Twlight wrangled in her purple, Hime cut mane with a hair band. Her friend, Fluttershy, did the same while she waited on the other side of the squared circle. With Fluttershy's flowing pink locks neatly tied, the two raised their gloved fists for combat, Twilight clad in both her indigo halter top and her purple with pink trim gym shorts. Twilight aimed her violet gaze at her friend and asked, “You ready for this?” Fluttershy shooting her a nod and an emerald stare.

For their exercise day, Fluttershy chose an oversized cream yellow shirt with pale pink sweats, thinking she wouldn't take part in what Rainbow Dash called 'sparring' in the middle of the ring, even as her friend gave her special pink boxing gloves, Twilight given purple ones when they got to Ponyville's gym. The bell rang, and the two began their flurry, fighting in what ringside observer, the freckle faced, blond haired, ponytail braid sporting Applejack, described as “two fillies fightin' over the last apple”

From her exercise bike, Applejack, dressed in improvised jean shorts and white and red tank top, saw Twilight's wild and weak swings combat Fluttershy's meek, but measured jabs, laughing when her slips made Twilight swing at air and catch a counter jab square in the face. The moment Twilight's backside hit the canvas, Rainbow Dash, the 7 colors in her hair running wild, called the fight, saying, “Alright, alright, I've seen more than enough of this for the day. Twi, c'mon, on your feet”

“Okay, Dash. So how'd we do?” Rainbow Dash stood her in her powder blue tracksuit and stroked her chin.

“Well, from what I saw from Flutters, she's focused on creating distance, leading her opponents to rush into her precision punching-which you did.” Fluttershy rubbed at the back of her neck as Rainbow Dash turned her attention to Twilight. “As for you, well...I couldn't really tell what you were doing. You had no real defense, your swings were all over the place, and your footing wasn't anywhere near solid enough to pack the power you were hoping to have”

“How can that be? I followed what I learned from literature on it. If it's the sweet science, shouldn't it follow that one can develop their skill through a scientific approach?”

“Book learnin' can't do much without real world learnin', sugarcube” Said Applejack.

“That is true, but those paired with the proper training regiment should prepare anyone to match up against anyone. Fluttershy could stand toe to toe against Rainbow Dash, and I could hold my own against you, if I really wanted to.”

“Fluttershy, I can see. Somewhere in her is an intense fire that could let 'er take on anybody, if it meant protecting something precious. You, on the other hand, spend all day in that library readin' books. It's like RD said: You got no technique, no practice, and nowhere near the shape you need to be in to go the distance. Pardon my temerity, but just from looking at you, I know you can't beat me no way, no how.”

“That's quite presumptive of you, Applejack.” said Princess Celestia, riding the exercise bike next to her in her baggy white sweats and Toga-styled mini top. “Perhaps you would care to prove it?”

“I dunno, she's still got that whole magic thing to fall back on”

“If she's up to it, I assure you she won't be able to use it for any of the training leading up to and during your bout. That's if she's up to it, of course. I would hate to push my faithful student into anything she didn't want to do.”

“Your faithful student is more than up the challenge, Princess.” said Twilight, shooting a defiant glare at Applejack.

“Splendid! Then it starts immediately. From this day on until the fight, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie will be your trainers, and Fluttershy and Rarity will be training Applejack. As she stipulated, your magic will be sealed until the fight is over, to keep it fair.” Celestia snapped her fingers, and a sun shaped tattoo appeared near the base of Twilight's neck. “ I would suggest you take this time to adjust to life without it”

“A f-fight!?” exclaimed Fluttershy, her hand reaching for her mouth. “But they're friends! Friends don't fight friends.”

“That, they don't. They do, however, still hold the desire to compete and prove their prowess to each other, whether it's at chess or in the ring. As a matter of fact, my sister and I have had many rousing sessions of 3s”

“3 what?”

“I shall demonstrate later. My point is that competition can both bring people to be better than they are and strengthen the friendship they share. Applejack and Rainbow Dash know this very well, don't you, girls?” They nodded in unison. “Alright, then, with that settled, I shall set this up with the Las Pegasus Fight Counsel. I and the rest of the royal court will watching from the front row, so I trust you two will put on a magnificent show 3 months from now” The sound of royal horns came from her sweatpants's pocket. “Well, duty calls. See you all later!” In an instant, she vanished from her exercise bike, leaving a note next to Rarity on stair step machine.

Rarity looked down and sighed as she saw the message, “Wipe that down for me, would you, deary? I'll place many orders, if you do!” Well she has been a good customer, with all the alterations and measurement adjustments she keeps ordering for her dresses, she thought to herself. From Twilight's corner, Pinkie Pie, wearing her favored Flashdance-like gym outfit, leaned over and brushed her poofy pink mane aside as she asked, “So no magic, huh, Twilight? You sure you're ready? RD's methods aren't what I'd call 'soft'.”

“Like I said, this is the Sweet Science. Now that you and Dash are backing me up, I know the scientific method won't fail me, especially if I can stick to the right regiment...like no cupcakes.”

“That's silly talk. Cupcakes can be perfectly healthy and delicious! You've had our shop's vegan variety, right?”

“She'll have some after we're done whipping her into shape.” said Rainbow Dash, now upright and in the center of the ring. “Right now, we gotta her into that regiment she's talking about. No offense, Twi, but the way you are now, AJ would turn your brain into applesauce”

“That I would.” said Applejack. “Don't get the wrong idea, you're a dear, dear friend, and always will be; because of that, I respect you enough to give you all I got, even that means you end up in the hospital.”

“Your sincerity is much appreciated,” said Twilight “but if this training goes well, I'll be more than able to hold my own in 3 months. Just you wait, Applejack” Applejack smiled at her, and went back to her exercise routine, her candy apple red headphones going back over her ears.

“That's right,” replied Rainbow Dash. “because starting tomorrow morning, I'm gonna dedicate every moment I'm not managing the weather to getting you into the best shape of your life, just like I did for Pinkie awhile ago.”

“You did? How'd that go?”

“Why don't you ask her yourself? You're gonna see more than enough of me tomorrow, so for now, I'll let you get familiar with Pinkie, while me and AJ go for a jog. C'mon, AJ!” She jogged out of the gym, with Applejack following close behind.

“Alright, Pinkie, you've trained with her, what's she like?”

“Well why don't you and Fluttershy spar for a bit, while I tell you about it? Need to get a gauge for what I'm working with, after all!” Twilight nodded in agreement, and they returned to sparring. “When we first started, I felt like I was terribly out of shape, and knew I needed to make a change after a quick jog up the stairs of Sugarcube Corner left me super wheezy.”

She told me about what she could do to help, and warned me about how tough she was going to be on me. I didn't believe her until I accepted, and, before the sun rose up, found myself in the middle of the Everfree Forest being splashed awake by Dashy, with her telling me to stretch! After that, she made do sit ups, push ups, jumping jacks, rope jumping, and a bunch of other stuff that got me pooped before we even got to the gym for what she called 'the real workout'”

She was relentless, she was demanding, and at no point did she let me quit, even when I felt like I had nothing left to give. That really burned me up, so much so that while she was teaching the fundamentals, I actually took a swing at her, which was the last thing I remember before I hit the canvas, and woke up with her looking over me, asking if I was OK and still willing to continue with her training.”

After a few days to heal up, I could feel my body changing, and knew that her way would get me where I wanted to go, so I got in touch and told her I wanted to keep it up, with her even giving me a routine to follow during the winter months. We still train together, and now that I've seen the results, I can say her regiment has put me in the best shape of my life. It even inspired me to help the shop develop healthier tasty cupcakes, which have turned out to be big hits with our more health conscious customers!”

Pinkie looked over at Twilight and Fluttershy, puzzled at why their jaws were dropped so low.

“Rainbow Dash...did that?” Asked Fluttershy

“Do you mean knock me out or get me in the best shape of my life? Because the answer to both is yes. You've worked with her, Fluttershy, you know she's a tough cookie”

“Yes, but I didn't know she was that tough on people...”

“She wants the best from everyone she works with, I'm just here to help people ease into it, hopefully a lot more than I was!” Pinkie Pie said that with a giggle as she stared squarely at Twilight. “Speaking of, Twilight, do you mind if I show you some of the basics Dashy showed me? I promise I'm much gentler about it than she'll be tomorrow.” Twilight nodded as Pinkie motioned for Fluttershy to stand beside her. “Now, I was watching you and her spar, and took notes on how she kept sticking you with defensive jabs. Why do you think those jabs kept landing?”

“Because I can't read her offense yet?”

“There is that, but the big thing is her technique. Look at how her stance is. Her feet are closer together, which lets her move around with much less effort; her hands are closer and up in front of her, which lets her both block easier and attack when the chance comes. Most important of all, notice how her head is lowered and her chin is tucked further in; when she does that, she minimizes the chance she hits the canvas. Remember: if the chin's struck hard enough, it becomes that person's magic off button! Go on, Twilight, give it a shot!” Twilight proceeded to alter her stance to Pinkie's specification, wiping her purple and pink hair out of her eyes. “Excellent! Now that you're getting the stance, it's time to work on shrinking how many punches you absorb. First, hold your hands in front of your face.” As Twilight did so, Pinkie ordered Fluttershy to repeatedly jab at that area.

“I take it this is blocking?”

“For basic straight punches, yes. I call it putting on my mask! Put on the mask, and it's tough for them to touch your face! For defense against hooks, though, you'll need to put on your earmuffs”

“Earmuffs?” Pinkie snapped her fingers. Fluttershy threw the looping blow. On reaction, Twilight's arm moved up to her ear, blocking the right hook.

“Yup. Wearing the earmuffs stops someone from getting their hooks into you-and believe me, those hooks hurt.”

“You do similar things for blocking blows to the guts and ribs.”said Fluttershy “See?” She leaned down and showed her the different body blow blocking techniques, with Pinkie Pie nodding in approval as Fluttershy's elbows were brought close to the sides of her body. “Sorry about the sucker punch, by the way”

“Don't worry about it. That'll be nothing compared to what Applejack might have planned. I'm just wondering if I can wrap my mind around all these techniques in time”

“Of course you can!” said Pinkie Pie. You've read enough to know what a jab, straight, hook and uppercut are, right?” Twilight nodded at her. “Then you also know where they can be aimed, so blocking them should be a cinch! Just know where they're headed, and you'll ready for anything! C'mon, let's practice! High jab, mid straight, high hook, mid upper, high upper, mid hook...” Pinkie Pie continued giving Fluttershy punch commands until she felt Twilight could block on instinct, smiling all the while as she helped Twilight fine tune her punch delivery. After jogging home with her, she expressed looking forward to working with her as she went back to Sugarcube Corner, leaving her one warning, “Sleep early! She strongly believes in the early bird getting the worm, when it comes to this stuff, so she won't let you sleep in the way she normally does. Believe me, she dislikes it just as much as you will, and will probably take her grogginess out on you the whole morning. Be sure to keep one eye open”

Author's Note

This has been outlined to be roughly 3 parts, and the next one is a journal format following Twilight's growth into a proper boxer. Look forward to it!