//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 - Repartee 
// Story: Our Winter Story 
// by Meteor_Mirage 
//------------------------------//

It was during the weekends that Shining Armor felt the most at home in Canterlot.

Well, aside from his… actual home of course.

But besides that, Shining felt his most comfortable standing in the Royal Guard’s training area in Canterlot Castle, surrounded by his fellow recruits as they underwent whatever coaching their Guard Captain decided to give them.

At present? A dozen or so recruits stood in a semi-circle to form an arena around two ponies standing in the center while leaving room for any passerby to spectate their future protectors’ combat prowess. Swords held aloft, whether in magic, hoof, or mouth, the two in the center were forced to battle until forfeit, knock-down, or injury. 

In other words, it was easily Shining's favorite kind of training.

Way better than learning how to properly remain alert while standing, at least.

However, the training quickly came in handy as, with skillful dodging from his opponent, Spearhead’s rallying charge was turned into barreling towards the watching guards-in-training and Shining in particular.

A deft dodge from Shining later, and Spearhead was sent clattering to the ground along with the wooden sword he was once holding in his mouth.

Rushing to check on him, Shining Armor was happy to see that the grounded stallion was already sitting up and working his jaw.

“Ugh, I think I broke a tooth.” Spearhead grumbled to himself, pressing a hoof to his cheek and wincing. “Who in Tartarus decided to let us mouth our swords?”

“I guess now you know why we have dental.” Shining smirked as he offered a hoof to help Spearhead up. 

As Spearhead gratefully accepted the assistance, their captain turned to the two with an annoyed grunt. 

“Now, if you two cadets are done fooling around,” the gruff mare growled, gesturing towards the castle, “Spearhead, go get patched up and file your own report.” Her attention now turning to Shining, a small yet malicious smirk grew across her face. “Mister Armor, if you’re so interested in helping your friend out, why don’t you face our champion next?”

In the center of the ring, standing on his hindlegs and leaning on his wooden sword for support, Fancy Pants smirked at his new challenger. “Oh yes, please. A real challenge would be lovely right about now.” His mustache bristling in the sun, he unsheathed his sword from the dirt below and took confident stance, sword tip pointed towards Shining. “Now, shall we?”

Rolling his eyes at the theatrics, Shining drew his sword from the scabbard on his hip and stood on his hindlegs to rival Fancy Pants. Both hooves planted on the hilt, he took a far more aggressive stance than the more flamboyant and fencer-like one of his opponent.

The two circled each other for a moment, each sizing the other and their stances up as they looked for holes and for weaknesses. 

Fancy Pants moved to strike first, lunging forward with the deftness of a viper as he went straight for Shining’s throat. 

Only to have his piercing shot deflected by a red, shielding barrier as Shining brought his magic up just in time. Capitalizing on Fancy Pants’ briefly being stunned, he swung his own blade down where his opponent stood. 

Or, where his opponent had been standing previously.

Using his small size and agility to his advantage, Fancy rolled away to distance himself from the wildly striking stallion, leaving Shining only slashing at air. Bringing himself back up, he dusted himself off with a smirk and readjusted his stance without a care in the world.

“You’re getting much better at those.” Fancy taunted, maintaining his focus and stance on Shining as he tried to catch him off guard. “It’s a bit cheap, a shield that can come from anywhere, but if it works for you…”

Shining grit his teeth at the haughty laugh that followed. “Says the dude who just went for my throat. I mean, who does that?”

Lunging forward again with intent to slash, hoping to take advantage of the momentary distraction, Fancy Pants instead met Shining blade to blade. His one-hooved grip forced against Shining’s more stable two-hooved one seemed immediately dire.

But despite this, Fancy smirked between their met blades. “Why, someone who intends to win just might!” 

There was no warning as Shining's opponent vanished from before him, becoming a spinning blur that darted around to his side - taking his sword with him. With Shining's own blade now pressing against thin air but his full weight still behind it, he stumbled forward, only to feel a Fancy-shaped object slam into his left shoulder.

His rock-solid hoofwork ruined, Shining fought to keep his balance as he staggered sideways, twisting back around to face his adversary again - only to feel a sharp wooden smack on his forehead and an ensuing jolt of pain. As Shining's eyes refocused, he saw Fancy ahead, sword outstretched and safely backed out of Shining's reach, with a devilish smile on his face.

Shaking off the force of the blow, Shining grit his teeth again and redoubled his focus on the fight and away from Fancy’s silent jeers and distraction. 

Circling again, the two continued their dance. For Fancy Pants, that was quite literal as he used his speed and agility to move around Shining, using twirls, feints, and trash talk to catch the stallion off guard while going in for any hits he could get in. 

For Shining, it was all about maintaining his guard, blocking any swipe either with sword or with magic, and hoping that at some point the stallion would tire himself out and drop his guard enough for a quick win. 

It took minutes of painstaking blocking, catching the wrong end of Fancy’s blade to his ribs, neck, and chest multiple times, but Shining couldn’t help but grin as he saw Fancy Pants begin to pant from exertion and pull back to wipe away beads of sweat from his forehead.

Now, it was Shining’s time to capitalize.

He lunged forward with hooves held high, attempting to bring his weapon down for one hell of a slash.

But he caught a glimpse of orange and black out of the corner of his eye. Turning to look at it, he saw Sunburst standing among the civilian crowd, watching with a blush as Shining seemed to seal his victory. 

But, in his distraction, he was unable to see Fancy Pants instead duck low and sweep his hindlegs. Sent to the ground in one fell swoop, Shining lost his grip on his weapon and ended defenseless. 

Smirking victoriously, Fancy Pants stood over Shining and pointed the tip of his sword down at his throat. “And how will you be defending Blueblood and Cadance if you get distracted by a crowd?”

Sighing and putting his hooves up in surrender, Shining rolled his eyes. “I yield!” 

As Fancy Pants laughed with smug victory and turned to his captive guard audience for his next opponent, Shining rolled over to stand and right himself after a hard fought defeat.

His body ached, and he could already feel bruises begin to form, but that was something for future Shining to deal with. Instead, more importantly, he looked over to Sunburst with an elated grin. He was quick to trot over to join him, only separated by a small fence. 

“Hiya Sunny!” Shining grinned, immediately hanging halfway over the fence as he looked at Sunburst. “I thought we were gonna meet at the cafe! What’re you doing here?”

Ignoring the nickname for a moment, Sunburst instead looked Shining over for many reasons, but mostly inspecting him for any injuries. “I… was mostly interested in what you guys were doing over here. I wasn’t expecting the show and, um, are you alright?”

Waving Sunburst’s worry off with a casual laugh, Shining maintained his lazy grin. “Nah, I’m fine. Totally used to Fancy roughin’ me up by now.” Turning to look back at Fancy Pants, he saw the stallion already standing over yet another defeated opponent while bloodthirstily eyeing the rest of the scared cadets. “A couple years fencing, and suddenly he’s the one to beat for swordfighting. Personally, I think it’s the mustache.”

Bringing a hoof up to his scraggly goatee, Sunburst hummed softly. “Huh, I wonder what that would mean for my own facial hair.” Considering it for a moment, he waved the notion off with a bit of a chuckle. “Ah, well, I’m glad you’re alright. Even if it looks like it hurt a lot.”

“I’m good, I promise!” Shining laughed brashly, though having to hide a bit of a wince as it made his chest ache. Hopping over the fence to disguise this fact, he flashed Sunburst a warm grin. “So, now that I'm no longer needed for guard duty, how's about we head over to that bookstore?”

As Sunburst shared in this grin, though his slightly more reserved and bashful. “Sounds like a good plan. Though, oh, um…” Looking down on the floor, two drinks sat between his forelegs. Picking one up with a hoof, he offered it over to Shining. “I picked up some coffee from that cafe. I wasn’t… sure how you take it, so I just got you what I normally get.”

Despite his usual distaste for coffee, Shining still accepted his coffee with a grin. “Aw, thank you Sunny! You really didn’t have to.” Moving in to take a sip, Shining braced himself for the deep black coffee he expected from Sunburst.

Only to have the taste of sweet cream roll over his tongue instead, not even a hint of the coffee taste he knew from his father. Sputtering from this unexpected change in flavor, Shining began to cough openly, only barely being able to bring up a foreleg to block anything more embarrassing leaving his mouth. 

However, it didn’t stop Sunburst from visibly deflating, ears folding back as he watched Shining choke on his sweet treat ‘coffee’. “Oh, you don’t like it. I’m sorry, I, um, probably should have known you wouldn’t like it how I do, I suppose.” 

Getting his coughing under control after a moment, Shining was quick to wave that notion away. “N-no! I just didn’t think it’d be so… sweet.”

Letting out a small sigh, Sunburst shook his head. “Oh, no. I’m not really a fan of the, uh, coffee taste? I’m more into it because of the energy.” With a blush, he looked down at his own cup and quickly took a swig. “The cafe I go to is really the only one who doesn’t laugh at me when I order this.” 

Shining let out a loud, brash laugh as he nodded along. “Huh, guess a lot of places don’t respect a stallion who wants a drink as sweet as he is.” He said with a smile far more eager than anyone would expect. Moving on from it without note, he gestured broadly to Canterlot as a whole. “Anyway, you wanna get going? I don’t wanna just keep you standing here.”

Swallowing hard, blush growing stronger on his face, Sunburst nodded shyly. “Oh, yeah. We should probably get going then.”