Equestria, a magical world full of myths and legends that go far beyond the realm of reality. A place where beasts of mythical proportions exist; such as dragon kind, griffon kind, human kind and pony kind. although different in manyway all share the same biological structure and most with the same goal and life as they alltry to live together in harmony, thanks to two rulers that transcend time itself.
Celestia, the princess of the sun, and Luna, the princess of the moon; both governing over the land protecting and serving their people. Of course, even powerful rulers need Royal Guardsmen to help aid in the protection of Equestria. Hence the Royal Guard Tournament was made, to scout for inspiring youths that are the best of the best and to fight for the well-being of Equestria and her people.
This is where our Hero’s tale begins….
“Hero! Are you still in bed!? Get up or you’ll miss the opening ceremony!” Hero’s mother shouted from the kitchen.
A young man around eighteen years of age came walking groggily down to the kitchen yawning loudly and stretching.
“What are you yelling about so early in the morning now mother..?” sleepily asked the young man.
“Did you forget what today is?!” his mother asked irritated at him.
He thought for a moment, letting his still half asleep brain catch up to him. When it finally dawned on him, he slapped his head in shock.
“Oh no! Today’s the day of the tournament!” He franticly ran up the stairs to his room grabbing his clothes and armor and put them on. Once on, he examined himself in a mirror.
As he ran his fingers through his hair, he noticed his messy black hair hung just past the top of his ears matching his fathers. He had a brown leather vest that strapped together on the front with a shoulder guard and arm guard on his left arm.
His pants where a dull black making his shin guards stick out even more with their metallic sheen reflecting the sun. Before leaving, he reached for one last item, his father’s sword. It was a two-handed sword that inspired him to take after his father’s fighting style. The sword had a long shimmering blade with a black hilt and the princesses’ emblem on the butt of the sword. The emblem was a sun with a crescent moon resting in the middle of the blade itself. It also had a phrase below the sun and the moon, written in old Equestrian writing, that he couldn’t read it. His father died before telling him its meaning. He knew it meant something powerful in its own way. He slipped the sword in the leather strap on his back, while holding the guard in place.
He decided that was enough prepping and ran down the stairs.
“Bye Mother! Wish me luck at the tournament!” he exclaimed heading for the door.
“Hey wait! At least eat and give me a hug!” His mother shouted at him.
“Oh sorry mother!” he called turning around, and ran back into the kitchen and hugged his mother.
“Sorry Mother, but I got to go now. This will be the last time you see me for quite some time until training is over.”
“That’s if you make it past the recruitment test that is.” His mother exclaimed and chuckled as he made a pouty face.
“Aw come on Mother! You have so little confidence in me, don’t you?” he stated slightly sulking.
“I only joke. I know you can do it, my son. Just promise me you’ll be careful.” She looked up at him with a smile.
“I will, I promise!” He turns and grabs an apple before running out of the house and towards the castle. A few of the town’s folk stopped to wave and wish him luck as he ran past them. He waved at them and then turned towards them while running backwards.
“Just you wait! I, Hero Fysher, will become a knight of the Royal Guard of Equestria!” He proclaims taking a bite out of the apple and sprinting faster towards the castle where the princesses reside.
After an hour or so of walking, Hero finally made it to the castle bridge. He stared at the magnificent structure in awe.
“This is incredible!” He exclaimed walking towards the gates.
“I haven't seen the castle in so long… It’s beautiful!” The castle was brilliant white with a tall and wide tower in the center and four smaller towers standing on the corners of the castle walls that surrounded the center tower.
Hero walks up to the gates and sees two tall guards at the in front of the massive metal doors.
One of them was a white pony kind and the other was a griffon kind with light brown feathers.
The white stallion looked at Hero with a bored expression. “State your name and your purpose of entering the castle.” he asked in a monotone voice.
“Hello, my name is Hero Fysher. I’m a participant of the recruitment tests for becoming part of the Royal Guard.” He stated to the guard, which now looked at Hero with some interest.
“Ah, I see. A new recruit. Well best of luck to you. Head to the center tower and tell the guard there that you are a new recruit. He’ll tell you what you need to do.”
The two guards turned and opened the gate for Hero, letting him walk past the gate. Hero noticed just how much bigger the city was from his home town as he looked around. He began walking down the main road, looking at all the different houses and market stalls everywhere. There was an assortment of races in the city, from human kind, griffon kind, pony kind and even a few dragon kind. Though it was mostly comprised of pony kind, the variety was quite something.
Hero observed that there are different sites and smells from the different food and other items displayed by the market stalls.
Hero continued until he reached a big water fountain at the square of town. He stood there admiring the sculpture when something bumped into him, almost causing him to lose his balance. He quickly recovered and looked over to see a figure on the ground. Upon closer examination, you see that it is a young mare pony kind that is roughly the same age as him. She had purple fur and her hair ran down just past her shoulders and was indigo in color with a purple and pink strip running down the length of her hair.
Her outfit consisted of plain purple leather pants and shirt with straps along the front of it and a design shaped like stars surrounding a bigger star on the front torso.
She looked up at Hero with an apologetic expression on her face.
“Oh I’m sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going.” She stated as she got back off her hooves while dusting dirt off her butt.
“Ah no it’s fine. I should pay more attention to my surroundings, my apologies.” He says while noticing she dropped a book. He bends over and picks up the book and gently dusts off any dirt before handing it over to the mare, who takes it thankfully.
“Thank you very much, but please excuse me I must be going, thanks again!” She says as she starts walking past Hero in a hurried manner.
Hero watched her walk away thoughtfully. “Well the city is full of beautiful girls I see…I’m going to enjoy being a knight a lot more than I thought I would..” Hero smiled to himself before walking on to the castle.
Hero made it to the castle and, not long afterwards and signed up for the try-outs. The guardsmen then promptly showed him where the waiting room was. As he walked through the doors he noticed quite a few participants were also waiting as well. Among him there were a few humans, ponies, griffons and one dragon. He was surprised more so by the dragon that was standing off into a corner. There aren’t any dragons that would want to fight under another’s rule other than their own. Most dragon kind is usually far too prideful of their strength to do so. In fact, the only reason the dragons are loyal to Celestia’s rule is merely for resources that she offers to them.
As Hero walks into the room further in, he notices they were all staring at him. Some looked like they were sizing him up, and others just seemed to look at the new recruit before turning back around to their own devices. Hero decides to just wait it out, until it is time for the tournament to start.
He waited around for about ten minutes while getting a good look at everyone, before a stallion guard walks in with a box in his hooves.
“Alright, every participant must draw a random number from this box, and wait until you’re number is called. Then walk through the doors and pass through to the arena.” The stallion guard gestured to the doors behind him before calling everyone up to pick a number.
As Hero walked up to the box, he looked at the guard and then down at the box before reaching in and pulling out a number. “The number eight…” Hero mentally states to himself before he walks back to his spot, thinking of who his opponent will be.
A few more minutes pass before the first two participants are called slowly one after another until….
“Numbers seven and eight, come to the arena for your duel!” a loud voice sounded making Hero snap out of his thoughts.
“Well I wonder who my opponent will be...” He wondered walking towards the door, but before he got close he was half shoved aside. A unicorn stallion dressed in a fancy outfit with a rapier on his side walked past him.
“Please make way for royalty, human. We royal must be the first to make a grand entrance after all. And I, Prince Blueblood, will not allow one of no royal status get in my way.”
Hero paused for a moment watching the unicorn walk past him. Hero looked at the stuck up unicorn and smiled slightly.
“Oh I will enjoy taking his royal ass down a few notches.” Hero clenched his fists as he walked through the doors into the arena.
The arena itself was quite large; a few rows of seats outstretched in a full circle around the arena and almost completely filled with spectators watching. Looking around, he noticed two thrones at the highest row. One throne had the emblem of the sun and with the Princess Celestia sitting on it. Next to her, was an equally large throne with a crescent moon over head with someone sitting on it as well. Hero saw what he can only guess was Princess Luna.
There were six seats around the princess’ and were all filled except for one. From what he could tell, they must be either top ranking royals or someone important. He couldn’t quite make them out but they must be powerful to be next to the princesses like that.
Hero saw a guard walking up to the middle of the arena, where Hero and Prince Blueblood was standing.
“Alright! This duel determines who is suitable to join the ranks of Royal Guards under her majesties, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna! Fight with all your strength and prove your worthiness of the title!”
The guard walked away, leaving Hero and Prince Blueblood there.
“Well tis a shame that you, a lower class, were forced to fight a high class royal like me. Hohoho! … Why, you won’t be able to last a minute with me. I have trained under a very famous trainer you know? It’s a wonder what money won’t buy you, after all, you’re only as strong as your connections are.”
Celestia sighs out loud. “Oh there he goes again. I do hope he learns that money isn’t power. It never is.”
“Yeah! Who does he think he is, gloating about stupid stuff like ‘money is power’? I hope that other guy pounds him!”, one of the other voices exclaimed.
“Now calm down there Rainbow Dash. I’m sure he’ll get what’s coming to ’em soon enough. Just look at his opponent, he looks like he can handle that hothead Blueblood with ease.”
“If you say so Applejack. But he is still quite skilled, regardless of his annoying pretenses.” another voice spoke up.
“Ah you gotta know when to just go with yer gut sometimes Twilight. Not logic.” Applejack spoke up.
“U-um I j-just hope they don’t get hurt too b-bad. I mean no one deserves to get hurt after all….” a timid whisper came from the other side of the princesses.
“Oh relax Fluttershy! We have the best medics in all of Equestria. There’s no chance of anyone getting too badly hurt…” Rainbow Dash spoke up over Fluttershy.
“Sister…” everyone turned to look at Luna.
“Yes sister? What is it?” asked Celestia.
“That human boy, there is something familiar about him…” Luna said as she looked curiously over at Hero.
“I believe you’re right Luna…He does look similar to someone we knew. What is his name?” asked Celestia to no one in particular.
Without missing a beat, Twilight spoke up. “His full name is Hero Fysher, Princess Celestia. Come to think of it he seems familiar to me as well, I think I’ve seen him before… but I’m not sure where.”
“Could it be that he is the son of…him?” Celestia asked herself.
“The human that helped in returning me to my senses with Twilight and her friends, when I became Nightmare Moon you mean?” asked Luna looking over at Celestia.
“Yes I believe that is his son down there. He looks almost identical to his father.” Celestia smiled to herself at the thought.
After all it was with the help of Hero’s father that Twilight and the others could make it to the ruins in one piece. Sadly after the long fight, He came down with a sickness and that sickness eventually got the best of him. He passed away not long afterwards, luckily seeing his friends and family beforehand.
Twilight spoke causing Celestia to snap out of her train of thought.
“Oh I remember now! I bumped into him on the way to deliver a scroll…I didn’t think much of him then though. Who would have guessed it was him.”
“Well this shall be an interesting engagement then.” said Luna as she looked down at the arena.
Hero drew his sword and readied his stance preparing for the fight. Of course his opponent wasn’t taking this as seriously as he was.
“I say I could go for some tea after I win this little farce. I suppose it shouldn’t take too long to dispose of this lower class human.” Blueblood nonchalantly said as he chuckled to himself.
“That’s tough talk coming from someone who probably can’t even tie his shoes without a servant to do it”, Hero blurted out obviously annoyed by Blueblood’s attitude.
“When I give the signal, you are to begin the fight. So be ready! “ A voice yelled out.
Blueblood slowly unsheathed his rapier and took his stance. “Why don’t you surrender now and save yourself the embarrassment of losing to me?” Blueblood said twirling the tip of his rapier around.
“Stop talking, your voice is getting on my nerves…” Hero says, almost in a bored manner.
“Well I’m certainly going to put you in your place.” Blueblood seethes.
All of a sudden, the guard exclaimed “BEGIN!”
Blueblood was the first to strike, starting off with a quick thrust at Hero’s chest. Hero parried the strike and spun on the spot swinging his blade around in a sweeping motion. Then Blueblood ducked out of the way and while striking at Hero’s legs. Hero saw this and jumped back just in time to avoid the strike all together.
Few moments past and Blueblood was starting to pant heavily from exhaustion; even though Hero was just getting warmed up.
“What’s the matter Blueblood…? Tired already I see.” Hero stated, smiling.
“Shut your mouth, human! You won’t get the best of me! I have been trained by a world famous swordsmen, I will not lose to you!” said Blueblood while panting trying to catch his breath.
“You’re wrong, Blueblood. The only thing that trained you was your money. When you let money rule over everything else you become soft and weak! That is absolute, Blueblood.” stated Hero with an air of wisdom.
Celestia giggled slightly at that statement Hero made. “My my, his father taught him well enough. I believe Hero’s father used that same line before.”
“Tis a good sight to see that this new generation seems fruitful.” stated Luna.
Hero had easily blocked strike after strike from Blueblood’s assault, and occasionally tripping Blueblood up, causing him to stumble.
“Blueblood, just give it up before you humiliate yourself even more. I mean, you know you can’t win against me by now.” states Hero letting his guard lax a bit.
“Shut your trap you lower class scum! I will beat you even if I have to use underhanded tricks to do so!” Blueblood angrily glared at Hero before reaching his free hand forward.
Hero stood there slightly confused, trying to analyze his opponent.
“I call upon you, element of fiery rage and destruction…Fire!” A huge fireball roared out of Blueblood’s hand, straight at Hero. Hero’s eyes widened, but just had enough time to block it with his sword as the fireball slammed into him. A large burst of flames spread out around him causing smoke and dust to cover Hero like a thick blanket.
“Hahahaha! What was that, you lower class filth!? You were going to beat me right?!” bellowed Blueblood as he watched the site where Hero stood.
“What!? That cheater, how can he do that!? Isn’t that against the rules?” an angry Rainbow Dash yelled.
“Afraid not, Rainbow Dash. Although underhanded, he is allowed to use magic…” a worried Celestia said while looking at the blanket of smoke.
The smoke slowly dissipated and everyone looked at it in suspense, except Blueblood, who was gloating.
All of a sudden a figured appeared in the smoke, standing and not moving. Celestia breathed a sigh of relief at the sight. Blueblood however, looked at the figure in shock and surprise on his face.
“How is this possible?” There is no way you could be standing after that attack!” exclaimed a worried Blueblood.
The smoke completely cleared and Hero, who still had his sword in front of him, was standing there with his eyes focused on Blueblood’s.
One of the characters on Hero’s blade lit up in red. Hero could hear a phrase echo in his head as if it wanted him to say it. Hero slowly took a deep breath held his sword out towards Blueblood.
“Holy fires of the sun I call upon you…Release!” No sooner did Hero say the words, fire poured out from the swords blade completely engulfing the blade with fire. Hero was slightly taken aback by this as he almost dropped the sword. But then he noticed that the flames were not hot, nor did they burn him or the sword.
Blueblood was terrified by the predicament he was in; he had never seen a human wield such powerful magic. As far as he knew humans couldn’t hold a candle light to unicorns, but this human was using a strong fire spell he never seen before. Blueblood quickly regained his composure. He wasn’t about to let a human beat him.
“Well that’s an interesting magic trick you have there. But you are still no match for me; I will defeat you.” His words fell on deaf ears as Hero raised his blade into the air and swinging it in a downward slash causing a fireball to launch. Blueblood managed to dodge it but the burned his sleeve.
“Ah I see…it all makes sense now…” said a calm and collected Celestia, who was smiling widely.
Twilight was the next to speak. “How is a human at his age able to use such powerful magic!? It doesn’t make sense to me at all…”
“Well my faithful student, to be honest he isn’t using magic at all. It is the sword he is carrying that is.” said an all knowing Celesta.
“Is there really such a weapon that has the ability to allow someone to bring out there magical ability to its fullest like this…?”
“Indeed it was a weapon forged from the sun by me as a gift to Hero’s father. This is quite a turn of events, but to use it without knowing how it works that is truly skillful.” Celestia said looking thoughtful.
Back down at the arena, Hero was still testing out the swords ability by launching Blueblood’s fireballs back at him.
“I think it’s time to finish this, Blueblood…” said Hero as he charged and Blueblood could only raise his rapier in defense.
Hero swung his sword upward connecting with Blueblood’s rapier and shattered the small blade and striking Blueblood. Hero left a cut across Blueblood’s chest, making him fall backwards and yelp in pain. Blood oozed out of his chest as Blueblood lay on the ground, defeated and humiliated.
“I told you, Blueblood. When you train with money, you only become weak. Learn and become stronger.”
Hero sheathed his sword when the guard voice spoke up. “Hero has won the first round and will advance to the final round!”
Medics ran over to Blueblood to look him over.
“Don’t worry, I held back so it is merely a flesh wound. He should be just fine.” Hero stated before walking back to the waiting room.
Upon walking into the room Hero is confronted by the dragon that everyone was avoiding earlier.
“Hey that was an impressive match you had! I was kind of hoping you would beat that royal pain Blueblood.” said the smiling dragon.
Hero was a bit shocked that a dragon was talking to him in such a cheery tone. Most dragons can’t stand humans or any other race for that matter. They usually won’t even bother talking with anybody except other dragons, unless they had to.
This dragon was different than most dragons he has seen as well. He had purple colored scales and yellow scales on his abdomen and stomach with long green spikes running from the top of his head to the tip of his tail, his eyes were a deep emerald green and he was a few inches taller than Hero was.
He had a blue shirt made of silk and thick leather pants with a deep blue chest plate on it and with, what looked like metal, layered over top of one another coming to a point in the middle and running down to his diaphragm. A long spear was attached to his back, the blade was long and had the royal emblem of Celestia’s Alliance, etched into the blade.
“What’s the matter, cat got your tongue?” the dragon asked smiling at Hero.
“Uh sorry, I just wasn’t expecting a dragon to talk to a human is all.”
“Ah well, I guess you can say I’m a special case. The name’s Spike, what’s yours?” asked Spike extending his claws.
“My name’s Hero, Hero Fysher and thank you but that Blueblood guy wasn’t very difficult to beat.” He stated, extending his hand.
“Speaking of which, how did you use magic that high level? I mean it takes a long time for most humans to obtain magic like that, right?” asked spike curiously.
“Well to tell you the truth, I’m not sure. It was like my sword did it, not me. First time it did that to me, it was quite a shock.” Hero says as the next announcement came up.
“Numbers nine and ten come to the arena at once!”
“Well that would be me! Wish me luck Hero.” Spike smiled as he started walking past Hero.
“Yeah, good luck, Spike!” Hero looked over at Spike’s opponent out of curiosity. It was a Griffon and from the looks of things, a strong one at that. Hero looks back at the direction Spike was going.
“You may need it…. Don’t lose, Spike!” Hero turned away from the door and started to walk away. But before he could he heard the announcer yell begin and a loud ‘CLANK’ of metal on metal followed by a loud explosion and then a loud ‘CRASH’. Hero turned back around to see a triumphant Spike walking back to the room.
Hero’s eyes widened, in shock. “Incredible…he won so fast…I didn’t know dragons were so strong, makes me question whether or not I want to fight him…” Hero thought to himself as Spike walked through the doors.
“Looks like I won!” laughed Spike.
“That was incredible, Spike! I never would of guessed you were that strong!” Hero said in amazement.
“Nah, I’m not all that great I just train a lot is all…” said a modest Spike.
Hero chuckled at that comment and smiled at Spike. “Well that just makes me want to fight you all the more.”
Spike looked at him for a few seconds before smiling. “Heh! Fine by me, you won’t win though.”
The next round went by easily, both Hero and Spike passed easily; one participant cheated and injured his opponent too badly so they were both out. That left only Spike, Hero and two others in the last round.
The four remaining fighters were standing in the arena as everyone else watched in anticipation.
“The last round will be done as follows; the remaining numbers will fight each other according to how close their numbers are!” said the guard closes to the four in the center.
“I’m the number eight, so that would mean my opponent is….” Hero looked over at Spike, who looked over at him, both realizing their fight was going to be sooner than expected.
The first fight started then finished soon after as the clear victor was made. This was because the other guy was too exhausted to fight, and lost promptly. Which meant that the last duel was about to start, Hero and Spike stood a few feet away from each other looking seriously at one another.
“Well, although I don’t want you to lose, I will beat you and knock you out of the tournament.” Spike said a little uneasy.
“Heh, you won’t win so easily Spike! Besides I made a promise that I would become a Royal Guard no matter what! So you better come after me with everything you have or else.” Hero stated smiling over at Spike.
“You know, I’m happy we are going to fight now because I also promised someone that I would become stronger!” Spike said with a new resolve.
They both readied there weapons and took their positions. Both of them looked at the other, and were ready to strike.
“Ready..? Let the match…Begin!” yelled the guard.
Spike was the first to move with a blindingly fast thrust forward with his spear, aiming right at Hero.
Hero managed to block the thrust, holding it off. “U-unbelievable strength and speed…!” said Hero through gritted teeth.
“Thanks, my fighting style allows me to use strength and speed to its fullest!” said Spike as he broke away and slide back a ways.
“‘Your fighting style’, what do you mean by that?” asked Hero while trying to think of a way to win.
“Dragoons use their strength and speed to defeat there foe's. A skill that only a Dragon can properly use to its full extent!” said Spike, readying his stance again.
Hero was momentarily dumb-struck. He never thought he would fight a legendary warrior class like a Dragoon; the thought excited and terrified him.
“Oh, the poor dear! He would have made it if he didn’t have to go against my Spikey Wikey.” A voice spoke up.
“Jeez Rarity, that pet name you give Spike so isn’t awesome.” said Rainbow Dash to her overly fashionable friend.
“Oh, come now Rainbow Dash. I like it very much and I know Spike Wikey isn’t bothered by it whatsoever.” said Rarity.
“Yeah whatever… Although I think you’re right about one thing, Spike has this in the bag.”
“Don’t be too hasty to judge a situation so quickly you two. You may just be surprised.” said Celestia looking down at the two fighters.
“Hey you guys! I brought some of my cupcakes and popcorn to snack on! You would not BELIEVE the traffic getting here and I couldn’t help but make new friends along the way.” a voice spoke gleefully and sat down in the sixth chair that was previously empty.
“Pinkie Pie! You are cutting it close. Spike’s final fight is just starting!” Rainbow Dash says in a slightly annoyed tone.
“Oi! Spike’s already had his first fight! How was his first fig- o well that is a silly question of course he did great I mean he is in the finals this is just soooooo AWESO-!” everyone except Fluttershy shushed Pinkie Pie and turned back towards the battle.
Hero was barely holding Spike off from doing any damage. Hero managed to get by Spikes defense’s only to have his sword rebound off Spikes scales.
“My scales are almost as hard as steel, so you’ll have to try harder than that!” Spike yelled as he stabbed at Hero who blocked the thrust and pushed Spike back a few steps.
“Ok Hero this was fun, but I need to end it now…” said Spike in a matter of fact tone.
“What do you mean ‘end it’?” asked Hero confused
Spike smiled to himself. “I’ll show you one of my more powerful attacks, due to respect for you. “
Spike took a deep breath and held his spear up at Hero.
“Twisting energy of the sky, let loose your power and destroy my enemies….Lightning!” Spike generated lightning from nothing and enveloped his spear with so much power, that stray bolts ripped through the ground burning soil as it went.
Spike leapt through the air with incredible speed with his spear thrusted down at Hero.
Hero’s eyes widened as he looked up just in time to see Spike seconds away.
“Too fast, I won’t make it!!” Hero thought as the attack got closer.
A big explosion erupted from the arena as lightning shot through the air and dust filled in around them.
Hero had nowhere to run; the attack came down on him far too quickly.
Spike stood over Hero, who was in the dirt. A cut oozing blood on his stomach indicated he was hit.
Hero slowly looked up at Spike walking away. “Dammit! That was too big a hit… I don’t think I can get up…Dammit! I have to win so I can make my parents proud…No, I’m not done just yet!” Hero thought.
“O MY GOLLY GOSH! That was like CLANK ZIIIIIIIIIING ZIP then KABOOOOM!!!” exclaimed an awestruck Pinkie Pie.
“Well I suppose the match is over then. Don’t you agree?” Rarity said nudging Rainbow Dash.
“Yeah I guess… Poor guy though, he wanted to join pretty badly it seemed.” Rainbow Dash spoke up.
“Well like Princess Celestia said, it isn’t over until the referee calls it.” said Twilight.
Celestia looked over and smiled at her student.
“Well I hate that it happened this way but it least I made it in-” Spike stopped when he heard a grunt coming from behind him, causing him to spin around with a shocked look on his face.
“Hey, who said…that I was done fighting you yet? Don’t think I would give up from an attack like that!”
Hero slowly rose to his feet, holding his side. Though blood was still slowly oozing down his stomach and hand, he still manages to get to his feet and raise his sword in defense.
“No way! He should not be able to stand after taking a hit like that!... No human should be able to do that.” stated a shocked Rarity while Pinkie Pie loudly gasped.
“I guess there really is more to him than meets the eye” said Twilight looking down at Hero.
“He sure is somethin’else aint he?” said Applejack looking over at Twilight.
Hero took a slow deep breath and the strange words echoed in his head once again. They were different this time, upon looking at his father’s sword a different character was glowing a pale blue.
“Oh raging, twisting lightning, I beckon thee; give me the power to destroy my enemy…Release!” All of a sudden, an electric aura surrounded Hero’s body filling him with a strength he never felt before. He gripped his sword tighter as electrical energy licked the ground around him.
“Spike, I hope you’re ready. Because I’m not sure what I’m capable of just yet!” Hero looked over at Spike with a fierce determination.
Spike immediately pulled his spear up defensively and dug into the ground to prepare. He knew what was going to happen next from watching Hero’s previous fight with Blueblood.
Hero sprinted forward, faster than he normally could move; it was like the new spell was recharging him.
Hero slashed at Spike who blocked it and flung the attack backwards.
“That attack was so much stronger than it originally was! Is his spell doing this!?” Spike only thought of one thing to overpower Hero with, so Spike jumped back and recited the same spell he used last time. Afterwards, he leapt far into the air and charged with a powerful electrical aura surrounding his body. He flipped around and landed on a pillar before using his new found strength to jump straight at Hero colliding with Hero’s sword at full swing. A large explosion erupted from the two spells colliding together, bolts of lightning swirled around the arena.
Everyone paused looking over at where they collided, waiting for the dust to clear.
When the dust cleared, there were two figures with their backs at one another. Both Hero and Spike had their weapons lowered looking down one another.
Hero was the first to speak. “Heh looks like, I’m out of luck this time…I don’t think I can….” Hero trailed off before coughing up blood and collapsing onto the ground.
“Dammit to hell…I was so sure… I would beat you too.” Hero uttered before fading into unconsciousness.
Spiked looked down at Hero slightly out of breath. “That was an amazing fight… I never would of thought-” Spike was cut off by the feeling of something wet on his cheek. Spike went to wipe it away and noticed the area hurt a little, so he looked at his claws and noticed a small amount of blood.
“Wow, no one has been able to cut me before….” Spike stated, impressed with Hero.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few hours have passed since the tournament ended. Hero awoke in a white room filled with beds and medical supplies. He guessed it was the castles personal medical center. All of a sudden he heard movement.
“Oh you’re awake! You must be very resilient.” spoke a surprised and childlike voice.
“Ugh…where am I?” said Hero drowsily.
“You are in the castle’s medical center. My name is Nursery Rhyme, Redheart’s assistant. Nurse Redheart left you in my care while she is seeing other patients.” She points out Redheart close to the other side of the medical center, tending to the recruit that was badly wounded. “You have nothing to worry about!” she smiled at Hero.
Hero looked up at her. She was a young mare with a traditional white nurse cap and outfit on with off-white fur and a curly brown mane. She was quite cute as well. Hero couldn’t help but stare at her until a sudden thought crossed his mind.
“So I guess I did lose after all…” Hero thought for a moment before putting his hand up to his stomach. Hero paused when he felt the bandages but no pain.
“Oh don’t move too much! You’re still injured; Nurse Redheart gave you a powerful sedative to neutralize the pain.” Nursery Rhyme explained and then thought, “Come to think of it, I wonder why Redheart left me to tend to him after she gave him a sedative.”
All of a sudden, a knock came from the door and a large guard walked inside the room.
“Hero Fysher, your presence is required in the throne room. As soon as you are able, I will escort you there.” He said before exiting the room.
“Oh my, sounds important. You should go right away!” said Nursery Rhyme, looking over at Hero.
“Yeah I suppose…I wonder what it could be…Thank you Nursery Rhyme and tell Nurse Redheart thank you as well.” Hero sat up, tossed the blanket, and proceeded to jump out of bed right in front of Nursery Rhyme. He noticed it was very cold in the room. He also saw the shocked expression on Nursery Rhyme’s face and the light shade of red on her cheeks.
Hero looked confused at first until he felt an odd breeze in an odd place, making him look down.
“What the-?” He didn’t have much time to react to a flailing Nursery Rhyme, kicking him in between the legs. Hero cried out and fell, grabbing his now bruised ego. Nurse Redheart heard this and ran over Hero and Neursery Rhyme.
Nursery Rhyme opened her eyes to see Hero in the fettle position and tears in his eyes… Nurse Redheart said with a disappointed tone, “I was hoping that by letting you have a sedated patient, you would not have any trouble… You should have known better that the standard procedure for treating a badly wounded patient is to take off anything that might hinder us helping them. Not to f-flail and kick him in the g-gro-oin...” Redheart tried her best to keep a straight face and not to laugh at the situation.
“I didn’t know that would mean he was naked …. ‘down there’! But I am so sorry; I should not have done that….” She smiled sheepishly. Hearing that conversation, Hero was still on the floor crying from their insensitivity and the pain, lots of pain.
After Hero was able to walk again he quickly dressed, making sure Nursery Rhyme wasn’t around of course. He walked out the door, thanking Nurse Redheart again and telling Nursery Rhyme that he forgave her. He then turned around and saw that the guard was still waiting for him. Giving a nod, he began following the guard to the throne room. As Hero made it to the throne room, he noticed the princesses and a few others were talking among themselves.
“Oh good. Hero, you have arrived just in time! I hope you are doing well with your recovery.” Celestia spoke up making all the others turn to look at Hero.
“Uh yes, thank you Princess Celestia. I am doing fine, but what do you acquire me for?” Hero asked confused.
“You see Hero, though you did lose your duel, your fighting prowess and your strong heart made me think of something. Your father was a great man and it seems his strong heart has passed on to you.” Celestia smiled at Hero who was still confused by the turn of events.
“You personally knew my father..?” asked Hero
“But of course! He was an exceptional man and a powerful warrior; he was also the man who helped save my sister along with the elements of harmony.” Celestia got out of her seat and walked up to Hero.
“And that is why I have decided that even though you lost; you showed a type of strength that few have. Thus I humbly ask you to serve me as a Royal Guard of Canterlot.”
Hero’s eyes lit up at those words and almost started to jump for joy, but he managed to suppress his excitement with a big smile and a deep bow.
“Yes Princess Celestia, I accept this offer and promise to do my best as a Royal Guard!” proclaimed Hero.
“I have faith that you will do well. And please, there is no need to bow.” Celestia smiled gently at Hero.
“Congratulations on getting recruited Hero!” a familiar voice called out to him and patting Hero on the back.
“Spike! It’s good to see you.” exclaimed Hero.
“Hehe! Looks like we’ll be training together for a while, huh?” proclaimed the happy dragon.
“I guess we will….” said Hero smiling at his dragon friend.
“Hey let me introduce you to my good friends.” Spike said dragging Hero across the room, making Celestia giggle and return to her seat.
“Hey everyone, what’s up?” Asked Spike to his friends sitting at a table.
“Hey Spike, so this is that new recruit huh? I have to say you really were a great fighter and you beating the stuffing out of Blueblood was pretty funny to watch. Oh! My name is Rainbow Dash by the way.” Rainbow Dash said as she walked up to Spike and Hero.
“Thanks, he just talked big that’s all, and my name is Hero Fysher, but Hero will do.” He said smiling at his accomplishment.
“Anyway you just met Rainbow, the rest are Applejack, Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and then Rarity.”
Everyone waved, except Fluttershy who just shied away.
Spike proceeded to stick next Rarity’s side mostly as he talked about today.
Out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie puts a cupcake inches from Hero’s face and asked “Cupcake?”
Hero, shocked from the suddenness of the pink mare, said “U-uh it looks delicious. But no thanks.”
Pinkie Pie shrugged then shoved the cupcake into her mouth and grinned / with blue frosting covering her teeth before walking over to Rarity and Fluttershy. Hero was surprised and confused about Pinkie Pie’s sudden outburst. Applejack saw this and chuckled a little bit, “That’s Pinkie Pie for ya! She’s just full of sparkle and pop like fireworks at summer time.”
Twilight walked over to Hero and smiled at him. “Hello, I just wanted to say sorry for earlier today.”
Hero looked at her for a moment until it hit him who she was. “Oh I remember now! You were the girl who bumped into me earlier today.” Hero stated.
“Yeah I apologize for that. By the way, that sword… I would love to study it sometime if that is ok with you? You see I am a mage here in Canterlot and I have a fascination with magical items of any sort since I’ve never seen a magical item like yours, I would enjoy looking it over!”
Hero stood there for a moment trying to soak up her long explanation on why she wanted to examine his weapon but He understood the gist of what she was saying.
“Sure no problem, I don’t mind. However, if we could do that tomorrow I’d appreciate it because I’m exhausted.” he stated, ending with a yawn.
Twilight seemed to pout a bit but understood; she wished him a good night’s rest and went back to talking to her friends.
“Hey if you’re tired I’ll show you our room” Spike chimed in.
“That would be nice, thanks.” Hero proceeded to follow Spike to their room that they had to share as they were short on rooms. Hero wasn’t too concerned about it, as long as he got a bed.
“Alright this is it, make yourself at home.” Spike said as they both walked into the room.
The room was simplistic, nothing to fancy or over the top besides the floor and walls made of marble of course. Hero went to the empty bed and placed his sword on the side of the wall before laying down, thinking of today events.
“So, I hope you know that tomorrow will be full of training and preparations, right?” said Spike yawning out loud.
“Yeah, but I’m ready for anything!” stated Hero
“Hehe I think you and me will become good friends, Hero.” stated Spike before turning over to sleep.
“Yeah I agree we will be great friends” Hero went back to thinking about today’s event before letting his drowsy mind to take over and pulling him into a deep sleep.