The next morning, Shiera was up early as usual. The sun had yet to rise, but Shiera was practicing on one of the dummies. She was getting better at balancing herself properly, but the footing was still off. Or hoofing, or whatever this world's equivalent is. Still, she kept at it. It was, in a way, relaxing for her. A breath of familiarity that helped calm her nerves. She hadn't dreamt of anything last night, she simply slept then woke. At least it was better than having nightmares.

She continued her assault on the dummy, striking with a flurry of blows, dancing around, doing her best to flow from one attack to the next. She had only tripped three times today, which was definitely an improvement.

Snap.

One of the twigs she was using snapped clean in half, spraying a few splinters through the air, but none did any harm to her. She dropped the other twig with a sigh, and fell back to standing on four hooves. "Guess it's back to stretching..." she mumbled to herself. She then began her exercise routine, stretching and loosening tensed muscles that she had gain from the training. She cleared her mind and focused only on the movements and the stretching, making sure every muscle in her body had its chance to stretch. Most people tend to find such things tedious or boring, but for her, it brought about a sense of peace. It kept her from having to think about her past, of her husband, and of their betrayal. And her death. It was an escape of sorts from her sorrows, and one she cherished greatly.

She continued her stretches until the sun rose. Not a few minutes later, Twilight came outside alongside Spike. Shiera was in the middle of rearranging the dummies for Twilight's training. "Good, you are finally up, are you ready for our next session?" Shiera asked. Twilight nodded with a determined grin, "Only if you are."

"Then let us begin," she said, taking her position in between Twilight and the dummies, though more towards the side, as to not be in the direct path between them. With the determined look still in her eyes, Twilight began her volley of fire balls. She summoned several hundred fireballs around her, then launched them all at blinding speed. Shiera didn't worry about blocking them all, as she noted that only a few actually needed to be blocked, though it was still quite a lot, but she managed just fine. The rest wizzed by, not even coming close to hitting their targets. Twilight let out a small frustrated growl, but she still hadn't given up yet. "Swarm tactics only work if your opponent has not the ability to see it coming or doesn't have a means to stop it. Neither apply here," Shiera advised. Twilight didn't respond, instead she summoned another large volley, and fired. This time firing each fireball at multiple different angles, but all targeting the dummies. But Shiera summoned forth a wall of stone to block each and everyone of them. Shiera noted that Twilight was easily a more powerful magic user than her, noting both the massive number of fireballs she was able to cast, and how little it seemed to drain her. However, Power alone earns one nothing if they not the mind to back it up. And Shiera was born and bred in the fires of war.

Twilight growled again at another failed attempt. And her next attempt didn't do any better. No matter what she tried, Shiera always seemed to sleight of hoof her attempts, always blocking them in unexpected, yet surprisingly simple ways. Then an idea occurred to Twilight, and a small evil grin appeared on her face. She fired three more fireballs, one at each dummy, and just like before, Shiera summoned walls of dirt and stone to block them, however, right before they collided, Twilight made the fireballs swiftly change direction and curve around the walls of dirt and stone, (though it was by a narrow margin) and finally, Finally, her task was complete as all three dummies caught on fire. She quickly extinguished them, so that they would not burn down.

Twilight's chest puffed with both pride and confidence, "HA! Did you see that?! Told you i was brilliant with magic," she did a little dance of excitement, and even Spike cheered her on. Shiera approached calmly, "You did well. It is good to think outside the box. However, that is merely the first step in mastering Battle Magic. You will quickly find that simply thinking outside of the box does not win one the battle."

Twilight frowned for a moment, "I think i see what you mean. It's about thinking of the correct solution, right?"
Shiera shook her head, "Not quite. That is a part of it, but there is much more to it than simply pondering your situation."
Twilight gave an uneasy look, but Shiera continued, "And so, to teach you this, you and i shall have a sparring session tomorrow. No weapons, just our magic and ourselves."

"Wait, what? A sparring match? okay, if that's what you really want..." Twilight said with a little apprehension.

"It is."

Twilight was unsure of this. Shiera even admitted that Twilight was a better spellcaster than her, what was this suppose to prove? Regardless, Twilight would show her best. Nobody knew magic as well as her, and she would do her best to show Shiera just how good she really was.

"I guess it's time to start your lessons now," Twilight said with a smile. Shiera gave a curt, almost bow like nod.

"Don't worry about getting the table and everything, i already went and got everything while you two were doing your training session!" Spike explained, with a prideful smirk on his lips.

"Well, that's great Spike! You really are my number one assistant! Now we can beg--" Twilight began, however she was interrupted by the sound of a sudden gush of wind as a rainbow colored blur tackled her to the ground. "Oof! Rainbow Dash? What's---"

"There's no time! It's an emergency, Twilight! Quickly! Follow me!" And with that, she dashed back off. Twilight, Spike, and Shiera all gave each other looks of uncertainty, but followed as quickly as they could.

As the approached the center of town, they could see a large crowd had gathered. "Please tell this isn't another 'Pink' problem..." Shiera groaned.
"I don't think so, Shiera. Let's get a little closer," Twilight replied, motioning her to follow.

They approached in time to see Rarity get blasted by a bolt of red magic. Suddenly a gaudy dress of tacky colors appeared on her. "Oh! You beast! This shade of brown should only be used for accents!" she cried as she fainted. AppleJack caught her on her back and helped escort her back into the crowd. "Come on AppleJack, we must get her a nice, soothing pink, stat!"

"Dramatic much?" Shiera commented, believing their actions to be a bit over the top all things considered. Twilight stepped forward, "What's going on here?"

"Well, well, well," began a hooded pony, "If it isn't..." she threw off her hood, "Twilight Sparkle!" The mare had blue fur and a silver mane and tail. Her eyes, however, seemed glow a bright, bloody red, before fading back to their normal shade of lavender.

Both the crowd and Twilight gasped. "Trixie!" Twilight exclaimed with a scowl.

Shiera frowned, "So i take it you know each other?"

"What's she doing here?" Spike asked with a growl.

"Not a friend, i take it?" Shiera asked, noting their reactions to this 'Trixie'.

"You call that 'Great and Powerful'?" Rainbow Dash asked scornfully. Shiera watched as a wicked grin appeared on Trixie's face as her eyes glowed red again. Rainbow Dash was then struck with another bolt of red magic as suddenly her right wing was many times larger than her other one. Rainbow Dash began wobbling through the air, unable to keep her balance. Shiera frowned, this was not a type of magic she was familiar with.

"Woah! She's Rainbow Wobble now!" commented a short and runty unicorn, and his friend beside him laughed at his joke. They only stopped when Rainbow Dash flew over them. They then turned and waved at Trixie, "Great spell, O' Great and Powerful Trixie!!"

However, Trixie did not seem happy to see them. "You two! Quiet!" she cried, zapping the two with another bolt of her red magic. Now the two unicorns were conjoined by their horns, yelling at each other to get off. Shiera stifled a laugh, as she felt it would have been inappropriate at the moment. That, and she was pretty sure no one else besides her found it funny.

"Stop picking on my friends, Trixie!" Twilight demanded with a serious expression on her face.

"You and i have unfinished business!" Trixie exclaimed, "My magic has gotten better since i was here last!"
Trixie approached, stepping forth with an air of confidence. "And i am going to prove it. Me and You. Magic Duel. Winner stays, loser leaves Ponyville--Forever!"

Shiera blinked, "There's no such thing as a normal day here, is there?"

Author's Note

And here is the next chapter!

Well, now things are getting interesting. Makes one wonder what will change with Shiera here? And what will be the same? How will they stand up to the Great and Powerful Trixie?

i guess you'll just have to find out. ^^

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and i will see you in the next one! Crowborn out!