large circular expanse that marked the gym. Dog marveled once more at the huge empty space, her mouth hanging open in wonder as she puzzled once more about how the tower and this room in particular were built.
This time it was slightly less empty, though, and a tall suit of armor stood in the center of the room. It was easily on the level of her father and was similar in form. It had two large metal hands that hung lifelessly at its side, but where Dog and her father had four legs, this one had two, and instead of hooves it had metal-clad feet.
Dog took a step forward, eying the strange metal creature up and down. The first thing to draw the filly’s eye was the sword belted securely to the creature’s hip. The sword was long and elegant but also plain, obviously not meant for show. It was a simple weapon meant only for one purpose: to kill.
The creature’s armored body was no different; simple, overlapping plates covered it completely from head to toe and obscured any being that might be beneath all that metal. The helmet itself seemed to be the only part of its body that had any kind of unnecessary detail. Metal horns spiraled out of either side of its head and though there were no eye holes in the armor, there was a grille where the creature’s mouth would be.
Dog shivered at the sight. The armor seemed empty for the most part, as nothing was visible beneath the grille or the very few cracks in the armor she could see. Even then she felt as though she was being watched by whatever lay within the armor, looking down at her with disdain after having evaluated her and finding the imp wanting.
“This is Cervantes, and for the next year, he will be your teacher and opponent. Today, however, he will be simply testing your strength and natural aptitude with a weapon,” Tirek stated.
The centaur crouched down and ran a hand across the still shivering filly’s back.
“Don't worry, for now, he will not attack you and will only block. You have nothing to fear," he whispered in a low tone.
Noticing the strange position he was in, the centaur coughed and stood back up.
“Now then, follow me to the armory and we will get your weapon picked out," Tirek remarked.
Dog nodded to her father, her eyes never leaving the strange biped that stood impassive in the center of the room. As they walked to a seemingly random wall of the gym, Dog couldn't stop looking at the creature. Finally, she managed a smile and a wave.
“Hello,” she whispered, unsure if her words could even be heard.
The creature’s head cocked to the side in a way that made Dog giggle. She was reminded of the creatures called wolves she had read about. So occupied in watching the strange metal creature she was that she ran right into her father’s back leg and landed in a heap on the ground.
“Do try and pay attention, Dog,” Tirek tiredly remarked.
“Sorry,” Dog muttered.
Turning back around, Tirek raised a hand to the wall where it glowed briefly with a faint blue light before something clicked and the wall split down the middle, opening to reveal a large, dark room. Stepping quickly, Dog followed in her father’s hoof steps, wondering what marvels lay just beyond the veil of darkness.
Once inside, Tirek stopped and spoke.
“Luminous," he proclaimed.
Dog was about to ask what that word meant, but her curiosity was quickly shoved away and replaced by awe. A bright light shined down from far above them, illuminating rows and rows of weapons of all shapes and sizes, arranged all around them and ascending several stories high.
The ones high above her twinkled and glinted in the light and, even though she could hardly see them, Dog could feel the power some radiated. The ones closer to her seemed strange though, and they did not glint in the light like the others. Leaning closer, Dog could tell their blades were dull and they were all made of a brown material that reminded Dog of wood. Training weapons. Instantly popped into her head, but before she could ask whether or not her assumption was true, the ground she stood on suddenly lurched and rose into the air.
Looking around, Dog basked in awe. Her textbook had touched on the subject of war and weapons in general, including a brief introduction to the different types, but what she saw before her easily eclipsed everything she had read. Hundreds of weapons of all shapes and sizes surrounded her.
“Welcome to the armory,” Tirek announced with pride.
“Wow,” Dog murmured.
On and on the weapons went, and for a minute they stood in silence, slowly rising until Tirek stopped seemingly at random and gestured at a collection of short swords and daggers that hung along the wall.
“Now, first we will choose a weapon you will learn and eventually master," he declared. "Over time you will come to master other weapons as well, but the one you choose first will stay with you from this day until the last of your trials are complete. Do you understand, Dog?”
The filly tore her eyes from the weapons and looked up at her father.
"Yes!" She eagerly replied.
Tirek nodded and waved a hand across the various blades before him. Picking up a short sword in one hand, he began listing off the various pros and cons of the weapon, and though Dog knew she should listen, it was all stuff the textbook had already covered, so after listening for a while she slowly tuned him out.
The short swords were interesting; they were usually stocky with interesting pommels and fancy blades. The daggers were strange; they all seemed designed for cruel intent, having barbs or hooks, or glowing with a sickly green aura. No doubt many of them were enchanted to make up for their relatively short reach.
Above her, just out of reach, extended a plethora of longer swords, bent ones she recognized as scimitars, and many other exotic varieties. She noticed her father had gone off on another tangent while holding a strange scimitar that seemed to generate an aura of cold. Her father referred to it as ‘Icingdeath’ and though Dog knew she should probably pay attention, she found her eyes always drawn away from the centaur. Noticing he was no longer checking to see if Dog was paying attention, the filly turned, letting her attention wander.
Eventually, her eyes wandered all the way around to the wall behind her that was adorned with much stranger and esoteric weapons. Cleavers, sword-breaking daggers, swords that became whips on command, and a hundred other miscellaneous weapons covered the wall, but one above all grabbed Dog’s attention and held it firmly.
There, just barely within her reach, was a large cleaver that was beyond anything Dog had ever seen. It was nearly as long as a short sword but much, much heavier, the thick blade had several large spikes along the back. Three pristine gold rings were attached to the thickest part of the blade and rested against the flat side of it, contrasting the rust the rest of the weapon seemed to be covered with. Even the thick wooden grip seemed as though it were ready to fall apart if used.
Glancing around, Dog noticed that every other weapon seemed in pristine condition as if they had all been polished mere minutes ago. All except this rusty cleaver with the perfect gold rings. Realizing she had been staring for far too long, Dog spun around to face an annoyed-looking centaur looking down on her.
“Eep!” She squeaked.
“I see you have noticed an oddity in my collection. Do you know what it is?” He asked, voice calm and even.
“A cleaver, master?” Dog replied.
“Yes," He stated. "It is a demon-forged blade, with the soul of an ancient entropy demon trapped within. Since you decided to ignore my lesson, this cleaver is going to be your weapon from now on.”
Dog grimaced in disgust and took a step away from the item in question.
“Blech, do I have to? It's all rusty and gross," she muttered in disgust.
“It may look useless, but I assure you that, like most first impressions, yours was wrong. Now take it off the rack and give it a practice swing," Tirek ordered.
Dog took a hesitant step forward and looked up at her father, hoping he was only joking. Noticing he had the icy calm look he usually did, Dog sighed and reached for the weapon. As her hoof got closer, she could tell there was something strange about it before she even touched the cleaver. The air around it felt... dense. Dog couldn't describe the feeling but whatever it was, it made her skin crawl and the hair on the back of her neck stand up.
She wavered, mere inches from the weapon before reaching out and grabbing it. The instant her hoof met the rotten wooden handle, time seemed to stop and a voice crept up the back of her spine.
“What a curious creature the half-breed has brought me. Why, you even have the stench of innocence in you,” the unseen person whispered.
The voice crawled across her back from left to right, coming from right above her ear,
“Tell me, little one, what do they call you?” It asked.
Its hushed words felt like maggots crawling in Dog’s ears.
“Um, Dog, mister weird voice,” Dog answered.
Dog gulped and tried to move, but found that other than her mouth, every other part of her refused to move.
“Really? Well, that is too funny. Tell me, child, what do you most desire in this world?” Pressed the unseen speaker.
Books jumped out as Dog’s first response, but she quickly brushed that away. Books were nice, but they weren't that important.
“Making father proud," Dog confidently declared.
The voice laughed a bubbly, dripping laugh that clung to the inside of Dog’s ear.
“You are an amusing little creature,” the voice remarked, scuttling across Dog’s head to rest across her brow.
“Uh, thanks?” Dog muttered.
“Tell me one more thing, child, and I will bother you no longer. What would you give to see your master happy?” Asked the voice.
“Anything,” Dog responded instantly.
“Oh, we are going to have a lot of fun, I can feel it,” the speaker remarked.
The voice skittered back along Dog’s back before vanishing, its sickly presence suddenly gone and time once more flowed like normal. Even then Dog still tested her legs and, finding that she could move, she let out a soft sigh. That had been strange, but nothing bad seemed to have happened.
“Well, go on. Give it a swing,” Tirek said with a smirk.
“Um, okay,” Dog murmured.
The imp gripped the cleaver tighter in her hoof and swung a quick overhead chop with it. The cleaver glowed with a wretched green aura as she swung, but it quickly vanished when she finished the arc.
Looking back up to her master Dog grinned.
"Was that good?” She asked, innocently.
Tirek slapped a hand against his forehead and let it slip down his face. Of course that old fool would decide to spare the child and ruin my planned lesson on being too curious around pointy things. The centaur sighed and, noticing the child’s downcast features, began panicking.
“No, no, that was good, really. I was just thinking of something else, is all," he lied.
Dog’s eyes lit up and she clutched the large cleaver to her chest, grinning from ear to ear. Tirek mentally reprimanded himself for the sudden shift in emotion. She is a pawn and nothing more, quit looking at those cute little eyes already!
Waving his hand, the pillar they stood on slowly began to recede into the ground, lowering the pair back to the bottom floor. The trip down was spent in silence, though Tirek could tell that was about to change.
Dog was practically vibrating out of her bandages, squeezing the cleaver tight to her chest.
“Did you see that, father? It got all glowy and shoom,” Dog began, swinging the cleaver again, adding extra sound effects as needed. “It’s still icky but that was pretty cool, huh, father?”
Tirek rolled his eyes.
“Yes, Dog it was very uh, ‘cool’ as you said," he reluctantly muttered.
Dog giggled and continued to hug the cleaver to her chest, ignoring the rising smell emanating from her new weapon. Soon enough they were back on the main floor and back out into the gym, where Tirek took a deep lungful of air, more than a little happy to be out of that cramped room trapped with that wretched cleaver.
Tirek walked out to the center of the gym, Dog close at his heels.
“Alright, Dog, I am going to leave you to train with Cervantes. I want you to land a single hit on him, do you think you can do that?” Tirek asked.
Dog nodded enthusiastically, gripping her cleaver tightly.
“Good, make me proud Dog,” Tirek proclaimed.
The centaur turned to the armored creature and nodded once. “You know what to do.”
The armor nodded back and drew its sword, getting into a defensive stance, one foot back with its sword poised to intercept. Dog looked up at the massive armored figure and the blade it held that was easily as long as Dog’s entire body, then back to her cleaver and finally to her father.
Tirek noticed the filly’s apprehension but chose to ignore it. She will fail eventually, and learning how to fail is essential. I’m sure Celestia wouldn't mind me taking a page from her little playbook. Tirek smirked and strode out of the room, stopping at the door and turning to the filly and the armor.
“Well, what are you waiting for? You only have an hour," he flippantly added.
Dog’s eyes shot open and as Tirek turned to leave he could hear the distinct clash of steel. Tirek closed the door behind him and readied a remote viewing spell. An hour would be plenty of time to check back on his little informant and see if his hunch was true.
Back in the gym Dog panted, regripping her cleaver and eyeing her opponent carefully. In the time since her father had left she had tried every kind of attack she could think of and every single time the bipedal suit of armor met them perfectly or simply sidestepped her clumsy attacks. She knew she was ill-equipped to fight such a large creature anyway, but there had to be a way to win, right? Maybe if she tried to get closer.
Dog charged forward, her cleaver held high, but the biped merely stepped back out of the filly’s range, easily able to backpedal faster than Dog could run on three legs. The filly stopped, maybe backing him into a corner would help? Readying herself once more she launched into a charge, trying to herd her opponent towards the nearest wall.
The armor seemed to see this coming and nimbly sidestepped just enough to stay out of Dog’s range and away from the wall, ensuring the filly would never be able to corner him.
Giving out a frustrated groan, Dog stopped and eyed up her opponent once more. Time for a new strategy, and then another when that failed. Eventually, she gave up and simply hammered on his defenses until she got tired. Her eyes surged open as an idea occurred to her.
Three minutes later she landed in a sweaty heap once more, plan ‘throw the cleaver while screaming at him’ having failed predictably. Almost an hour had passed and Dog lay in a pool of sweat, legs splayed in all directions, her tongue hanging from her panting mouth. All the while victory was as far away as it had been from the very first moment the test had begun.
The hoof she wielded her cleaver with had long since gone numb and had been switched out for her off hoof, which had not helped matters in the slightest. She had almost hit the creature’s shin, but that had been pure luck after she had figured out that he wouldn't strike back, so she had launched herself at him and tried to strike with her hooves as well as her cleaver. Though close, the creature had ultimately noticed the desperate gambit in time and simply pushed her away with the flat of his blade.
After that the creature seemed on guard to that type of attack and had remained even more elusive, ensuring the filly couldn't get close enough to do that again. Huffing in annoyance, Dog struggled to stand once more.
“Let me guess, you’re still not going to help me at all, are you?” Dog asked the strange voice she had heard earlier.
When the creature didn't respond, Dog merely huffed in annoyance and flopped back down.
“Our master is returning in five minutes.”
Dog blinked and looked up at the armored creature who had just spoken.
“What? You can talk?” She asked.
When the creature didn't respond, Dog snorted and stamped her hooves, trying to return feeling to her weak and tired limbs. An odd tingling suddenly emanated from her core and spread to her legs, which slowly filled with strength. But it was barely enough to stand, never mind fight once more.
Her father’s words echoed in her head endlessly while she stared defeat in the face.
“Make me proud," he had said.
She was going to fail the first real test her father had given her. Sure, the paper test had not been easy, but he had given her all the answers in the book, and what few he didn't were relatively simple. This was far different and if she didn't move now she would fail him.
The filly stamped her hooves and snorted like a charging bull, trying to will more strength into her tired body. Her core pulsed and a shot of strength extended outwards, filling her body with enough to stand and fight once more. Though the feeling was odd, she didn't question it. Wherever it came from or whatever had happened didn't matter, she had the strength to fight and the will to succeed.
Hefting her cleaver once more, she glared up at the seemingly empty helm of her opponent.
“Two minutes,” her opponent whispered, hoisting its weapon back into its stance.
Letting out a primal cry of rage, Dog charged. Though to her ears it was intimidating, to the ensouled armor and any other that was listening it was little more than the furious squeaking of an angry child.
Dog leaped into the air, using her momentum to carry her and her weapon forward. Cervantes brought his longsword up to parry, but Dog reversed direction suddenly, trying to sneak past the longsword, but unfortunately, she simply didn't have the reach. By the time the cleaver had slipped past, the creature had twisted his longsword and the crash of steel against steel signalled another failure.
The blow robbed Dog of momentum and knocked her to the ground where she struggled to rise once more. Aftershocks from the block sent tingles up Dog’s leg but she brushed the thought aside. With her attention no longer on the clock, Dog launched into a series of increasingly desperate attacks. The ringing of steel became near constant as the filly tried to make up for inexperience with sheer ferocity.
Cervantes was still more than a match for the filly and easily deflected every attack with grace and unnatural speed. Just as she was about to give up she felt the faint creak of a familiar door opening to the gym.
With one last cry of rage, the filly gripped her cleaver in both hooves and brought it down in a chop. The sight would have been amusing to most, but Cervantes could tell something was different. Though the armor’s senses paled in comparison to a living creature’s, they were especially sharpened when it came to detecting magic and he could tell something was building within the filly. However, with no way to know what, he simply brought his sword down to block the same way he had a hundred times before.
Sword met cleaver the same way they had a hundred times before, but this time, the cleaver did not simply bounce away. When their blades first met, Dog had been forced back by Cervantes’s unnatural strength, but now she was able to meet his block without stumbling or stepping away from the strike.
Taken aback, the animated armor didn't have time to readjust before the filly threw an unparalleled amount of power into the blade and, for a second, nothing happened. Then, with a resounding snap, Cervant's long sword broke at the point Dog’s cleaver had met it. Now without resistance, Dog’s weapon lurched forward and clanged against the armor’s shin, only to bounce off and send the filly into a heap.
Cervantes stood there dumbfounded, looking closer at the broken blade, then back at where Tirek now stood. They exchanged a confused shrug and both looked down to the filly that lay huffing and puffing on the ground.
“I did it!” The imp proclaimed.
Dog pointed a shaky hoof up at her opponent.
“In your face!” declared the triumphant Dog.
Tirek clapped his hands together, making Dog’s eyes bug open as wide as possible.
“Father? Did you see that?” She asked, voice filled with a mix of excitement and exhaustion.
“I did, and I must say I am most impressed," Tirek admitted.
The magic that was stymied by the loss of your horn is adapting incredibly quickly. You are just an endless barrel of surprises, aren't you, my little pony?
“Tell me, how did you do it?” Tirek asked.
Dog grinned from ear to ear and picked herself up on shaky hooves.
“I saw he blocked the same way every time, always with sword down right to left, deflecting my hit out and away. Then I noticed that after a few minutes, his sword started to get rusty. After three hundred and thirty swings it broke!” Dog explained.
Tirek blinked and looked at Cervantes who brought the sword up, revealing the now rust-coated end of the broken blade.
“Huh.” Tirek mumbled dumbly.
She had recognized she was outmatched and couldn't get through his defense, but rather than give up, she had used that fact to her advantage. Tirek’s opinion of the filly went up an order of magnitude at the realization.
“Oof.”
Dog flopped back to the ground, her hooves too weak to hold her up. She smiled weakly up at her father.
“Are you proud of me?” she asked with a slight twinge of apprehension in her voice.
“Very,” Tirek stated, leaning down and booping the filly on the nose. “You have done an amazing job and I think you deserve a reward. How does ice cream sound?”
Dog’s eyes lit up.
“That sounds awesome! I’ve never had ice cream but I read that it’s sweet and delicious,” Dog exclaimed happily.
She struggled to stand but quickly flopped back into a heap.
“Cervantes, you have failed me," Tirek stated, the armor wincing visibly. "And your punishment will be to carry around Dog until she feels better. Is that understood?”
The armored giant looked from Tirek down to the filly and shrugged before putting his broken sword back in it's scabbard and scooping up the filly in one enormous hand.
The filly seemed apprehensive at first, but when her former opponent didn't squeeze her into a pulp she settled down. It felt kind of nice, the metal gauntlets that were his hands weren't as cold as she thought they were, and the way she was held was rather pleasant. Relaxing in his grip, the filly looked up at her father with huge expectant eyes.
“Ready, Dog?” He asked.
“Ready, dad!” Dog proclaimed.
Tirek smiled, turning towards the door and chuckling. I should probably reprimand her for that, but she did so well I suppose that can be part of her reward.
Tirek stopped as his hand met the door handle. Where in Tartarus am I going to find ice cream? Even if I do, what would the flavors even be?
Tirek shrugged and held the door open to Cervantes and Dog who walked through, Dog giggling all the while.
“Why, thank you, sir," she exclaimed.
Tirek smirked and proceeded after the filly.
“Not a problem, little one. Now, what kind of ice cream would you like?” He asked.
The trio continued deeper into the tower, their voices growing distant as Tirek tried to convince the filly that she could not try every single flavor in the same day, all the while Cervantes became increasingly confused by the odd back and forth. Eventually, they turned the hall and vanished from sight, leaving the few denizens of the tower who had seen the exchange scratching their heads in wonder.
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So the cleaver has the ability to rust other weapons it comes into contact with? That'd be useful if that was the case.
Just look for the old candy house witch, she should have some ice cream.
Hold up a moment! Tirek having to act somewhat like a parent is actually having a POSITIVE effect on him?!
8544580
Id say positive for personality, negative for his blood pressure.
Good read. One nitpick is just that when it comes to short swords, and swords in general, the differences, variations, advantages and disadvantages are all extremely variable based on the wide variety of things like blade thickness, length, width, the blade's taper, edges, hilt, guard, etc, and a sword is unique unto itself, and not as easily generalized to the point where reading about swords in a book, unless in extreme detail that is very unlikely for a 'beginner' book, would warrant being able to gloss over without serious acknowledgement. A gladius, a xiphos, and an arming sword are all different, and within arming swords there is a wide variety not easily described all the more still. You don't have to get anime or fantasy-tier in design to suddenly get distinct differences in blades.
Aside from that, very good, can't wait for the next chapter.
Is Twilight going to be "Dog" forever? Also, I'm personally here for eventual evil Twilight; was that ever going to happen, or is this a cute Twilight melts Tirek's heart story?
A part of me wanted Twilight to fail, just so that she can learn from it.
8548347
It wont be forever thats for sure. it wont even be terribly much longer.
8548332
Twilight would know all that if she was paying attention to Tirek however her short attention span got the better of her in the end. Im actually a huge weapon nerd as well and only barely surpressed my desire to ramble on for pages about the minute details.
The power of adorkable compels you.
Wait, would you be able to speed up other chemical reactions with the blade, not just rusting? That could be immensely useful if you're trying to complete an experiment that involves a very slow reaction.
8549971
The Legion is Unamused.
8551113
As long as it's a type of Decay? probably... it's an Entropy demon after all o.o
I am, admittedly, shamelessly grinning.
I see what you did here.
I still want Tirek to die.
Also, wtf?
The last moments was so strange and out of character, I thought Dog has mind-controlling ability.
9438018
Why would you think that? She might have the powers of cute, but not mind controlling powers.
9144338
But since decay is nothing more or less than the most universal effect of time on all things, wouldn't that mean that an entropy effect would most logically work by accelerating the localized temporal field around an object? In which case any changes that come about as a product of time would be accelerated as well.
just had a thought if it turnes out rainbow dash is hear doesnt that mean fluttershy could be to.?
If she is i hope she is found by some sort of nature/animal demon instead of succubi like i fear.
10570987
I won't spoil; if i had to chose i would pick succubi. None of the more animalish demons can think good. The succubi we have seen are pleasent. Flutters would get eaten otherwise...
Out of curiosity, how old is Twi in this fic?
10768750
I think she was 8 when she applied to the school so she should still be 8.
So Tirek not only has a palantir but also the essence of a powerful frost dragon sealed into a sword...
Fingers have always played a massive role in humanities rise
You are becoming way to soft tirek
This is starting to sound like Thanos and Gamora, and maybe Nebula if the Rainbow Dash foreshadowing is anything to go by
What do demons need algebra for heh
This was adorable. No matter how disgusted I am at Tirek, the whole ice-cream thing was adorable.
It actually kinda hurts that Tirek, the evilest son of a bitch in all the planes of reality, is a better father than my step-father...
11508504
I'm sorry to hear that my freind. It gets better.