//------------------------------// // The Train that leads to Destiny // Story: Scars to win them all // by jrock117 //------------------------------// "Hey Scar, your friend is here." Rose says, a little annoyance in her voice like always. It's moving day for me, yup, Friday. Blur and I have made quite the bond. Waking up at the same hour, walking to school, enjoying the sights. Its been an awesome four days. Sure sucks that I'm moving today. "Alright, I'll be down in a minute." I reply. Wonder why he's here. I put five books into my bag, two for reading, three for taking notes, as well as ten pairs, eight bananas, and five golden apples. Oh the deliciousness of the golden apple. I can feel my mouth watering at the sight of them, but I don't care. I go to eat one of the apples, but I control my self. I need to save it for the trip, might take a few hours. I put a compass and a map of Ponyville in there also. Food, check. Books, check. Survival gear? I guess the map and compass are survival gear, check. Head band? How did sensei know about... Nevermind. He's a master with stealth. I tie my 'new' head band with the blue streak in the metal on. Check. Now, to see what Blur is doing here. I go down the stairs with my bag, and I see sensei at the bottom, forelegs crossed, standing on his rear legs. He has a good build, not the strongest looking pony ever, but you don't need to be strong when you got skill. He is as tall as my brother on all fours, making him look quite lanky. He is a forest-green earth pony with spiky brown mane and tail. And he has the most badass looking scarf ever! Red. It really pops out, thanks to his green coat. He has a nail with a red scarf wrapped around it for a cutie mark. He has a scar running down his left eye. His name is. "Bolt sensei!" I yell as I jump down the stairs in a kicking motion. He blocks with his left hoof and grabs my leg with his right hoof. Shit. "You'll have to try better than that if you want to hit me" His voice has some wisdom and strength within it. Completely mature. He swings me around and throws me out the front door as he says this. This would normally trip me up, but I've been practicing. I do a little back flip and slide on the ground outside my door. "It seems you haven't been slacking off these couple of days." He walks out the door, like a badass, and gets into a fighting stance that resembles the turtle fighting stance in Crystal Ball Z. I adjust my headband and get in the same stance, a battle is about to be started. "By Celestia that was awesome!" Blur says this in excitement. I look over to my left to see my friend sitting on his haunches, he must've been there for a while. "Oh, hey Blu-GAH" I was interrupted by my sensei, who just happened to appear behind me and push me to the ground, face first. The dust flies around us in circle and vanishes. "HEY, NO FAIR!!!" I shout at my sensei who is now sitting on my back. He pulls a rose from his scarf. Eyes closed. "All's fair in love and war, my young student." He throws his rose to the side as he finishes that bit. He then stands up off my back, allowing me to get up. "I believe that's another loss for you." "Yeah-yeah." I reply. I dust my self off and turn to Blur who is chuckling a little. "So, why're you here?" "Huh, oh, I came to help ya guys move." He responds honestly. I scratch the back of my head with my hoof. "Oh, thanks anyways, but I'm done packing up." I say. He looks at me like he doesn't understand. "What, what about the others?" He asks, gesturing to my bro and sis. Maybe he doesn't understand. "What about the others?" I repeat his question. My eyes widen when realization hits me. "Oh, ok. I'm the only one moving to Ponyville, say for my sensei." He tilts his head as if he were expecting a different answer. "And, that's all you're takin' with ya?" He points a hoof at my bag. Now my sensei interjects. "Actually, that's all he'll need when we get to Ponyville. I have a cottage down there with all the necessities we'll need. Plus I can always go into Ponyville and shop for more items." He opens his eyes and looks at the head band on Blur's head. He studies it for a few seconds and then looks at mine. He smirks. "Heh, looks like I inspired you more than I thought, Scar." He looks me dead in the eye. "What do you mean?" I reply. He crouches on his knees and pokes my head band, tracing around the nail. "The nail through the apple." He says blandly. He then smiles warmly. "The nail is my trademark symbol for fighting." He states this like it was obvious. Actually, now that I think about it. He is the reason I wanted to become the ultimate fighter. Maybe that's the reason I was so obsessed with putting the nail in the symbol. "Heheh, I guess your right sensei." I respond, a sheepish smile on my face. "Oh, hey, Blur. Wanna walk with me and sensei to the Canterlot gates?" I ask Blur. He just nods, but his eyes widen soon afterwards. "Hold up, I gotta ask my mom if I can first." He says this as he turns around. "Think ya can wait for me while I go ask her?" I was about to answer when sensei interrupted me. "Don't worry, we'll be right here." He says, his right hoof waving Blur away. Blur proceeds to run down the block to his house. "Looks like I might have another student." He ponders this idea, too bad I pop his bubble. "Actually sensei, I don't think he's gonna learn under your wing like me." He looks at me when I say this. "He wants to become the best of Celestia's royal guard. Unlike me, where I want to become the ultimate fighter." I get into a fighting stance when I say 'the ultimate fighter'. "Who knows, maybe training under me will grant him the skills he needs to be the best of the royal guard." He put his hoof off to the side. "The best is usually reserved for unicorns, considering that they are, stereotypically speaking, the best in battle and research. I could show him a few techniques that would scare any unicorn." He adjusts his scarf so it covers his mouth, but still look natural. Bad... Ass. "You make good points sensei. That would actually be cool. Training with my best friend under the coolest sensei ever." Ideas of Blur and I rising to the top of Equestria's history books as the 'Best Ponies Ever' enter my head. "That would be the best!" I pump both my hooves up into the air as I yell into the sky. I look down the street to see Blur running towards us. "I can come with you guys to the gates, but that's as far as I can go." He looks a little saddened by this, as do I. "But she says I can visit ya guys on Fridays through Saturdays and during school breaks." We both share the same excitement as he says that. "Really? That's so cool." I go to jump in the air, but something's, bothering me. I place a hoof on my chin. "Wait, you can visit on Fridays through Saturdays and during school breaks." Realization dawns on me. "But today's Friday." My realization is cut short by my sensei. "Exactly. I knew what he was doing when he said it." He shows no emotion when he spoke this. I know it wasn't a lie, he never lies. The two things in this world that he hates the most are evil and lies. "So, lets head down to those gates shall we?" Blur and I just nod our heads to that. It has been thirty minutes, the walk to the gates. Nothing really eventful happened on the way there. Sensei, being the badass that he is, took the rooftops on the way there. I wanted to as well, but I didn't want to leave Blur behind, not to mention I couldn't really jump to that high yet. I can go about sixteen feet, but that's it. So, now we're at the gates and I'm standing at the train station waiting for sensei. He told Blur and I to wait for him there and zoomed off somewhere else. It's not the first time he's done it, and it won't be the last either. "Ahhhh! Where the hell is he!?" I shout, scratching my head with both hooves. "He's been gone for an entire hour!" You can tell me that yelling won't make him come back any sooner, which is what Blur already told me, but I'll still yell afterwards. "What the hell is SO important that he has to be gone for a whole hour!" Blur tries to calm me down. Not the best of ideas. "Hey, he probably got lost on the way back." Sensei, got lost, those are two things that don't add up. He knows Canterlot like his scarf, and he made his scarf. "Besides, the train to Ponyville hasn't even showed up yet. Just simmer down." Maybe he's right, the train isn't here yet, so it doesn't matter if he were to show- "Yo." I hear sensei's voice behind me. I turn around to see him crouching on the top of the train station, at the edge. "Sorry I'm late, I found out that the 'Party of 5ive' series got a new release after two years, so I looked everywhere for it. I finally found it, and I signed up for an 'Early Release' card so I could get new releases before anypony else." He shows us the new book and the card. "Alright, fine. So, when is the train gonna get here?" I ask, a little irritated. We waited an hour for him to get the book and I haven't seen a train come by yet. He looks at us with an inquisitive look. "What train?" WHAT!? What does he mean 'What train'? GAH! I swear. "The train we were gonna take to Ponyville." Blur says calmly, how can he be so calm? Guess him and I aren't too much like each other. That's good. Sensei chuckles a little, his scarf hiding his smile, but his eyes show it. "You thought we were going to take a train to Ponyville?" He jumps down from his perch and lands in front of us. "You guys are so down to the ground with imagination." His eyes show the smile under his scarf. "We're gonna run there." "What? You can't be serious." I say, really hoping I don't have to run all the way to Ponyville. "It would take us DAYS to get there by hoof. What makes you think this is at all a good idea?" I don't know if I should be pissed at him for not telling me this sooner, I would've trained harder than I did, or be happy that I get to see how well my training has come so far. "It took me less than twenty-one hours to get there on hoof, with breaks. I'm positive it would only take us thirty-six hours to get there." He says. Holy crap, twenty-one hours on hoof. That's fast. I try to think of how powerful sensei really is, strong, fast, intelligent, wise. "I don't think it'd be a good idea for you to come with though." I look at sensei to see him talking to Blur. "Why not?" Blur pouts when he asks this. Sensei's eyes smile warmly at this. "This isn't your mission. I'm taking Scar to Ponyville for 'special' training, this is one of his tests." He tells Blur. I can hear them talk. "I'm going to watch over his journey to Ponyville, just to make sure he doesn't get killed on the way there." He then turns to me and continues, a dead serious look in his eyes "I know you, if you can get to Ponyville within two days, I'll allow you to be my pupil. I will train you harder than you could ever imagine." His eyes close. "If you can't, you know what happens." He jumps on to the station again. "I'll be watching, see ya." He jumps into the air and disappears. Holy shit, he's fast. "Hey, Scar." Blur calls to me. I turn around to see his determined look. "Prove to him that you are worthy of becoming the ultimate fighter." I nod. We bump hooves and rest our hooves on our chests. "You know it" I return his look with my own. I turn around and walk up to the guards at the entrance, they look at me and separate their spears. Did sensei tell them to do that? "You may pass." They both say in unison. Damn that's creepy. I nod to them and head out the entrance. Now my journey begins.