Without a Plan
Without a Plan
"Do you actually have money this time?" asked the bristly Mr. Cake.
"Uh-huh" replied the caffeine deprived Rainbow Dash.
"As do I" added Twilight.
"Me too!" squeaked Pinkie; desperately trying to see over her two friends.
The three ponies ordered their drinks (black coffee for Rainbow, hazelnut for Twilight and a whipped cream drenched-in-caramel-sugar-rush-in-a-cup latte for none other than Pinkie Pie) and found a seat by a window to nurse their caffeinated life elixirs.
"So, how did Lyra react?" Rainbow finally asked after the caffeine began to pipe up her nerves.
"Like a good sport, of course" Twilight replied.
"So she didn't rage out and try to horn-stab you?"
Twilight blinked. "Horn-stab?"
"It's when they stab you with their horn." Rainbow informed.
"I had assumed." Twilight took a sip of her coffee. "She was obviously a bit disappointed, but she didn't show any hostility towards me."
Pinkie Pie came up for breath from her long draft of latte to add; "Good, nopony likes a sore-loser-meanie-pants" before diving her face back into her liquid sugar coma.
"Trixie also won her duel" Twilight added as she wondered how Pinkie hadn't burned her face off yet.
"Oh, of course she did." Rainbow exaggerated. "Why wouldn't the Great and Powerful Trixie win her round."
"Why don't you ask her, Dashie?" suggested the whipped-cream covered Pinkie.
"Wh—"
"Hello, Twilight" said Trixie.
Rainbow stared at the light blue unicorn as if she was a changeling that had suddenly materialized in front oh her.
"Hi, Trixie!" greeted Pinkie, cheerfulness glazed over her tone like warm icing.
Trixie ignored her. "That was a clever spell that you pulled off on Lyra."
Rainbow feinted choking on her coffee. "Did you just compliment something that wasn't your own flashy a—"
"Rainbow!" exclaimed Twilight.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. According to her friends, she had developed a swearing problem. After she had taught Scootaloo a plethora of 'new words', they had insisted that she stop swearing. What's the fun in anger if you can't use potent words to describe it?
"What does 'pull off' mean?" inquired Twilight.
"Well, an improvised move like th—"
"It wasn't improvised, Trixie." Twilight forced out Trixie's name with the same disdain as she did with the Archmages'. "I created that spell in no less then an hour."
"Yeah, and she tested it on me" Rainbow remarked, slightly too proud of being a punching bag than she should be.
Trixie bit her lip. "Magic like that won't work on any anypony with any degree of intelligence, Twilight."
Twilight flared. "Are you saying that Lyra isn't intelligent?"
Trixie's expression failed to change. "Yes."
Rainbow Dash stood up. "Get the hay away from us, and keep away from Twilight, witch."
Trixie blinked at the angered pegasus, and walked off towards the counter.
"Well, she isn't very nice." Pinkie chirped.
.............................................................
"Spike! Get the hay off of that game! Dinner!" yelled Twilight.
"But we're at the Shoggath fi—"
"Now!"
Spike mumbled excuses into his microphone, and hopped down into their kitchen.
"I honestly don't know why I let you keep that game" Twilight sighed.
"Because it was a present from Princess Luna?" Spike suggested.
"Yeah, a present that was your fault in the first place."
"How can a present be somepony's fault?"
Twilight rolled her eyes at his innocence. "Celestia wanted you to introduce Luna to some more modern things, to make up for all the time she lost on the moon" She began. "You decided that video games would be a good thing to show her, and you got her hooked on them. Now she gets you a new one to play with every month."
Spike batted his eyelashes. "It's not my fault that Luna is so generous."
Twilight sighed, again. "Just eat your quartz, and feel lucky that I didn't make you a daisy sandwich and salad for dinner."
Spike made an 'ew' face, and dug into his translucent chunks of draconic delicacy.
Shaking her head, Twilight took a bite of her own dinner.
"When ishur next dueleen clashe?" Spike asked through a mouthful of gems.
"No talking with your mouthful, Puff." Twilight said crossly.
Spike blushed at her pet name, but swallowed. "When is it?"
"In two days. I have tomorrow to practice, and I have no idea who I will be paired up with. I'm guessing it's going to be Trixie, knowing the Archemage."
"Is Trixie any good?" Spike was examining his next morsel with the face of a connoisseur, before downing it like a hungry wolf.
"Yeah, and she's friends with the Archemage." Twilight's appetite faded at that thought.
"Of course she is. She's the bad guy, so she's friends with other bad guys." Spike reasoned.
Twilight lovingly thumped Spike. "You're a useless chunk of hungry scales."
"Are they pretty scales?"
At that, Twilight laughed.
.............................................................
"Again!" yelled Rainbow Dash.
"Rainbow..." panted Twilight. "Can I take a break?"
"Hay no. You need to be in shape if you want to win your duel tomorrow."
"But it's... a... magical.... tournament." Twilight had already ran two whole laps around Ponyville, and felt like she was going to melt.
"So? If you're more fit, you weigh less, and will be able to float easier." reasoned Rainbow.
"That isn't how magic, or exercise for that matter, work, Rainbow." panted Twilight.
Rainbow made a "Pfff" gesture, and poked Twilight's flank. "You're made of gelatin. Lavender gelatin."
"Thanks, Rainbow. I thought you wanted to help me train?"
"I do. My kind of training." She smiled smugly.
"But I don't need your kind of training" Twilight whined.
"I know" Rainbow admitted.
Twilight stared at her blue friend. "What?"
"You don't actually need to be fit at all."
"Then why in the name of Celestia did you make me run circles around Ponyville for an hour?" Twilight fumed.
"Because now you're going to try and hit me." Before Twilight could register what had been said, Rainbow had launched herself out and over lake hardtack.
"Come n' get me, Gelatin Flank!" screeched Rainbow.
Twilight narrowed her eyes at Rainbow. "Oh, you're trying to put me into difficult situations" she thought. "Yeah, won't work on me, 'Dashie'."
She focused on where Rainbow was flying, and tried to figure out a pattern to her motion. There probably was one, but she was way too tired to find it.
"Damn you, Rainbow Dash." Twilight muttered. "Making me tire out to the point of nearly fainting. Forcing me to hypocritically swear... you're gonna get it."
Twilight tried to focus in on the speeding pegasus, but she just couldn't bring up the energy.
"Alright, brute force it is" She thought savagely. Twilight blasted a wall of course wind at a location several feet in front of Rainbow Dash, hoping to hit her.
She zipped right past it.
Trying again, Twilight aimed slightly farther than she had originally.
Again, she zipped passed the wall of air.
Twilight growled. "Stay still!"
She threw a third gust of wind, and it was perfect. Rainbow was going to fly right into it's path...
And she dove right under it, without even thinking.
"Damn!" Twilight yelled.
"Stop using brute force, you're better than that" whispered a voice.
Twilight yelped at the sudden noised. Who the hay was that?
"It doesn't matter who I am, Twilight, but I'm helping you.
"Why?" Twilight thought upon realization that the voice was in her head.
The voice ignored her. "stop trying to hit her. Use the weakness she gave you to your own advantage.
"How?"
If mentally sighing was possible, the voice did it. "There is a method of mind magic called Blight Sharing. It sounds evil, but it is completely legal"
Twilight blinked.
"It's why most unicorns, while they probably can take you down with lasers and whatnot, try not to" the voice explained. "It makes your target feel the pain that the caster is experiencing. So if you are tired..."
"Then I can make Rainbow tired" Twilight was mentally beaming at the voice.
"Yes, try to isolate your exhaustion into one point of your body—your horn is a good choice, and afflict them with it."
Twilight nodded, as if the voice could see her. "Isolate the exhaustion..."she muttered. Closing her eyes, she focused in on the lactic acid buildup that the running had caused in her legs. She felt each energy drained ounce of her quiver with it's own individual loathing of her target; Rainbow Dash.
She channeled the pain into her horn, not feeling it melt away from her, but sort of feeling it be lifted into the horn, like when you hurt your leg and rest it on another one; it still hurts, just not as much as when pressure is put on it.
When the buildup of exhaustion was at its peak, she scanned the sky for Rainbow Dash.
"Hello, little pegasus" Twilight murmured, excitement boiling over in her mind. "Getting tired, are we?"
She released the spell, throwing her pain right at the pony who had caused it.
Immediately, there was an effect. Rainbow's speed was nearly halved, making her much easier to hit.
"Gotcha'" Twilight whispered, mimicking Celestia's favorite phrase.
Twilight released her fourth and final gust of wind at Rainbow. The tired little pegasus had no chance, and was thrown into the icy cold waters of Lake Hardtack.
She removed the spell immediately, hoping to stop her from... well... drowning.
A few seconds later, Rainbow popped up out of the water.
"How... did... you..." She stammered.
"I gave you a taste of your own medicine." Twilight chirped proudly, raising her chin into the air mockingly.
Rainbow clucked her tongue. "You're flank is still gelatin..." She grumbled angrily.
Twilight giggled.
.............................................................
"Amethyst Star and Royal Ribbon" the Archemage called out. "Lemon Hearts and Diamond Mint."
The Archemage had thrown something new at the duelists; tag team duels.
"Allie Way and Comet Tail" he continued. "Trixie and Graphite."
"Oh, so you didn't pair me with Trixie." Twilight thought, slightly surprised. "What the hay are you planning, Archemage?"
The Archemage passed by Twilight without as much as a glance. "Twilight Sparkle and Quartzite" he said plainly.
"Quartzite?" she thought. "I'm being paired up with Spike's dinner?"
The Archemage rattled off a few more names that Twilight didn't recognize, and then walked off.
"'Scuse me" a gravelly voice spoke. "Are you Twilight?"
Twilight turned around to be greeted by a stark grey, well built stallion. He was older than most other ponies in the dueling club, but there was a spark of young mischief in his eyes.
"Yes, I am. Are you Quarzite?"
He grunted. "So, I came here to duel against powerful Mages from all 'cross Equestria, and I get paired up with a purple teenager?"
Twilight bristled. "Quite a rude awakening, isn't it?"
He blinked. "What?"
"It's an idiom."
He blinked again. "Did you just call me an idiot?"
Twilight sighed. "Nevermind."
Quartzite's natural color was an almost beautiful stark grey, but there were rusty brown spots nearly covering his lovely coloring.
"Did you fall into a muddy hole or something?" Twilight asked.
"Hm?"
"Your coat, it's covered in mud. Did you fall?"
The muddy stallion chuckled. "Just you worry 'bout yourself, child, I assure you I'm perfectly fine." His voice had a southern twang to it, but his gravelly tone and manner of speaking refined it into what a wise old grandfather should sound like.
"You two shall be dueling Solar Wind and Colgate" the Archemage said quickly, not even glancing at them for more than a moment.
"You haven't forgotten me, Archemage. I know you're planning something" Twilight thought. "I just don't know what it is yet.
"What kind of magic do you think they use?" Quartzite whispered.
"What?"
He rolled his eyes. "Solar Wind n' the one with toothpaste for a mane. What do you think they cast?"
Twilight had never really considered strategizing like this. "Um. I know Colgate has worked with that new pony in town on some magic. Nopony knows his real name, so we just call him Timeturner."
Quartzite's expression was solid. "So she does time magic?"
Shrugging, she replied "I really am not sure, and I've never even seen Solar Wind before.
He grunted affirmatively. "Time magic is tricky, but considering the limit on these duels, she won' be able to do much."
"What type of magic do you do?"
He grinned. "Earth magic. The mud on my coat you saw? Ammo."
Twilight beamed. "That's brilliant." Quartzite was completely caked in the rusty brown mud. Considering his size, he probably had a decent amount of ammo.
"An' you?" he asked.
"Oh. Erm. I don't really have a specialty... I guess I like wind and water magic. Oh, plus a little bit of energy manipulation.
Quartzite nodded. "Your spells are faster than mine, but my magic can hit a bit harder. I've got enough earth on me t' encase Colgate in solid rock."
"Really?" Twilight asked skeptically.
"Yup. It's all dried clay that I packed super tightly, so once I add water, I can make a little spread over a large surface." he glanced at the other pair. "Got any signature moved of your own?"
Twilight thought for a moment. "I did invent a way to control huge amounts of water. Other than that, most of my stuff is... textbook." Twilight blushed a bit at herself.
Quartzite smiled. "We'll be fine, don't w—"
"All pairs, report to your sections of the lake" barked the Archemage.
Quartzite's ancient face lit up at the Archemages words. "A purple teenager and an old fart? Victory is ours."
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Alright, I was going to post the combat scene, but I decided against it.
Why? Because I wanted to be very descriptive with the magic, and still incorporate the stuff AFTER the scene, so that is next chapter.
-Whooves
Putting in read later...with the all the other stories that have been piling up, but totally reading this later today. Till then!
my number of stories that im waiting for new chapters is growing o well tis worth the wait
My only problem with this is how inept the unicorn whose 'raw ability has never before been witnessed by Celestia' is. I suppose a lack of practice could be blamed, but you'd think she'd still be naturally better than her competitors, and would learn things with ease. Ho hum, plot devices I suppose. This still makes for a fantastic read.
I'm enjoying your choice of words, also.
Oh my gosh! Yay! New chapter!! This was great. My only complaint would probably be the way this was mostly dialogue. But there was still flow, and it didn't really prevent me from enjoying it.
Also, just a little advice, you might want to take off the 'On Hiatus' tag. It can cause potential readers to be slightly more hesitant - and with some people, repelled - to read your story.
Congrats on (once again) making the featured list!!
I wonder what he's up to.
"Cake" should be capitalized, and it should be "bristly"
There should be a comma inside the quotes (i.e. ' "Uh-huh," replied"). You missed that a lot, and I'm not sure if it's just this chapter
Missed an e and forgot to capitalize her name
Too tired to point out the rest...
Great chapter! Through reading it a noticed a few minor grammatical errors, things pretty much everyone misses when writing.
Trixie bit her lip. "Magic like that won't work any anypony with any degree of intelligence, Twilight."(unneeded any infront of anypony.)
Now she gets you a new one to play with every every month."(Two every's)
"No talking with your mouthful, Puff." Twilight said crossly.(Probably not a type, but maybe, although it confuses me. . .)
"But i don't need your kind of training" Twilight whined.(Need to capitalize the I after but.)
"Stop using brute force, you're better than that" whispered a voice.(When quotation ends you put a period and capitalize the next word, 'you're better than that." Whispered')
If mentally sighing was possible, the voice did it. "there is a method of mind magic called Blight Sharing. It sounds evil, but it is completely legal"(Need to capitalize there.)
"It's why most unicorns, while they probably can take you down with lasers and whatnot, try not to the voice explained. "It makes your target feel the pain that the caster is experiencing. So if you are tired..."(Forgot the end quotation for "It's why most unicorns, while they probably can take you down with lasers and whatnot, try not to)
"What>:(Is that suposed to be Twilights expression? If so you should clarify, if not then delete.)
Those were all the typos I was able to see while reading. Great story so far!
Forgive me for what I'm about to say. WRITE FASTER DAMNIT! Whew... sorry had to vent there. I hate when people constantly tell the author to work faster. It only causes more stress and results in lower quality work. I really enjoy this story and think it has loads of potential! I cant wait to see where it goes. By all means take your time! I would actually love to see more detail and day to day life scenes. It helps me visualize the world and the characters and how they all interact. But that's just me. I know lots of people just want action. Anyhow, great story, keep it up, and good job!
Archmage grew an extra e somehow.
1444198
I treat her magical power more so as potential than skill. She has the ability to be an all powerful mage, but she hasn't really done any advanced training.
1445760
She still never learned any battle spells.
Let me guess: Quarzite was paired with her on purpose because his use of Earth Magic—a level 5 discipline—will get them auto-banned?
I feel like this chapter had a lot more errors than usual:
I think you wanted "flashy". As it is, I would never have assumed that she was about to say "ass". That... that is what I'm supposed to be assuming, yeah?
You want a single quote before "improvised", since you have one after it. Also, "Archmage's" needs an apostrophe, and up until now you haven't been spelling it with an "e".
"somepony's"
You need an end-quote. Also, you don't "bat eyes". You either bat eyelashes or you blink. In this case, I imagine he's blinking. Probably in some kind of way.
"manner"
That's just a few. You have consistency issues to work out, and you need to learn/relearn proper punctuation when it comes to dialogue attribution.
Yay! This story updated!
Wasn't really expecting it to, because it's 'On Hiatus', but that makes it even better!
Keep writing, writer dude!
But don't rush it. Never rush it. It just turns out terrible if you rush it.
Loving it.
'Course, it's hard not to love something from the person who changed my perceptions of Starswirl the Bearded and made him Immortal.
This is Australia...
1446023
Copied from a notebook, which I should stop doing.
Sorry about that, don't wanna be giving you guys bad grammatical stuff. I'm going to fix it in the morning, but I'm tired.
great chapter!
Holy shit. The Archemage is Solar Wind? SHIIIIIIIIIIIIII- *blast*
dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Twilight_Sparkle_lolface.png Shut up.
Fien.
1452971
Did I have a typo somewhere?
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! //dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/sillyfilly_Twilight_Sparkle.png
Sorry for the rant, I just want MOAR.
1465535
Don't blame me. Blame Twilight taking over the keyboard
Suuuuuuuure.
dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Twilight_crazy.png dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Twilight_crazy_invert.png dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Twilight_crazy.png dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Twilight_crazy_invert.png
HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE
1471726
You worry me.
Fixing the grammar things as we speak, btw.
1471726
You worry me.
Fixing the grammar things as we speak, btw.
1444775
The "Puff" thing is a reference to Puff the Magic Dragon. It was referenced in the show once.
This line alone pulled me right out of the story. Why wouldn't Twilight know what that means? I would find it hard to believe if you told me that the Mane 6 never used that phrase in the show.
Also, you've been doing some weird deviations with the characters. I can't really see Twilight talking to Spike that way. Rainbow is a cursing caffeine addict? These things walk the line between 'kinda funny' and 'obnoxiously OOC.' I hate to say it, but things like this could very well ruin your fic if left unchecked.
1492589
Okay, this is one of the few situations in which I consider someones opinion wrong. Which is impossible.
1. She meant it as what is the meaning of it in that context. If you thought otherwise, there is a problem.
2. Rainbow says 'hay' more than anypony else in the show. =/
3. Twilight was talking lovingly. She was never being mean, she was being a PARENT.
OK, so this fanfic kinda maybe sorta made me fanart. :D
1443875
You can save the world several times and to the rest of Equestria, you're just a purple teenager. No wonder Luna rebelled.
1547931
Nobody let Harry Potter do shit after he killed Voldemort in the first book. He was still learning magic.
1537312
I LOVE IT!!!!!
1549371
I don't think Harry got a stained glass window after he melted his teacher's face.
1549394
You never saw Mrs. Weasleys shrine...
1552087
Yeah. I'm pretty sure he'd make that, erm...disappear.
Moar?
1443875
It's been more than a month since this chapter was released. Is there any chance we'll see new chapters soon?
Firstly, grammar:
You're...
YOU'RE...
YOU'RE?!
FFFFFFFFFFFF-
Anyways, why no new chappy? Misa wanna new chappy :c
1659117
YOU ARE FLANK IS STILL GELATIN
Yeah, correcting that now.
Working on another smaller fic (its a one shot) right now. Some of you may like it. Its got more feels then what I usually right, and it's my attempt at first person.
1660150 Ok. I still don't have enough something to read... and I need something to read :P
Just take your time, I'll be waitin'.
Very fun stuff, I hope we see more of this!
Interesting... The pacing feels a bit rushed, but I was totally sold after the grammatical smugness burn Twilight lay down on the Archmage. I'm looking forward to further chapters. :D
Nice, this sotry has shonen manga tournament air about it.
WHY ARE YOU TROLLING DASH?!?!?!
And... Congrats on the hiatus tag.
This story has been frozen in ice for the foreseeable future.
WHY?!?!! DIS STORY BE SO GOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!! XD
More than four years now, what up?