Chapter 2

Twilight Sparkle was impatient she had been a student of the Citadel for a whole week, and she hadn’t learned anything! It was like the place was designed for novices and armatures who were just beginning their magical training, they even had a class designed purely around the magic behind lifting things with your mind! The only things that Twilight had been at all happy with at the Citadel were the library and her room. The library was bigger than even the one in Canterlot and in Twilight’s opinion held much more useful information. Her room was very nice with white stone walls that always seemed bright and comforting. The floor, bed, desk and the small table in the middle of the room were covered in books.

“So not only is this place’s name a cliché, but they haven’t even taught me anything!” Twilight exclaimed in annoyance to Stonewall who was trying to read a book while he sat at the table. “Oh I know that they want to get a good idea about what we can do, but why in Celestia do we need to keep reiterating it?” Twilight asked her mute companion, who turned to her and raised an eyebrow before going back to his book. The door opened and Stronghoof walked in carrying a sandwich in his magic.

“I miss anything particularly exciting Stone?” He asked his partner after he swallowed a bite. Stonewall looked up from his book rolled his eyes, and shrugged before he went back to his book. “Wonderful…” Stronghoof said before turning to look at Twilight “…So, where are you in the rant that you’ve been giving us every day since we got here? I particularly like that part where you call Headmaster Thunderhead, a mage who could easily incinerate you with an errant thought, a bumbling incompetent hedwidge who ‘couldn’t cast a spell if his life depended on it’.” Stronghoof continued with a sarcastic grin on his face as he did air quotes at Twilight.

“Look everything that I have to say has a perfectly valid point, I haven’t learned anything. And that old stallion doesn’t seem like he’s going to correct that problem anytime soon!” Twilight said angrily in her defense.

“That’s why I brought Thunderhead here to talk to you directly about this.” Stronghoof said stepping aside to allow an older stallion to enter. Twilight blushed immediately, she may have thought that the old stallion was a washed up old hasbin but she would never have said it to his face, it was against her nature. The stallion’s fur was white and his mane was a deep purple, on his shoulders he wore a blue cloak. Thunderhead looked at her with a wry smile.

“Ah Miss Sparkle, I’m glad you speak so highly of me. It truly honors me that an untrained novice has seen fit to even mention me let alone speak for hours about my spell casting ability.” The stallion said dryly.

“I’m not a novice Master Thunderhead.” Twilight said though gritted teeth.

“Oh do regal me with tales of your advanced war spells. I simply love it when a new student tells me about how much they know of the mystic arts.” Thunderhead continued his voice somehow sounding completely serious.

“I don’t know any, but I’ve been studying magic with a god since I was eight and I saved the town where I lived from destruction dozens of times. I don’t deserve to be sent back to what equates to magic kindergarten.” Twilight said with acid entering her voice.

“Well then, let’s go down to the training hall and see this magic that you keep talking about.” Thunderhead told her unexpectedly before heading out the door leaving Twilight to follow in his surprisingly swift wake. “You say you already know all that we have to teach you here, but do you know how to stop a rush of griffin air warriors, or how to keep a dragon from incinerating your unit?” Thunderhead asked her his voice never coming above a normal talking tone as they walked down the well lit halls, but each question being delivered like a slap to the face. Twilight however was not backing down.

“Of course, for the griffins you cast a simple gravity spell that forces them to the ground where you slaughter them before they regain their senses, for the dragon you raise a shield to cover your unit before you cast a spell to make your troops immune to fire.” Twilight replied indignantly. The teachers themselves may not have been teaching her anything but if Twilight was anything then she was a bookworm and the library of the Citadel had provided her with more than a few hours’ worth of reading.

“Fair enough but what if you’re facing off against three mages with your back pressed against the wall and no means of escape?” Thunderhead asked her as they walked down the first flight of stairs. Students and teachers dodged out of their way sensing a large conflict building and wanting nothing to do with it.

“If the other mages were stupid enough to get close enough to corner me then I would just smash them backwards with a concussive blast before I took them apart as they tried to recover.” Twilight recited.

“Suppose they’ve read the book and they know that strategy?” Thunderhead asked with a slight chuckle at her by the book response.

“Then I improvise, I’d start out with a minor level shield guaranteed to block at least three heavy duty spells. Then while they were recharging I disperse the shield before pulling the wall down on them as I teleport to the other side.” Twilight replied with ease, she hadn’t read it anywhere but it sounded workable.

“I suppose that could work. However what if the building was important or you were defending a doorway?” Thunderhead asked her as they cleared the final stair before the practice hall.

“In that case I repeat step one before I electrocute them, if that fails then I smash them into the ground or each other with telekinesis till they’re mush.” Twilight replied easily having already expected the question. Thunderhead nodded before he stopped; they were where he had wanted them to be. Sitting motionless in the air in front of them was a large sphere made of metal and inscribed with runes.

“This is a test; you’ve certainly got the brain of a war mage, if an undertrained one. But I still need to know just how much power you have. You will fire pure magical energy at this sphere; the more energy you put in the faster the sphere will spin, I’ll tell you if you pass afterwards.” Twilight nodded, she’d done something like this with Celestia when she was younger, but then it had just been a small orb that light up different colors depending on the strength of the magic.

Twilight took a deep breath, steadied herself, and then tore into the sphere with a large blast of power. Thunderhead was surprised, most trainees start small, Twilight went at it full bore. The sphere was already spinning faster then what most of the teaching staff could manage, but Twilight was just warming up. With a small burst of effort she unshackled her next level; the sphere was a now wild cyclone sucking up lose objects as if they were made of paper. Twilight grinned and unlocked another shackle; the sphere became a howling hurricane that threatened to suck up other ponies in the hall until Thunderhead cast a gravity spell rendering them to heavy. Thunderhead was impressed the mare had a real gift when it came to magic; he’d assumed that she was done then but Twilight released another lock. The sphere was now a screaming vortex of sound and wind, Twilight looked at it and was clearly unimpressed by what she saw.

Twilight looked deep inside herself to that new and unfamiliar part of her subconscious that controlled her battle magical and carefully uncaged it. Her eyes began to emit purple light that seemed to glow with the fires of creation; her horn was lost from view as it was engulfed in a sea of light. The sphere began to create a high-pitched whine that threatened to break eardrums and continued to do so for several seconds, suddenly the sphere stopped spinning; that was because the sphere was no longer there. On the ground below where the sphere had been floating was a large pile of metal shaving. Twilight’s eyes and horn stopped glowing; she turned to look at Thunderhead and raised her eyebrow.

“So what do you think of my magic?” Twilight asked him with a smile spreading across her face.

“I think that you’re the strongest unicorn that I’ve ever seen and I’m making you my personal apprentice effective immediately. Otherwise you might hurt somepony.” Thunderhead told Twilight calmly, Twilight looked slightly wounded by the accusation.

“I haven’t hurt anypony in years!” She protested Thunderhead just shrugged.

“Regardless, you’ll move in with me so that we don’t accidentally destroy half the Citadel during your training.” Thunderhead replied. “Meet me by the front gate in an hour, and will someone get another sphere over here!” He yelled to one of the other ponies standing around gaping at the space once held by the sphere.

***

Twilight’s head hurt. That was because she was simultaneously juggling five large lead balls with her magic at the same time, she was also avoiding incoming fireballs cast by Thunderhead, and to top it off she was also expected to return fire every few attacks. She threw a shield over herself and the balls so that she could catch her breath for a few seconds before Thunderhead inevitably smashed through it and she was forced into motion again.

“Are you tired already Twilight Sparkle? Odd I thought you were stronger than this, I guess I over estimated your abilities as a mage!” Thunderhead yelled down at her as he flew over her using a spell and cast a large lightning spell that shattered her barrier. Twilight was getting angry, they’d been out here for hours and she was finally reaching the end of her at this point considerable endurance. Suddenly she had an idea Twilight stood stock still pretending to be exhausted panting visibly even allowing her knees to buckle slightly.

Thunderhead came to hover directly above her; he gathered a fireball and threw it with all his might. This was just what Twilight had been waiting for, as the fireball obscured his vision Twilight sent the five balls strait into its path. The lead balls became balls of liquid metal as they roared towards Thunderhead who was caught off guard and barely managed to raise his shields in time to stop them, even with his shields however he was still sent flying backwards thanks to the momentum. The fireball that had been descending towards her was easily blocked by a small magic barrier that absorbed the heat and transferred it to the hard stone around her shield. Twilight quickly reformed the five balls and cooled them down to a stable form before she started to juggle again.

“Clever Twilight Sparkle, very clever.” Thunderhead said as he descended towards her. “You’ve come farther in a single year then most mages come in five. In fact I believe that you’re the most promising mage I’ve ever met or had the pleasure to teach, and trust me I’ve taught a lot of them.” Thunderhead continued causing Twilight to swell with pride, her master almost never gave her actual compliments. “I think we’re done for the day, or at least we’re done with anything physical.” Twilight nodded and quickly teleported back to the room that she had spent the last year living in.

It’s now familiar walls had been scorched and scarred by her first experiments but Thunderhead had assured her that the walls building could take it, in fact he was confident that it would take Empress Cosmosmia herself to do any lasting damage. That was because the Empress had constructed it in case a student like Twilight was ever found. Twilight was currently busy working on creating a new spell of some kind. She still didn’t know what it was, or what it was going to do, but she knew that she had an idea that was dying to come out. She made a quick shower run and as she emerged from the water she gave herself a critical review.

She’d slimmed down and replaced any of the minimal fat that had once existed on her frame with hard muscle that rippled when she flexed. To her surprise now that she looked at herself she was positive that she’d gained around four inches to her height. Her coat had become a glossy purple and her cutie mark shined almost iridescently, all in all she sparkled. As she left the shower area she grabbed her new mages cloak off of the hook where it was hanging.

The cloak was dark grey with a cowl that hid your face if you had it up and had been enchanted to protect the wearer far better than normal soldier’s armor. Arrows could not pierce it; neither could normal swords or daggers. Best of all it absorbed a certain amount of any spell that was cast at it and stored it in a small gemstone located underneath the hardest part of the protective shielding. This gem acted as a fallback trump card incase Twilight or any other mage ran out of magic in the middle of a duel. Twilight emerged from her room dressed and ready to learn. She found Thunderhead sitting in his arm chair and he gestured for her to sit in the chair across from him as it turned out today’s topic was rifts and the reasons why they were illegal to cast.

“As you now know casting the spell that allows somepony to transfer themselves from one dimension to another at will is highly illegal. Up till now I’ve avoided this topic with you besides telling you to never try it, for obvious reasons. Now I feel like I know you well enough to consider you ready to hear this information.” Thunderhead began, his voice already falling into lecture mode “Back in the beginning our dimension was a hub, my people were one of the many integral linchpins that held the possibility of multiverse travel in our hooves.” Thunderhead sounded proud, very proud, but there was a hint of great sadness hidden behind the pride.

“Then something changed. One morning a unicorn of intermediate skill level opened a rift planning on seeing his sweetheart who lived on a conveniently located plane of existence right next door. When the young unicorn opened his rift a horrible creature emerged, it was a dark lithe thing by all witness accounts, although there weren’t many left alive enough to interview. It reportedly tore a hole through the unicorn’s forehead before it went on a killing spree that resulted in the deaths of ten ponies.” A note of the great sadness entered into his voice as he spoke.

“The mages and soldiers of the time eventually tracked down the creature and killed it, it wasn’t hard once they knew what to expect from it. In fact the reports seem to suggest that the forces that my people brought against it were overkill. Unfortunately that wasn’t the end of it; even as the first creature was being hunted down several hundred more began to pop up from newly created rifts. My people didn’t realize the correlation between the strength of the caster and the creatures that emerged until Empress Cosmosmia’s sister on a whim decided to cast one. Stellar always had been a pony who didn’t like being told what she could or couldn’t do so against the vigorous warnings she cast a portal. The creature that emerged from that rift was strong enough to cut Cosmosmia’s sister in half with a single spell before sending her body flying through the portal from which it had emerged. In one day my people had permanently lost one of our gods.” The grief that welled up inside Thunderhead was palpable as he spoke.

“Cosmosmia was able to force the creature to flee back into the rift from which it came but not before it managed to open several other rifts allowing many powerful creatures entrance to our dimension. Those creatures are the ones who lead the remaining creatures who in part contribute to the large armies that exist on this planet. Once she’d successfully banished the creature Cosmosmia wrote a million letters and sent them out through the void explaining the situation explicitly. She then shut down the power behind all unnatural rifts and set about building our ponies into the kinds who could fight wars. Ten thousand years later we are still occasionally fight the creatures which we have dubbed Shadow Stalkers, although most action that we see is directed at the griffin and hippogriff nations as you know.” Thunderhead said finishing his lecture.
“So we’ve been fighting these creatures for ten thousand years, and nopony has thought to do a good thorough scientific investigation on who and what they are or where they originally come from?” Twilight asked Thunderhead who shook his head.

“I never said that, we have detailed notes on how to kill them and just how their bodies work. As for who and what they are, the majority are thoughtless beasts whose only discernible goal is death. The only ones who we’ve so far confirmed capable of intelligent speech are the strongest, and they’re next to impossible to capture without Cosmosmia herself there to oversee the operation. Even then all we usually get out of them is vain evil laughter about how pitiful we mortal ants are, while it completely ignores the facts that, one we captured it, and two that we have a literal god in attendance.” Thunderhead told her as he shrugged off her idea, Twilight sighed.

“You wouldn’t happen to know anything about the being known as Discord would you?” Twilight asked her master, she wasn’t sure why she hadn’t brought it up earlier, but now seemed to be a good time.

“That creature is nothing compared to what we face Twilight, forget him.” Thunderhead said just a bit too fast.

“Is that so?” Twilight asked skeptically.

“Let me put it another way, he would be powerful in most other dimensions like your old one for example. But here he would be naturalized by Cosmosmia extremely quickly; she has no patience for his type of humor.” Thunderhead told Twilight closing the topic firmly.

“I take it that they’ve met then.” Twilight said Thunderhead rolled his eyes

“This topic is no longer under discussion, is that clear?” He asked her his voice broking no argument.

“Fine, I understand.” Twilight replied with an annoyed look on her face. Thunderhead sighed.

“Normally I would tell you more, but it’s in your best interest not to know, trust me Twilight there are some stones that you don’t want to peek under.” He told her, Twilight shrugged before she decided to try a different tactic.

“It’s just that my friends and I defeated him and sealed him in stone, I was just trying to figure out more about him in case I needed to fight him again.” Twilight told her master.

“I’m not saying anything else about it no matter how you ask it; that was a good try though.” Thunderhead told her with a wry smile on his face Twilight’s face reddened slightly. “Now let’s begin talking about strategy…”

***

“This is insane!” Twilight shouted up at Thunderhead as he lounged on a cloud. Another of the enemy earth ponies sprang up at her; Twilight let out a frustrated growl and sent a blast of fire through the pony’s head. The body dropped lifelessly to the ground in front of her with a thump.

Seconds later two enemy pegasi swopped down at her screaming as they shot a volley of arrows at her. Twilight calmly raised her shield to deflect the arrows before she cast a simple gravity spell sending the two pegasi plummeting into the ground where their heads bust into bloody pulps.

“Twilight this is what you need, if you do not learn what it is like to kill those who wish to kill you then you will die two seconds into your first battle. These are rebel scum, they seek to destroy everything Cosmosmia has built kill or be killed!” Thunderhead yelled down at her as she deflected four simultaneous spells from enemy unicorns.

Quickly scanning around her for the location of the enemy casters Twilight located them hiding in the shadows of a nearby overhang. Twilight brought the overhang smashing down on two of the enemy unicorns crushing them instantly. The other two unicorns sprang up and shot gouts of fire straight at Twilight who calmly cast a fire retardant spell before sending forth a great blast of cold that froze the two unicorns where they stood. Before Twilight could catch her breath she was charged by the combined might of twenty or so enemy earth ponies.

The small force rushed Twilight screaming for her blood, thinking fast Twilight sent out a wave of force that sent the front row smashing into the ponies behind them with bone rending force. Before Twilight could finish off the earth ponies a force of pegasi flew down at her firing arrows as they came. Twilight recast her shield just in time to stop them but she was caught from behind by a large blast of force that sent her spinning head over tail until her head struck a rock with a sickening crack. Twilight turned her blurred vision to look for who had attacked her and saw a coal black unicorn grinning evilly walking towards her slowly measuring each step to increase his menace.

“With this victory we will finally have gained our freedom! You imperials think you can suppress us but we are like parasprites YOU WILL NEVER KILL US AL-” The black unicorn was silenced by the fact that he now had a very large hole in his neck. Twilight brought the stone crashing into his skull just to make sure that he was dead before moving onto the mass of earth ponies who had finally regained their coordination. Twilight’s head may have hurt and her body may have ached like she’d run a marathon and then decided to wrestle a griffin but she was not going to fail this test.

The earth ponies charged towards her again but this time received no assistance from the pegasi, Twilight cast a simple magic missile streaking into the group dropping two from the front row immediately. Twilight ducked under a throwing spear and sent out a column of fire that roasted ten more of the ponies cooking them inside their armor where they stood. The last four looked at each other for a second before they charged her; Twilight pulled the remaining pegasi out of the sky and slammed them into the approaching earth ponies. They all went down in a spray of blood, somewhere in the back of her mind the old Twilight was cringing in disgusted fascination as she looked over the mess her magic had created.

Twilight scanned around her for more threats but none came. Thunderhead descended from the clouds slowly as his student stood wearily on her feet bruised and bleeding from several dozen attacks that had managed to slip past her guard. When he finally reached the ground her walked over to her slowly his eyes scanning her body slowly, she wasn’t wearing her cloak so every inch of her was exposed to the elements.

Twilight shivered slightly from the cold as a cool wind blew over the stony landscape ruffling her fur; now that she wasn’t running on adrenaline her body had begun to notice normal things like temperature again. With a slight nod Thunderhead tossed her a red potion from one of his saddle bags, Twilight didn’t hesitate to uncork the top and down the contents of the potion in its entirety. Twilight sighed blissfully as the potion took effect closing her wounds and spreading heat through her body that caused her to relax.

“You did very well, although if that unicorn hadn’t been such an over dramatic moron I believe I’d be looking for a new student.” Thunderhead said. “Then again all of the revolutionary types are, for some reason they can’t help but stop to gloat at their enemies instead of just killing them.” Thunderhead shook his head in annoyance at the stupidity of the rebels; Twilight could only nod numbly as she recalled how close to death she’d been. “All in all though you did very well, you killed over a two hundred rebels today.” His words hit Twilight like a brick, no like a thousand bricks.

“I killed two hundred ponies!” Twilight shouted in anger and surprise, her normal self returning now that nopony was trying to kill her.

“Yes, like I said it was very well done.” Thunderhead told her gustily as he teleported them back to the tower.

“But I killed two hundred of them!” Twilight yelled in anger.

“Twilight we’ve been over this…” Thunderhead said with a sigh “Good is not nice, we do what we have to do to keep peace and order. Those rebels would have attempted to overthrow Cosmosmia, do you know what the ramifications of that would be Twilight? If those rebels weren’t captured then they would most likely be blowing up a factory, razing a farmstead, attacking a government building, they are some of the lowest type of scum that you can find. Honestly their deaths were far too easy and quick if you ask me.” Her master told her sternly said as he started towards his chair.

“How would you know that they would do those things, they could have been fighting for their rights, or freedoms?” Twilight asked her master who rolled his eyes.

“Twilight I know that they do those things because each and every one of them was interrupted in the act of doing them.” Thunderhead said causing Twilight to fall silent. “Twilight I know you grew up in a sugar bowl. I understand that completely, but here everything can’t be solved by a nice song, or the power of friendship.” Twilight looked at her hooves now wishing that she hadn’t told Thunderhead about those times.

“Surely there’s something else we could do about them though, I don’t particularly like being used as a mindless killing machine.” Twilight told him.

“Don’t insult yourself Twilight; a mindless killing machine would have died out there. No what you have is something that all good soldiers have. When you’re on the battlefield your mind stops thinking about things like right and wrong, but afterwards you can’t help but think about them. This is good, for one it means that you won’t degenerate into a screaming barbarian, for another it will allow you to make good tactical decisions.” Thunderhead lectured her, Twilight nodded.

“I still think that there’s a better way out there.” Twilight told him, Thunderhead shrugged. “Anyways I could use a shower, I’ll be out later and you can continue whatever lesson you have planned for today.” Twilight said as she walked out of the room.

***

Twilight was crouched underneath a shield of magical energy as her ten opponent’s magical attacks slashed and crisscrossed against it. This was her final test, and in Twilight’s opinion it was ridicules, she’d never willingly engage this many enemy mages at the same time and she certainly would never have done it alone. Thunderhead let out a great blast of lightning that threatened to tear her shield apart but Twilight managed to direct it down and away from her into the stone. Twilight’s cloak was proving just as useful as she’d thought it would providing her with added protection from attacks that would’ve otherwise killed her several times over. Twilight suddenly dropped her shield and lashed out with blinding beams of flame which swept towards the enemy mages with the speed of lightning. During the distraction Twilight teleported to the top of a nearby cliff, she stood there for a second allowing the wind to sweep her cloak around her menacingly as she surveyed the situation before her.

The ten mages had responded quickly covering themselves with protective glowing fire shields, which was exactly what Twilight had wanted them to do. With a small application of power Twilight funneled the air around the mages into a spinning vortex of rushing air that masked all outside movement. Twilight could already feel the mages attempting to breakdown the whirlwind so she worked fast. She needed something that would kill at least one mage to even the odds because no matter how good she’d become there was no way that Twilight could hold off all ten at the same time for much longer. Lifting her horn in the direction of a nearby storm cloud Twilight began to gather energy from the vast cumulonimbus, her fur stood on end and little sparks of electricity shot out of her body.

Below her the mages had managed to break down her whirlwind and had just begun to look for her as she unleashed the energy of the storm with a shocking blast of thunder. The bolt drilled into the enemy mage’s position throwing four of them into the air where Twilight shot several small bolts into them just to make sure that they were dead. There were six enemy mages still standing looking up at her with rage in their eyes, as one they unleashed a blast of pure energy that Twilight barely managed to deflect away.

The energy cut its way through the ground underneath Twilight’s feet and cut off the entire upper half of the cliff where she’d been standing. With a sudden surprised yelp Twilight was thrown air born as the top half of the cliff tumbled down towards the enemy mages, who seemed to realize the mistake that they’d just made.Thinking fast Twilight teleported back to where the cliff had once been and watched with a sense of sick fascination as the cliff neared the enemy. Some cowered behind shields of energy while others prepared to simply blast the chunks of dirt and rock out of the way with pure magic.
“They aren’t the brightest mages are they?” Thunderhead asked her floating by on a cloud; Twilight really wished he’d teach her how he could relax like a pegasus in places that he really shouldn’t be able to.

“Not particularly no.” Twilight replied as she watched several of the mages get crushed by rock.

“Alas the rebellions don’t train their mages all that well, on the bright side it means that you’ve almost passed.” Thunderhead told her. “Ouch.” He said as a pretty mare’s head got smashed in by a chunk of rock, she’d been one of the mages to try and blast the rocks away.

“So do you think any will survive?” Twilight asked her master.

“The ones with the shields should be fine once the rocks stop, then it’ll be a simple matter of blasting their way out.” Thunderhead told her, Twilight nodded she’d already known that. “Oh look here they come.” Thunderhead said uninterestedly as a beam of energy shot out of the pile of rocks and earth, a grey unicorn followed it up shortly panting. Twilight waited several seconds before she shot a bolt of lightning down at him, the unicorn fell under the assault his eyes going dark. They waited there several more minutes but not a single enemy mage appeared.

“So I guess I pass.” Twilight said with a small grin.

“Indeed you have Twilight. In the past two years you’ve become an extremely competent battle mage and I’m honored to have taught you” Thunderhead said shaking her hoof and passing her a tiny scroll. “You are to report directly to Commander Star of the Fourth Army.” Twilight bowed blushing slightly.

“Thank you master, I’ll miss having you around trying to kill me.” Twilight told him, Thunderhead laughed.

“I’ll miss the challenge, now you should probably go; Commander Star isn’t a mare to keep waiting.” Thunderhead said with a smile. Twilight nodded before teleporting back to her room to pack. She gathered her few things and with a final glance around the room that had been her home for the past two years Twilight vanished.

***

“Welcome back to the fourth army Miss Sparkle, I’m very glad to see you again.” Commander Star told Twilight happily from across the desk, Stronghoof and Stonewall were standing attentively behind Commander Star smiling.

“I’m glad to be back Commander it’s good to see you again, and it’s good to see you two again too.” Twilight said looking at Stronghoof and Stonewall who nodded to her.

“Now on to business, according to the report that Master Thunderhead sent along ahead of you, you are and I quote ‘The strongest most imaginative war mage that I’ve ever seen, but tell her not to let that get to her head that’s the last thing she needs!’” Commander Star said in a nearly perfect imitation of Thunderhead’s voice. “Now what this tells me is that you’re ready to meet the rest of your unit and get prepped for combat they’re in barracks 7A. Oh and Dr. Ginger Root heard that you were coming back and told me to tell you to stop by at some point today if you get a spare moment.” Commander Star told Twilight who nodded.

“Thanks Commander Star.” Twilight replied with a small grin, she gave a little bow and walked out of the command room. The Fourth Armies’ home base was an enormous castle that was almost as big as the Citadel made out of an odd red stone. Twilight had spent an hour finding her way to Commander Star’s room and wasn’t particularly looking forward to having to find her way to either the hospital or barracks 7A. As luck would have it she stumbled upon the hospital first, mostly by following the flow of slightly injured ponies. She walked in and was quickly confronted by a nurse.

“What’s wrong with you Miss?” The nurse asked impatiently without looking up from her chart.

“Nothing I’m here to see Dr. Ginger Root, I’m Twilight Sparkle and Commander Star told me that he wanted to see me at my earliest convenience.” Twilight replied friendlily, the nurse nod.

“Oh right I remember yeah, he’s performing surgery in room 42D right now but it’s nothing serious. You can probably just nock.” The nurse told Twilight dismissively before she turned to the next pony in line. Twilight quickly found room 42D and knocked on the door.

“Hold on I’m coming.” She heard Ginger Root call from behind the door. The Yellow coated unicorn opened the door and whistled. “Hey there Twilight it’s been a while, come on in. I’m just finishing up here.” Ginger Root said gesturing to buck on the medical table; the buck was reading a book. Twilight did a double take when she noticed the fact that there was a long gash going through the buck’s stomach, a needle and sewing thread was in the process of sewing the gash closed. Ginger Root chuckled at her reaction. “Don’t worry about him he’s on to many pain meds to notice, like I said I’m just finishing up.”

“Isn’t it still unsafe?” Twilight asked, Ginger Root shook his head.

“Nope, anyways It’s good to see you Twilight, if you don’t mind me saying you look better then the scarred pony who came through that portal two years ago.” Ginger Root told her with a friendly smile.

“Thanks Ginger.” Twilight replied blushing slightly.

“Anytime, anyways I just wanted to see you to see if you were in one piece or needed some counseling. If you don’t right now meet me latter in the bar and we’ll do some catching up, for now I should probably finish up in here.” Ginger Root said turning back to his patient.

“Sure see you then.” Twilight told him as she left the room “Did I just get asked out on a date?” She asked herself quietly as she walked out of the hospital, after an infuriating hour of searching Twilight, knocked on the door of barracks 7A.
“I’ll be there in a moment if I can spare the time.” A surprisingly familiar voice called from within. The door opened and Twilight was confronted by a blue unicorn, Twilight’s jaw dropped.

“You have got to be…” Twilight began.

“Kidding me…” Trixie finished for her with a groan that Twilight echoed. “I was hoping that that the name was merely coincidence, but here you are.” Trixie said in a mixture of exasperation and acceptance. Twilight for her part stared at Trixie, the blue unicorn looked older then she remembered along with having developed actual muscles.

“Trixie…how did you get here?” Twilight asked in confusion.

“Come in and I’ll explain, although I suggest listening closely because I’m not repeating it.” Trixie said moving out of the door and gesturing Twilight into the room.

Twilight stepped inside uncertainly to find a poshly decorated room. The ceiling of the room was adorned with a map of the heavens, while the walls were made of the same familiar red stone as the rest of the castle. Scattered tastily around the room were several stylish couches and lounge seats, along the walls were several bookcases filled to bursting with ancient spines. At the center of the room was a large table that was covered in clutter that hurt Twilight’s order obsessed brain. There were two separate doors that peeled off from the main room leaving Twilight to wonder where they went. Trixie shut the door behind her and sighed.

“I was thrilled when they told me I was finally getting a roommate, oh well things could be worse I suppose.” Trixie said with a tiny pout as she smoothed her silvery mane before she went to sit at one of the chairs sitting around the table, she gestured for Twilight to take the one across from her.

“Wait roommate?” Twilight asked in confusion, Trixie sighed.

“Yes you’re essentially going to be my partner, which makes sense I guess.” Twilight blushed for some reason.

“Umm…my barn door doesn’t swing that way, sorry Trixie.” Twilight said blushing worse now, Trixie facehoofed.

“Not that kind of partner Twilight, I mean we’ll be living together and watching each other’s backs in the field.” Trixie said in exasperation.

“Oh, I’m sorry…so when did you get here?” Twilight asked Trixie moving on as fast as possible.

“I’ve been here for ten years Twilight, by the way what was the date in Equestria when you left?” Trixie asked Twilight.

“Hmm… it was the eighth of January 1002.” Twilight replied, Trixie stared at her for a minute then her eye twitched slightly.

“That’s impossible; I left on the first of January 1002.” Trixie said her eyes going round. “Well that certainly explains why you look so young…” Trixie mused looking Twilight over again.

“Time must move differently here Trixie. So what happened to you?” Twilight asked the blue unicorn.

“Well I was out looking for something valuable in Everfree so that I could finally afford an actual house instead of my little wagon. Eventually I stumbled upon an old castle that was remarkable well preserved and ventured inside; I think you know how it went from there.” Trixie said ruefully, Twilight nodded.

“I think I do, but why not tell your version it’ll provide more data.” Twilight replied with a slight smile.

“Yes well I made my way out of the castle and into Everlost forest, I didn’t know it was called that back then of course, and stumbled upon a camp of rebels. They were about to do some very vile things to me and I was screaming quite loudly because none of my spells were working against them, don’t give me that look...” Trixie told Twilight as Twilight rolled her eyes “…suddenly a stallion in silver armor armed with a large sword bursts out of the woods and impales one of them through the chest, it was really very graphic. Eventually he managed to fight them off but one of them somehow managed to cut his tongue out, honestly I’m not sure how I think it was one of their spell casters, then he brought me back to this place.” Twilight was staring at Trixie now.

“That stallion wouldn’t happen to have been Stonewall, would it?” Twilight asked her, Trixie nodded.

“Yes it was, anyways I got shipped off to the Citadel where they taught me what it means to truly be a mage. Oh and they also beat the shit out me whenever I dropped into third person, apparently that kind of behavior is only for ‘rebel scum’” Trixie said shocking Twilight with her casual use of the word shit.

“That certainly explains it…” Twilight said Trixie rolled her eyes.

“Har, har, yes I suppose it does. Say Twilight I want to test something.” Trixie said uncertainly.

“What is it?” Twilight asked interestedly.

“Well I wanted to test your strength against mine, last time it wasn’t really a fair match.” Trixie said Twilight shrugged.

“Alright why not, what are we going to use?” Twilight asked.

“Would you mind teleporting us down to the practice yard, that’s the only place we can do this safely?” Trixie asked nicely, Twilight focused and soon the two of them appeared in the middle of the practice yard. All around them were soldiers whacking targets and dummies with an assortment of swords and spells.

“Now what?” Twilight asked, Trixie rose up on her hind legs.

“Attention a directed energy trial will be taking place within the next five minutes between myself and Twilight Sparkle, any who wish to watch my do so but please stay back we do not wish to kill anypony by accident!” Trixie yelled in a voice that gave Luna’s Royal Canterlot voice a run for its money.

Every pony in the practice yard rubbed their ears and looked at Trixie in annoyance but hastily got out of the way. To Twilight’s surprise she saw Commander Star along with Stonewall and Stronghoof leaning up against one of the walls, sitting in a chair next to them was Ginger Root. Twilight arched an eyebrow at Trixie before she tossed her head in their direction.

“So this was planned.” Twilight said, it was a statement not a question.

“It’s actually normal procedure; I honestly never thought that it would really be you.” Trixie said with a shrug, Twilight nodded. It seemed that the entirety of the Fourth Army had come out to see this match, the practice yard was packed with spectators and Twilight noticed that the walls around them were also covered with observers. Although on closer inspection the area directly behind them was strangely absent of ponies. “I didn’t expect so many ponies to be interested in this…” Trixie muttered.

“What’s the matter Trixie; can’t put on a show anymore?” Twilight asked her with a slight smile, she’d never really had a personal problem with the unicorn but something about the irony here demanded it to be said. Trixie shook her head and smiled, her old cape appeared around her neck but it had obviously been modified to act like Twilight’s cloak.

“Oh I haven’t lost my edge Twilight don’t you worry about that.” Trixie said with a little smirk. “Now I believe that it’s been five minutes so let’s begin this, we’re only using pure energy here no actual elements. Just try and hit me with it, the enchantments in our clothing should protect us from any actual damage.” Twilight nodded and braced herself.

Twilight shot first a large bright purple beam of energy sped towards Trixie rapidly. In response Trixie shot out her own much thinner beam of energy which shot through Twilight’s much large beam with ease clearing a path right around Trixie. Twilight was startled but sent more energy through the center of the beam forcing Trixie’s beam backwards. They strained against each other’s will for five minutes neither making any headway until Trixie narrowed her beam yet again forming it into a spearhead that cut through Twilight’s own still rather blocky beam.

Twilight felt the shift at the last minute and narrowed her own beam in response stopping the other beam inches in front of her face before she pushed it back. Then Trixie smiled, her beam got so small it almost disappeared altogether while it somehow pushed back all of Twilight’s own beam. Suddenly Twilight was thrown backwards she landed in a role and regained her hooves instantly, she responded by unleashing seven different large beams at Trixie simultaneously. Trixie’s eyes went wide but she managed to fend five of the seven beams. Unfortunately for her the other two slammed into her with enough force to send her several feet farther backwards then Twilight had been sent.

“Alright you two good match, now go shower.” Commander Star called as Trixie rolled to her feet.

“Yes Commander, Twilight if you’d take us back to our room?” Trixie asked completely composed despite the fact that several of her silver hairs were falling into her right eye and her cheeks were flushed. Twilight nodded and they were immediately back in their room. “Follow me Twilight.”

Trixie said over her shoulder as she walked towards one of the two doors, Twilight followed uncertainly but she soon found herself in a beautifully set up bathroom. There were two large baths built into the floor, their bottoms were covered in mosaic tiles depicting pictures of the night sky. There were also two stalls in the back of the room along with two sinks, but Twilight’s eyes were drawn to the baths. Trixie shed her cape and turned the water on, Twilight followed suit quickly figuring out what made the water warm or cold. Once her bath was full Trixie sank in and gave a happy sigh.

“By Cosmosmia I love being a battle mage.” Trixie said happily, Twilight stepped into her own bath and immediately agreed.

“So what was the point of that little exercise?” Twilight asked Trixie after a few minutes of luxury.

“I wanted to get a feeling of your capabilities; like I thought even after all your training you have trouble with the precise small things which is what I’m best at. Where you beamspam your enemies to death I use simple strokes, not that either way is any better than the other but it’s partially why we’re going to be partners. We compliment each other’s fighting styles very well, besides the fact that we’re from the same dimension so they put us together for connivance.” Trixie replied easily “So do you want me to show you around the rest of this place, or do you have other plans?”

“I’m not sure if it is one or not, but I think Ginger Root asked me on a date.” Twilight told Trixie, Trixie chuckled.

“I know that stallion, he’s a good buck that’s for sure but he mostly tries to avoid relationships, so don’t get depressed if he’s just being friendly.” Trixie told her kindly, Twilight looked over at the older unicorn in slight shock.

“Trixie why are you being so nice to me?” Twilight asked her.

“Well let’s see Twilight, I upstaged all of your friends, although they had it coming for interrupting my show, I acted like a bully to you, then those two idiot stallions unleashed an ursa minor in my name and you still saved my life without hesitation. Afterwards you were always kind to me despite everything I put you through. Besides I’ve had years of combat to teach me about the important things, and frankly holding a grudge against an undeserving pony, especially your partner will get you killed in combat before you can blink.” Trixie said it all sincerely; Twilight took a few minutes to compose an answer.

“Thank you Trixie, I never would have expected that from you, it was very thoughtful!” Twilight told her, the older blue unicorn sighed.

“I’ve changed a lot, not that all of those changes were pleasant, but all of them were needed.” Trixie told Twilight as she pulled herself from the bath. “Now come on I’ll take you to wherever Ginger Root is meeting you.” Twilight nodded and after drying off followed Trixie through the castle to a tiny bar, to her surprise not only was Ginger Root there so was Stonewall and Stronghoof.

“We thought we’d take you for a night of drinking to celebrate you graduating.” Stronghoof said passing Twilight a mug of beer. Twilight looked at it for a few seconds; she’d never been much of a drinker.

“Eh, what the hell.” Twilight said and drained the mug.

Next Chapter: Chapter 3 Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 20 Minutes