Shiera watched as Twilight magically placed the last training dummy into place. They were in the backyard of the Golden Oaks Library once more. "Are you sure we need these?" Twilight asked, uncertain. Shiera nodded, "Of course, you said you wanted to learn Battle Magic. You will need opponents to practice on. Besides, if i knew you had these earlier, i would have used one for my earlier training session as well."

Twilight gave a small second to think on that, "I guess you're right. I can't wait to learn a new type of magic!" Her eyes lit up, and a quill with ink and paper floated next to her. Shiera waved them away, "Put those away. You'll have time to write after your lesson, but for now, you'll need your full attention."

Twilight put them away and nodded, still eager to learn what Shiera had promised to teach her, "Alrighty then, and once i get this done, i can work on this transmutation spell that I've been working on, turning apples into oranges."

"No, after this, you will begin teaching me that levitation spell. As that is our deal..." Shiera corrected.

"Oh, right. I almost forgot, sorry," she gave a nervous chuckle, "So, um where do we start?"

Shiera began to walk around, pacing back in forth between the test dummies and Twilight. "Before i can begin, i'll have to see where you stand magically, first. Specifically, in the fields of Elemental Magic, as that is where i specialize and can teach you. That way i can see what i am working with. Also note that this type of magic takes many years to perfect, and has many applications that may yet still be undiscovered."

Twilight smiled, "Well, I am the Element of Magic, after all. This will be a piece of cake!" She said, beaming with confidence.

"Element of Magic? What are you--" Shiera didn't get to finish that question as Twilight began her demonstration.

First she summoned fire, surrounding herself in a torrent of flames, making a wall of impressive heat, then within but two seconds, she cut off the flames, and casted another spell. This time drawing water from all around them to form a ball of water that was almost the size of the treehouse. Then she split the water ball in half and sent the water back to all the places she drew it from. Next she made a large boulder rise out of the ground and then crushed it to the size of pebble.(Though Shiera did notice that Twilight seemed to strain a bit from the effort) When she got to wind however, she made a small tornado encircle her horn, but Shiera was not as impressed with that. The wind speed was too weak, and the draw force was feeble even by Shiera's standards.

"Impressive. Well, at least until that last part," Shiera complimented. "I am not sure what this 'being an Element of Magic' means. But i can see you are quite powerful in the ways of magic. Stronger than I, if i may be so bold."

"Why thank you! And me having the Element of Magic within me, well, it just means i'm one of the Elements of Harmony. You know, Loyalty, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, Honesty, and Me, Magic. They are the fundamental elements of Equestrian magic, and stem from the tree of harmony itself!" Twilight explained.

Shiera simply frowned, "Strange."

Before Twilight could ask one of her questions, Shiera continued on with the lesson. "Well then, now that i have seen what you are capable of, let us begin the lesson." Shiera moved out of the way, making sure Twilight had a clear line of sight of the training dummies. "Now, I want you to throw a fireball at each of the dummies head. Try to be as accurate as possible."

"Oh, that's easy!" Twilight said, summoning a small ring of fireballs and firing them off at each of the three training dummies. However, just before each of them could reach their target, Shiera summoned a wall of stone that blocked each attack and receded into the ground as if it were never there.

"Hmm. You missed. Try again."

"Hey! What's the big idea?" Twilight scowled. Shiera gave her an innocent look. "What? I gave you a simple task. Surely it's not too difficult for you?" Shiera asked coyly. Twilight growled and tried again.

Three more fireballs. Three more walls that blocked them before disappearing back into the ground.

"Hey! Stop that!" she growled as she summoned and threw a slew of fireballs at each dummy. Once again, the earth rose up and blocked them all.

"Missed again. I thought you said this would be easy?" Shiera asked, smiling. Twilight frowned, "It would, if you would stop blocking them with your stupid dirt walls!"
Shiera simply chuckled, "You asked for me to train you, remember?"

Twilight harrumphed, and stomped back over to her spot in front of the training dummies. Once more she summoned the fireballs. This time Twilight thought she would surprise Shiera by making the fireballs stronger so that they could blast through the dirt and finally hit the dummies. Unfortunately, this did not work either, as instead of dirt walls, large stones emerged to block instead, negating her attempts.

"Missed again."

"Stop saying that!" Twilight growled, but Shiera merely smiled.

"Force will not help you here, but a gentle touch may go a long way..." Shiera explained.

"What is that supposed to mean?!"

They continued this for the next hour or so, until Shiera decided it was time for a break. Twilight swished her tail in frustration. Not one of her fireballs had managed to connect. "I don't see how this is helping me learn magic..." Twilight complained.

"It's not," Shiera replied.

"WHAT?! BUT YOU SAID--" Twilight began to rant.

"I said i'd teach you how to learn Battle Magic, and i am. There is more to it than simply casting spells, so i am sorry if that is what you were expecting. But, do not think for even a second that i am not keeping my word." Shiera replied firmly, her eyes and tone dead serious. Twilight stammered for a moment, then looked down. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I was just...frustrated is all," Twilight finally said, drooping her ears.

"That's fine, but never accuse me of not keeping my word. I have promised to train you, and i shall. You have to trust me," Shiera said, her voice still firm, but gentler than before.

"I trust you," Twilight said with a sigh.

"Great!! Now, since i have kept my end of the bargain, i think its time for you to keep yours," Shiera said, smiling.

"Oh, yeah! Uh, wait here, i'll need to grab a few things!" Twilight replied before running back into the treehouse. A few minutes later she came back out with a table and a few miscellaneous items. She put down the table and set the items on top. There was a sack of what she could only guess were coins, a small statue of an owl, and rather heavy looking vase.

"Well, since this is your first time, we will start you off with something small," She pulled out one of the small gold coins and placed it on the table. "This is a Bit. I want you to start by trying to lift it with your magic," Twilight explained.

"A bit of what?" Shiera asked.

"No, it--" Twilight let out an exasperated sigh. "It's called a Bit. It's our currency."

"Oh."

Shiera stared at her for a moment. "What are you waiting for? Go ahead and try to lift it," Twilight urged.

"How? You have not given any explanation as to how," Shiera pointed out.

Twilight blushed, "Oh, yes, um, well you concentrate on it and try lifting it up with your magic like so!" Her horn glowed, then slowly the Bit rose up off of the table for a moment before she put it back down and the glowing stopped.

Shiera frowned, but decided to give it a try. Her horn began to glow as she focused her magic. The earth rose up, taking the shape of a hand and picked the coin up. "Like this?"

"Well, that's one way to do it. But that isn't levitation. Not really." Twilight said with a frown.

Shiera put the coin back on the table, and tried again. This time a watery hand picked up, reaching out from a nearby pool.

"No, that's not it either. Also, that is a strange shape to grab it with, what is that?" Twilight asked.

"It's called a hand. It's what my people and i used to grab things with."

"Cool! And weird, But also very facinating! But, still kinda weird, though," came Twilight's reply.

Shiera didn't give her a response, and set the Bit back down. This time Shiera summoned the air around her and the wind began to blow the bit upwards. "Wow, that's close....i guess. But still not quite right, though i guess it is technically levitating..." Twilight said, examining Shiera's work.

Shiera put the coin back down and sighed, then she tried again. This time Shiera summoned a floating, fiery hand and picked the coin up and tossed it a few times before putting it down. "Wow, that was impressive! But maybe could you make it a bit less fiery? It'll do no good if you burn whatever you're holding."

Shiera sighed rolled her eyes, "I swear you are just trying to get back at me for the training earlier."

Twilight smiled, "Maybe...remember, a gentle touch goes a long way!"

"Ha ha," Shiera replied in a sarcastic and platonic tone. She then stuck her tongue out her, and they both laughed.

Suddenly, a commotion could be heard as a rather large crowd could be heard forming in front of the Golden Oaks Library. And from the sounds of it, they did not seem happy. "What's going on?" Shiera asked.

"I don't know, but I'll go find out," Twilight replied, head towards the front of the Library to see what the commotion was about.

Author's Note

So now both of their training has begun! But, uh oh, seems like there's something going on....wonder what it could be.....

XP

Hope you enjoy the story so far!