Across The Pond

"Good. Again." Vallius told Twilight.

Twilight nodded in acknowledgement then knelt down, concentrating all her magical energy on the new spell she was learning. She let loose a large burst of pure magic, the energy throwing dirt into the air as it passed. Vallius raised his sword and when the ball of magic hit it, his sword was thrown from his hands.

"Great, your getting good at disarming" Vallius complimented Twilight, but then asked "Though what will you do once they are disarmed?"

"I don't know, will i have to do anything? If they don't have a weapon will they still fight?" Twilight asked.

"Of course they will Twilight. They will run for their sword, then try again. Perhaps they will just run at you to fight with their fists. Who knows, they may even have magic" Vallius told her. "If you truly want to learn to fight you will have to understand the rules of the battlefield."

"Rules?" Twilight asked. "How can a something like this have rules?"

"Well not really rules per say, rather a list of things to keep in mind if you want to be a successful battle mage."

"And what might these things be?" asked Twilight.

"Well first you must understand that while you should always be prepared with a good defense, you must always be ready to strike with an offensive counter. The moment to prepare this offense is the moment the enemy becomes vulnerable to attack. You can't wait because you might not get another opening" Vallius told her.

Twilight looked up to the sky. It was still early morning and the only distance they had made was an hour walk off the road so she could learn in peace. Luckily they found a tall enough tree to throw a shadow large enough for the two to rest under during breaks so they didn't get heat stroke. There was also a river a minute or so north of the tree so hydration wasn't an issue either.

"Alright" Twilight said, her horn already glowing an incandescent purple again. As she did so she felt her horn growing colder, she focused even more and her horn soon felt like it was freezing over. She cast the spell, only this time she let loose a large ball of ice rather than a small ball of raw energy. It was twice the size of her body and took a lot out of her. Vallius dove to the ground and into a roll, then looked incredulously at Twilight.

"You have a lot of magic prowess" Vallius observed.

"Thank you Vallius" Twilight said, blushing a little as she did so.

"If you would use your magic wisely you could be one of the greatest battle mages in history" Vallius said. "Though that's only if you learn to fight with magic. I image that spell took a lot out of you, don't deny it I can see it in you from over here."

Vallius was right, Twilight had used up a lot of magical energy to do the large ice ball. "What do you mean wisely Vallius?" asked Twilight.

"Conserving your power is another key to victory. Putting forth your strength to win a battle is no demonstration of skill. This is what we call tactics. If you allow yourself to drain all your energy then you will have to fight with your normal strength, and, no offence, that isn't something I think you can do. I managed to dodge the attack and if we were locked in combat I could have ran up at you with my sword and you wouldn't have been able to stop it" Vallius lectured the purple unicorn. This was a weird feeling, it was usually her whom had to lecture others on the important details of things but since fighting wasn't something she knew much about she listened intently to Vallius.

"So rather than using large attacks" Twilight started. "I should use a bunch of small ones to tire them out first?" Twilight asked.

"Precisely" said Vallius. "Now your getting it."

"Alright, but can we take a break first?" Twilight asked. "That spell took more out of me than I thought it would."

Vallius laughed. He was always laughing, and smiling. "I bet Vallius and Pinkie would get along great." Twilight mused

"Here, drink this" Vallius said handing over his canteen to Twilight. Twilight drank from it until it's contents were gone. Vallius smiled as Twilight held it upside down with her magic and sticking her tongue out, trying to get more out of it.

"You know that'll never work." Vallius told her, still smiling.

"So, Vallius" Twilight started still looking into the canteen. "Why are you going to this Imperial City?"

"My job requires I do" Vallius said. "I observe what goes on around me, then return to the Emperor to tell him what I've learned."

"You go to the pon- err, person in charge directly?" Twilight asked.

"Yes I do" Vallius said proudly. "I'm actually pretty high rank and my skill in the battlefield allows me to go places most legionaries wouldn't be able to."

"So your pretty important then?" Twilight asked.

"I suppose, is this going anywhere?" asked Vallius.

"Well no, I was just wondering what made you tick, you are certainly a very interesting specimen." Twilight said.

Vallius roared with laughter now, rolling back onto the ground. "Specimen? Are you doing a study, writing a documentary?" Vallius said between laughs.

"I didn't mean it like that" Twilight said. She didn't understand why he found it so funny, sure she could have used better terminology but it wasn't that funny. Still though she couldn't help but smile. Vallius was one of those people who you just could be upset for long when your around them. Much like Pinkie Pie.

Twilight's thoughts jumped to the two again. Vallius and Pinkie Pie could be related. The only difference, besides the obvious species and gender, was Vallius didn't always seem to have a party on his mind.

"Hey Vallius?" Twilight asked. Vallius had finished laughing but still had his dopey smile. He turned his attention back to Twilight who continued. "How do you feel about parties?"

"Why, planning one are we?" Vallius asked.

"No but , never mind." Twilight disliked that about her traveling companion. The way he would avoid questions by asking his own. It annoyed her more than she thought possible. Besides annoying it was also very rude. But she let is pass, after all, Vallius was teaching her how to better her magic so she could stay mad and feel right.

"Alright enough rest, I'm going to go refill my canteen than it's back to training" Vallius said with finality as he got up and stated for the river. Twilight watched Vallius walk away, her thoughts on Pinkie Pie and the rest of her friends.

"Do you really think this is worth it Torrvar?" asked a rather petite Khajiit woman.

They were in the well lit common room in the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary.

"I really do Shotherra" Torrvar said. "It's easy money, and this Aramoth guy seems to have a lot of it. We can split up and kill everyone the unicorn has come in contact with. I can deliver her to the Khajiit in Riverhold who bears the mark of the Sabre Cat."

"That's another thing" said a thin Wood Elf. The Wood Elf wore only half of the traditional Dark Brotherhood cloak, showing his muscles. They weren't not as large as an Orcs but they were finely toned. "Why is this Khajiit's family crest a Sabre Cat? Don't they only live north? I doubt they have ever seen one in there lives."

"Calm down Foroch" said Torrvar to the Wood Elf. "It is probably just a kitty wanting to be like a tiger thing."

Both Torrvar and Foroch laughed, The Khajiit woman called Shotherra's ears went flat against her head. "How about this" Shotherra said calmly. "I make the delivery and you take care of the grunt work Torrvar. After all this is my homeland and I would stick out less."

Torrvar tried to object but he knew she was right.

"Very well Shotherra, last word said they were still on the road. They stopped for a funeral." Torrvar rolled his eyes at the last part. "If you hurry you can catch them."

"Very well, this time next week our sanctuary will be back up to proper conditions." Shotherra said happily before leaving the two.

"As for me and you Foroch, the unicorn spent a lot of time in the town of Senchal. There is a group of Khajiit who gather moon dust in the Topal Sea and an Inn Keeper whom allowed her to stay. Those are the targets" Torrvar said. The Wood Elf nodded. This was the first major contract they had seen in years and he didn't want to mess it up.

"Oh, and Foroch" Torrvar said.

"Yes?" Foroch replied.

"Try to get any information on others who might know of the creatures existence from the targets" Torrvar said with a smile. That was one of the many things Foroch enjoyed about working for the Dark Brotherhood. "Of course." Foroch replied, matching Torrvar's grin.