//------------------------------// // 29.5 Sculpting of Radiance // Story: Metroid Equis // by Flammenwerfer //------------------------------// Metroid Equis Chapter 29.5 Sculpting of Radiance [Canterlot. Six Months after Princess Luna’s Return] “You realllly need to relax, Star…” a very feminine-sounding voice sounded out through the halls of Canterlot Castle. The light from the early-evening sun was still somewhat plentiful and lighting up the entire corridor for all to see, though two of the occupants using it for transit were not paying much attention to what was held on its walls. “Filly, I just finished the MAT test… you know, the one that determines my future as a soldier? Totally nothing, right?” the gray-coated unicorn mare complemented with silver eyes and lightly faded navy blue mane/tail, known as Starry Night, replied with some noticeable degree of apprehension. Her friend’s efforts at passive consolation were failing miserably. “I’m very well aware of that, but you do realize that you don’t need to have a perfect score to get into the Guard, right? You need to slow down, Star,” another unicorn mare, ever so slightly taller in stature, followed up. She was light blue to the coat, though darker than the iconic Cyan coat of Rainbow Dash. A jet-black mane/tail and sapphire eyes ensured, combined with her physique, that she was first noticed of the two friends. She was clad in the golden armor of the Royal Guard with a sword strapped to her hip, though sans helmet, which ensured that her natural color showed through. I’m Radiance, and yeah as you could tell, I was not really as awesome as Constance. I was lucky enough to land a position in the Guard as a common soldier, but that’s exactly what I wanted to do in the first place. The two rounded a corner right as Radiance finished her last sentence, in perfect step with each other. “Implying you weren’t a nervous bucking wreck when you returned from your MAT test. Implying you didn’t almost develop alcoholism and insomnia until you got your results. Implying you believed you didn’t need a perfect score to be a Guard. Implying implications,” Starry threw her rebuttal in Radiance’s face. In case you couldn’t figure it out, Starry is my best friend. We grew up together, though I wasn’t from Trottingham. I wanna toss her out the window every now and then but I’d take a spear for that mare… ...Not in the face or anything but maybe in the hoof or a glancing blow across the flank. “Fair points. But I’m only saying that since I’ve been through this personally, advice from one best friend to another, it’s no use stressing out. What’s done is done and please, you’re more studious than me by a longshot. If I could get in the Guard downing a bottle of Apple Gin the night before I’m sure you’ll have little issue,” the blue mare coaxed. Starry huffed as they exited the castle proper and crossed the bridge over the moat. “Totally. I had my nose buried in military texts since I could read. You had yours buried elsewhere,” Starry added with inflection and implicit innuendo. “Wow. ONE time some colt you had a crush on likes me instead and suddenly it’s my fault? You’re still on about this shit, oh my Celestia let it go it was five years ago!” “Implying.” “Hey, I never asked for this!” Radiance pointed out with friendly frustration. “If I had a bit for every time I was hit on or borderline sexually harassed in the Guard by stallions and mares I’d have already bought a mansion in Zebranica.” Starry has always had a habit of holding on to things, more of the mental variety rather than the physical. Drives me insane when she compares herself to me in terms of looks, because she sells herself so short. She’s super sexy, and I have no problem saying that, but it’s not my problem if she doesn’t put herself out there and just expects things to happen. As I’ve always said, dating is pure economics. If you have a marketable product, ponies will buy. If you don’t, ponies won’t buy. If you don’t create a market, ponies won’t buy anyway because you won’t let them… I’m getting off topic here, aren’t I? The two mares continued to walk down Canterlot’s Mane Street, oblivious to the world around them but each other. Furthermore, neither could see the Lunar Princess eyeing the blue mare from her tower as they walked away from the castle proper. “Ahhh… now there’s a place I’d love to visit. Why don’t we go?” Starry quickly changed the topic to something more exciting. “Ummm, probably because I’m still waiting for my promotion raise to retroactively kick in and implying you have a thousand bits to drop right this moment because I ain’t spotting your ass for a whole vacation,” Radiance added with a smirk, throwing Starry’s trademark word back at her. The latter turned to her with an annoyed expression. “Don’t ‘imply’ me, filly. I’ll ‘imply’ you through that goddamn shop window,” Starry playfully threatened with a dark tone of voice. The other mare would easily concede, Starry was the better one at pure magic. “You seem to be forgetting that I have my sword on me,” Radiance smugly pointed out, giving her flank a gentle shake to let her weapon rattle against her armor, as well as let some of her cutie mark, a long-sword wrapped in a flowery wreath, show through. Starry rolled her eyes. “You win this time, Radiance. Damn your swordsmare-ship, damn it to Tartarus,” she replied dramatically, waving her hoof at Radiance’s face. The latter chuckled. That’s pretty much where my skill comes in. I was holding a blade of some sort since I could levitate objects with magic. I just got lucky though, because the only one I knew of with any sort of experience in swordplay was my great great grandmother. It skipped everypony in between and I got the skill for some reason. My dad is currently a very talented blacksmith and he always joked that somepony had to get the genes sooner or later. “I can, however, spot you for drinks if you buy dinner,” Radiance offered. Starry perked up at the idea of food. “Yeah, I’m cool with that! Let’s go to that restaurant that we like, the one that that sweet Griffin runs.” “Oh that one! He’s super nice and the food is fantastic. Race you there!” And Radiance took off immediately, leaving Starry startled in the dust. “Bitch!” and just like that Starry was in hot pursuit. Okay fine, I’d get my left hoof sliced off for that mare. The left one, mind you, not the right one. If it had to be the right hoof… well I guess she’s shit out of luck and I’ll give the eulogy at her funeral. Still, she keeps me sane. From muscle destroying Guard drills to getting hit on constantly, she keeps me in balance with her spry and exciting personality. When I didn’t get the chance to hang out with her though, I would usually catch free time in the sparring room. Now, the sparring room is a necessarily large room filled with dummy targets and small ‘arenas’ that are meant to test the Guard’s competency in melee combat. So naturally, spears, swords, maces, morning stars, et cetera. No ranged combat was allowed here. I was so good with a sword that I was often called upon by the instructor to help other swordsponies, especially unicorns. It wasn’t enough for me though. I absolutely love the feeling of holding a sword in my magical grasp… it makes me feel powerful and alert. So, when our shifts were over during the night, I would often sneak into the sparring room and, by light of a couple of candles, practice my forms. It turned out though, that Princess Luna had taken a keen interest in my performance, both official and unofficial... Two nights later, and sometime after midnight, Radiance had stealthily worked her way into the sparring room and had begun ‘shadow-practicing.’ Sapphire aura surrounding her trusty sword, the only sounds that could be heard were her grunts of exertion, the cutting of the air, and the gentle clops of her unarmored hooves. She was barely visible even by her candlelight but nevertheless, the flames flickering and casting shadows on her form ensured that the empty room got a powerful show of force. “Rrrrah!” Radiance growled as she swung her blade in an overhead, diagonal chop to end one of her long-forms before sheathing her blade. She was about to sit down in the middle of the ‘arena’ she was in and catch a break when her senses immediately alerted her. Someone was watching her, and had been watching her from the shadows, but before she could attempt to locate whoever it was, they appeared from the veil of the shadows. Into the candlelight, the alicorn of the Night made herself known, stoic look on her face. Radiance dared not say anything as she looked upon Princess Luna with reverence and some fear. She knew that she would not harm her or attempt to, but her entrance, combined with her rather intimidating posture, set her just a bit on edge. “Let us see how you handle a true opponent…” Princess Luna softly uttered as she cast her teal-blue magical long-sword, holding it at an angle towards Radiance, whose jaw was figuratively on the ground. I had never seen a magically cast sword before… only the most skilled unicorns have been able to ever cast one. I just had to get it through my head that Princess Luna, who was probably watching me every time I was there, had challenged me to a duel… Radiance, acting with some excitement but mostly on instinct, cast her aura on the hilt of her sword and drew it, drawing it towards Luna and letting the blades touch each other… the hard magic not damaging the enchanted metal in any way. Luna grinned determinedly and Radiance hardened her gaze. If it was a duel Luna wanted, she was gonna have to deliver. Luna began strafing and circling, to which Radiance reciprocated the movement, their swords still gently touching and the aura from both of their magics lighting up the room a bit more. Staring down at the front of a magical sword was a very humbling experience from the start for Radiance. Luna moved first, giving a tender swing away from Radiance’s blade and low towards her left leg… Radiance swung low and parried easily. Luna was clearly probing her. Luna’s eyes never left Radiance’s as she again struck, pulling her sword back and delivering first a vertical chop, which the unicorn swung upwards (while taking a couple steps backward) to block, but Luna followed up immediately with another low swing, this time towards Radiance's right hoof.   Another easy counter, and the unicorn Guard decided to take the initiative. Flaring her magic, she pushed Luna’s blade back and freed her own sword, swinging at her Princess, to which the latter crossed her weapon in front of her face to block the attack… but it didn’t stop there. Radiance pressed forward and delivered two chops followed by a horizontal sweep to Luna’s two front legs. The Princess parried and blocked the two chops with excellence and caught her opponent’s low sweep with an angled block before parrying the metal blade forward, placing them both into a neutral position, the two weapons resting on each other yet again. “Impressive finesse, Miss Emeralda…” Luna complimented, both of their breathing rates having slightly increased. “Thank you, Princess… means a lot coming from you,” Radiance replied genuinely, not conceding at all while they circled each other. “That means I shan’t have to play novice with you…” and with the end of her sentence, Luna immediately swung down and to the right, following up with a vertical chop and then a power-swing when Radiance deflected both attacks. The powerful hit forced Radiance’s magic to falter slightly when she countered, and also having her lose her footing slightly. Capitalizing on this, Luna reared her weapon back and chopped once more, but instead of blocking the hit, Radiance just glanced it off her sword’s flat and used the momentum to roll to her right and back up onto her hooves. Radiance followed through and swung at Luna’s backside, who glanced the blow while side-stepping out of the blade’s range. The two continued to parry, attack, power-swing, for several minutes, with Luna upping the ante with nearly every successive minute that passed by. I had never felt so alive before… I mean, sparring with Princess Luna, a rumored master swordsmare, is like a wet dream in my little world. In the end though, she knew exactly what she was doing. Consistently upping the ante and testing my skills to the very limit, she was trying to guage what I knew… trying to probe my weaknesses. As confident as I was in my abilities, I had no realistic expectation to best her in a sword fight, and it was only a matter of time before something gave. Radiance was becoming more exhausted after nearly ten minutes of constant fighting. Luna was beginning to use forms, combinations, and techniques that she had no familiarity with… but the only thing that kept her going was the fact that she was having the time of her life. The movements, the swords themselves, the purposeful twirls and just the sheer sound of hard-magic hitting metal was just beautiful to her in its own rite. Soon enough, after another failed counterattack, Luna performed a counterattack of her own and Radiance put too much force into her block. When the Princess’s sword struck the unicorn’s, she let the force of the blow carry it farther away than she should have. As a result, Luna followed up with a lighting-fast vertical chop onto the hilt of Radiance’s weapon, severing the magical connection to its owner, and finally, in the latter’s surprise, swung the magical blade deliberately into the lowest part of the Guard’s helmet. “Ahh!” The blow did not hurt Radiance by any means, but it struck the rib of her helmet with such force that it forced her to the ground on her right side. Luna then stood over her, teal-blue sword pointed straight at her face, to which Radiance’s eyes could not look away. Luna looked down upon her, but not with a look of disappointment, but one of praise, one that, for some reason, made Radiance feel amazing about herself despite her ‘loss.’ “Excellent… Outstanding, Corporal,” Luna began speaking gently, but words were laced with a pleasant and encouraging tone. Radiance could not think of anything to say at the moment, but just decided to keep panting and catching her breath. Even Luna, it seemed, had one or two visible beads of sweat formed on her cheek and brow. “T-Thank you, Princess…” “Rise, Radiance,” the Princess gently commanded, dispersing her sword and letting the Guard get back to her hooves. “If I may speak… freely Princess,” Radiance began through her breaths. “That’s the most fun I’ve had in a long while.” “I too thoroughly enjoyed myself. However, my appearance was not only due to me wanting to have fun,” she replied, turning much more business-like and serious. The shadows cast by the remaining candles danced upon her face. “I have watched you, Radiance… for the past month. Your skills with a blade are truly remarkable, beyond what I have seen in the current Guard roster and many others. I have something to ask of you, noble Guard.” “Anything, Your Highness.” “Actually, it is not so much of a question as it is a job offer…” Luna corrected herself. “A j-job?” “Indeed. Bluntly, you are overqualified for the Guard. I personally could use somepony such as yourself with a certain skill set such as yours. Your ability with standard magic, of course, surpasses a grand majority of your peers… but the way you use it, in melee combat, is where you truly shine. I can place you in a force where those skills will be needed. Not only will they be needed, but they, under my personal tutelage, will be tested, honed, perfected, and sculpted to create one of the greatest swordsmares that Equestria has ever seen…” Luna preached, perfectly accentuating all her words. Holy crap… it was like she was trying to sell me a key to my dream life. One of Equestria’s greatests swordsmares, trained by one of said greatest swordsmares?! Radiance, on the other hand, had no words, so Luna took this as a sign to continue: “Take your rightful place in the Magickakorps, help defend Equestria where the Elements of Harmony cannot, and set your potential free next to peers just like yourself…” Obviously I said yes… a million times yes. And you know what? She was right. I had never felt more powerful in my life once I received that armor… and the know-how on how to cast a blade of my own. I could not wait to know what the future held for me.