The Draconic Twins: Combat is Magical

Spine sat back on her bed with a little smile, reading the book Blueblood had given her. She kept her arm in the way of it, lest others spot it and call her weak again. It was working perfectly.

"How was your day off?" Suddenly the minotaur's hand was on her shoulder. For someone so large, he had managed to sneak up on her without a sound. "Find something besides fighting worth doing?"

She yelped in surprise, spinning around to face her teacher while her heart pounded against her chest before replying, "Y-yeah… Sorry, you surprised me, is all… Found a book series and a few comics to keep me entertained, made a friend, walked around Canterlot and realized how much I hate nobles…"

His hand went out, catching the fluttering book on its way down. "Nobles are the ones that'll be paying your bits, chances are even, so keep disparaging thoughts a bit quiet, hm?" He gave a flap of the book, knocking it straight before sending it in an idle toss to land on Spine's bed. "Good. You did what I asked. You had a fun time, means you can work all the harder, knowing you'll get back to it."

She smiled widely and nodded, excited to both continue her training, as well as get back to her book. She blinked once before coming to a realization. "Oh good God, I'm becoming Twilight…"

He hiked a brow at that. "Your sister? She's far more cerebral from the reports your mom gives." He chuckled in a half chuff. "She doesn't hesitate to give them. Reading a book will not catch you up to her on that battlefield, so you're better off honing your own talents."

She nodded once in return, still looking farther down the line than the present, as that was what truly had her half worrying. "Hey, I don't think I've caught your name, despite basically living here for a couple weeks now…"

"Belay that." He grabbed a wooden sword off the wall, one of many practice weapons in easy reach. He lobbed it towards Spine in an underhanded motion. "Did you forget the last promise you got out of me? You did my part, my turn. You get a spar, one on one." He raised his fists, balling them with no weapon of his own. "You last for thirty seconds, I'll answer that."

She smiled even wider and nodded, careful to get up and keep him in her view. "Right. To the ring then?"

"You won't always be in a ring." He swung for her, but she easily jumped back. A purposeful miss? "Sometimes trouble finds you when you're not expecting it." He closed the distance, his greater height allowing him to devour the distance. "But you have to be ready for it."

She yelps in shock and dove between his legs, hoping to escape the giant, all the while silently screaming in anger that she still didn't know how to call on her draconic fire.

"Smart." He twirled on her, not to threaten with his great fists, but grabbing a pillow on the way and sending it flying at her face. "But you have to watch out in cramped places. Everything is a weapon."

She blinked, lashing out with a fist to knock it the pillow aside before leaping back to put a little more distance between them and try to lure him out to the center of the room. "True as that is…"

He slammed down on one side of a bed, causing the other to spring up just as she was about to pass by it. "That isn't the fire I saw in you before. You wanted this fight, now let's see some fighting spirit!"

She exhaled slowly, leaping through the gap between the bed and the bed frame, leading with an elbow into one of his knees.

He twisted with the motion, catching her in mid air into a twirl, the world spinning around her as he moved to throw her down onto the same bed they had begun fighting around. "That's more like it."

She used the bounce of the bed to spring up over him, one foot lashing out in a jump kick, trying to land at least one blow before he knocked her out like he always did. But his face was a calm smile, catching her lashed out foot and advancing her movement, causing her to spin backwards back onto the bed, his hand coming down on her chest to pin her there. "You just got slammed by Far Sight. Remember that."

She is left gasping faintly, her young body still trying to catch up with her training. "G-got it…"

He swatted her side lightly even as he got to nudging the beds back into place. "Good show, but you're only going to learn so much getting your flank handed to you. C'mon, let's show you what you did right, and what you got wrong."

She groaned and got up, holding the side he swatted just then, gently rubbing the stinging scales. "Right… So, I'm guessing I messed up when I tried to take out your knees?"

"Mmm? Nah." He threw down the pillow back into place. "That knee's given me aches for years. A fine place to target. You just thought I wouldn't think of it, and maybe that woulda worked, against someone else." He started for the exit without further preamble. "There's still a bit of hesitation in you, not sure what from. Could just be you're still growing. You are, afterall."

She winces at the remark, unaware she was still hesitant to fight due to her past life. Spine got up and hurried after Far, intent on listening to him. "I'm sorry about the restraint, sir… Just… I hated hurting others in my past life, but I had always needed a way to release my frustrations against the world… My last teacher was a nice one, let me use his equipment in the gym he ran… Would always listen when I broke down from someone I thought loved me winding up betraying my trust."

"I can train in any battlefield." He grabbed a sparring sword off a rack as they came into the main room. "But not that one." He pointed back at Spine with his wooden blade. "War's a terrible time to be heavy in the heart. Delay there can mean you won't get back to the people you care about. Is that what you want?"

She growled and batted at the wooden sword, snarling out her response, "Never. Far Sight, did I ever tell you what I was in my last life…?"

"You keep bringing it up." He kept the blade moving despite her swat, wobbling but a moment before it was even again. "If you weren't a hatchling badmouthing me, I'd laugh it off. Go on then, regale me."

"We were monsters in our own right. Burned down forests, flooded deserts, and destroyed cities with explosives so strong they would make the land they exploded over uninhabitable for several decades to come. We have driven countless creatures to extinction, almost killed off an entire culture for the simple idea of being even slightly different, and have enslaved others of our race for having darker skin than us. Humans are what we were called, sir. We were a race of warriors and murderers. We have tried for several years to suppress our--"

"--That's quite enough," he interrupted with a sudden swing of his wooden sword at her. "You think you're all that? I think you're a scared little kid that doesn't want to get hurt."

She grabbed the wood this time, yanking it towards herself in her slowly flaring anger, her claws digging into the polished wood as she did, snarling and baring her fangs.

He chuckled at her, still holding the sword despite her also holding it. "That's more the fire I want to see. Did I upset you? Good. Take it out. Remember that anger and put all the rest of it aside when you're fighting."

She turned into the blade, lashing out with her knee, aiming for his wrist. As soon as it connected though, she felt a warmth spread from her knee, and prepared for the sound of a snapping bone.

She was knocked back, staggering from the blow, but nothing broke. He wouldn't allow that. "Fight me," he commanded, the world going bright white as the back of one of his hands connected with her cheek. "Come on. You don't like what I said? Prove it." She growled and leapt forward, jabbing at him as the warmth leapt to her fist as she did.

He didn't speak, just shoving her back, frustrating her and denying her easy chances to beat on him. It was a dare, unspoken anywhere but the light of his eyes.

She returned that light, her anger slowly building as she continued to try and hit him until finally she screamed at him, jabbing from where she stood, fire leaping from her claws as she did.

He twisted with a faint wince. Perhaps he hadn't been lying about that knee, but he avoided the flames despite that. "What was that, a little spark? That all you have?" he coaxed and mocked at once, urging his student higher.

She stomped with one foot, the fire sending her leaping towards him as she reared back to strike with her fist, catching him in the chest as he staggered back, breathing just a little labored. From his knee or the blow was harder to tell, but he grit his teeth and pressed right back into the fight, cuffing her on the shoulder. "Feel that? Feel the heat?"

She growled, and lashed out once more, his words only being faintly registered in her mind. "What of it?" She snarled back.

"Hold onto that feeling." He shoved her back, his most common move with his too-young trainee. "And lean on it."

It was only then that Spine began to feel her foot slipping as the flames from her feet began to melt the stone beneath her. As she looked down, her rage evaporated into shock, then outrage, then back to shock as she realized her hate caused the initial spark to form and release her new draconic heritage. As she slowly began to calm down and regain control over herself, she examined the points of where her flames were leaping from, and realised that her original fighting style would be greatly enhanced by these embers. Both her hands, elbows, knees, and feet were able to exude this fire, though she herself was unable to directly control it, she could subconsciously manipulate it as she needed, testing them out against a few mental enemies.

His hand came down in a swat. "Don't go thinking you got everything. This is just a start. Learn what it feels like."

Spine leapt back, narrowly avoiding the hand as the fires vanished in a weak puff of smoke. She then glowered at her hands before mentally diving back into that flame, that hate, and reigniting them. She knew he was teaching her to control it now, probably always had been, and began fighting. Unlike before, though, she fought with him using her body, and the fires raging in her mind, threatening to consume her should she take one foul step… Now, her training truly began. Now, her story truly begins.