Preliminary Challenges - Part 2
Capper tapped his chin as he watched the two ponies squaring off, his other paw reaching into the pocket of his exquisite coat and pulling out a small handful of Kluge Coins and Equestrian Bits. “Do we have odds on this? I'd like to bet on Rarity.” He'd meant it as a joke, but Stygian seemed to take him seriously, pulling a quill and scroll from his saddlebags and beginning to list points in favor of one pony or the other. Moondancer found herself drawn to him and his task, and soon Twilight was looking over their shoulders curiously. “Uh... I was just kidding.”
“Dash, how do you think a betting pool would effect the training?”
“Hmmm...” Rainbow shook her head at Twilight after a moment. “It's too early for that. We'll have better data for the odds after a few weeks. Could foster some friendly competitive spirit.”
“Well,” Fizzy remarked, “Equestria is certainly more... interesting than I remember.”
“Talk later: we've kept those two waiting long enough. Make a Sphere of Protection, Stygian!” The unicorn swiftly complied, Sunset aiding him when he began to struggle with the complex spell. “Three!” As Dash started the countdown Luna's gaze intensified, but Rarity managed to hold her composed posture, even examining a hoof idly to give the impression that she wasn't nearly as worried as she actually was. “Two!” Luna scraped her hoof over the ground and huffed. Rarity just yawned. “One! Go!”
Luna shot straight into a full frontal assault, wanting to take Rarity by surprise and end the duel quickly, but Rarity's horn gave a light sputter of magic and Luna found herself caught in a Net of Amyntok. “Tsk tsk, Princess.” Luna was tangled in tough white strands of magical energy, but she knew the spell well, lighting her own horn with a concentrated Chill Wind and slicing down through a few of the strands in front of her, freeing one hoof. “Oh dear.” Luna gripped the invisible strand that all the others branched from with her free hoof and pulled, forcing Rarity to either drop the spell or tumble forward. She chose the former, rearing up on her hind legs as Luna renewed her charge. “It was a dull strategy anyway, dear.”
Luna thrust a hoof forth with lightning speed, but Rarity had perfect focus, her left arm deftly deflecting Luna's blow and opening her defenses for Rarity's return strike, which followed fluidly with the same twist of the body and connected with Luna's muzzle roughly. Luna groaned and stumbled back, blinking rapidly to regain her bearings. She had just been kicked in the face. “We see you know well the Way of the Breeze, but how is your mastery of the Open Hoof?” Rarity merely widened her stance and pulled her arms back in response. “Good! That will make this all the more fun!” Luna struck with care and precision, Rarity catching her strikes but needing all her focus to continue doing so. Luna was using the greater reach of her legs to her advantage, and Rarity couldn't seem to go back on the offensive.
It went on like that for several tense moments, neither pony gaining ground, until Rarity found an opportunity to change her stance, dropping to three hooves and kicking out with the fourth. She had shifted to the Way of the Prancer, which Luna had never seen before, Rarity weaving and leaping under and over Luna's strikes to get in position for a rough buck. Luna let her body relax and took the hit, spinning across the ground and using her wings to stabilize herself shortly after, her horn pointed in Rarity's direction. Rarity cantered around the laser blasts as well, but the sheer speed of the projectiles made it a dangerous feat and her fur was singed from glancing shots that skimmed past her in several places. “You hit like a true battlemage, but we must now test your ranged capabilities!”
“I thought I was supposed to be testing you, Princess.” Rarity saw Rainbow nod behind the Sphere of Protection and knew that it was time to introduce the X factor. A complex spell she'd been taught by her fencing instructor came to form in Rarity's horn, and with much less strain than a teleport would have required she pulled her soulbound blades into existence from her internal magic. A rapier and a main-gauche parrying dagger studded with sapphires appeared near Luna in Rarity's telekinetic grip, and she split her focus between nudging Luna's lasers away with precise interceptions and swiping her blades down in a pincer attack.
Luna reacted quickly, pulling her horn back before the dagger could reach it and slapping the rapier away from her chest with a wing. “You dare to bring weapons into this fight!?” A chill filled the air even through the Sphere of Protection, Twilight stepping back toward Celestia impulsively and Fizzlepop's eyes widening in fascination. A great black and midnight blue war scythe appeared before Luna while Rarity retreated her weapons to her own position, but her breath quickened when Luna continued summoning Bound weapons in the form of two greatswords that appeared in scabbards attached to a set of black and silver armor that had been stowed by the same sort of spell.
“Well... that's just not fair.” Blades of sharp blue crystalline energy sprouted into existence all around Rarity, each stabbing and slicing from barely a foot away. Rarity deflected with blade and magic with the speed and skill born from years of intense practice, spinning the summoned swords away in shards before Luna could reach her. When the scythe lowered and a war-cry rung in Rarity's ears she was ready for it, sidestepping and stabbing at the part of Luna's neck that her neck barding and chest piece didn't cover, but Luna deflected the return strike with a wave of her armored hoof. The scythe was leveled and swung horizontally, Rarity prancing over it, then it swung higher in the other direction and she ducked under it, Luna crossing her forelimbs to block another stab. Rarity knew that Luna was too prideful to accept defeat unless Rarity could clearly demonstrate that she could have killed the Princess, but the only potentially fatal breach in the armor was too small, too easily defended. She could only defend herself and keep fighting.
“Enough of this!” Explosive force erupted from Luna's horn, concussing Rarity and sending her flying back along the dirt along with her weapons. Like their owner they looked thin and frail before the warrior Princess, but Rarity lifted them again as she rose to her hooves and faced her opponent again. The greatswords were unsheathed by Luna's magic and hovered in the air, pointed directly at Rarity. “How will you answer this!?” The air was filled with summoned swords to complement the two obsidian blades, a wall of sharp edges created between the two ponies, and after a short pause Luna provided to see Rarity's shocked expression they all flew toward her at once, and yet more were summoned behind them to join the barrage.
Rarity reached out to the leylines around her, following the root of one that felt heavily attuned to her soul, and she felt the gems beneath the dirt, sprouting off a root of the crystal castle behind her and begging for her touch. “Yah!” Rarity took a dignified stance, slamming one forehoof down directly in front of the other and calling the gems to rise. Hard crystals splashed out of the ground at absurd speeds, slanted toward Luna as they cut the sky, ripping apart the less corporeal summoned swords and beating the obsidian greatswords aside. Luna herself was rebuffed by the barrage as it slammed into the weak underside of her barding, and the Sphere of Protection failed and fell as the crystals smashed through it. Rarity was panting with effort and she could feel the last of her magic reserves pour into the bombastic attack. She didn't have any left and would need hours to recover it. Her fencing weapons began to fall, and she took the rapier up by the handle in one hoof while charging forward.
Luna shook her mane out, the stars in it sputtering, her hooves hastily lifting her scythe as if by instinct. She swung. Rarity jumped and spun in the air. Luna felt the metal of the rapier sink into the flesh of her upper chest, the blade stopping when Rarity was back on her hooves. “You're dead, dear.” Except, there was no blood, not after a short moment of observation. Moondancer found herself scratching at the base of her horn, unable to suppress a groan of concentration.
Luna's scythe was still held fast in the air by her practiced grip, but she hadn't anticipated Rarity's spin in time and her blade was not in contact with her opponent. “We lost.” Luna's face fell as the realization hit her. “Sister was right. We have both failed yet again.” Rarity was far too exhausted to respond to the emotion in Luna's tone, merely lowering her rapier with a far-away look in her eyes. She likewise missed the determined expression that shortly overcame Luna. “Know this, Rarity: you have done the Crown a great service this day! We promise thee that We shall dedicate Ourselves fully to this program. As you are one of Our trainers, consider me your humble servant for these next six months.”
“Wonderful,” Rarity muttered, dropping her weapon entirely and blinking slowly. “Does anypony have a fainting couch?” That was the last thing she managed to say before collapsing unconsciously into Luna's waiting hooves.
“Ah, she used all of her magical potential in the fight. That makes me feel slightly better.”
“Can somepony please explain what in Tartarus is going on?” Strangely enough Twilight seemed to be filled with giddy excitement by Moondancer's concern, trotting up to her with a massive grin on her face.
“I knew you'd notice something was odd before Spike told you! I'm sure you can piece it together if you just think about how you got here.” This was a side of Twilight that those accompanying Moondancer had never seen before, but she was all too familiar with it. When they were fillies they'd often construct elaborate, situational riddles for the other to solve, and they were always reliant on niche information from their shared studies. So, Moondancer calmed herself and thought about how they'd arrived. First by train, of course, but after that things got more interesting.
“Barrier of Neurobitus, yes; however, it's not classic as I first assumed, is it?” Twilight practically squealed with excitement, a sure sign that Moondancer was on the right track, and the approach of the other alicorns only affirmed her suspicions further. “You added a modified version of Paraphoal's Illusion Matrix to the spell. They both directly effect perception so it isn't infeasible to apply Paraphoal's spell to the domain of Neurobitus' spell, especially with a magical anchor as potent as your castle.”
“Yep! It's a PIM in a BoN! Observe.” The horns of the four Princesses lit together and they spoke as one, revealing that each had had a part in the original casting of the spell. “Revaulo!” Suddenly the burn marks on Cadance's fur and mane were gone, and the weapons and armor involved in the last fight were revealed to be no more than plastic replicas.
“Standard safety precautions aren't enough for a project like this,” Celestia began to explain. “We have the power to move celestial bodies at our disposal, and without Paraphoal's Illusion Matrix we would have to intentionally avoid using the lethal variants of spells. This is both detrimental to forming the correct reflexes, and is not at all guaranteed should we lose ourselves momentarily to the heat of battle.”
“In any case, it's a bad idea to continue with the PIM down, so...” Twilight paused and glanced at the others, and then the four of them spoke together again. “Reveilee!” Suddenly all of the illusions fell back into place, the knowledge that a spell modification of Twilight's design was able to change the thoughts with which Moondancer cast spells making her shiver for reasons she couldn't explain.
“Capper! Celaeno!” When Rainbow Dash yelled their names in her drill sergeant voice she jarred them all out of their state of impressed unease. The two she'd addressed impulsively stood at rigid attention, Celaeno reminded of her time pirating prior to becoming the captain of her own crew, and Capper remembering a time when he ran from such authoritative voices on the streets of Abyssinia with Chummer by his side. “Take Rarity inside where Spike will brief you and the other new arrivals. As for you four,” She continued, now addressing the Princesses. “You've got a long way to go before we're back to challenges like that. It let me know what I needed to know going forward, but for now it's back to basics. I want you all to do a hundred wing-ups right now!” Cadance winced at the mere prospect, flexing her sore wings pitifully, but Rainbow gave them the 'get to it' look so she bent down and positioned her wingtips on the ground. Twilight seemed a bit confused until she saw the other three in the proper position and followed their lead.
“Allow me.” Before Celaeno could reach Rarity, Capper had slid himself between them and lifted the unconscious pony in his arms, effortlessly carrying her toward the castle. Despite Rainbow's implication that they carry her together he didn't seem to need the help. As the lot of them made their way into the entrance hall they were struck by the majesty of the structure, as none of them had seen it before. A helpful sign pointed all newcomers to the map room, and when they got there they found Spike the dragon surrounded by the Pillars of Equestria, sans Starswirl and Stygian. Spike had been scratching a quill over parchment while listening to Rockhoof when the others entered, but he quickly paused in his task to appraise them.
“Good. We've almost got everyone now. You've each been selected to assist the Princesses with the most grueling and varied training program in the history of our world, because there is something exceptional about all of you.” Spike stalled as his gaze landed on Grubber, his snout scrunching up and one of his brow ridges lifting up a bit. “Except him: he wasn't on the list.” Grubber started to fidget nervously as Spike turned to Fizzlepop, too resigned to the insanity his life had become to muster up an angry expression. “You realize you aren't supposed to get a plus one, right?”
“He was with me when the summons arrived. The only way to keep him quiet was to bring him with me.”
“Can he do anything at least?”
“Yes, actually.” Fizzlepop's lips curled up into a slight smirk. “He may be a lazy coward, but he's a decent military strategist.”
“Apparently he planned the attack on Canterlot,” Moondancer added, smiling a little herself.
“Alright then!” Spike rubbed his claws together, a spark in his eyes as plans started to fall into place. “Flash Magnus, take short-stuff here to the library with Phase Three's diagrams and get his input on it.”
“Of course, noble scribe!” The pegasus in question gave a salute before leaping to Grubber's side in the blink of an eye. “Come, former enemy of Equestria! Let us design a mighty test for the last alicorns! And what shall we call you?”
“Well, my name is Grubber, so I guess that works.”
“Splendid!” The little hedgehog seemed hesitant to leave Fizzlepop's side, but Flash's warm mood was rapidly melting his fears and the pair had soon departed on their way to one of the castle's many libraries. It could almost be said that Twilight's castle was nothing but one giant library with several sections, but it lent itself well to its new purpose.
Spike then turned his attention to the unconscious Rarity, as well as how closely Capper held her. If he was jealous it didn't show, but the cat was surprised by how long it took him to address the situation. “Is she alright?”
“Just wore herself out fighting the scariest Princess.” Capper wasn't sure of his own words, having no idea what side effects accompanied magical exhaustion, if any at all.
“Mistmane, could you show him the way to your room?” Mistmane gave a slight bow of her head in answer, elegantly motioning Capper forth with a hoof, the movement impossible to avoid following, and he fell into step behind her before he realized he was moving.
“So, legends are just real now,” Moondancer said blankly, not sure how to feel about everything she was seeing. “The letter about The Pillars being rescued from Limbo wasn't part of an elaborate prank.”
“Yes, and they aren't the only supposedly fictional ponies you'll be working with. Twilight is letting you in on quite a few high-level secrets.” Moondancer gulped in response to Spike's words, feeling as though she didn't belong with the ponies around her.
“Twilight spoke most fondly of your intellect.” Rockhoof's voice rumbled through the room, felt as much as heard, and there was a smile in it. “It has been deemed necessary for all of us to grow and improve with the Princesses. We've been cut-off from the world for many moons, and it would do us well to have a modern education.”
“I'm...” Moondancer blinked several times, slowly wrapping her mind around her situation. “You want me to be the Pillars' teacher?”
“Twilight drew up this rough general guide to help you get started,” Spike said in affirmation, holding out a scroll of parchment, “but ultimately the lesson plan is up to you. Just review Rainbow's schedule so you can work around when she needs them.” Moondancer timidly took the parchment in her magical grip and trotted from the room in a random direction, sure her aimless wandering would both clear her mind and eventually bring her to a writing desk somewhere in the castle. “As for you, Tempest--”
“Fizzlepop,” she corrected immediately.
“Fine, Fizzlepop it is.” Spike rolled his eyes, the fatigue of dealing with so many different eccentric ponies in one day starting to show in his expression. He was still a baby by the standards of his species, barely moving into the phase of childhood before adolescence, yet he was already an important figure in international politics. Fizzlepop didn't really understand the extent of his achievements or the immense amount of stress he was feeling, but she could at least appreciate that he was having a long day. “The Crown would like to extend to you a formal invitation to become the head of Princess Twilight Sparkle's Royal Guard effective immediately.” Now that she had not expected, her jaw dropping open as Spike continued, sounding disinterested. “As such you would be responsible for the training of the new initiates. The Royal Pardon bestowed upon you will still stand regardless of your decision. You have one week from the time of this announcement to make your decision. Somnambula, please record the time and date of the announcement.”
“Uh, thank you?”
“Thank Twilight, and feel free to do whatever you want within the confines of the training area for the rest of the day. The initiates you're supposed to train won't be here for a few more days.” Fizzlepop briskly nodded and then turned around, eager to exercise for as long as the Princesses were training for the day. If they were going to focus on improving themselves then she would do the same. “And as for you, Celaeno, the Princesses are still debating how to properly repay you and your crew for your timely assistance of Equestria. As you accepted the summons you'll be helping with the swordplay portion of the Princesses' training.” Spike held forth another piece of parchment and the parrot pirate took it with a graceful flourish, giving Spike a playful look from under the brim of her hat.
“Seems I've got the first week off. You got any good reads around here?” For the first time since she'd walked into the castle Celaeno saw Spike grin.
“So many that you'll need to give me a genre before I can give you directions.”
“Non-fiction.”
“History, philosophy, or other?”
“History, Equestrian.”
Spike pointed to a doorway at his left. “Third left, then second right, up two flights, then the library you want is on your next right. Equestrian history is in the west wing.” Celaeno tipped her hat to the Equestrian legends and Spike before making her way to the texts she sought. After all she'd seen she was quite interested to know more about the forgiving but resourceful nation of Equestria.
Later that evening...
“How long do you think it will take for her to discover our intent?” One of two conspirators said to the second.
“Despite your high opinion of her deductive abilities it is obvious that she is far too humble to come to the correct conclusion in time.” So the second replied to the first. “I say that We let these trials truly begin before you start worrying yourself to grey hairs.”
Meanwhile, miles away but not many...
Special agent Sweetiedrops tossed a blackened rock away in disgust, leering at the grey clouds above defiantly. “Come then, if it really is you. This time we'll be ready.”
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Looks like we're getting some antagonists
Story keeps getting better and better!
My guess for the conspirators and their purpose:
Luna and Celestia are trying to prod Twilight into some sort of new stage, mentally, magically, socially, politically, or something else.
Something that may come up and possibly should come up: As much as I like stories about ponies being badass, most of her major victories aren't the result of wining a fight. They are a result of reaching out to others, as pointed out in the season 7 finale. Having her become more inclined to deliver beatdowns might turn out to be counter productive.
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Oh yes indeed. What would a story focused on advanced combat techniques be without some proper foes?
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I'm glad you're enjoying it!
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Your prediction as to the negative effect this could have on dear Twilight is already evident in her very first fight. We'll have to find out together if she can manage to meet the challenges of the training program and still remain true to herself.
Good luck with the job hunt mate!
Oooh. THIS WAS AWESOME!
-1) Rarity was awesome.
-2) Capper's act of kindness towards Rarity at the end of the fight was adorable.
-3) (To Spike) I know the feeling, Spike. Though I must congratulate you on your memorization skills of Twilight's castle. I think only Twilight herself (and maybe Moondancer, after a couple of weeks) could do better.
Okay now that is done. Let's get to the advice.
1)Rarity needs to improve herself. Yes, Rarity did go against Luna of all Princesses. And Luna is very powerful. But it seems as if Rarity was constantly at a disadvantage and that the only reason she won was because of the multiple tricks and abilities up her sleeve. That irks me just a little because Rarity is shown to be more powerful than most characters in the field of levitation and telekinetic magic. We can't say the Princesses are more powerful in that field because we don't know if they are using levitation to raise the sun and moon. They could be using some sort of Celestial and Lunar Magic to raise them. The closest thing we have of power is Twilight levitating the Ursa Minor and even if Rarity can't levitate something of that size, she makes up for that with accuracy, precision, and the amount of objects she can levitate. You went over this a little. Rarity precisely blocking all of the attacks in a barrage. But it felt undermined.
Even with that, the fight was great.
2) Have different types of fights for different ponies.
Luna is a warrior princess. She is obviously more powerful than Celestia in combat, even if not in magical abilities. She held her own (but still lost) against Rarity who probably has more martial arts training then Luna, but less magical abilities. Rarity's crystal-bending was her Ace in the hole. If it wasn't for that, Rarity probably would have lost.
Celestia is probably just more of a magic user then combat. Against RD, speed and agility, She lost because she couldn't focus. How would do against somepony who still has explosive magic but has the combat training of an army commander a.k.a. Fizzlepop Berrytwist a.k.a. Tempest Shadow? Would her magic overcome Tempest or will Fizzlepop's m massive combat training defeat the Solar Princess?
What about Pinkie Pie? She would most likely play with them; not use all her power, but truly be able to defeat immediately if she wanted to. How would she fight like?
It seems you already know this, just reminding. Good Job so far.
3) I don't think I need to say this but judging from the ending, please don't go down the super cliché route. Have some plot twists, whether they be big or small, about the two conspirators and who they are. I am not going to say who I think they are as of right now because I don't want to ruin the story for me or anyone else.
4) Secret Agent Sweetie Drops. Where is she? If she is in Ponyville, I noticed she seemed to have replied to the previous section (the conspirators). Having said that I also noticed that you said
If she is in Ponyville, that means that the conspirators would have started planning this a little while back if they are already in a position to attack. Canterlot: same issue.
5) please explain: The Way of the Breeze, Open Hoof, The Way of the Prance.
Which human martial arts do they compare to? Karate, Kung Fu, Judo, etc...?
The story is great. Keep Going!
Signing out, VShuffler42
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"Miles away, but not many" is both intentionally vague and a reference to Homestuck. As for point 5, most pony martial arts don't have direct analogues in human martial arts in my headcanon, and rely on the unique physiology and capabilities of the different pony subraces. If you don't mind sexual content, see Xenophilia for further examples of what I mean.
As for point 1, Luna vastly outclasses Rarity in the raw power department, but she still lost to Rarity's skill and resourcefulness. That's the entire premise of the fic, since we see skillful villains defeat Celestia and Luna all the time. If Luna learns from Rarity and the rest of the training she should be nigh unbeatable in one on one combat with any unicorn.
Fighting isn't the only focal point of the fic. Largely the premise is good for bringing a cast of characters together into a particular type of environment, so from here the action will mellow down somewhat and slowly increase in intensity until the end, with character interaction and some mystery elements in between.
Well, that’s would I’d call a hooking ending. Also, lots of lore and explanations in this chapter, I like that!
And of course, the training of the best princess. By the way, i it just me or was it inspired by The Fall of Crystal Empire?
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I'd say this fic was inspired largely by things like it. Some of the crazy stuff from Gen 1 and fan theories about how historical events occurred made the world of Equestria seem volatile and dangerous, but eventually the show addressed some of these events more directly. I preferred when they implied that full-on wars had taken place. That was a few seasons ago, though, and lately the show has increased the magnitude of the calamity we are allowed to see. We've now had actual pony war displayed on screen multiple times, so I feel that now is the perfect time to address those historical battles once more. This fic doesn't address these directly on its own, but it will rely on those ideas, which I may explore in a fic called The Great Cataclysm some time in the future.
The greatest inspiration for that particular story and the villain in this one was actually Little Sunshine by Ink Rose.
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Interesting, thank you for letting me know