Chapter 5: Challenge

It has been almost a year since she started training with Morning Blaze. In this year she made an incredible progress in terms of magical control. During the day, the now young mare trained with her teacher to learn more about the different types of magic and during the night she trained and studied more advanced stuff with her companion. They both agreed that Twilight should call it Nadir, since calling it voice or ghost all the time was a little unnerving. She had no idea why though, it only said that Twilight wasn’t quite ready, whatever that means.

Before the lavender unicorn left for training once again, she measured herself with a quick spell. Because a few months back she had quite the significant growth spurt. Finally nopony would treat her like a little filly anymore, so she measured herself everyday imagining herself as tall as Celestia in a few years.

Since Twilight knew the basics so well, Morning Blaze and the princess agreed that she wouldn’t have to train everyday anymore. Now the lavender unicorn could finally study with Princess Celestia once again. Although only two days a week, but still better than nothing. These lessons were so much more relaxing, now that she did not need to worry about impressing her mentor with magic anymore. She could just impress her with her sheer infinite trivial knowledge now.

After about six months of hard training, learning to master both her inner magic and the energy around her, she was finally able to channel powerful spells without losing control. Since then, Twilight had developed quite the talent for darkness magic. Maybe because most of the spells she learned from Nadir were based on dark magic or maybe it was just natural talent. It was so much easier for her to utilize chaos magic rather than relying on light magic. She knew that sooner or later she had to learn how to use the energy of Maat, but that would take way longer than Celestia’s star student imagined.

Anyways the young magical scholar had better to do than reminiscing about the past year. Today would be the last training day before the weekend, on these occasions they would normally do something a bit more difficult, like learning an advanced fire spell or trying to teleport (which ended with a near heart attack and a full scale search all around Equestria last time the lavender unicorn tried it). No need to rush though, she still had over half an hour time before their scheduled training unit.

Twilight trotted calmly through the decorated hallways of Canterlot’s Castle. All kinds of ponies were already rushing past the young student to get their morning routines done. Normally their lessons wouldn’t start before noon, but on fridays and mondays her teacher’s schedule didn’t allow their lessons to be after lunch. She decided to stop at the Solarium to see if the princess was around, it was on her route anyways.

Princess Celestia always enjoyed her morning tea, well and her afternoon tea… basically every spare minute she could muster (which were quite rare), in the Solarium drinking tea or just relaxing. Besides her lessons with Twilight, those calm moments were her favorite time of the day. The tall alicorn looked up from her steaming cup of tea only to lay eyes on her not so little student which was smiling happily at her.

“Ah, good morning, Twilight. On your way to the training grounds I presume?” she asked with her usual calm and collected voice.

The lavender unicorn nodded, still a small smile on her lips, “Yes, today is the last training of the week, that means we are going to do something difficult. Isn’t that great, princess?”

Celestia couldn’t help herself but giggle at her student’s eagerness to learn, “Of course, my dear. I’m happy that you are enjoying yourself. It has been almost a year now if I remember correctly. It is unbelievable how much you have grown since last year. And now look at you, a strong mare with an incredible potential to be the best sorceress in all of Equestria. You have been improving so much in the past year. I couldn’t be prouder, Twilight.”

At this point Twilight was almost gleaming with happiness. It didn’t happen every day that she got such words of praise from her mentor. “Thank you, princess! I will keep up the good work.”

The princess looked at the watch behind her student. “When was your training supposed to begin?”

“At 9:30. Why?”

“Well, it is now 9:25. Time really flies when you are in good company.”

Twilight’s impression turned completely into the direction of near panic attack. “Oh no! I totally lost track of time. Gotta go! See you tomorrow, princess!” With that she bolted out of the room.

Celestia giggled again, “Stay the way that your are, Twilight.” Her smile suddenly vanished as she remembered why her student was training in the first place. Only a few weeks were left for her to prepare.

Morning Blaze waited idly at the training fields. She got there way too early, normally Twilight was already waiting for her. Today it had been reversed though, not that her student was late, she would never allow herself to be tardy, but it was quite unusual for her to be the first to arrive.

Her timing couldn’t have been more perfect, just as her time display spell changed minutes the lavender unicorn dashed through the gates of the training grounds.

“I’m here! I'm… here!” Twilight exclaimed while she tried to catch her breath.

“Just on time. Why were you running though?”

“Had… a conversation… with... the princess.” the lavender mare said, still panting from the physical exertion.

“Alright then. As you know, today is the last day of training again. So I thought today we could do something entirely different.”

Twilight had her breathing under control again and responded calmly, “What do you have in mind?”

“A magical duel.”

“That’s not really different. We battled like a hundred times.”

Morning Blaze let out a short hearty laughter, “Oh, Twilight. Those were no real duels. We shot weak spells at each other to break one another's shield. No, what I have in mind is quite different. We will have a real duel. It is time that you learn to use your spells in a realistic situation. Duel ends when one opponent is no longer able to fight. I will also show you some basic techniques with a sword so that you have to manage multiple threads at once.”

The lavender mare was confused, why should she learn how to fight with a blade if she had magic.

Don’t be so foolish. Learning how to properly yield a sword could prove quite useful. You should master as many combat arts as you can.

Alright if Nadir thought it would be a good idea, then she had no objections.

“Okay, but wouldn’t fighting with steel blades be dangerous?”

“No, no, no, no, you misunderstand. We won’t use ordinary swords crafted from iron and steel, no we will forge your very own unique weapon, made out of your magic.”

“A weapon made out of pure magical energy?” Now Twilight was intrigued. Maybe it wasn’t so bad to have something like that. Not that she would ever need to fight with it.

Interesting. Now this is something worth my attention. Don’t worry though, I will help you form the sword.

Forming? Huh? How do I even make my magic stable enough to actually work like a blade.

I’m sure she will tell you in just a second.

“So, you are probably asking yourself how that is even possible. Well to put it simply, you are condensing the chaos magic from the air into a visible, stable form. After you succeed the first time you can do it almost instantaneously every time you want to use it.”

The lavender unicorn let her teacher’s word sink in for a moment. “Wait a minute. Why weren’t you using it when we got attacked by that strange stone golem thing?”

“You have to be able to concentrate. If you can’t focus solely on the chaos magic, the blade won’t be stable enough. Some unicorns are able to cast it even in mid-battle, but most have to create it beforehoof. It is also worth noting that practically every unicorn with enough skill can create their own unique weapon, but no weapon exists twice. Because the weapons are bound to the magical signature of the creator.”

It sounded pretty neat, even if Twilight wouldn’t admit it. Most of all it was exciting, learning something so difficult. She never backed up at a challenge. “So, how do we start?”

“Eager as always. Well, I certainly enjoy your enthusiasm. I will tell you all the steps now, but please don’t start right ahead. I want to be sure nothing happens.” Morning Blaze was sure her student would succeed. She learned to control her magic pretty good in the past year.

“First, you need to close your eyes. Then relax, let your magic flow freely through your body. Envision your weapon in your mind. You have to see it clearly. The sharpness of the blade, the colour of the handle, if it is a regular sword or something more exotic. Every little detail matters,” the yellow mare tried to make the steps as easily memorable as possible. Her student should be able to pull this of.

“Your magic has no limits. So take your time and think carefully. After you have done that, concentrate all energy you have into the imaginary weapon. These masses of magical energy will attract more chaos magic out of the air. If you feel that the weapon has enough magic you can let go of your own and let Isfet do the job for you.”

“Alright,” the lavender mare tried to memorize the steps as best as she could.

I’m ready when you are, Twilight.

“Okay, let’s do this.”

The yellow mare was confident about her student’s abilities. She trusted her to do it right and with care. “Ok, take your battle stance, Twilight. You have to steady yourself as best as you can.”

Twilight lowered herself into their usual battle stance. Steady hooves, lowered head and flank raised a bit. Yes, she was ready to impress her teacher.

She closed her eyes and allowed Nadir to unleash her magic. The air around Twilight distorted from the sheer masses of energy. Although she had to control this much energy her face was not one of fear, but one of of total calmness.

Morning Blaze wondered what her student would create with this much magic. Whatever it was going to be, the results would be groundbreaking.

The lavender mare had always been fascinated with swords. Beautifully crafted blades that could even cut through stone. Although the young unicorn wasn’t much of a fighter herself, there were more imperative things, she used to watch her brother train a lot during their childhood. She watched him and the guards train so many times, that Twilight had begun to pick up on some words. Before she could realize it, the young mare knew more about weaponry that not even the elite Solar Guards could compete with her knowledge anymore.

She knew exactly what weapon would suit her. It took form in her mind, the sharpest blade in all of Equestria, maybe even beyond.

“That looks perfect. Nadir, could you please help me focus my magic into the blade?”

Oh my, quite impressive, I must say. Give… give me a moment though. It is quite taxing to manage your amounts of energy.

It was the first time Twilight ever heard Nadir even being remotely exhausted. Hopefully everything would go right. She didn’t want to think of the consequences of losing control over her current masses of magic.

Her magic got consumed at an alarming rate. The lavender unicorn couldn’t keep this up for much longer, even she had her limits. Maybe it was enough already.

“Do you… Do you think… that’s enough?”

I think so, yes. The chaos is already gravitating towards your creation. Be confident, apprentice. If you don’t have trust in your own abilities, you can’t expect somepony else to believe in them.

Twilight cut the flow of her inner magic and Nadir sealed it away again. Although her own energy remained in her body, the lavender mare could feel other kinds of magic being drawn into the blade. It was almost finished, just a few moments more.

There it was! The spark that signaled her it had enough. She shielded herself and the blade from the chaos magic, so that the excess energy would disperse into thin air. After a few moments Twilight heard a loud sound similar to an explosion. It was also getting warmer around her, so she decided it would be best to open her eyes.

The picture before her was terrifying. With shock she looked upon the training fields, they looked like some intense earthquake had devastated all of them. Even the closest walls of the castle took some minor damage. Morning Blaze could be seen several meters away from her original position, groaning in pain.

Without thinking twice Twilight ran over to help her teacher get back on her hooves. “Blaze, Is everything alright?”

“Ugh. I think so, but holy Celestia, that was some explosion. The magical shockwave even broke the anti-magic field, which was pretty much impossible beforehoof. Well, I thought so at least.”

Morning looked around the damages until her eyes spotted the presumable cause of this. Her mouth fell open as she saw what her student had created.

Still hovering above the ground was Twilight’s masterpiece. The almost two metre long blade was pitch black, seemingly absorbing the light, its razor sharp single-edged side ending in a slight curve. Not curved enough to count into the group of the machetes, but not straight enough to categorize as a saber. It had more similarities with a cutlass although their extreme length differences. However it had a golden crossguard adorned with deep black pulsating gemstones, compared to the cupped handguard of a normal saber. It was terrifying to even look at it, but fight with this monstrosity of a sword would truly be a challenge worthy for Celestia’s star student. Morning Blaze couldn’t show her concerns though, she had a reputation to uphold.

“You made this?!” the yellow mare was absolutely speechless. Never in her life had she seen such expertly crafted sword. This was true beauty.

Twilight nodded, apparently in amazement. She couldn’t believe that she created something so beautiful. The young unicorn grasped it in her magic and rotated it slowly. Taking a close look upon her work. Inspecting every detail, the cut of the blade, the gems on the guard, everything was perfect.

Suddenly her magic wavered and faded. With the grasp of her magic gone the blade sunk into the ground like through butter, despite the rather hard ground around the training areas.

The young student was caught by her teacher before she could land on the ground.

“Twilight! Are you okay?” Morning Blaze was always on guard. She couldn’t let herself get distracted during work. Especially when her work was teaching a unicorn like Twilight.

“Y-yes… yes, just a bit... tired. Give me a minute.”

“I understand. After this spell even most adults fall unconscious for a few hours, that you were able to stand was a miracle by itself.”

“I… guess so.”

“You know most unicorns name their blade. We all are bound to this weapon after all,” the yellow mare explained.

“What is your weapon called?” Twilight asked curious. She already had a name in mind for her blade, but first she wanted to hear it from Morning Blaze.

“It is called Dawnbreaker. After you had a little rest, I will show it to you. Then the real fun begins.”

“Hmm, I think I have something in mind.”

“Well?” now Blaze was curious. What name could such a blade have.

“Yoru.”

“Hmm, good choice. Very well, so it shall be, Yoru, the black sword,” her teacher couldn’t have been prouder. Twilight proved that she was more than capable of handling her magic now. Now their lessons could finally begin to pick up the pace.

Twilight’s eyes grew heavy, crafting that masterpiece of a sword was more exhausting than she had expected. Only one,tiny, little nap wouldn’t hurt at the slightest right now. She drifted off into the realm of sleep faster than her teacher could say another word.

Wake up, Twilight! Sleeping won’t get you anywhere.

The sleepy student bolted upright as she awoke from her more-than-a-little-nap.

“He he. Look who’s awake. I take it your little nap was refreshing and you are ready to start?”

“Huh, what? Start…” the lavender unicorn shook her head violently to banish the drowsiness out of her mind. “Ah, yes! The duel. Of course I’m ready.”

“Good, you’ll need the energy. I will teleport us to the field below Canterlot as per usual. Take my forehoof.” She extended her left forehoof and readied the spell.

A second later they stood in the calm, empty fields below Equestria’s capital. Good thing Morning Blaze knew so much about earth magic. Without her fixing the mess they were making frequently, the place would look like a barren wasteland by now.

“Before we duel I want to show you some basic stances. Only a few, so don’t worry.” It was true, she showed the basic rules of sword fighting, not that Twilight hadn’t seen them before, but it was good to learn it with her own sword. How to hold the blade in a neutral stance, how to block different kinds of attacks and when were the best times to counterattack. She wanted to surprise Blaze how much she already knew, but that would have to wait until the duel.

After around two hours of training, the yellow mare finally stated, “Okay, I think we are ready, Twilight. You now know the basics, so let me explain some rules first.”

Twilight focused solely on her teacher. She knew Morning Blaze wasn’t a pony in love with rules, despite being a captain of the guards, but that was no wonder taking her childhood into account. It didn’t happen often that the yellow mare made explicit rules, but when it happened Twilight could be sure that they were important.

“No toxic chaos spells. I don’t want any of us landing in the hospital because of an accident again. Also no higher tier darkness magic. I know that you are quite the expert in that matter, but trust me, it’s not safe even with additional protection.”

The lavender mare had expected something like that. They both landed in the Castle’s sick room because of that stupid floating poison cloud. “Alright.”

“Since we are fighting with real blades and spells each of us will get an Arcanum pendant. You know how to use them.”

They were quite useful for training with dangerous spells. Basically, it was a total protection barrier around the body. As long as the unicorn gave the necklace magic nothing could harm the user. It came with a catch though, the spell drained more power the stronger the deflected attack was, either physical or magical. Normal unicorn could easily run out of magic when using the pendant during a fight.

Twilight nodded in agreement.

Her teacher gave her the pendant and continued, “Well then. First who runs out of magic loses. Everything is allowed except the few spells I mentioned earlier.”

The lavender mare lowered herself in their usual battle stance and drew her new weapon of choice. “Three.”

Morning Blaze did the same and drew her weapon as well. A classic rapier imbued with fire magic. Twilight could tell because the whole thing was burning like a raging inferno. Typical for her teacher. The cupped hoofguard was heavily decorated with all kinds of sparkling gems.

“Two.”

Twilight had to be careful, her sword may have the length advantage, but her teacher would definitely outmatch her blade in terms of speed.

“One.”

Hell broke loose after the countdown ended. Morning Blaze cut straight to the chase by teleporting right in front of her pupil and sent her flying with a strong punch. Although the blades and spells weren’t able to penetrate the barrier, but a kick right into the chest did certainly hurt.

She got up just in time to block Morning’s incoming thrust with the crossguard of her blade. Her teacher withdrew her own weapon and readied another strike. Luckily Twilight saw it coming and intercepted the attack with her much larger blade. They stood in a deadlock for a few moments, just enough time to look each other in the eyes.

Morning Blaze grinned and said, “Not bad, but you have to do better than that.”

“You have seen nothing.”

The lavender unicorn ended the deadlock with a sudden kick into her teacher’s abdomen. It caught her off guard and she reeled back. Taking the opportunity, Twilight formed three void spears and sent them after Blaze. Certainly not strong enough the win the battle in her favor, but they could reward her with another opening for an attack.

As expected, Morning simply rolled to the left to dodge the pitch-black missiles. Her turn again, she teleported roughly fifty meters behind Twilight and broke a humongous chunk of dirt out of the earth, compressing it to a medium-sized diamond hard stone. She hurled it at her student with near supersonic speed propelling the boulder with wind magic.

Not a second too late the inexperienced mare turned around to see the fast approaching rock. That would certainly cost her quite the amount of magic if it hit her. She had to think fast though, but dodging in time was impossible and a spell was to slow either. Twilight cursed herself again for not being able to teleport on her own.

You own the presumably sharpest blade in all of Equestria. Use it!

She held her blade ready to strike. It had to work, otherwise the fight would be over before it even started.

Fifty meters… twenty… ten… now!

Her sword sailed towards the stone, seemingly cutting the air while doing so. The vertical strike slashed through the boulder nearly effortless. Cutting it into two pieces that hit the ground behind the shocked mare creating an impressively big crater as they impacted.

Morning looked quite stunned herself. She hadn’t expected that her student’s blade itself and her skills in using it were so advanced. That didn’t matter though, she couldn’t lose against a student. Blaze just had to try harder then.

Good, that’s it, apprentice. Have faith in your own abilities, then you can surpass your limits.

Twilight stood at the same position, nearly motionless waiting for another attack. Her teacher had the huge advantage of teleportation, so reacting to her movements was a lot harder.

She looked at the spot Blaze stood just a moment before, only to see nothing but loose dirt. Slight panic began to creep into her mind, she had to spot her and she had to do it fast. Otherwise it would mean the shame of losing.

Her teacher was right behind her again, the lavender mare’s inexperience started to become apparent. Blaze quickly realized that ordinary combinations of low level chaos magic wouldn’t work. She had to try more complex spell builds to play around Twilight’s superior weapon.

The motto this time was the more, the better. Her book-loving student couldn’t possibly dodge a dozen magical projectiles at once.

Not even ten seconds had passed since her last teleport, but the yellow mare had to win, no matter the cost. She fired half a dozen of flaming magical missiles towards Twilight while simultaneously readying her weapon for another barrage of strikes.

The lavender mare reacted a little bit too fast for her taste by rolling to the right, evading the first three projectiles. Twilight had to back up though, nopony could keep an eye on absolutely everything. It proved to be the right thing, because just as she stepped back the sharp blade of her teacher came rushing towards her, through the swarm of missiles.

Blocking strikes from an experienced fighter like Morning Blaze was by no means an easy task. Her teacher barely made any mistakes, no errors to exploit, no time for an opening. She had to retreat constantly now in order to keep up with her teacher. That was a grave mistake, with her focus being solely on Blaze she didn’t notice the other three projectiles that came rushing towards her back.

Twilight’s concentration broke as the unexpected missiles impacted, the knockback pushed her into Morning Blaze. Which greeted her with a hard punch right to the face. The injured student hit the ground several metres away from her opponent. Her jaw felt like it was dislodged or something, despite the barrier being intact.

While trying to get back up, she tried to get advice from her not-so-physical teacher.

“Horseapples! Why is she so fast?”

Years of experience, I guess.

“Any idea how to gain an upper hoof?”

She has three big advantages. Her speed with the blade, the variety of spells and the ability to use Arkus magic.

“You mean her teleport right? But how am I gonna get past all of this?”

You could either destroy her rapier to rule out the first one or you snap off her horn to eliminate the other two. But due to your aversion to harm her and the protection barrier I suggest the former.

“Is it possible to destroy a magical weapon?”

Why shouldn’t it be? Every weapon can be destroyed, just focus your strikes on the blade itself not on her, you have the sharper sword after all. If you actually manage to break it you will have a big advantage, it will cost her time and quite the amount of magic to reform it.

“Thank you, Nadir.”

Anytime.

The good news for Blaze was that her plan worked really well. Twilight probably lost a hefty amount of energy. The bad news however were that her opponent was standing once more and had an unfamiliar fire in her eyes.

Her student’s attacks started right away. Blaze parried the first few, but it got more and more difficult. Twilight’s blows were harder than before. As she deflected another strike, the lavender unicorn’s blade cut through the ground leaving a deep scar in the dirt.

Morning Blaze gulped slightly. She had to be extra careful, one hit from Yoru and she would be done for.

Twilight let out another battle cry as she swung her black blade over her head towards Blaze’s. This time over the yellow mare’s straight rapier didn’t deflect the strike. The lavender unicorn had broken Morning’s trusty old weapon into dozens of quickly dissolving pieces.

Blaze needed a moment to realize what just happened. It was one rare occasion where she got genuinely angry, “What the hay?! It was supposed to be a duel, not a fight for life and death! Do you even know how much magic it costs to reform a broken magical weapon?!”

The slightly amused mare pointed her sword at Morning Blaze and replied, “I thought you liked a challenge.”

Morning was panting slightly. She was on her last reserves and Twilight could see it perfectly well, “Very… funny.

“Let’s wrap this up, shall we?” Maybe provoking her opponent wasn’t such a good idea, but it just felt great having the upper-hoof.

"Hmm, my energy should suffice for another teleport plus spell. If I miss, it’s over, but what other choice do I have?" Morning Blaze thought to herself. It felt kinda ridiculous losing only because her student had a better weapon. She won fights that were not in her favor in the past, why shouldn’t she at least try now?

Her teacher teleported to Twilight’s right side to use a different tactic. A spell that her sword could certainly not block. She inhaled deeply, only to exhale a giant stream of fire heading straight towards the lavender unicorn. Her student was already looking towards her, she must have heard the fire then. Blaze cracked a smile, the fight would be over in a few moments. The fire didn’t come cheap though, it had to hit otherwise she would have a problem.

Suddenly Twilight’s blade gained an even deeper black hue. She had a devilish smile on her face. “By Celestia, why was she not in panic?!” Blaze asked nopony in particular.

The answer came as her student slashed horizontally through the air, unleashing a powerful dark shockwave from the tip of her blade, splitting her fire with ease and sending her flying several meters backwards.

She had to get up fast, but Blaze could hardly move. Even using her mouth become impossible, now it would get really dangerous. Hopefully Twilight won’t use her sword for the last attack. It could finish me off for good and I don’t plan on dying here.

I’ll teleport you in front of her. Give her the final blow.

Twilight had to admit that it was so much more exhilarating to fight for real than studying in her tower, but it was also infinitely more exhausting than just reading in the library. She was no real fighter, she knew her place was not on a battlefield, but in the halls of knowledge becoming the greatest sorceress there ever was.

Using the momentum from the teleport she swung her sword diagonally through the chest of her mentor. Blaze’s mouth opened to let out a cry, but no sound escaped it. Wordlessly she fell onto the ground. It was over.

“I am sorry, Princess Celestia.” Blaze sighed, her last words, she was dying from the hooves of her own student.

Twilight did it, she had actually won!

The victorious mare dispersed her sword and relaxed for a few seconds. After a while she noticed something amiss. Morning Blaze hadn’t moved nor talked for quite some time. She looked down only to jump backwards in shock. The barrier was destroyed, her teacher was laying in a pool of her own blood. Eyes closed and unmoving. A deep gash ran along her chest, exactly where her sword hit her.

No, no… it was impossible, her sword couldn’t destroy a magical barrier, right?

The injury of Morning Blaze begged to differ. The blood was rapidly staining her own and Twilight’s coat. Colour was quickly fading from her body.

“No, please. Morning, get up! Please!” Twilight shook her mentor and friend violently. Two streaks of tears wetting her face and the ground below her. That couldn’t be, she wouldn’t lose a friend like that. Not because of her.

It seems your sword is even stronger than I thought.

Twilight was shocked not by the words itself, but by the complete lack of even the tiniest emotion in them. “How can you be so calm?! Morning Blaze is dying!”

Hmm? Ah, yes, she certainly is in quite the bad state. But you forget that she is also a guard, she is always linked with Celestia and if this connection is severed, it can only mean they are in danger. I’m sure a rescue team is already on the way.

She didn’t even reacted to that statement. How could she? Not while holding the still bleeding body of her friend in her own hooves. It was all too much for her. If she really died it, would mean the she was a murderer. She would be banished, she would lose the status as the princess’ pupil, she would lose everything.

Then the world faded around her...