Chapter 10: The Elements Of Balance Part 3: Offensive combat

Fluttershy got back to ponyville after about a seven minute flight. she stopped by Twilight's library where everyone else was already talking about her training as she listened through the door. "i wonder how she's training Fluttershy...... i hope she's alright, she is such a fragile little thing." Rarity said. "oh don't worry Rarity, im sure she's just fine. my training was much less dangerous than AJ's after all." Twilight said as Fluttershy walked through the door. "Hey there Shy how was the trainin'?" AJ asked. "oh it was great! i discovered my traits abilities right after i got there. and afterwards the training itself was amazing!" Shy said as she sat down. "you know, i've never really talked to Silver much or been alone with her long enough to speak with her. but since we were the only ones in the training hall we had to do something to pass the time as we were training, so i struck up a conversation. and one thing lead to another and we became really good friends and we had a friendly competition after my training was complete." Fluttershy said with a smile. "what kind of competition?" Rainbow dash asked with a grin. "an archery competition. she said that the prize was whatever the winner wants, within reason of course. i ended up winning by a lot of points so she asked me what i wanted and......" Her voice trailed off and she blushed and looked down. "and? what did you ask for?" Rainbow asked right in front of Fluttershy now. "i asked if we could have a sleepover with her and the princesses after everything is over." She whispered into her ear. Dash's eyes grew wide and she smiled and squealed with joy. she flew around the room and everyone watched, still very confused. "what did she say Dash?" Twilight asked. Dash stopped, composed herself and continued. "Twi, i think you'll really LOVE the prize she chose." Dash said with a wink. Twilight didn't get the hint and stared at her. "what did she ask for?" Twi asked. "Fluttershy, the shyest person in all of equestria, just got ALL SIX OF US a guaranteed sleepover with Princess Celestia and luna and Silver!" Dash nearly squealed as all of her friends except Twilight Squealed with joy. "hey Twi, you alright? you look a little pale." AJ said. Twilight twitched a few times and almost fell over. she sat back up and she jumped into the air and let out an ear shattering squeal that could deafen a dragon. "alright i'll take that as a "yes Applejack im fine" then." Applejack said with a chuckle. "how did you do it Fluttershy?! i've been trying to get a sleepover with the Princess since i was a filly!" Twilight said. "i won the contest and told Silver that's what i wanted, and she said that she would arrange that with the princess's." Fluttershy said as Twilight started hugging her in a bone-breaking lock. "alright..... Twilight.... your kind of.......... crushing me..." Fluttershy said between squeezes. "oh, haha sorry about that." Twilight said as she let her friend go. they all continued to talk for about five more minutes before they started to go home. "oh Rarity, Silver wants to see you first thing in the morning." Fluttershy said as they walked out the door. Rarity nodded and went home to get some rest.

The next morning she woke up to a note stabbed to her makeup stand. she picked it up and read it. "To Rarity, Don't even think about it..... i know your going to put on your makeup but you need to come here right now. signed: Silver Star." she read the note and frowned. "fine, we'll do it your way miss Star....." Rarity said and began to walk outside. "i just hope this "training" of hers is worth it.... although Fluttershy did seem to enjoy it.... eh, what's the worst it could be?" Rarity said as she teleported into the training hall. she was just about to find out. when she had arrived in the training hall she saw Silver staring into her eyes about two inches away from her, slouched over to meet her height. "woah, why are you staring at me like that? it's creepy..." Rarity said as she backed away a little bit. "your late. it's eleven thirty already, your training was supposed to begin at seven." Silver said as she began floating around the room with half closed eyes. "SEVEN O' CLOCK?! ARE YOU INSANE?!" Rarity shouted. "i am most certainly not but my senses may be a bit dulled. i haven't had a good nights sleep in over two months." Silver stopped to think. "come to think of it, i haven't even thought about sleeping in over two months." Silver said and shrugged and landed in front of Rarity. "are you serious? why haven't you slept in so long?" Rarity asked sitting her friend down on a bench next to her. "i think it has something to do with Discords reappearance. it has kept me somewhat....... uneasy since he came back. i know he is a changed person and i, especially right now, have nothing to worry about. but i still can't let my guard down. and his clones appearance doesn't help matters any." Silver explained as she stood up. they walked over to the balcony and looked out over equestria. "it's beautiful... isn't it?" Silver asked as they stared into the sunlight. "i can't believe that i once tried to destroy all of this........" Silver said as s tear dripped from her eye. she caught in in her magic and lifted it up in front of her. she toyed with it moving it around into different positions, shapes and areas before dropping it. "oh dear, it's not your fault you had no idea what you were doing, you weren't even YOU back then. and she was so young and didn't quite understand why the people did what they did. she couldn't help it, she felt ignored and alone. she just wanted someone to appreciate her...... she just wanted to be loved....." Rarity said with a tear gracing her eye as well. "thank you rarity, you truly are a great friend." Silver said as she hugged her friend. "you are as well Silver.... you are as well. now we should get started on my training am i right?" Rarity asked. "yes we should come on follow  me." Silver said as her wings expanded and she flew down into an open field and landed. Rarity focused her energy and warped down next to her. "uum, is there a specific reason why we are in a field with nothing around but dirt?" Rarity asked looked terrified. "yes this is part of your training. you are the element of Offensive Combat and you must learn to fight in any terrain. that means lakes, rivers, mountains, grassland, caves, urban areas. and BEST of all!......" Silver paused for dramatic effect and smiled evilly at rarity. "dirt........" she said to rarity with an evil smile. "are you just trying to get me to freak out?" Rarity asked sarcastically. "sure, i guess i can try for that. why do i get a reward?" Silver asked using a pinkie pie-like tone. this could only make rarity laugh. "you can do impressions of us?" Rarity asked. "sure i can do all six of you almost perfectly. who do you want to hear?" Silver asked with a smile. "hmm...... oh OH! do Applejack!" Rarity said. "alright here goes......" Silver breathed in and then out. "hey Rarity why are you scared o' dirt? it doesn't hurt see?" Silver said rolling around in the dirt. "oh that is SOOO Applejack now do Twilight!" Rarity said with excitement. "hi my name is Twilight Sparkle, and i live inside a tree surrounded by books. i don't do anything but read and study in my free time and i live with an owl who reads." Silver said and started laughing. "alright i wouldn't go that far but that does sound like her now do rainbow dash." Rarity said. "hey i'm Rainbow Dash and i love showing off, and i'm the only person to ever do a sonic rainboom." Silver said and imitated Dash's flying pattern. "that is a perfect imitation of her!" Rarity said and rolled on the floor laughing. she wiped a tear from her eye and laid there. "now do pinkie pie." Rarity asked her. "aah, now that is a challenge." Silver said and cracked her knuckles. "hi im Pinkie Pie, i throw parties almost nine times a day! i know every person in Ponyville! i can make anyone smile just by looking at them! i bounce when i walk around! i don't breath when i talk, i can catch rainbow dash in a race, and i can defy the laws of physics, gravity, science, and possibility ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!!" Silver said all without breathing. she stopped and sat there for a second and then fell over and laughed for maybe four minutes alongside Rarity. rarity was pouring tears out from laughing and she finally managed to stop. " that..... that was priceless Silver. oh i know, do me." Rarity said as Silver managed to recover. "Greetings my name is Rarity, i love fashion and am the perfect woman." Silver paused a moment to see her friends reaction. "well from what i think that was perfect so far but keep going." Rarity said with a smile. "i am DEATHLY afraid of dirt and won't go anywhere near it. safe for the fact that i've been rolling around in it for the past six minutes." Silver stopped and saw Rarity's eyes shrink down as she looked at herself then looked around. "AAH! DIRT, DIRT EVERYWHERE!!! GET IT AWAY FROM ME!!!" Rarity screamed then stopped and stared at her friend. "im joking Silver. i really dont care anymore, i mean if im afraid of dirt then i would be afraid to go outside because dirt is everywhere." Rarity said and stood up. "so how was this part of my training exactly?" Rarity asked as she helped her friend get up. "i told you, you need to learn to be able to fight in any terrain. and that means being able to take being in the terrains for long periods of time." Silver said and threw a sword to Rarity. she caught it and examined it. "wait..... you mean i actually have to fight fight?" Rarity asked. "yes you do Rarity. i know your not the fighting type but thats why im training you to be a soldier. by the end of the day you'll be able to beat me in a fight!" Silver said with pride. Rarity shrugged and opened her eyes. Silver gasped when she saw them change from their normal light blue color to a crimson red color. Silver smiled as she thought back to her studies of the elements of Balance and remembered that the element of offensive combat had crimson red eyes. they began to fight and after a few minutes and a few different fighting terrains Rarity had Silver pinned to the ground with a sword in her face. "well, well, well look who's beaten who now?" Rarity said as she pulled Silver to a standing position. "don't get to cocky Rarity you are the element of offensive combat after all." Silver said as she placed a sword on her shoulder. "I know that Silver, i was just joking around" Rarity said with a chuckle as the two warped back to the training room. Silver placed a hand on Rarity's shoulder. "now there's one final part of your training rarity." Silver said with a stern look in her eye. "and what would that be?" Rarity asked. Silver backed up a few feet and split into about forty copies of herself. "fight all of us at once in a real battle." The copies said all at once. Rarity twitched a few times and she nearly fell over at the sight she just saw. "all of you at once? are you KIDDING ME?!" Rarity half shouted. "yes if you truly are the element of offense then you must be able to fight large numbers of enemies at once. you must also be able to handle fighting many different opponents." Two of the clones said one after another. all of the clones except for one drew their swords. the clone that didn't draw it's sword floated into the air and changed the form of itself and the other clones. all of the clones took the shape of skeletons while the floating one took the form of an evil looking discord. "and not only must you be able to handle all of these enemies. you must also be able to fight them off without taking a break. this is no longer a game. this is no longer training. this is a real battle. prepare to have a taste of what the actual battle will be like. for This! is the army..... OF CHAOS!!!!" the clones each said one by one until they all shouted at the same time. "alright then, LETS GET STARTED!" Rarity said as she raised her sword. "just know that every time one of us gets injured we will retract back into the top clone which is the original." one of the clones said. then they charged rarity and rarity charged them. twenty minutes later Silver was back to her original self but with cuts all over her body and a few deeper than others. "sorry dear, i got a little...... carried away with the fight." Rarity said as she continued to bandage her up. "no, no it's fine that was the point of the exercise. i was trying to make you get the feel of being able to fight an enemy to the fullest no matter what." Silver said, flinching a few times as Rarity disinfected a few of her wounds. "what i don't understand is why you lost so easily and why your full body was effected by the attacks." Rarity said a but confused. "well you see rarity, an alicorn is only immortal because of the amount of magic they posses. but when i split myself into multiple copies each of them took a small amount of my magic with them, in turn, making me weaker. but the reason i was effected was because whenever my clones get injured, depending on the severity of the injury, it would injure my full body as well. a small injury would be nothing but a small cut on my body. a large injury would be a small injury to me. and a mortally deadly injury to clone like death would be a very large injury to me. thankfully you didn't kill any of the clones or i'd be even worse than i am right now." Silver explained as Rarity helped her stand up. "yes i am truly sorry about that dear. i wish there was some way i could make it up to you." Rarity said thinking. "i'll let you know if i think of anything, but for the moment the only thing i could ask from you is to go home, tell pinkie pie to come up here in the morning, and get some rest. now go on i just need to sit down and rest for a little while." Silver said as she sat down. Rarity smiled and teleported home to tell everyone the news. Silver stood and walked toward the balcony. she sat and stared out into the distance. as she looked up and saw the moon high into the sky. Silver smiled as she looked at the moon, and then she remembered her time there, binded to luna. Silver sighed and looked back out into equestria. "i can't believe anyone would want to destroy all of this, even though it is more beautiful during the night, i can't believe i would want to make it like this forever....." Silver stopped and looked down, a tear escaping from her eye. it hit the ground and exploded like a drop of water should. Silver flew into the air straight up and landed on the top of the Canterlot tower. she looked out into the distance, past the borders of equestria. Silver gasped at what she saw, she flew to the edge of the furthest mountain and looked closer without leaving the boundaries of equestria. "i hope time will move faster...... for we do not have much more of it." Silver said out loud to herself as she looked to see an entire army of the dead approaching. "for the army of chaos approaches." She said to herself. she made an estimate of how long they had until it reached the borderline of equestria from the country to the west. they had about a day and a half at most....... which was all it would take for his awakening........