It had been a hot summer’s day, but sunset was drawing near.

Cloud and Twilight stood in the basement of Twilight’s tower; a room designed for testing new spells and other kinds of magic. The latter is what they were focused on. More specifically, Cloud was trying to recreate his new magic circle - the very same circle he had used to kill one of Princess Celestia’s royal guards. Twilight stood nearby to record everyone’s favourite thing: Data.

They had begun with the obvious; trying to summon the circle the same way a Support Circle is summoned; pure and intense focus. Unfortunately, this bore no fruit. As it turned out, doing what was necessary to summon Support Circles merely resulted in the summoning of Support Circles.

A shocking development.

Regardless, they continued trying. Hours and hours had passed as the two of them tried dozens of different experiments, determined to unlock the magical ability. It was now the end of the day and they had both reached the point of exhaustion. They were ready to try what people as arrogant as they considered an affront to their more ‘original’ ideas - simply recreate the events that made it work the first time.

Using a spell given to her by Princess Luna, Twilight was keeping Cloud in a magically induced daydream. A stream of magic spewed from her horn, flowing into a misty fog which surrounded Cloud. After stumbling around and murmuring for a while, Cloud finally summoned the new circle as he did in his memory.

“There!” Cried Twilight, cutting off the spell. “I got it! I recorded the energy output!” She quickly began writing complex equations, detailing the way Cloud’s natural magic altered upon summoning the new circle.

Cloud shook his head to bring himself back to reality. “Can you trace it back?”

“I think…” The room was quiet for a moment, save for the sound of Twilight’s quill scratching against her parchment. She grinned. “Yes! Alright, I just need to calculate the spell’s trigger… and then… there!" She underlined the final equation. “I’ve done it!”

“Great!” Cloud took the parchment and quickly read through the casting equation. He read through it a few times, making sure to take in every number and magical symbol as best he could. If these calculations are correct, I’ll need to activate my Unicorn magic without the use of my horn. Jeez, my legs are stiff… I’ve been standing here way too long. “The fact that it took us this long to figure this out is clearly Spike’s fault for not telling us to do the obvious sooner and is absolutely not our fault.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever. Anyway, since this spell seems complex, we’ll continue this tomorrow.” Twilight finished her tea. “Have fun with the Princess.”

Cloud groaned.

After twelve hours of blunt force trauma, enough exercise to kill someone outside of the dream realm and very little actual teaching, Cloud was back in the basement with Twilight. They were about to begin testing the magical equation.

“Let’s begin testing the magical equation,” announced Twilight.

Cloud nodded before assuming the (magical) position. He controlled his breathing and focused, feeling his magical energy flowing through his body. Slowly, he began to channel magic through his right foreleg and into his hoof. Come on… Finally, he gave his magic a push and tried to will the new circle into existence, and…

“It’s working!” Cried Twilight.

On the end of Cloud’s right hoof was the new circle. It was a bright yellow and emitted small sparks of electricity which were the same colour as the circle itself. It was much smaller than a Support Circle, its diameter only fifty percent larger than the diameter of his hoof.

“It’s taking much less mental strain now,” Cloud described, keeping his breathing steady.

“Most likely because we’re performing the spell within a controlled environment,” Twilight replied, frenetically writing down the results. “This is wonderful! We’ve made so much progress!”

Cloud nodded slowly. I need to keep my actions simple. If I lose concentration, I may lose control of the circle entirely.

“Next you need to try to dismiss the circle. If the equation continues to be correct, it should be similar to dismissing a Support Circle.”

Cloud nodded again before closing his eyes to focus further. He willed the circle to disappear and, just like the Support Circle, it span counter-clockwise as it shrank until disappearing in a flash of light.

Cloud breathed a sigh of relief.

“Yes!” Twilight cheered. “Alright, the next step is to keep doing practicing until you can summon it without a problem!”

“You really think we can get to that point in just a couple of days?” Cloud asked. “Even in a controlled environment like this, it still took a fair amount of mental strain. During the fight, it might be too much for me to handle.” From Cloud’s expression, Twilight could tell that he wasn’t asking this out of fear or a lack of confidence, he was asking out of genuine concern.

“Do you remember when we were going to face Nightmare Moon? When you tried to fight that manticore?”

Cloud nodded.

“Do you remember what you told me?”

“Uh…”

“You told me that using your Support Circle to boost yourself gave you a small migraine.”

“I did?” Actually, thinking back on it, that sounds familiar…

“Yes, but with practice in a controlled environment that’s no longer the case.” Twilight smiled. “I’m sure we can do the same here just as well.”

There was a short pause before Cloud responded.

“You’re right.” He smiled back. “With Ponies as smart as us, there’s nothing we can’t solve.”

Twilight snorted. “What do you mean ’us’?” The two of them laughed. “Anyway, what do you want to call it? The new circle, I mean.”

Cloud raised an eyebrow. “I thought it was obvious.”

“You have no creativity…” Twilight rolled her eyes.

“The Shock Circle.”

“What a shock.” Twilight shook her head. “Let’s get back to work.”

The two did what they did best - studying Cloud’s mysterious magic.

Days had passed, and Cloud was once again in his dreams with Princess Luna. Tomorrow was the big day.

“This is it, whelp,” began Princess Luna. “Tonight is the final night before your trial by combat. Tomorrow is when we shall see if you truly are a useful asset to me.”

“I’m just gonna ignore that last part,” Cloud replied. “What are we doing this time?”

“Tonight, we spar.” Princess Luna’s body began to morph and change:

She shrank in height yet became more stocky and broad, her muzzle grew longer and thicker and both her mane and tail shortened in length. Finally, she stopped. She had taken the form of an adult stallion.

“I am sure you are confused,” she continued, “the reason I have changed form is so that-”

“Yeah, I get it,” Cloud interrupted. “Sparring with your normal form wouldn’t be any help to me; I wouldn’t learn anything useful.”

The Princess nodded. “Indeed. Rest assured, I shall remain at a realistic level of mortal ability. Now then…” She changed her footing into a battle stance. “We fight.”

She charged forward and threw a punch without stopping. Cloud acted just as quickly, moving backwards to keep at a relative speed with her. At the same time, he knocked her hoof to the side, grabbed ahold of her foreleg and yanked hard. Her shoulder crunched as her leg was roughly dislocated. Not missing a beat, Cloud thrusted a hoof forward and hit her square in the face.

In the precious milliseconds the Princess was distracted from the punch, Cloud moved into her blind spot and then behind her before hitting her in the back of her head with a magic bolt. She snarled before spinning towards him with an angry backhoof he easily ducked under. Finally, he summoned his Shock Circle and finished her off with an electrified uppercut to the jaw - a Thunder Punch.

There was a flash of light and they were returned to their original positions, though Princess Luna remained transformed.

“Very impressive.” She smirked. “I have certainly taught you well.”

“Honestly, with how little you’ve taught me I thought I’d do worse,” Cloud replied, panting slightly.

“Of course, as this was our first spar of the night, I was going easy on you.”

Cloud rolled his eyes. “Of course you were.”

“Now we spar again!”

The two sparred again and again, not stopping until the break of dawn.

Princess Celestia stood on a balcony of her castle, looking out at her kingdom. She had just raised the sun, sending streaks of sunlight across the land. After properly gathering her thoughts, she teleported one of her guards to her.

“Your Highness,” he bowed.

“Stand.” She commanded.

He obeyed, and stood to attention.

“As you are aware, your partner, Honeybee Wingbeat was murdered a week ago. You were there, of course, when the Unicorn known as Cloud Calculation murdered Wingbeat in an attempt to escape.”

“Yes, ma’am.” His expression remained neutral, a result of many years of training as a royal guard.

“Today, he shall go on trial - the kind of trial Equestria hasn’t seen for hundreds of years: A trial by combat.” She looked outward at her kingdom once more. “I find it appropriate to assign you to the task of killing him in this trial. After all, Wingbeat was your partner for many years. I’m sure you would find it… therapeutic to give this criminal what he deserves.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He saluted. “Thank you, ma’am.” Though his expression hid it, his mind boiled with anger at the mere thought of Cloud. He would not waste this opportunity.

“Very good.” The Princess turned to him and smiled a venomous smile. “Do not fail me, Sight Watcher.”

Author's Notes:

It had been a hot summer’s day, but sunset was drawing near.

I was very tempted to make a picture of Sunset Shimmer drawing a picture of Near from Death Note.