//------------------------------//
// Chapter IV 
// Story: The Heir of Cinders 
// by CheezitLover69 
//------------------------------//

	Ulric studied the stances, attacks, and blocks of the Diamond Dogs closely as they fought one another. To say it was sloppy was an understatement, as Ulric saw nothing but toddlers fighting each other with useless slaps! They even held their weapons wrong; a dog held a dagger two-handed. TWO-HANDED!! Ulric sighed, face-palming as each dog continued to fight. He was surprised they were able to raid Ponyville without getting beaten by the ponies!

Ulric looked down at Tough, who had just returned from setting Fluttershy outside the Everfree, and tapped his shoulder. Tough looked up, watching as Ulric pointed at the dogs and shook his head. Tough sighed, looking the dogs over, "Yes, Your Majesty, I know they are terrible at fighting." He turned his head back to Ulric, "But we haven't had a war in a thousand years! There are no veterans to train these useless mongrels, and we haven't any mercenaries!" He hung his head, "Only you can train them, but they probably won't understand a thing."

Ulric turned his head to the dogs, who seemed to overhear what both he and Tough were discussing. They seemed a bit angry at Tough, but that was understandable. Ulric stepped forward, removing his helmet and glaring at each and every dog. They were stunned, as they have never seen their king without his helmet off. The scar only increased their amazement. Tough even stood there, wide eyed and jaw dropped.

Ulric didn't care.

He simply pulled out his sword and stabbed it into stone, all the way to the handle. He then pointed at it, then to one of the dogs. Said dog looked at Ulric with a confused look, so Tough decided to explain it like always. "He wants you to simply pull it out of the stone, soldier." A wave of realization hit the dog, and he walked over to the sword. Reaching down and gripping the sword with one hand, he pulled with minor strength, but it didn't budge. The dog was confused, and he tried to pull it with all of his might. Nothing. He then tried to do it with both hands, but to no avail.

The dog stepped back, shaking his head. Ulric stepped forward, wrapped his hand around his sword, and pulled it out of the ground. He then stared at the dogs, then looked down to Tough. The dog nodded solemnly once more, looking at the dogs, "Dogs, we and the His Majesty are here to prepare you for the assault on Appleloosa and Dodge City, but from what we've seen and experienced during the raid on Ponyville and here in the barracks, we have a few things to say."

He glared at all of them, "You are all cowards, undisciplined, unskilled, and completely useless. You all know that you should be killed for abandoning your king on the battlefield, but he needs you for the raids. Your combat," he scoffed, "Terrible in every way shape and form." He pointed at Ulric, "His Majesty is going to train you, discipline you, and put you through the toughest conditioning you have all ever seen in your lives!" He turned to Ulric with a nod, then back to the dogs, "Now, I want you all to stand in a line, weakest to strongest." The dogs stood still, "I said NOW!" That got their attention, and they began getting in line.

Once they finished, it was obvious that there were more weak dogs than strong, which Ulric would change. Said man walked up to the strongest dog, who stared at him with a straight face. The dog was two feet taller than Ulric, and most dogs believed that this dog could beat up Ulric in a second. Ulric lifted his chin, then smacked his cheek lightly, clenching his jaw. The dog knew what it meant, and reeled his fist back, before sending it at Ulric.

Ulric surprised the dog by dodging his punch with quick speed and used the dog's forearm to pull him to the ground. The dog was stunned as Ulric stood still with a glare. Ulric then kicked the dog, giving him what he heard as a satisfying yelp. Ulric turned to the dogs, who stared in amazement; their king just took out their toughest dog in less than three seconds. Ulric turned back to the burly dog, reaching down and lifting him by the scruff of his neck, to which Ulric then tossed the dog toward the line.

The dog arose, holding his gut and getting back in line. The dogs were worried, now knowing that their king is stronger, smarter, and more agile than them. It would be impossible to remove him from the throne, and if they tried to run, he would hunt them down! Oh, the thought of what he would do if he caught them when they ran... it sent shivers down every dogs' spine.

Tough Rock stepped forward, "As your king has shown, you are all poorly trained, and now he will dish out the punishment; non-stop conditioning, training, and the honing of your skills! However, not only will you be training, I'll be training as well. So get to it!"


Eight Hours Later


Ulric watched as all the dogs' tongues were hanging out of their mouths, each dripping with sweat and still working. Ulric taught them all the basics of sword fighting, defensive tactics, and hand-to-hand combat. The higher ranked ones were trained in ordering the troops around along with extensive sword fighting, hand-to-hand combat, and how to get a one-shot punch on a pony. Tough, however, was trained to be almost as good as all the dogs combined, the only one stronger and smarter being Ulric.

Tough was tired, and yelled as loud as he could at the dogs, "Alright, dogs! You can rest!" The dogs sighed with relief, as did Tough, who's legs were trembling as they felt as though they were carrying two-ton weights. Ulric, however, felt accomplished; it had been awhile since he had honed his skills in an actual training ground. Although fighting Dark Spirits and Phantoms was entertaining and skillful, it just didn't give him a feeling of accomplishment that he got from practicing.

He yawned, turning and leaving with Tough in tow. "Your Majesty, you must teach any new recruits the skills you have taught me and the other dogs." Ulric nodded, stretching his arms and yawning; he needed a nap. Everything must sleep, eventually, and now was Ulric's time.

Stopping and turning to Tough, Ulric patted the dog on the shoulder and pointed to the other end of the hall. Tough nodded, "You need sleep, it's obvious. Goodnight, Your Majesty." Ulric nodded and watched as Tough walked away from him, Ulric's eyes never leaving the dog until he was out of sight.

Once he was, he turned to the door at the end of the hall; his room, or as most prefer to call it, the Royal Bedroom. Ulric walked over to the door and opened it, taking in what he had ordered the dogs to build again; there was a fireplace, which was lit and aloud the room to be filled with a comforting warmth that wasn't to hot or cold. A pot hung over the fire, where Ulric would do his best to make tea this evening if he remembered the recipe Siegward taught him after he recovered his armor. The walls had the texture of cobblestone that the dogs had to carve in, which took them roughly two hours. The floors were covered in neat, evenly placed floorboards that were sanded to be smooth and comfy for bare feet.

The furniture consisted of stuff that the dogs had gotten him during the raid; two chairs, a sofa, a coffee table, a nightstand, and a king-sized bed in the far left corner of the room. The sofa sat in front of the fireplace and each of the chairs sat next to said sofa. The coffee table sat in front of the sofa, as a place to set drinks or plates of food. The nightstand sat right next to the bed, like most nightstands in Lordran. Nothing more to describe.

Ulric walked over to the pot that hung over the fire and filled it with a bucket of water that was meant to put out the fire. Pure rainwater, the best kind. He then reached down and grabbed some ingredients that were laid out in order on the coffee table. First was a lilac, to which he removed the flowers from the stems and threw said flowers into the pot. He then reached down and lifted up a honeycomb that was on a plate, tossing it into the pot as to make sure it was not going to get honey everywhere. He grabbed a wooden spoon and began mixing the ingredients together, giving the water a light brown color with a hint of pink.

After a few minutes of non-stop stirring, Ulric pulled the wooden spoon out of the pot and leaned it against the wall. He then grabbed a small cup that sat on the coffee table and scooped some of the tea into it. Once he did that, he went over to the sofa and sat on it, sipping at his warm tea while staring at the comforting fire. He had never had such a luxurious life as this one, as he was always in the cold hands of death wherever he was in Lordran.

He pushed those thoughts aside as he continued to sip at the cup of tea that warmed his stomach. After he finished drinking his cup of tea, he was going to take a long-needed sleep. His rest would help him get prepared for the assault on Appleloosa, and it would be the first rest he has had since he absorbed the First Flame.

Suddenly a thought hit him; what if he could use magic now because of the power he gained from the First Flame? That is something he will try tomorrow, and he was sure that the prisoners would 'volunteer' to be the test subjects for such an experiment in power. Oh yes, but that is for tomorrow, not now.

Now he must sleep, in the comfy bed that was in the corner of the room. Removing his armor, he saw that his body appeared to be more... muscular than he last thought. His chest had scars all over it, looking as though he had been cut to shreds and put back together.  But the muscle... Sure, the extra muscle would be useful, but he never remembered getting such muscle. Hell, he didn't even do anything or work to get them that big. It felt... unnatural. That is yet another thing he must look into.

Sighing, he tucked himself in bed once his armor was off, laying his head on the pillow and closing his eyes. He needed a goodnight's rest after what had occurred that day and the day before, and despite the fact he felt a shred of guilt for what he did for Fluttershy, he would sleep peacefully that night. Because things were looking up for him, and no one could do anything to change that.