//------------------------------// // Selection // Story: An Aeternian's Conviction // by The Real Darkness //------------------------------// In Aeternia, there was a special building for Scouts to train in, obstacles to climb and mount, challenges to keep them in top shape, a separate room for duel of varying environments. In Canterlot, this kind of gymnasium did not exist formally. Arctus was being a huge nuisance, present during meals with Celestia and sometimes Twilight and Shining Armor, he spent the rest of his time sprinting about the castle, climbing structures that shouldn't be climbed, and using balconies, railings and more to exercise his muscles out. In two days, quicker than he set a deadline there came a call for him to report to the throne room. "Is this about my use of the castle?" Celestia giggled at his question while he walked in, the doors easily giving to his strength. "No no," she laughed openly, three smiths present along with a single fletcher, "though your antics are both comedical to watch and impressive for your body to perform, you're in no trouble for it." "We all know how eccentric you are, Arctus," Shining Armor stood at the door, awaiting to escort the guests out once their business had finished. He looked at the fabric wrapped weapons they held, "oh! My order is completed early," he walked to them and they laid each onto the floor. "Careful, they're pretty heavy swords, I have no idea why you commissioned a simple sword to be so large," Shining commented. Arctus opened each up of the fabric bundles from the smiths up, it was thick layered linens meant to protect the fresh products, "where is that other smith?" The present fletcher spoke, "they didn't feel up to the task...or like they befitted it." He looked over the three weapons, "we don't know where the other smith was, he was doing something in his shop when we were headed over." The first greatsword was syled have a simple claymore, handguard bent upwards to catch blades, the blade was thick at the bottom, but slimmed gradually over the blade to end in a fine tip. It would be excellent at slashing through armor from the pure speed, but he needed something that would crash with a heavy weight too. "Not this one." His eyes turned to the second, a short handle was its only flaw, but it was enough for Arctus to immediately jump to the third. "Sorry, but a longer handle is required for fluid use." The third had everything on mark as he asked, but Arctus lifted it and began to swing it, having a decent feel for it. "Hey, Shining Armor, could you come assist for a second?" The Captain of the Guard sighed and trotted over, drawing his spear and presenting it forward. "Guards, please step away from the doors," they moved at Arctus' mention to behind him. The Master Scout did notice some imperfections in the blade and wondered if it was just discoloration or not. He held it in two hands in front of him with a wide stance, "brace," Shining Armor tensed himself. Arctus had slung his body in a circle and pulled the greatsword along, the blade slinging around and coming to crash against Shining Armor's spearhead, his stance was changing for a followup strike while a loud shatter echoed through the throne room, metal went flying and the blade had broke in two with Shining Armor's spear flying across the room and clanging against the door with a chunk of the blade and shards of steel. "You forged it too hastily, it would have been a magnificent tool for this assignment," he dropped the broken blade. Shining Armor's horn lit and collects all the shards and the other half of the blade, placing it on fabric. Arctus unrolled the fabric the fletcher brought and saw the immaculate arrow with large arrowheads, jagged hooks on the end with serrations on the inside, "very well done," he noted the metal shaft with his eyes and then picked one up, looking at the feathers. They were large, some kind of giant bird, but sockets in it was also thing metal rods to give support and allow for multiple feathers to assist with the arrow shooting true, "five of them? Thank you. These will do nicely, I might need a more resistant bow, but that will be easy enough for me to get or make." The throne room doors flew open and the younger smith came in, holding a sword without fabric and tripped jsut for the sword to clatter and land at Arctus' feet. It was styled as a claymore, but thicker than the normal design, holding the same hilt and a smaller pommel. The tip was still wide but shuddered to well done point quickly. The handle was twisted and covered in thick gripping. The pommel was overlaid with gold. "S-sorry!" He stood while Arctus picked up the sword. "How's that one, Art?" Celestia asked, a smirk on her face. She had known that smith was someone fresh out of apprenticeship and someone she commissioned for some ironwork in the castle gardens to be cheaper on the kingdom's coffers. "This is the dragon slayer I needed," he swung it just twice in quick succession, whipping a gust at the ponies near him, "I'll get some payment sent on down your way before I leave out," he took the accompanied chest strap with it and began walking out of the throne room, new armaments in hand, "I appreciate all your efforts." "I'm...impressed he can even swing that, let alone with such expertise," Arctus left the throne room and went right to his quarters again, eyeing the unchanged ice egg as it sat on its own cushioned bed that cradled it carefully. The frost that covered it had gotten thicker. Arctus did have no way of knowing how far along the creature within had developed. The scout was making adjusted himself of the chest strap and ensuring it fit well, his back would be crowded and he had no intention of wearing his chainmail or mail shirt as armor so he could still move freely without being severely weighed down. He already had his full set of equipment on him and with his new weapon in hand he went to the training yard, setting himself within an arena while the present guards drilled. He began a couple simple downward strikes, his footwork was never unlearned. Arctus was striking fluidly and returning back to a neutral or guard stance with ease, his exercising had paid off in some regards, but whenever he attempted a swing with a lot of force, he fought to return the heavy weapon back to position. "Arctus, what...what are you doing with such a large sword?" Strong Stitch had approached him, outfitted in guard's armor. "Practicing, it's only three days until I leave out and begin a long assignment. This greatsword will see me through that." "Where are you headed to?" "Griffonstone and then the Dragon Lands. I know you're wanting to give this a shot, but I need you ready for combat and toughened before I take you into the field." She continued watching him, it was a different world she got to gaze through each time Strong Stitch saw him doing anything. Every activity, every time of day, even his habits were completely alien to what anypony else would do. But to him, it all had purpose. The normal world is the one that is mad, always doing the same activities, never making a different slash or steeping your foot into a different place each day. And the combatants were ever changing. Change was what his entire childhood prepared him for. And so he swung a greatsword and went for more stances and follow up strikes. He knew how to use it on human foes and that's what he could really practice, with any kind of beast of different creatures it was a game of countering. And giving a dragon initiative was something he had never done before. "So, a bunch of the guards have been showing me some basic combat and I was hoping you might show me something a bit more advanced," Arctus halted his blade in a chain of swipes, holding position while his muscles took a moment to untense. With soft clatter he put the greatsword into a plush fabric covered metal ring that protruded off the chest strap. "I see. I can afford that time," he drew his spatha, "where is your weapon?" "Uhm, they told me to keep it on me at all times," she drew a mace and a dagger, standing on her hind legs, "but I'm not allowed to leave the castle with them." "Interesting choice, usually a mace is accompanied by a shield," Arctus took out his hunting knife, as a tool it made a decent weapon, but one that he was drawing way less often. He waved her in and she hopped the wooden fence. "If they've taught you some mace etiquette, that's good, but I'll show you some blows that will lead into victories. That long dagger of yours will also see use," he eyed it more closely seeing a perfectly round handle and a triangle designed blade, not cutting was possible with it. The two plates on the handguard and pommel confirmed it as a rondell. "That dagger you have is forged to make some really nasty wounds, so if I knock you away when you engage with it, please understand," such a deadly weapon was out of place in Equestria, "take stance," she raised the weapons in a classic house defense. "You have the freedom to attack with your mace because of that dagger whenever facing someone armed with only one weapon. To make full use of that," Arctus put his knife back, thinking differently, "take a swing at me," he saw the round head of the mace move forward quick and he rose his spatha to block, "and now you have a clear mark, act in tandem when you block and are assured there is no trickery. That dagger," his arm was held up, "can now puncture into my side and damage vitals. You could also aim for a limb and leave me at a disadvantage." He withdrew his weapon, "that all hapens quickly, but you should be looking for openings against leser skilled enemies and against more experienced look for patterns." "What about as a Scout?" Arctus laughed, "good luck. Scouts can be very unpredictable, their skill sets vary between each and even just one can be capable of such a wide array of attacks it's impossible to predict movements or reactions. You just have to want to live more desperately than they want to win." "I'm...just an earth pony, not capable of magic or flight." "But you ahve an incredible strength so swinging that mace at speeds nopony would expect is a card in your hand to play. Speaking of, blocking that mace is going to exhaust enemies, so you can capitalize on that, especially those with shields. Even better if you can topple them with the force alone." Arctus left the arena and went to a practice shed, returning with a metal roung shield, "so...show me just how hard you hit with that mace." Some patrols had stopped to see the commotion going on in the yards, the drilling had even stopped. Arctus took stance and so did Strong Stitch, "whenever you're ready," he wasn't braced for the blow. Two or so seconds later and Strong Stitch reared back, slamming her mace horizontally. Arctus was intending to prepare her to learn how to attack and defend at the same time, swinging his spatha with her movements. The shield rose and the force hit. Arctus could not manage to swipe at her and the blow instant crumpled his arm and she followed through the whole swing as he tumbled through the air, flipping over his right side and landing with his arm hanging, knees absorbing the shock of her swing on the ground, "holy. Shit," Arctus breathed out, "yeah...you're gonna come out in the field when I have a more solid assignment with a laid out plan." Strong Stitch beamed. Arctus threw off the shield, the protrusion in the center had been beaten in, "who knew you had that," he arm hurt, numbed from the shock, he started flexing it. "I've never seen Arctus get thrown like that." "The pony he scouted is a real powerhouse." "You think he broke his arm?" "I don't know, given his reaction and ability to stay on his feet, he's been hit like that before." Whispers were going about their small audience. "From hence on, Strong Stitch, I'm taking you as a trainee Scout," her face beamed, "but your practice is far from complete. Please train using the entire castle, learn to climb it, sprint through it, sneak around the guards without notice. Once you have, I'll take you into an assignment with me." She bowed, "no, no need to bow to me. When you become a Scout, the only pony you'll bow to is Celestia." He looked at the mace, the head was even bent a little, "you might need something a little larger and more durable next time." Living gate crasher that was hiding in a tailor shop, that'd be a tale to tell if he ever returned to Aeternia. He breathed in deep, "all of you can clear out, I need time to continue my practice," he looked to the new trainee and she nodded, leaving as he drew his greatsword once more, tossing the useless shield away from him. He was whipping gusts around him again. He had spent the next days very uneventfully, practicing, exercising, doing all he could to boost his confidence in his skills. He had dinners with Celestia, sometimes breakfasts if he wasn't already awake long before her. The week had passed and it came time for him to head to his forest and claim the mirror. Celestia was coming along with a contingent of guards. Silver Spike knew it was today and should be head to the castle himself. The guards deigned it appropriate to transport the Princess and Arctus along in a chariot, something he had not stepped onto in a very long time. "You said you were familiar with chariots?" Celestia prompted as four guards flew them through the sky, heading toward the forest. "The ones I've rode on stay on the ground and aren't painted gold. They're hulks of iron and some would say our bravest tactic." "How is that?" "You could ride into combat, defended more than any armor, they even had a top to them. IT was meant to give a haven in a sea of enemies to allow us more freedom to engage enemies." "So you could become a small fortress on a field of war?" "Precisely. Some would have simple harnesses on the inside and soldiers would hold to metal struts, it would then be slung from a catapult, those chariots were specialized in that it was impossible to open from the outside unless you took hours. That gave time for forces on the inside to come to and prepare before opening some attack ports in it." "That's a very interesting tactic." "It was only employed in ancient history, it's not too common now." Celestia braced and Arctus did the same as the guards landed next to the forest and unhitched themselves. The Master Scout lead to his lands, "the creatures won't dare to bother us while I'm present," and any noises the forest might have had quieted, the group not privy to it as they smelt and felt the woodsmaster return. Celestia giggled, "it still sounds like a fairy tale, but it's true," she took to his side with the guards behind them. The group entered, following him and remaining as quiet as they could, Arctus forced them to keep a quicker pace, but after twenty or so minutes, they met Silver Spike who stood in front of the castle, longsword laying on the ground next to him and flail in hand, he picked his other weapon up. He addressed the princess first, bowing, "good morning, Princess Celestia, Arctus." "Good morning, Scout Silver Spike." The unicorn pushed the heavy stone doors open, "I already cleared the castle of any nuisances." "Perfect! We'll be able to get to the mirror without issue." The whole way there, they still kept quiet while Celestia took lead and pulled the group right into a decrepit chamber. The mirror stood untouched by time. "I entrust getting the mirror back to Canterlot to you guards and Silver Spike," Arctus let mana flow into his cape through a slight tough of his fingers. The dark shades returned on them. Celestia hugged him from behind while he made his way to the exit, reaching her neck about him to plant a kiss, "I don't know how it is there or how long you'll be there, but promise me you'll come back." Arctus held her neck in his arms, "I always come back, you know that." "Promise me." "I promise." "Good, now I had something made," she levitated a potion of white liquid into one of his empty pouches around his waist, "that will heal you should you ever need it. Drink it or pour it on your wounds, it will take care of you no matter what happens." "Take care of yourself while I'm gone." "I will, it's not like you're leaving me with incapable ponies," Celestia assured him. "That's true. No matter what, I'll be home in time to welcome your sister back," Arctus patted her neck and she slowly let him go. "Where are you going?" Silver Spike spoke up, "do you need help?" "I'm off to do an assignment for a Master Scout. When you get back to Canterlot, please assist the new trainee Strong Stitch with learning subterfuge, survival, all the skills you learned on your own." Arctus turned to face the guards, "you make sure that mirror reaches Canterlot safely and that nothing happens to Celestia," they nodded to him. "I have a day's travel, a boat to make, and some fish to catch."