Darklight

by snoninja7

Chapter Seven: Schooled

The following day, the three of them worked through the details of their plan. They also made a general survey of the land, under Darklight's guidance, for suitable locations to carry it out. Twilight and Darklight discussed, and sometimes debated, how best to bring down the golem. Derpy flew along with them, but mostly kept quiet and took pictures with a small camera she had brought with her.

That evening, when Twilight attempted to enter the workroom to talk to Darklight, Derpy met her at the door. “Mister Darklight’s working on something right now, so you can’t come in just yet. Don’t try and sneak by either, these wall eyes of mine can see everything!”

Raven's Wind made a second visit later that evening, accompanied once again by the two pegasus stallions that Twilight learned were her oldest sons (their names didn't translate well), whom she always brought with her to Darklight's home for the sake of propriety—she was, after all, a happily married mare with a good reputation to maintain.

Twilight still did not trust her, and kept to the background as much as possible. In contrast, Derpy was excited by the prospect of a new group of friends, and greeted them in her usual manner.

"Hi, I just baked a fresh batch of muffins... AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" She screamed in surprise when the three Barbaroi ponies responded to her gesture with a shrill battle cry and each drew their daggers with their mouths. Darklight jumped between them and explained something to the combatants before any of them could slash Derpy's throat open. They calmed down and resheathed their daggers.

"The word 'muffins'," Darklight explained to Derpy, "Sounds a lot like a word that is a major insult in their own language."

"But what does it mean?!" she asked.

"You... don't want to know what it means."

Derpy was almost as insulted as they had been. "Well, maybe I don't want to learn a language like that," she pouted, adding in a worried whisper, "But don't tell them I said that!"

Raven's Wind stepped forward, pushing Darklight aside, and burrowed into Derpy's soul with her penetrating stare. Derpy trembled in terror, and held out the basket both as a protective shield and a peace offering. Without taking away her gaze, Raven's Wind moved in close, picked up one of the muffins, tasted it... and smiled. Darklight translated her response: "Delicious, almost as good as mine."

Derpy’s eyes grew wide with wonder, and she made an audible gasp. Had she finally found it? The most perfect muffin in the world? "The Muffin of Legend!" she whispered, "Could you ask her if I could try those muffins?"

"I'm sure she would be happy to make some for you," laughed Darklight.

Next morning, training for the big fight began in earnest. Twilight felt it her obligation to warn Darklight about Derpy's many shortcomings, citing examples from her own experience. His response was always a disinterested, semi-dismissive grunt, until he finally said “Sounds like a pony who could use a fresh start.”

They traveled to the open plain a few miles from Darklight's Cave and started with a flying exercise that Darklight learned from the Barbaroi. Twilight would stand in one place and fire magic spells at the two flying ponies while they charged towards her; it was good practice for when they would have to do the same with the golem. Derpy had trouble from the get go, causing several spectacular and very painful mid-air collisions with Darklight that caused both of them to plummet to the ground. “Told you so,” Twilight grumbled to herself. She did have to admit that Derpy was surprisingly resilient; after each crash she would immediately get up and ready herself to begin all over again. Darklight’s patience with her seemed limitless, and he gave her helpful suggestions on how to improve her flying technique. Gradually, the collisions became less frequent as the day wore on, and Derpy showed some real progress in her agility.

Twilight also collaborated with Darklight on magic training, teaching each other a variety of spells that might come in handy later on. Twilight’s magic was more powerful, and she had a larger overall repertoire of spells, but Darklight was faster and knew more attack spells. So Twilight helped him to improve the power of his magic attacks, and Darklight helped her to improve her ability to cast multiple spells in a short period of time.

Two of the spells that Twilight learned were especially interesting. The first was a spell that transformed her horn into a sword blade that could slice an object in half before it wore off. This was a relatively easy spell, and she used it to cut several rocks in two. The second was called a kinetic spell, which gave objects, or ponies, a quick burst of speed. “This is a tricky spell,” Darklight warned, “The key is to keep your mana input low, because it doesn’t take much to make a big impact.”

Twilight was pretty confident that she would get the kinetic spell right the first time. Darklight directed Derpy to hide with him behind a large boulder. She levitated a softball-sized rock into the air and cast the spell. The rock instantly went supersonic, leaving a trail of flames, and exploded in a fireball. Darklight laughed, “That's what always happens the first few times, and it’s always fun to watch.”

“Pretty fireworks! Try me next!” said Derpy.

Twilight also practiced leaping on and off of Darklight's back while he was in flight, as well as holding on while he performed aerial maneuvers that he would use to evade the golem's beam attacks. She had practiced the kinetic spell several times by then, and used it to give Derpy a quick burst of speed while she flew nearby. Derpy did need to practice flying under the influence of a kinetic spell, but Darklight would be the one to cast it when they were fighting the golem, so it was mostly a fun activity for Twilight.

The whole day had been fun, but it didn't last. Late in the day, Twilight and Darklight were having target practice, alternating casting levitation and kinetic spells on rocks while the other shot them with horn blasts. They didn't even realize that Raven's Wind was standing next to them. She got right in Darklight's face and angrily berated him for the inadequacy of their training sessions that day and ordered all three of them to meet her before dawn the next day at that same spot. Who does she think she is? Twilight thought as Raven's Wind flew off.

Darklight was significantly more excited by this prospect than Twilight. "She's one of the best teachers they have. Ponies from all over come to her for training in precision flying, aerial combat, hoof-to-hoof fighting, and espionage. She's a level thirty five combat flyer."

"Thirty five out of what—one hundred? That doesn't sound that impressive."

"Actually, thirty-five is the number of tier-ten sharpshooters firing arrows at her in staggered, three-second intervals while she is flying two hundred yards towards a three-inch wide target, which she has to hit with a knife throw, in a 20 second time limit, ten times in a row. Raven's Wind holds the record."

"Then may I ask what your level is?"

"I... can't get past level eight." He said with some embarrassment. "I get teased about it a lot."

'All the ponies here are crazy,' Twilight had once said in reference to Ponyville. Evidently, she had a lot to learn about insanity. She did have to admit that precision flying training would help Derpy, and perhaps Darklight as well, with the golem fight. On the other hoof, nothing on that list sounded useful to her.

At dawn the next day, Raven's Wind began the training session instructing Derpy on flying techniques: how to improve the power and efficiency of her wing flaps, how to make sharp turns and dives, situational awareness, even how to compensate for her lack of depth perception. Derpy concentrated on her every word, and even Darklight was doing more than just translating and seemed very interested. Twilight saw little point in listening beyond purely academic curiosity and soon got bored. She went off to practice attack spells, but she noticed several times when she looked back that Raven's Wind was looking at her with an ominous look in her eyes.

It quickly became apparent that this was not going to be a fun day at all. Twilight casually fired her beam attacks as usual from the target location for the evasive flying exercise. Raven's Wind led the flying ponies, twisting, turning, and dodging the beams with astonishing speed and agility. Twilight was so amazed that she barely noticed the breeze as a dagger flew between her legs and embedded itself in the ground behind her. Raven's Wind flew right up to Twilight, yelled something in her face, and body-checked her to the ground while she went to retrieve her dagger. Darklight translated her words, "She said: 'Shoot at me like you are trying to kill me.'"

Twilight responded with clenched teeth, "With pleasure... jerk."

She got much more serious about her magic attacks now, mixing beam attacks with rapid fire horn blasts. Raven's Wind dodged the attacks effortlessly, and finished off again with a dagger thrown between Twilight's legs.

Once, Raven's Wind chose to forgo the dagger attack and charged straight at Twilight. She cut to the left at the last moment, and landed a sharp kick across her face. Twilight responded by blasting away at her nemesis at nearly point-blank range. Raven's Wind flipped in mid-air into a one-hoofed spring and flung a dagger straight at Twilight's heart. Twilight deflected it with a hastily cast shield spell and charged in a blind rage straight at Raven's Wind, intent on impaling her with her horn. Twilight was blinded for real when a white cloak flew in her face and a sharp blow to her neck knocked her face first into the ground. She had barely enough time to untangle herself from the cloak and cough up a mouthful of dirt when she saw Raven's Wind bearing down on her with a second dagger. Twilight launched her backwards with a concussion blast and fired several horn blasts as Raven's Wind back flipped out of the way. Twilight was so angry now that she was quivering, "Just try that again and I'll... "

Raven's Wind calmly held up the locks of her mane and thoughtfully examined a few hairs that were still burning from Twilight's magic attack. She smiled, nodded, and said "again" in her own language before flying off for another round. She did 'try that again', many times. Twilight and Derpy quickly learned the Barbaroi words for 'No', 'Wrong', 'Again', and 'Try and kill me.' The evasive flying exercise was getting very serious now, the air became saturated with every kind of magic attack Twilight could think of. She entirely forgot that Derpy and Darklight were also trying to dodge, all she cared about was hurting and humiliating the mare who had now become her worst enemy. The fights on the ground were getting more serious too, Twilight was so angry that during one round she forgot about the Golem’s interference field and tried to teleport, only to get shocked by the mana backflow. Raven's Wind took advantage of her mistake and landed a flying side kick into the side of Twilight's face.

What really infuriated Twilight was the fact that Raven's Wind never seemed to get angry herself. She would always have the same cool, thoughtful expression as she stared into her soul and learned the secrets behind her next move. A couple of times, Twilight got so mad that she burst into flame and lashed out with long tirades laced with every unkind word she could think of. Each time, Raven's Wind would yawn and go help Derpy with her hoof-to-hoof combat training until Twilight cooled off a bit.

A new dimension was added to the paired flying exercise. Darklight would have to dodge, with Twilight holding on for dear life, as Raven's Wind and her sons (who had been there the whole time) tried to slam into them. Twilight frequently found herself in freefall, and Darklight did everything he could to catch her and place her safely on the ground. When he was unsuccessful, Raven's Wind would catch her and hurl her into the dust. Darklight was already in a great deal of trouble with Twilight, so he worked extra hard to fly out of the way of his attackers, or at least be the one to catch her when she fell.

At sundown, Raven's Wind was still largely unscathed, and looked like she was ready to keep training through the night and beyond. The rest of them were absolutely exhausted. Twilight and Derpy stumbled back to the cave together, alternately supporting and tripping over each other as they went. Raven's Wind and Darklight had a conversation together that she didn't understand, nor did she care to. She only thought about the horrible fact that they would have to go through the same nightmare the next day.

Author's Note:

I wouldn't call Twilight a "Mary Sue" character. She has a bit of a temper, and when she does get mad she can be overly skeptical and sarcastic. There have been episodes where this has been a problem for her, such as "Feeling Pinkie Keen", and it will be a problem for her here. Her only objective right now is to defeat the golem and get home, and her tunnel vision will make her miss key points of a much bigger story going on around her. Don't forget about the antagonists in Chapter One, their hoofprints are everywhere.

Comments

[DreadedCandiru2]

This means that someone is about to get called on her Theory Tunnel Vision by a mailpony........

[snoninja7]

3102163 Yeah, Derpy will be a part of Twilight's learning experience