Dear Twilight Sparkle
I hear by invite you to the Equestrian College of Practical Fighting. Here you will learn to fully hone your existing techniques and become proficient in skills that you fall behind in. You will be trained by tops instructors and have many opportunities to get ahead in life….
Luna
Twilight Sparkle has read the note plenty of times. She still couldn’t believe that she was invited to the college, the best college known for the fighters who graduate. Twilight sighed and fell onto her fell onto her bed. She received the letter earlier today and is still pondering it at nearly midnight.
But she didn’t feel any bit special enough to be invited there. She decided not to attempt apply to the college once her senior year from Canterlot High School was finished. The Equestrian College required some degree of but regardless of where she had already applied to, she was actually invited to go to the best college on Earth.
She was never able to spar well at her high school and yet somehow she was invited to this school to learn how to fight. All that she had done was just study fighting styles to the point she can identify them and maybe counter them if she was experienced enough to keep up in actual combat. She didn’t even know how to do most of the techniques. As a magic specialty, she isn’t immediately gifted in hand to hand combat, not like a people with a speed or strength specialties are.
Magic specialty allowed her to change the rules of fighting to be in her favor whether it be temporarily increasing speed, using sabotage spells on the opponent, or even altering the nature of the fighting. Twilight wasn’t particularly fond of being a saboteur and certainly didn’t feel like she could really pose any threat to any opponent except for other magic users. Twilight knows how to counter the simple magic easily. More complex magic is often interwoven with fighting techniques to create original fighting styles that have fewer counters. Twilight wasn’t adept at countering the magic like that.
All of this points to the letter being a fake. Even though she already checked it 20 times by now, Twilight casts a spell to check the legitimacy of the invitation to make sure that the letter itself wasn’t created magically to mess with her. Once again, the spell came back negative.
Thinking about this too much was making Twilight’s head hurt. She was 100% certain about only one thing. That was she was probably invited there because of her inhuman quantity of knowledge on fighting that she couldn’t use herself was good enough to catch the attention the Equestrian College. It was basically being the most studious human in the world that allowed her to enter the college without any real fighting experience.
Twilight knew there was only one thing that could calm her mind right now, and that was study. Twilight got up from her bed and walked to the first of her 4 book shelves full from top to bottom with books. Each and every book showed signs of being read, none more than the one she reaches out for. The Complete Guide to the Basic of Fighting by Luna.
With the book in hand, Twilight returns to her bed and lays down. She opens the book and begins to read herself to calmness.
Chapter 1: The Brief and General History of the Practice of Fighting
On earth, people fight in order to show strength of their heritages or places of origins. With this in mind, people began to follow those with better techniques and power that they have lost against in a legitimate fight. Most often these people followed those who shared their own specialization of strength, speed, or magic (for more on specialization of fighting techniques, read Chapter 2). While not common, there were groups at times that composed of any combination of the specializations, not just an exclusive one.
With this, the followed became champions and the leaders of their homes of origin or groups. Fights for supremacy over other champions ensured and the victors of these fights came out stronger and with more followers. Sparring was created to train the champions of the groups to ensure their strength and ability to come out on top. This continued, but no matter what happened, there was always another human that would beat the former champions. And as in nature, there would be groups under the leadership of the champions that will rebel and cause disunity.
In order to ensure this doesn’t happen, the champions had to become more than just good fighters, but become good leaders and be wise with how they handle situations. To do this the champions…..
Twilight’s head onto her bed and she began to sleep off her self induced fatigue. She knew she would have to deal with this in the morning.
* * * * *
Morning came much later than Twilight thought it would. She woke up and turned her head slowly over to her simple analog clock on the wall. It was nearly 11 a.m. Twilight groaned as she lazily brought up her hand and made it into a fist, to slam it onto her open book. Twilight rolled off over her bed and planted her feet onto the ground.
Not only did Twilight fall asleep without taking care of her book, she did so while she was still fully dressed in her clothes from the day before. What annoyed Twilight even more is that even with the 11 hours of sleep, she didn’t feel any bit refreshed or even awake enough truly care.
Twilight picked up her book from the previous night and closed it. She slowly stood up and headed towards her first bookshelf. Twilight wished that she could levitate objects, it would make so many things so much easier to do.
Contrary to popular belief, magic specialists can’t levitate objects easily. It is a form of magic that requires altering one of the forces of nature that is the hardest to alter. Gravity. It affects everything, even magic, with a pull of force. The caster needs to be able to counteract the force with enough magic to be equal the force of gravity. It’s even harder to do on a mobile object like another human as they put their own force of movement into the equation requiring nothing short of the ability of foresight to levitate them.
Twilight replaced the book into its proper place on the shelf. What her next point of action was briefly considered before she decided upon just doing what she would regularly do. Twilight walked to the desk on the side of the room where the window was. She picked up the brush lying on the desk. Twilight began the boring task of brushing her variously shaded purple hair to be in a state of straightness again.
Twilight's eyes were attracted to the mirror's reflection of the mark on the upper part of her arm. It was a six sided star overlaying a smaller six sided white star surrounded by five smaller, also white stars. It being on her upper arm told her that was a magic specialist. The actual mark itself should contain some indication of a specialization in a specialization, but it is unknown to her what it means exactly.
With her hair all brushed, Twilight sat there and looked towards the invitation on her bed. The one piece of paper that can have more impact on the rest of her life than anything else short of death. She was now certain that it was a true document sent to her by Luna, the very person that all of Twilight’s advance understanding of fighting techniques came from through her books.
Twilight inwardly sighed, knowing that she had to make a decision on whether to follow up the invitation or go to another college that she already got a letter of acceptance from based on the abilities she showed them. To go to the somewhere where the outcome is very uncertain or to a place that she knows she can succeed at and her life would be forever simple. It was the classic and forever true equation of the choices that people who made an impact on the world around her made before they were ever became a person of impact. The choice of staying with the familiar or going into the unknown. Certain success or possible failure.
After several minutes of thought, Twilight came to a decision. She will follow in the footsteps of those who left impacts on the world. Twilight walked over to the invitation and picked it up and read through it one more time to convince herself of her choice. Twilight smiled. She would learn there, learn how to actually use her knowledge to fight instead of just have it in her brain as a space taker in a world that fighting is revered in ways.
Now all that needs to be done is tell her parents, respond to the invitation, get her stuff together, figure out everything that need to be arranged at the college like dorms, tuition, classes, books, and the list goes on. Twilight went back to her desk and pulled out a fresh piece of paper and her quill and began making a list including everything just listed and anything else she could think of. Once finished, Twilight admired her work and let out a sigh of content. All of this needs to be done in as quickly as possible.
Twilight walked to the door and began musing on what books she would bring to college, she couldn’t bring her entire mini library. Twilight opened her door and took one look at her mini library. She probably couldn’t even take one of the giant book cases. Twilight began to descend the stairs located next to her door. Twilight only knew that she would bring The Complete Guide to the Basic of Fighting no matter what, all the other books would need to be compared to all others before being brought to college with her.
Once Twilight was at the bottom of the stairs, she yelled out, “Mom! I finally figured out where I want to go to college! Where are you so we can talk about this?”
“I am right behind you Twilight,” a voice said from behind. Twilight let out a shriek as she side jumped from the stairs. Twilight placed her hand on her heart as she calmed down. Her mother let out a chuckle as she descended the last step of the stairs. “So what college is the one you want to go to?” Twilight’s mother asked.
“I want. To go to. This college,” Twilight let out between gasps as she handed the invitation to her mother. She studied the invitation and had a perplexed look on her face.
“Are you sure this invitation is legitimate, not that I am doubting your knowledge, it is just odd that Equestrian College of Practical Fighting would send you an invitation where an acceptance rate there is usually the top 3% in both knowledge and fighting skill,” Twilight’s mother stated. Twilight already knew this information.
Twilight finally calmed down and replied, “I already tested it for magical forgery, but you can try scanning it yourself.” Twilight’s mother did just that as she unnecessarily flicked her hand as she cast the spell. Another misconception about the magic specialized is that they need to say words or perform an action to cast a spell when all that is really necessary is knowledge of the spell and magical energy. The spell was over as fast as it was casted.
“I see that this isn’t a forgery,” Twilight’s mother said, “but can we still go to the college and talk to them about this Twilight?”
Twilight nodded and added, “Yes we can go. Besides, if I am going to go there, I need to know absolutely everything that’s on this list.” Twilight held out the list to her mother. She took a momentary glimpse at the list then took it into her hand.
“Okay Twilight, we’ll get this done with after we eat lunch,” Twilight’s mother said with a sigh. It is just like her daughter to make a list for absolutely every single thing in her life.
“Okay Mom,” Twilight replied as she followed her mother to the kitchen. Today was going to be a day full of discovery for Twilight as she also hopes to ask as many questions about this situation.
* * * * *
“Ms. Sparkle, your question on how many books you can bring to college is relative to whether you would be staying at a dorm or in your own apartment,” the admissions consoler said. “If you are staying in a dorm, then you have to bring the amount that wouldn’t cause any problems like cramped space or fire hazards as well as bringing your dorm mate into consideration.”
Two sighs were heard throughout the office. One from actual need of sighing and one from disappointment. “Twilight, that isn’t the kind of question we came to ask,” Twilight’s mom said with slight exasperation, “Excuse my daughter’s question, but can you tell us if this invitation is legitimate?”
The invitation was passed across the desk and the consoler looked at it. This time it was the consoler’s turn to sigh with minor exasperation. “You are the 3rd person this week to come in and ask that question,” the consoler admitted, “but to answer your first question, this invitation is legitimate. There is also a reason why it is an invitation when you didn’t even send an application for attending.”
The looks on both of the faces of Twilight and her mother were enough for the consoler to know that she needed to elaborate. “This is something that Luna thought up and decided to do this year. She decided to implement a program that would invite 6 students to this school from various backgrounds and with different talents in fighting and give them a full ride scholarship through their college career.”
Both Twilight’s and her mother’s face turned to one of surprise and both nearly fell to the ground. “A full ride scholarship…..” Twilight’s mom trailed off.
“Yes, a full ride scholarship,” the consoler reaffirmed. She sighed knowing that she most likely would have to go through this at least three more times. But she pushed on and added, “Of course, there are some rules to go along with this, Twilight Sparkle will have to keep C’s or better along with following all the college rules without exception. In addition to those rules, you and other 5 invitees will be sharing a special building by the student dorm to live in. It will be a mostly female group, but I’ll come back to that. If I am being completely honest, the rest of the rules would make it sound like you are a, as Luna says, ‘labpony’. But that is what you and the other 5 will essentially be. I have a sheet with all the additional rules that Luna would have set on you.”
The consoler pulled a sheet off of a small stack and handed it to Twilight Sparkle. Twilight perused the sheet and one thing caught her eye. “The five other students and I have to fill out a weekly report on our collective status here?” Twilight questioned.
Another sigh was released by consoler, “Yes, as I said, you and your roommates will be ‘labponies’. In addition to all of this, you will also be assigned a courier of sorts that will be the fore mentioned non-female component of your living quarters. But there is no need to worry, He is a part of the dragon sub specie of humans and even though he appears to be a teenager, he is still in his 10 year old portion of his life. You and the other 5 have the task of taking care of him. Now that you know this information, is there anything else you want to know?”
Twilight immediately asked, “Is the living arrangement like a house?”
“Yes,” came the simple reply.
“Does that mean I can bring more books than I previously thought?” Two exasperated sighs were collectively heard in the office.
* * * * *
After a day many questions and sighs, Twilight and her mother returned to their home. Twilight was excited at this unexpected turn of events over the past two days. “Honey! Twilight and I are home!” Twilight’s mother yelled out.
“Where have you two been all day, I come back from the store and find the two ladies in my life missing from the scenes,” sounded a voice through the house, “I am in the living room.”
“I’ll tell you about it in a second, just give me a second to regain my bearings,” Twilight’s mother replied. She turned to her daughter and gave her a tired look. “While I tell your father about what has happen, can you go start dinner?” she asked. The look on Twilight’s face was enough to tell her that she needed to elaborate. “Don’t worry, all you have to do is put some spaghetti sauce in a pan and set it on medium heat and then take out another pan and some spaghetti. By the time I finish telling your father, I’ll finish making dinner.” Twilight nodded and headed towards the kitchen. Twilight’s mother then started walking to the living room.
While happy about her daughter getting a full ride scholarship to the best college on Earth, the sudden and odd nature of this event is really draining to her. Twilight’s mom walked into the living room and greeted her husband with a kiss and then sat down. She began to relay everything that happened today to her husband. She then traded spots with Twilight and finished making dinner. The family talked about the recent turn of events over a dinner of spaghetti and vegetables.
Once finished, Twilight went upstairs to her room to anticipate all that was going to happen over the next weeks. Twilight’s excitement was building up and all she could think about was the chance to go to the best college on Earth. She was eager to meet the other people who are going through the same thing as she is, hoping that they would be like her.
As with last night, she knew there was only one thing that could calm her down. She walked to her bookcases and selected a familiar book that was opened the night before. With the book in hand, Twilight walked over to her bed and laid across her bed and opened the book and began reading from where she left off.
… And with the chaos now gone, earth has settled into a period without wars and a status where fighting is merely a form of art and self-defense. History of the current time period will be covered in another chapter.
Chapter 2: The Specialization of Fighters.
All fighters have certain conditions that determine their specialty as a fighter. There are three specializations for the regular humans. Those being strength, speed, and magic. To determine the specialization of a human, one must simply locate the mark that shows the person’s sub specialization. If the mark is on the thigh of the person, they are strength specialized. If it is located on the back of the person, they are speed specialized. If the mark is located upper arm of the person, they are magic specialized. These three specialties classify all regular humans. There are exceptions of course, but that will be covered later on in the speciation of specialization chapter.
A strength specialist will always have the highest raw power behind their techniques and attacks. In addition the higher power, endurance is also a gift given to those with strength specializations. A speed specialist doesn’t have as much power as a strength specialist, but is naturally better at being faster than the regular fighter. Speed specialists are adept at dodging and at using their speed to increase the power of their attacks in their techniques. A magic specialist is the "weakest" fighter by nature, but with that, they gain the use of magic for their fighting techniques. Magic specialists can use their talents to augment their attacks to sabotage the opponents. With all of these facts outlined, there is no clear superior specialist, it all comes down to the techniques used.
There is more to the power fighters have then just the power gain from their specializations. There are the singular talents that the each human have that tie to their combat ability. The only indication of what they are is the image that appears on the marks that determine specialization. These marks are earned at some point in the human’s preteen life when they do a certain event that embodies their talent. Some of these marks can be as obvious as a fist, and other as ambiguous as mist. It is up to the carrier of the mark to know what it means…
Twilight looked over at the clock and saw that it was ten. She placed her book on the small desk adjacent to her bed. She got up and started her nightly ritual. Once done, Twilight returned to her bed and relaxed to enter a state of dreams. All of them were filled with anticipation of what was to come when she attended The Equestrian College of Practical Fighting.
* * * * *
One of the additional requirements put on Twilight and the other people with a full ride scholarship is that they have to come in a week earlier than all the other students. Twilight was currently walking from an extremely teary goodbye with her parents on the campus that she finally was viewing with much less going on. It was a fairly big place with a large section set aside for a sparing arena. The arena looked like it could fit over 5’000 people. There was also the class building and the standard dorms. There were probably more buildings in other areas, but Twilight had to head to the special building set aside for the “labponies”. Luna would be meeting them her and the 5 others at lunch time. It was currently 9 a.m.
Twilight absorbed the landscape and began the trek to the North East corner of the campus. She was carrying her favorite book, The Complete Guide to the Basic of Fighting. The rest of the books will be sent here by the end of the week. She was also carrying all that she needed since most things have been provided by the college such as beds and blankets, all the space takers that would make moving here a hassle.
As Twilight approached the building, she noticed the sign on it. Ponyville. She sighed and began to think of what the rest of the “labponies” would be like. Twilight walked up to the door and turned the knob. She hoped that nothing about her personality would put the others off. She wasn’t the most popular person at her high school. Twilight opened the door ready for anything and everything that this college would provide for her. What she encounters first is a girl with rainbow colored hair speeding straight at her. Twilight was prepared for almost anything as two thuds were heard followed by many groans.
