Gods and Kings

by Ninjaman3250

Chapter 2

The next four weeks for Blade were a living hell, but with the friendship of private Buckler, he managed to keep sane. Each day, he woke up at five o'clock in the mourning, galloped fifteen miles, trained in sword battling, galloped fifteen more miles, and went to sleep to start the whole process over again. There was the occasional screw up which led to the whole squad having to do push ups in the sand. This day was different though, because today was the last day of boot camp.

Blade's red mane and tail stood out today, not only because of his white coat, but because the sun was very bright today. It gave him reassuring feeling, it made him feel like he could do almost anything.

"Alright colts!" said sergeant Jerome. "Today's exercise is fencing."

Everypony let out a sigh of relief.

"Against us!" Jerome added.

Blade stiffened. He was an excellent sword fighter, he had the cutie mark of a sword on his flank to prove it, but could he possibly beat one of Equestria's?

"Who wants to go first?" Jerome asked. "How about you private Buckler?"

The earth pony kept a blank look on his face as he walked up to the stage, but everypony knew he was scared. But why wouldn't he be?

Buckler didn't even stand a chance. In the first round, Buckler tried wiping the epee across Jerome's chest, but Jerome just hit the epee out of Buckler's hoof and tapped the epee to his chest.

"Point!," the referee exclaimed.

The same happened in the next two rounds. Private Buckler walked off the stage with his head hanging in defeat.

"What are you, a foal," questioned the sergeant. "Is anypony up to the challenge?"

Blade wasn't just going to stand there and let one of his squad mates, let alone his friend, get ridiculed. Blade was going to try to reclaim his friend's honor. "I'll fence you!," Blade said with much excitement.

"I respect your enthusiasm, come up here and try," replied Jerome.

Blade walked up to the stage with a grim look on his face. He thought back to all the training he has had here. He knew what to do. Blade drew his epee and raised it.

"I hope all that training did you some good private Sharp," said Jerome.

"Engarde," announced the referee.

Blade made a move to the left, only to be blocked by Jerome. Blade twisted his epee, flipped the sergeant's epee, and poked Jerome in the chest.

"Point!," exclaimed the referee.

"Well, don't you feel special, but don't get too cocky," said Jerome.

The ponies got back to normal stance. Blade raised his epee, Jerome did the same.

"Engarde," announced the referee.

Jerome was the first to make a move, he made a dart for the right, but Blade countered with a block and twist. Jerome then broke the defense with counter clockwise turn, upthrust, and a final tap on Blade's neck.

"Point!," exclaimed the referee.

"You're starting to trip up private Sharp," Jerome said. "You know what? Let's make this short, whoever wins this point is victorious."

Blade gave a nod of approval and the two colts raised their epees.

"Engarde," said the referee.

The two kept going back and forth. First, Blade went left, then Jerome took his epee, countered the attack, and twisted it counter clockwise. Blade quickly caught on to what the sergeant was trying to do and pushed his epee as hard as he could upward and forced the epee above Jerome's head, but Jerome quickly came down on Blade's epee, knocked it out of his hooves, and tapped Blade on the chest.

"Point," said the referee.

"Damn," Blade said in defeat.

"Well, you put up a helluva fight for a private son," said Jerome. "Keep doing what you do, and maybe you'll be as good as me one day."

"Thank you sergeant," Blade said.

"Okay, who's next?" said the sergeant, "How about you private Gomez?"

Blade wasn't paying attention anymore. Though he didn't beat Jerome, he had earned his respect, which, according to some of the graduates, was a herculean task. Blade had just accomplished an amazing feat.

* * *

The graduation ceremony wasn't very long. Everypony got their degree and their first assignment. Blade was assigned with guarding princess Cadence in the Royal wedding that was taking place tomorrow.

Blade was a bit irritated. He thought he would be protecting princess Celestia, or even Luna. Not a crazy bride hoping to have a perfect wedding. Blade then became optimistic when he learned his friend Buckler was guarding Cadence too. "Well maybe it won't be all bad," he thought to himself, " at least Buckler's going to be there. And who knows, maybe some action will go down."