Chapter 23: Royal Guard Training, Part 1
The train ride was quiet. The only sound was from the train itself going along its tracks. I got comfortable in my seat and went into meditation. Inside my mind, I could still hear the sounds of the train. Let's get an environment to match that. I changed the environment from an open grassland to an industrial warehouse. I made some clones of me and they went off practicing jutsu of every kind I have read about. I still had one clone that goes into meditation within here to practice secret jutsu.
I began to wonder what the other trainees are going to be like? Kinda hard to think about that as I am entering unknown territory from the show. The only think I can reference is the stories and rumours I heard about when a couple friends went through the boot camps of the military. I don’t think it is going to be that extreme. I went back to reading some more jutsu so I can have a better selection for anything that may require them.
I then came across the jutsu that talk about storing chakra in other places in your body. That will come in handy. I think I know the perfect place to store it, behind my cutie mark. I did the jutsu and began to regulate small amounts every few hours.
After an hour of jutsu training in my head, I had them all switch to sparing and have them increase all the weights by 5lbs each. They all noticed the change and began to work on toning the muscles to the new weight. The sparing lasted for a couple hours before I exited my mind.
I looked around to see where the train was in relation to Canterlot and saw I was only halfway there. Good, I can get some sleep also. I laid down on the seat and got comfortable as I could get with a rocking train going up the mountain. It did not take long before I did fall asleep.
I was awaken by the sound of screeching brakes and the jerking of the cars caused me to fall out of my seat. Ouch. I looked outside and saw we are still on the mountain path. I saw a train conductor came rushing through.
“Excuse me. Why did the train stop?” I asked the train conductor.
“There has been a rock slide onto the tracks. I am looking for a Unicorn that can help us clear the path.” The conductor said.
“Think I can help.”
“It will take an Earth pony several hours to move all those big rocks.”
“Have you found a Unicorn on the train?”
“Sadly, no. You are the only passenger. Can’t see any other choice.”
“Trust me. I am not an average Earth pony.”
I followed the train conductor outside and to the front of the train. We got to the front and saw the size of the rock slide. It was a massive one and was as tall of the train and the length of one of the cars. Man, that is one big rock slide. I think I have a good way to clear this.
“As you can see, it will take some time for all of us to clear this all out.” The train conductor said.
“If you can please stand back, I will have this cleared quickly.” I said.
He goes and stands next to the steam engine as I went to the front. I raised one hoof and pointed at the rock pile. I gather my ki and sent several energy blasts into it. They exploded and created a dust cloud. Once it cleared, the train tracks were now cleared. The train conductor walked the track to look at the work.
“Dammit!” The conductor shouted.
I walked up next to him and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“The rocks managed to bend and break the tracks. I take you don’t have anything to fix this?”
I looked at the damage and it was badly damaged. “I see what I can do.”
The train conductor backed away. I stood on my hind hoofs and began to draw on the chakra. I did a fire jutsu first to heat up the metal. I then created stone armor on my fore hoofs so I can touch the hot metal and bend it back into place. I then sprayed it with water jutsu to cool it back down. I repeated the process on the other track.
The train conductor just had a surprised and shocked look on his face when I turned to face him. “I don’t know who you are, but thank you. I don’t think I know of any Unicorn that could have done all that you did.” The conductor said.
“Let’s just get this train moving. I have Royal Guard Training I am starting in the morning.” I said.
“Right away! If you would like, you can ride up in the locomotive. I would like to know more about the pony that did things no pony I ever seen do before.”
“Sure. That way, you don’t have to think I did some sort of forbidden magic.”
We got into the locomotive and he started to get the train moving again. I began to tell the tale of me not being an actual pony, how I could not show him my human form, and then explaining about the chakra and ki abilities. I told him my name and he told me his name was Smoky. We chatted about different things as the train moved along. We soon arrived at the station for Canterlot.
I got off the train with my saddlebags and began the walk to the Castle. Smoky shouted from the train, “Hey Blaze, if you ever need a train ride. Just hop on, free of charge. You saved me by clearing and fixing the track.”
“Thank you for the offer. It was nothing. Glad I could help.” I said as I waved goodbye to him.
I walked through the dark town to the castle. The sun was still down and all the ponies were still asleep. I made it to the front gate and stood in front of the guards there. “Swift Blaze reporting in for Royal Guard Training.” I said with a salute.
“You are not suppose to be here until 10am. That is 5 hours away.” The guard said.
“Then why did Twilight tell me . . .” I began to say as the reason popped into my head. Dammit Twilight! You did not have to help your brother. He was going to get plenty of me during the training. “Seeing I have time to spare, I would like an audience with Princess Luna.”
“Follow me.” I followed the guard into the castle into the throne room. “Swift Blaze requesting an audience with you Princess Luna.” The guard announced.
“He may enter.” Princess Luna said. The guard bowed and walked out and closed the door behind him. “So what do I owe the pleasure of you coming to the night court?”
“Consider the start of the hazing from Shining Armor from evading his guards. With the help from Twilight Sparkle.” I said. “Nice to see that speaking lesson is helping you.”
“Yes, I have been warming up to the other ponies in the castle as they are able to understand what I am saying. So are you ready for the training?”
“I think I am. Do you think I can find out the other ponies I will be training with?”
“I do not seem the harm. Let me have a guard bring the paperwork.” Princess Luna used her magic and a guard came in through the main door.
“You summoned me your highness?” The guard said.
“Yes, Please go and bring the paperwork that has the ponies going to the Royal Guard training this morning to the dining room.” Princess Luna said.
“Yes your highness.”
The guard left and closed the doors once again. Princess Luna turned her head to me and said, “Blaze, would you like to join me and Princess Celestia for breakfast? She should be up soon so we can move the sun and the moon.”
“I would like that, Luna.”
Princess Luna smiled that I remembered to call her that. Princess Celestia soon came strolling in and soon realized I was there too. “Blaze, I am surprised to see you here this early. You normally do your morning exercise in your front yard.” Princess Celestia said with a big yawn.
“So you admitted you have still been spying on me each morning. Just be happy I have not decided to throw anymore apples through that peep hole of yours.” I said.
“I only watch your training regiments. The rest of the time I leave to your privacy.” Princess Celestia said.
“My sister is telling you the truth. We have only watched the morning events.” Princess Luna added.
“Et tu, Luna? I am surprised.” I said.
“What did you say Blaze?” Princess Celestia asked.
“I paraphrase from a line of a play from a famous writer many years ago on my world. Et tu translates to ‘And you’.”
“If you would excuse us Blaze, it is time to raise the sun and lower the moon.”
I bowed to them and they began to perform their magic. I went to the window again and watch the sceptical of them controlling those in the sky. Once they were done, I return to where I was standing.
“Now then Blaze, shall we go and get some breakfast?” Princess Celestia said.
I nodded and left with the Princesses and headed to the dining room. We all sat in the same spots as last time. We all got green menus from the waiter. The one time I wish I was human to eat meat. I looked over the menu of pony style food. 90 percent had either flower or hay in it. Guess I should get used to eating it as I am a pony now for two weeks. We placed our order and the waiter returned to the kitchen.
All of a sudden, a big magic window device appeared over the table. I looked at it what it was showing. It was showing me from an aerial view. So this is how they have been watching me. I looked in the direction of where the peep hole would be.
“I am sorry Blaze, I forgot to deactivate the auto spell I placed. As you can see, this is where we have been watching you.” Princess Celestia said.
“I am not mad Princess Celestia, I just get even. Water Style! Water Jet Jutsu!” I said and aimed the jet for the peep hole. It made contact and now from the magic screen, water shout out and hit Princess Celestia. She was getting soaked and Princess Luna was laughing her flank off. I stopped the jutsu after a few minutes. I looked over at Princess Celestia and saw how soaked she got. She looked like she just got out of a cold bath. I joined in the laughter with Princess Luna.
“Nice aim Blaze. You got me off guard as I did not expect you to perform your jutsu in your pony form.” Princess Celestia said as wiped some water off her face with a soaked napkin.
“I learned yesterday how to do so in my meditation. Would you like me to help you dry off? I can create and hold a fireball in my hand.” I said.
“That won’t be necessary.” Princess Celestia activated her horn. Her body began to glow and I felt warmth come from her. She deactivated it once she was all dry. “Comes in handy when you control the sun.”
“I can see. You promise not to spy on me anymore?”
“I promise.”
The guard from before came into the dining room carrying some paperwork with his magic. “Here are the documents you requested Princess Luna.” The guard said.
“Thank you. You are dismissed.” Princess Luna said. “Here you go Blaze.”
“What are these sister?” Princess Celestia asked.
“Blaze asked if he can take a look at the list of ponies that he is going to be training with. I don’t see the harm as he will meet them in a few hours.”
“That is a reasonable request. Blaze, mind informing why you are here so early?”
“Just like I told Luna, I believe this is the start of the hazing from Shining Armor before I am being trained by him. I do believe his sister and your student helped him as she told me Captain Shining Armor like to start very early with the trainees.” I said.
“Did you get enough sleep so you will not be fatigued on your first day?”
“I did the meditation and slept on the train ride. I think I will be fine. I did have enough energy to go up against an Ursa Minor and a tornado on different days.”
“True. You have done things that no mere pony can do, and yes I realize you are not a pony.”
“So, let’s take a look at the ponies I am going to be training with for the next two weeks.
Luna gave me the first one and I read it over. The first pony is a Unicorn stallion. His name is Star Dust. The picture attached shows he has a blue coat and a black mane and tail with yellow at the tips. His eyes are also yellow. His cutie mark is a shooting star. According to this, he got the cutie mark when he was star gazing. He specializes in cosmic related magic. Hmm, don’t think it is on the level with the Princesses. Can’t wait to see what he will do.
I placed that one down and Luna handed me the next one. The next one is a Pegasus stallion. His name is Lightning Trails. His picture shows he has a black coat and white mane with several strips of black with a zig zag pattern. Looks similar to Vinyl Scratch hair style. The color of his eyes is a light blue. His cutie mark is two lightning that crossed like an ‘X’. The document says that as a small colt, he got struck by lightning several times in one storm. He survived and his cutie mark appeared then. There is also a mention of something happened during flight school. Does not state what happened as the record has been sealed. Wonder what happened. Maybe he will talk about it once he gets to know me.
Luna hands me the next one and I began to look it over. This one is also a Unicorn stallion named Colorful Sparks. The picture shows he has a blue coat and orange mane and tail. His eyes were different color. The left one is red and the right one is a dark blue. The cutie mark is different color sparks in a random pattern. Interesting mark. Ah, this explains why. It says he is specialized in light based illusion magic. Seems he was being chased by some bullies and got it in a small lightning accident. Another cutie mark by lightning strike? What is so different about the lightning here in Equestria. It goes on to say the lightning struck his horn and overloaded it. An illusion clone appeared next to him and he bullies tackled that one, but instead ran into a fire hydrant. Definitely a handy ability. Wonder what else he can do with it.
Laura hands me the next three at the same time. I look up to her with a confused look.
“These three are a special case and are all siblings.” Princess Luna said.
I spread them all out so I can see all the pictures and now I can see why. They are Zebras. I picked up the first one and it says his name is Cancer. The first thing I saw odd about the Zebra is that he has a horn. Cancer coat color is white with red stripes and the mane and tail are the same pattern. The color of his eyes are a blood red. His cutie mark is a red pocket watch. There is nothing else about how he got it or what his special talent is. Hmm, a mystery.
I pick the next one in line and notice similar things to Cancer. The Zebra’s name is Dragon and also has a horn. His body looks identical to Cancer except one thing, Dragon has blue stripes and light blue eyes. Cancer and Dragon must be twins. Will need to confirm this when I meet them. Dragon’s cutie mark is also identical to Cancer, except that is also blue. Again, nothing about how he got it or his special talent.
I picked up the last one and this surprise me. The last Zebra was a mare and her name was Fang. She did not have a horn like the others. Her coat is black and has white stripes. Her eyes also are blood red as Cancer. Her cutie mark says it looks like a fang, but it blends in well with her stripes. Just like the other Zebras, nothing on how she got her cutie mark and what she is good at.
Luna pass over the last one and I take a look at it. Of course. I would have a file too. I looked it over and was surprised what it had. It has my name on it, but there was no picture of me. It said I am a pony. Everything else on the paperwork was listed as classified. I looked up to them expecting an explanation.
“As those Zebra have a special case why they are getting Royal Guard Training, you are also a special case. The reason why we did not add a picture of you or add anything else was because you said you prefer stealth and secrecy. You don’t like to be out in the front line when it comes to battles.” Princess Celestia said.
“I do remember saying that. Of course I was talking about how these abilities are normally used. I have been here for two weeks now and I have used these abilities for the opposite purpose. No secret or stealth type things, I have been out on the front lines stopping a weather disaster, took on an Ursa Minor and Timberwolves, and have put on three shows for the ponies in Ponyville that I showed off my abilities.” I said.
“What are you saying Blaze?” Princess Luna asked.
“What I am getting at is I am reconsidering your offer. I still don’t want to be a soldier, but I feel like I do need to be on the front lines. I am still going to go through the training and come up with some Taijutsu training for your guards, but I propose I teach your Captains these moves and they pass them along. The next thing I will need to explain this by telling you some more about my world.”
“Go ahead.” Princess Celestia said.
“Like I said before, the country I lived in had military divisions. One thing they also had in these divisions are specialized groups. They are kept separate from the others and only report to the higher ups. They are given the near impossible missions and somehow able to carry them out. What I am proposing is that I get placed is a group like this and only report to you.”
“I see where you are coming from and already prepared something like that. These ponies were originally rejected from becoming Royal Guards. I have reconsidered them for the sole purpose to put together a special ops group as you would have called it to handle the difficult task that might come up.”
“I take it you got this idea from my memories from my world?”
“I did and after recent events of the strange things happening to my kingdom, I realize now my Royal Guard are not prepared to do an offensive attack when trouble arises. You will be made leader of the group after the training and the others will find about this after they complete the training also.”
“Thank you Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for allowing me to change the agreement we made.”
The waiter strolls in with the food and places it in front of us. “After breakfast Blaze, I will have a guard escort you to the training grounds and meet the other ponies.” Princess Celestia said.
We ate breakfast in silence. Once it was over, I went with a guard to the grounds. We arrived and I saw the other ponies from the files. I walked up to them and waved my hoof and said, “Hello everypony. You all here for the Royal Guard Training?”
The first one to talk was Star Dust. “Yep. Name is Star Dust.” He said.
I gave him a hoofshake. “My name is Swift Blaze. My friends call me Blaze.” I said.
“My name is Colorful Spark.” He said. I went to shake his hoof and as I touched his hoof, it passed right though an illusion. I put a confused look on my face so they don’t think I already know about their abilities.
“Don’t worry about it. He got us all with that illusion.” Star Dust said.
The next pony that came up was Lightning Trails. He said, “Hello Blaze. My name is Lightning Trails.” As I moved my hoof to shake it, a thought came to my mind as I saw the others expressions. Lightning Trails must have obtained the ability to control lightning. I take he has shocked some of the others. Two can play that game. I began to channel chakra to my hoof to block from being shocked. When our hoofs touched, nothing happened. They all looked surprised as nothing happened.
“I take it he was going to shock me from your expressions.” I said.
“How did you prevent it? I know I made contact with your hoof.” Lightning Trails said.
“You are not the only pony that can control it.”
“You are only an Earth pony. How can you control it?”
“Like so.” I placed my hoofs together and did the hand signs in my head. My right hoof now has Chidori glowing from it.
Lightning Trails came over to me and touches it. He quickly jumps back and shouts “Ouch! That is not normal lightning! What is that?”
“I shall explain later.” I said as I pull the chakra back. “I see we also have Zebras joining us in the training.”
“You know of our species?” Cancer asked.
“Yes I do, but you are the first one I have met face to face. Nice to meet you.” I said as I held my hoof out.
Cancer goes up and shakes it and said, “My name is Cancer. This is my twin brother, Dragon. And this is our big sister, Fang.” The others waved at me.
“Looks like we have an interesting group.” I said.
All of a sudden, a pony shouts from behind us. “Ten hut you foals!”
We all got in line and stood at attention. The pony that shouted was Captain Shining Armor. Of course. He was wearing his purple armor and looked serious.
“For the next two weeks, your useless lives are in my hands. When I address you, you will add ‘sir’ to the beginning and end of what you reply. DO YOU GET ME!” Shining Armor said.
We all said, “SIR, YES, SIR!”
“You will eat when I tell you, sleep when I tell you, and follow all my command when I train you. DO YOU UNDERSTAND!”
“SIR, YES, SIR!”
“I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”
“SIR, YES, SIR!” We all said louder.
“Stow your bags in barrack 20 and meet me on the track field. You have 5 minutes. MOVE IT!”
We all ran to the barracks and each put our bags away. I realize we were sent to the furthest barrack to the track. He is not going to get me like this. I stop and perform a teleport to the location. I arrived first before the others. Shining Armor was surprised I teleported there in my pony form. He walked up to me.
“Hello Blaze, did you get enough sleep last night?” He said.
I KNEW IT! He did convince Twilight to have me come extra early. “Sir, I got plenty on the train ride, sir.” I said.
“I thought you could not perform any hand sign jutsu while in pony form?”
“Sir, I learned how to yesterday, sir.”
“You are hereby order to not use your chakra or ki skills during training. Do you understand?”
“Sir, yes, sir! Sir, permission to only use chakra to hold objects with my hoofs as I have no magic, sir.”
“Permission granted.”
The others soon arrived with three seconds left. They were out of breath. Guess training already started. They were surprised I got there before them, and not out of breath.
“Get in line you maggots!” Shining Armor ordered. We did so very quickly. “Ok, I want 20 laps from each of you. Blaze, you get to do 40 as you somehow got through my magic barrier. None of you are to use your abilities. When you are done, you can go to the mess hall and get some chow. You have 3 hours to complete this. You don’t complete by that time, you don’t get lunch. BEGIN!”
We all began to run, on the track. I had to run faster as I had double the work. Cancer was somehow able to keep up with me. “So, Blaze, how did you get here before us? The captain said you got through his magic barrier. That is why the other Unicorns and I could not teleport here.”
“My abilities don’t use magic. Actually I have no magic in me at all. I can explain more during our personal time tonight.” I said as I picked up speed.
Cancer slowed back down and joined the rest of the group. I had to go twice as fast as the others if I wanted to finish in the time. After 2 hours down, the others only had a few laps left. I on the other hand still had 15 left. I calculated I would not make it at the speed I am maxed at. Shining really has a grudge against me. It is not my fault that his guards never expected to me a human with my abilities. You know what, screw the weights. I’m hungry. I said the command to return the weight of the clothing back to normal.
What happen next if you looked from the sidelines, I looked like I activated the afterburner as I shot straight. I had to struggle on the turns as I was probably going at least 75mph on the hoof. The others stayed in the outer lanes as I was a blur going past them. They were wondering where I got that boost from. I finished with 15 minutes to spare and the others finished 5 minutes before me. When I finished, I collapsed to the ground. They all came over to check on me.
“Dude! Blaze, what in the world was that!” Dragon asked.
“I was not going to finish in time at the speed I was at. So I deactivated the weight enhancement on my clothing.” I said while catching my breath.
“Why are you wearing weighted down clothing.” Star Dust asked.
“Long story.”
“Do you need a hoof to get to the mess hall? I won’t shock you.” Lightning Trails said.
“Nah, I think I will float there.” I activated my ki and began to hover.
“HOW IN EQUESTRIA ARE YOU DOING THAT!” Colorful Spark shouted.
“Again, long story. Let's get something to eat before we run out of time.”
We all head to the mess hall and started to grab prepared food from the buffet. I loaded mine up to the max. When I sat down with he rest of the group, they were again surprised at the amount of food I took. We ate in silence and quickly before Shining Armor shows up. We ate every crumb that was on our plates and returned to the track. Shining Armor was waiting there for us. We got back in line as we once were before.
“Blaze! Step forward.” Shining Armor commanded. I did so. He walked up right into my face. “Care to explain why you disobey my order on using magic and abilities.”
“Sir, you said not not use them. So that gave me permission to deactivate the magic spell that is on my clothing, Sir.” I said.
“What spell?”
Sir, weight enhancement, sir.”
“Explain.”
“Sir, I asked Twilight Sparkle to add a spell to my clothes to make them heavier so I can continue my morning routine. Would you care to see how much weight I have been training with, sir?”
“Take them off and put them on that scale.” Shining Armor said as he pointed to one in the middle of the track field.
We all headed over and I took my gi off and the hoof bands. The scale said their weight was about a pound. They all looked like they did not believe me. “Return to previous weight setting.” I said. The scale suddenly dropped down hard and re-balanced itself. It now reads the clothing weighs 250lbs. Everypony dropped their mouths opens. I went and put my gear back on and stood back in line. Shining Armor regains his composure and started to walk in front of us.
“This afternoon you are going through the obstacle course until everypony here can do it under three minutes. The pony who does not complete this by sundown does not get dinner. Oh, and Blaze, increase your total weight to 300lbs.” Shining Amor said with a smile on the last part. “This guard will keep track of your times and call them out as you cross the line.”
“Sir, yes, sir. Increase total weight by 50lbs.” I said. The new weight was a good strain on the body as it made it difficult to move. Shining Armor, you are trying to get me to fail so you can punish me. I will play your game and beat it. We all began to take the course and do it as fast as possible. I was dead last due to the new weight level. I did not stop though, I was determined to show Shining Armor he could not break me.
Fang slows down when she came up from behind as she followed me. “So what did you do to get on Captain Shining Armor’s hate list?” Fang asked.
“I stayed here once. I wasn’t aware at the time that I was suppose to have an escort. The guards thought I was an assassin when I did one of my abilities right in front of them. They began to shoot their magic at me and I manage to evade two dozen of his guards.” I said.
“You must tell us the tale sometime Blaze.”
“Maybe tomorrow night as tonight we should get to know what each of us can do.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Fang sped back up and continued going through the course. I am going to be feeling the burn tonight.
After two hours of training, the others averaged close to 3-1/2 minutes. I was at 5 minutes. I was getting used to the weight better as my time was getting better each time I went through it. As I was halfway though the course at this time, I hear screaming coming from the start/finish line. Lightning Trails was flying all around screaming, “I did it! I got under 3 minutes!” The others near him congratulated him. I continued working hard on the course to get my time better. The next pony was Cancer getting under the 3 minutes. The others finished in this order, Colorful Spark, Dragon, Fang, and Star Dust. I was at 3 minutes and 15 seconds.
They started to cheer me on as I was knocking a few seconds each time I did a lap. There was an 30 minutes left and I only had a few seconds to go. With 20 minutes left, I broke he 3 minute mark. They all cheer loudly and soon realized I did not stop.
“Blaze! You did it! You are under 3 minutes! You can stop running!” Star Dust shouted.
“NO! I AM NOT DONE!” I shouted back.
Lightning Trails flew over to me and followed as I continued the course. “What else do you got to prove?” He asked me.
“Tell me, what does that say over there for the course record?”
Lightning Trails flew to the sign and said, “Record time: 2:53.”
“Now who set that record?”
“Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard. Are you going to try and beat this Blaze?”
“Eeyup.”
The others heard what I was planning to do. They started to cheer louder for me. 12 minutes left, 2:55. I can do this! I pushed harder and harder on my body. The pain was increasing, but I pushed it to the back of my mind.
6 minutes left, 2:53.50. “You are almost there Blaze!” Colorful Spark shouted.
3 minutes left, 2:53.05. Last lap. I pushed my body past its limit as I wanted to beat the record. Finish line coming into view. I make one massive leap across it. I slide on the dirt to a stop.
“Awesome Blaze!” Dragon said as he and Cancer picked me off the ground.
“Thanks.” I said as I was full blown exhausted.
They took me over to a bench so I could have a rest and let my hooves from stop aching. I was feeling all the pain coming to life. I started to channel my chakra to heal my body. They were about to start asking me questions, when we saw Shining Armor coming to us.
“I take you all were able to get under the 3 minutes. Soldier, read out the results.” Captain Shining Armor said as he approached.
The guard cleared his throat and then began to read the results, “First to finish was Lightning Trails with the time of 2:59.7. Next to finish was Cancer with the time of 2:58.2. Colorful Spark had the time of 2:59.3. Dragon had the time of 2:58.4.”
“Hah! I beat you again Dragon!” Cancer interrupted.
“Ahem, Fang’s time was 2:57.7.”
“And I still beat you both little brothers.” Fang said as she smirked.
“Star Dust had the time of 2:58.7.”
“Now what time did Blaze finished the course barely?” Shining Armor asked as he figured I would not have made the 3 minute mark.
“Um, . . .” The guard started to say.
“What is Blaze’s time on the obstacle course? That is an order.” Shining Armor said as was starting to get mad.
“Swift Blaze time on the obstacle course was 2:51.9”
The other trainees started to cheer that I broke the record. I had a smirk on my face as I looked at Shining Armor. I turned to the guard that had the time and said, “You can keep the Captain Shining Armor name on that record wall. I would like to just be on it also with a note that I had 300lbs of weights on me.”
“Congratulations recruits. You survived the first day of training. Go and get your dinner and get plenty of rest. We will get to the hard stuff tomorrow.” Shining Armor said and then teleported away.
We headed back to the mess hall. I flew as my hoofs were still aching. I sat at the table as I was not hungry, yet. Wanted to finish healing my body so it will stop aching. The others went and got their food and joined me at the table.
“You are not going to eat Blaze?” Star Dust asked.
“Need to heal my body first so it will stop aching.” I said.
“Care to tell us how you can do all these things that no Earth pony has ever done before?” Colorful Spark asked.
“You are not going to believe it when I tell you. I can’t even show you as my body is under a magic spell. I am not actually a real pony.”
“BULLSHIT!” Dragon shouted.
“Then how would you explain I can fly without wings or do magic like things without a horn?”
They all began to think what would cause me to be able to do these things. None of them will get it right. Once they realized they couldn’t, I began to tell the tale of me being a human and coming to this world. I covered the chakra and ki energy sources and demonstrated some of them. I finally went over what happened with the tornado and how I am now stuck in pony form for the next two weeks.
“Now I remember! I saw you in your human form at that Award Ceremony for the orange Earth mare.” Colorful Spark said.
“Then how come you did not recognize my pony form when I went back on stage to get the citizenship certificate and the gift from Princess Celestia?” I asked.
“I was in the back of the crowd.”
“Ok, I don’t recall seeing at other times when I was in Ponyville. Where do you live?”
“I am on the northeast side of town. I used to work at the magic gag shop over there.”
I think I know who the best customers were. “I take it then you know a pink Earth mare and a light blue Pegasus mare then?”
“Oh, you mean Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash? I do know them as they shop there a lot. Last time, Dash said he had to pull a prank on a certain somepony for backfiring one of hers.”
Yep, that is where they get their supplies. “I can tell you they have yet been able to prank me yet.”
“That was you too! What was the prank she tried to do?”
I go and tell the tale at the restaurant of how Dash tried to shoot a spit wad at me. They all began to laugh at what happened.
“I finished healing my body so I am going to get some food and then you can go around and tell everypony here about yourself.” I said as I got up and went and got my food. Again I filled the tray up eating enough food for six ponies. I returned and began to eat as I waited for one of the others to start telling their tales.
----------Star Dust Backstory-----------
Star Dust POV
"I think I will start. Before coming here, I lived in Manehattan. I lived there with my little sister. Our parents moved away to Canterlot due to family problems." I said.
"What kind of problems?" Dragon asked.
"I rather not discuss it. At this time, I was only a teenage colt and did not have my cutie mark. Our parents would not even send us money to survive so I had to take small jobs here and there to get some bits to buy food and other things."
"Sorry to hear that. I somewhat know what that is like when I lived on my planet. I still lived with my Mom as a child, but I had to help out by getting a job to buy food and other things." Blaze said.
"Thanks. One night, after I put my sister to bed, I stayed up and read a book I checked out from the local library. It was about the stars and how Princess Luna created them several thousand years ago. I loved the night sky each night I could view it. I remember my Dad telling me a tale of how each star up there was for a pony that died in the past thousand years."
"Hmm, that reminds me of something from my childhood. Can't recall exactly what, but I heard something similar in a story." Blaze said.
"From working several odd jobs, I manage to save enough bits to buy a telescope. On the clearest night, I snuck out of the house after my sister was asleep. I went to the park and set the telescope up and in the biggest field there. I was truly amazed at what I saw through it in the vast deep of space. It seemed I was out there for a long time, when it was only 20 minutes."
"That must have been magical to see all the things in space." Colorful Spark said.
"You can say that. I was starting to get tired so I was about to put my telescope away when I saw something shimmer in the sky. I was seeing a shooting star! I quickly pointed my telescope to it and began to track it. I notice something was off. It was not moving side to side like how you would normally see it. It was getting bigger. I realized then it was coming straight for me!"
"What happened?" Cancer asked with an anticipation look on his face.
“I am getting to that. The shooting star flew right over me. I did not know how, but my horn started to use magic and emitted a bright light that covered the field. After a few seconds it faded out. I was amazed at what happened so I tried to see if I can recreate the light. I was able to, but not as intense as before. It looked like a tiny star was floating above my horn. I then noticed my cutie mark appeared. A shooting star with the cosmic tail. I ran home to my little sister and told her the great news. She was happy I got my cutie mark.”
“Such a touching tale. It brought a tear to my eye.” Lightning Trails said as he wiped away a tear.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what is your sister name and where is she now?” Blaze asked.
“My sister’s name is Flower Dust. When I received a letter from Princess Celestia that I was finally accepted for Royal Guard training, I was then worried about my little sister. I sent a letter to her asking if my sister could stay at the castle while I am training. A few days later, A Royal Guard showed up at my house and said he was ordered to take me and my sister to the Castle in Canterlot. We were both happy that we quickly packed everything that we had and left Manehattan complete, never wanting to return there again.”
“That is very kind of the Princess to offer you that. I can’t wait to see your sister.” Colorful Spark said.
“I told her to stay in the Castle and not wander to Canterlot. I don’t want her to run into our parents.”
“They must have done something pretty bad if you never wanted to see them again.” Cancer said.
“I think I will go next.” Lightning Trails said.
----------Lightning Trails Backstory-----------
Lightning Trails POV
“I am from Cloudsdale, The City in the Sky. Such a beautiful place. I lived there all my life and had many friends while I was a colt. My mom works in the weather factory in the snow flake room. My dad was a Royal Guard that worked the night shift. He was gone sometimes to do missions for Princess Celestia.” I said.
“That’s cool that your father was in the Royal Guard.” Colorful Spark said. Everypony else nodded.
“At this time, I just finished basic school and was in Flight School to learn specifically some of the things we Pegasus can do. We were getting a tour of the weather factory and how all the weather is made in Equestria. I got distracted by how determine the wind patterns and fell behind in the group. I went to look for them and entered a room. I did not realize it then, but I entered the testing room. It wandered around looking for them when the door to the room closed and locked. The lights went out and began to hear thunder in the room. Lightning began to strike all over the room. I was suddenly hit by several of them and was knocked out.”
“What happened!” Dragon asked in an excited voice.
“I did not find out what happened till later. I woke up in the hospital a week later. My mom was beside my bed and looked like she hasn’t slept for a while. When she saw me wake up, she quickly gave me a hug. I don’t know how, but I somehow shocked her, literally. She jumped back quickly after receiving the jolt and assured me everything was going to be fine. She told me that I entered a test for a new kind of lightning that would be safer. I did not die, but it was painful. She also told me I suffer an effect from that. I can now harness lightning by absorbing it and dishing it out. She also told me I now have my cutie mark. I quickly throw the bed sheets off so I could take a look and saw two lightning bolts crossing each other.”
“Shocking development.” Blaze said, trying to be funny. We all just rolled our eyes at him.
“I had to practice controlling this as I did not want to hurt anypony with this. It was fun having this ability as I could shoot it out and disperse clouds very quickly. Years later, as I was half way through Flight school I received terrible news when I arrived home. My mom was crying on the couch as a Royal Guard Pegasus was standing there. She saw me enter the house and quickly pulled me into a hug. She told me that my dad got injured on his latest mission. I asked what happened. She told me he was on a mission in the Griffin Kingdom and something went wrong. I asked where is dad. She said he is alive in the Canterlot hospital, but it was severely injured. He can still fly, but won’t be able to use any of his hoofs ever again. At this point I joined my mom crying as we cried for who knows how long.”
“Sorry to hear that, Lightning Trails.” Cancer said. The others nodded also.
“Thanks. He is still doing fine, but it was a little hard for him at first to not be able to do anything with your hoofs. When I returned to Flight School after a week of visiting my dad in the hospital and bringing him home, word has spread about what happened. Some ponies said they were sorry for what happened to him. There were some that started to make jokes about him. I was very furious when they talked about him like that. I lost it one day, I sent lightning at that pony making fun at him and put him in the hospital. Before I could be disciplined by the Flight School, I dropped out as I don’t want to be anywhere near those jerk ponies. I made my decision then to join the Royal Guard to be like my dad. I submitted who knows how many applications over the years and get rejected. I learned enough to get a job to help pay the bills and buy food as my mom started to work part time as she was caring for my dad now. It was not till last week when I finally got the acceptance letter. I was excited that I sent off lightning in different directions.”
“So how is your dad doing?” Blaze asked.
“He still has his hoofs if you are wondering. The doctor says they are all healed, but the nerves are not making the connection to allow him to use them. They tried every magic to make them work and nothing so far.”
I saw Blaze entering a deep thought about this. I don’t know why he was interested in this.
“Can I go next?” Colorful Spark asked.
No pony objected so he cleared his throat as he was about to tell his tale.
----------Colorful Spark Backstory-----------
Colorful Spark POV
“Where shall I begin? Well, I was born and raised in Ponyville all my life. My years as a colt were not as fun as others. Because one eye color is different from the other, I was picked on by the other ponies.” I said.
“As we heard so far, all of us had some trouble when they were young. None of will ever pick on what makes a pony unique to the others.” Dragon said. The others nodded in agreement.
“Thanks. I did make friends with a grey Pegasus filly. She too had a slight problem with one of her eyes, it would wander looking in another direction.”
“I know that mare. She is Ditzy Hooves. She is nice to hang out with. Always full of fun and joy. Her filly is also cute too.” Blaze said.
“You know Ditzy? We have more friends in common Blaze than I ever thought. Getting back to my story, Ditzy and I hung out together in the whitetail woods so we were away from the meanies. One day, we were walking through town when we saw the school bullies. They liked to pick on us the most because of our eyes. They spotted us and started to head towards us. We started to run away and they followed, catching up. Ditzy flew off to get help from an adult. I ran all through town with them in tow. I was starting to get tired and stopped by a fire hydrant. They circled around me so I could not escape.”
“What happened next?” Cancer asked.
“As I was keeping an eye on them, I saw a dark cloud being pushed to me. Ditzy was pushing it and the bullies did not notice. When she was over, she gave it a hard kick to have lightning come out. What happened next I did not expect. The lightning hit my horn.”
“Ouch. That’s gotta hurt.” Blaze said in a strange voice none of us recognized.
“When it struck my horn, I got a magic overload and sent a bright light over the area. When I could see again. I looked around as saw everypony else was rubbing their eyes to see again. I then noticed to my left was something that looked like me. I decided to stand still like the thing and see what would happen. When they could see again, they thought they were seeing double, they argued for a bit then decided to lunge towards the fake. When they did, they flew right through it and collided with the fire hydrant that was hiding.”
The other started to laugh at that and I joined them.
“Seeing my horn is drawn to lightning, can you Lightning Trails and Swift Blaze keep the lightning use under control? Don’t want to get another power boost by accident.”
“Sure thing. I don’t shoot my lightning off by accident, anymore.” Lightning Trails said.
“I have to supply chakra and do things called hand signs to make my lightning appear. I don’t even know how my chakra lightning will affect you the same way.” Blaze said.
“Let's not find out then. Getting back to my tale, so while they were knocked out, Ditzy and I got away. Once we were safe, Ditzy informed me that I got my cutie mark. I looked and saw several sparks of different colors on my flank. I was so excited, my magic with off again and more illusions popped up around us. That is when I discovered my talent was making illusions. I checked out books from the library that were about it and began to study. Ditzy helped me when I went to test to see how real the illusions are.”
“So, did those bullies bother you and Ditzy again?” Blaze asked.
“No they didn’t. After running to that hydrant, I think they were afraid to run into something else and seriously get into trouble. Here are my thoughts on what I think about others. If somepony is mean to me, or mention something bad about my eyes, I no longer care what happens to them. If they are a kind pony, or says something positive about my eyes, I will be your friend for life.”
“Those are good things to believe in. Of course there are some times when somepony acts out in a bad way because they are also hurting on the inside from something. If I can get that pony to change their ways, they will be grateful for it.” Blaze said.
“When did you get so philosophical, Blaze?” Lightning Trails asked.
“Probably has to do with my beliefs about balance and restoring it on different levels.” Blaze replied.
“So who is next to tell us about themselves.” Star Dust asked.
“I guess we all will go next as we are siblings.” Cancer said.
----------Cancer, Dragon and Fang’s Backstory-----------
Cancer POV
“Unlike the rest of you, except for Blaze here, Dragon, Fang, and I was not born within the land of Equestria. Our homeland is called, Zebrawbway. It is a beautiful place like Equestria. The only thing is we don’t have magic so abundant like here. I take you are wondering why my brother and I have horns then. Our mother was a Zebra and our father was a Unicorn. We were the first to ever receive a horn and were shunned because of it. It got so bad, our family left Zebrawbway and enter this land. We moved to a place outside of Dodge City so we don’t scare the ponyfolk. When it came time to go to school, our father used his magic to hide our stripes. The ponies were nice and friendly, but we hated hiding our true selves.” I said.
“Sorry you got ran out of your homeland. Just like the rest of us, we don’t care about how everypony looks. It is their actions that determine how they are liked.” Lightning Trails said.
“One thing my brother and I did quite often is we challenged each other. I have won most of them.”
“No, I won more than you!” Dragon shouted
“No, I did!”
“No, I did!”
“Hold it! Do I need to put you in your place again?” Fang said.
“No big sis.” Dragon and I said at the same time.
“Then stop making everything a challenge.”
“Yes, sister. Back to the story. We raced each other to and from school as twins always conflict with each other. On one day, it was raining when we left the schoolhouse. We ran as fast we did to get home. When we got into our yard, we notice something strange. The rain was no longer falling. It was suspended in mid air.” I said.
“How is that possible?” Colorful Spark asked.
“We did not know at the time, but both our horns were emitting magic. We seemed to have stopped time. We cut our magic off and the rain started to fall again. Cancer and I were surprised at what happened. We then noticed the illusion spell disappear and showed our stripes again. There was something else that also revealed, our cutie mark. We both had a pocket watch, except it match our stripe colors. We began to work on exactly what our cutie mark stands for.” Dragon said.
“So what did you find out?” Blaze asked.
“We were correct that it was something time related. Dragon has the ability to slow time around him making him look like he is going at super speed. I can speed up my own time to make myself go faster. The downside though now is our father’s illusion spell to hide our stripes was no longer working on us. We had to face the fact that when we go back to school the next day, we might get picked on.” I said.
“What happened?” Star Dust asked.
“When we got to the schoolhouse, the other fillies and colts were happy we got our cutie mark, but were surprised we were also hiding the stripes. They all thought it was cool. Cancer and I were filled with joy that they did not think we were strange or freaks. Life became happier since as we could show our true selves freely without being picked on. We still continued having challenges every chance we got.” Dragon said.
----------Fang POV----------
“What about you, Fang. Tell us about yourself. Do you have some interesting talent like the rest of us?” Blaze said as he was across from her
“I would think so. You tell me.” I said as I pointed one hoof at him.
Everypony was wondering what was going to happen and I can say they never expected this. I focused on my hoof and sent out a blade that stopped mere inches from Blaze’s nose. They all gasp except for my brothers as they already knew about this.
“Yea, that is an interesting skill.” Blaze said as he cleared his throat. “Can you retract it please?”
I do so and it pulls back into my hoof. The pain of it returning was still there as it was when the first time it happened. “Would you all like to hear my tale now?” They all nodded their heads and paid attention.
“I was a filly when my brothers were born. I too was surprised they had horns. My family love out ruled the tribe’s beliefs. I was sad that I had to leave my friends behind in Zebrawbway. I soon was glad to leave them as I found out later how some turned against my brothers. I too received the illusion spell from my father so I can finish school. Times were a little tough living just outside of Dodge City. I took up being a privateer, somepony who gets hired to retrieve . . . things the client wants. Some of it was dangerous, but my original coat, after the illusion spell wore off, allow me to sneak through the night and blend in.” I said.
“Sounds similar to a group of people on my planet. Of course I think they were called something else. Can’t recall what though.” Blaze said as he rubbed a hoof against his head.
I glared at Blaze, hoping he does not say the other name. “On one of the jobs, we were spotted by the enemy and had to get out of there quickly. I got stabbed in the hoof by one of them. When we were out of sight, I looked at my injury and saw a blade was still in there. There were no hospitals near by so we setup camp in the forest. The next morning, I did not feel the pain from the blade in my hoof. With the sunlight now, I got a better look at it. I saw that it was not stabbed into me, but came out of me. I thought I did not want that blade there and I started to retract back in. The wound healed up quickly where the blade came out of.”
“What was the object you were sent to retrieve?” Lightning Trails asked.
“Sorry, it is classified. I cannot talk about any missions that I went on. I later found out that the blade was not tied to just that hoof. I could have it come out of any surface on my body. I began to train with it to understand how I can use it and how quickly I can have it come out. After I got a handle on it, I returned home and found about these two getting theirs. Years later as we were hanging around the house, we received a letter from Princess Celestia inviting us to be trained in the Royal Guard. We were all shocked at this. Then filled with joy about what this could bring. We quickly packed our stuff and left the next day.”
--------------Blaze POV---------------
“It begs the question though why she would have only us train together when they normally have several dozen doing it each month.” Star Dust said.
They all will be surprised at what is in store at the end of the training. “It is getting late and I would like to get plenty of rest before Shining Armor has me do something overboard again.” I said.
They all laughed at the thought, knowing it will probably happen. We returned to our barracks and headed off to sleep land.
