World of Ponies: A Collection of Days

by ShadowWalking18

The Next Generation

Author's Note:

Note, some strong language in this chapter. You have been warned.

Within the royal stable of the Imperial City of Val of the Empire of Humanity, a scream of fear and terror shook the once calm quiet, followed by a bloodthirsty screeching roar. A number of guards on patrol nearly dropped their weapons in surprise, before rushing to the scene.

"Help! Help!" A young stable hand shouted, as he clung desperately to a tree. He felt something sharp tear at the bottom of his pants, and he screamed as he tried to climb higher.

Below him, the beast that had sent him scurrying up roared, slamming its bulk into the tree and causing it to shake. It reared up on its hind legs and swiped its great claws and tore bark and small tree limbs off as it tried to get at the poor young stable hand.

The guards paused in their charge and gapped with shock at the beast before him. Standing twice the height of a full grown man, heavily muscled body and legs that ended in great sharp claws as thick as a sword. But at its head, was that of a hawk or eagle. Black feathers, with red fringe, decorated its top half, before giving way to dark grey fur.

The guards felt froze in fear from this creature, but the shouts of the young stable hand threw them to abandon fear and do their duty to protect a citizen of the Empire and a fellow human being. They leveled the great halberds they held, grateful for the distance the weapons would give them. But this surety was lost when, as if sensing them, the beast turned and roared. Its great bulk soon charging, leaving gouges in the earth as it roared a blood cry.

"Hold!" The captain of the troop shouted, as they leveled their weapons. Their forms shaking, even as they worked to keep the weapons steady. Who could stand in the face of such a monster charging them.

"Wait!"

From the edge of their vision, a small girl of perhaps no more then ten summers, rushed out and positioned herself between the guards and the charging beast.

"Don't hurt him. Stop!" She shouted.

The guards watched, to utter amazement and shock, as the charging beast stopped, just inches from the girl, its towering form standing before her and it lowered its head and roared at her, the very volume of the beasts voice causing the young girls hair to flick about as spittle slammed on her face.

The beast's head, inches from the girls, glared at her as it lowered itself till it was eye to eye with her small form. A low rumbling growl, growing in its chest.

"Girl, get away from that monster!" One of the guards shouted.

"He isn't a monster." The girl said, looking from the guard to the beast before her, "Stop that."

The beast growled low, before huffing and lowering itself down into a resting position, like a cat would. It flick its tail and lowered its head to the girl, who slowly placed her hand on its head and petted the creature; who gave a low rumbling sound that almost sounded like a purr.

"See. Put your weapons away, or you will scare him." The girl said, looking back to the guards.

The guards looked at the girl, then the beast, then each other, but they did not lower their weapons.

"Do as she said."

The guards turned and they quickly stood at attention, "Emperor Marcus. Lord Castus."

"Did you have to have them start calling me that?" Castus groaned, rubbing his head.

"You made all our people call me Emperor," Marcus said to his friend, "Now we both can feel uncomfortable."

Castus sighed, "Fine. Anyway, you men stand down. That creature will not harm you, as long as you don't give it reason to. Do as Sarah said."

The guards blinked, again looked at each other, before nodding and taking a step back, but never taking their eyes off the beast who now nuzzled its feather head against the little girls hand.

"There, see, no one will hurt you." Sarah said.

"Emperor Marcus, what is that creature?" One of the guards asked.

"A new addition to the Imperial stables. And the first of what will be the Empire's first order of knights and mounts." Marcus said, approaching Sarah.

The beast looked up and growled at Marcus, causing him to step back and hold his hands up.

"Once we, work out a few things." Castus said, "Um, Sarah how do we approach it again?"

"Its not an it, its a he. And his name is HighClaw." Sarah said, turning from the beast, "And you first need to bow. Like this." Sarah gave a slight bow, as a demonstration.

Marcus and Castus looked at each other, then at the beast, who eyed them like one would food.

"If you don't bow before getting close, he will think you are challenging him." Sarah said, stepping to the side as the beast stood up.

"Right." Marcus and Castus said at the same time, and both bowed slightly to the creature named HighClaw.

HighClaw tilted his head at the two, before lowering its head slightly to them in a form of bow.

"There. See, now he knows you aren't going to challenge him. So he won't attack you." Sarah said smiling.

Marcus and Castus looked at Highclaw, and slowly approached. Highclaw stood there still, but his eyes never lost that look of predatory power.

"Was that why he was attacking the stable hand?" Marcus asked, directing the guards to go help the man down and attend to any injuries.

"Probably. Or maybe he was hungry. HighClaw can get testy when its feeding time." Sarah said with a shrug.

"Hmm. I thought we asked you to keep him confined to the southern stables. We don't want him hurting anyone." Castus said, slowly reaching to pet the Highclaw.

"Highclaw doesn't like it there. He likes this stable, because when the wind blows right he can smell the flowers from the garden." Sarah pouted.

Marcus and Castus rolled their eyes.

"I guess we better make the arrangements. And you young lady, had better tell every stable hand how to properly approach HighClaw. We don't need another incident." Marcus said.

"I will Emperor." Sarah said, giving a curtsey.

With that, Sarah placed her hand on the leg of HighClaw, and Castus sensed the smallest hint of the Wind, flowing from the girl and to the beast. Highclaws head looked around, then down to Sarah, before the two of them began walking back towards the pens.

Marcus watched, shaking his head, "I still cannot fathom. A tiny girl like that, able to so easily tame such a powerful creature from the Everfree."

"Its all she can do with the Wind, but in this case its our advantage. Sarah will prove to be a great aid to our countries military and might even make a powerful knight once she gets a little older." Castus said, "Sarah may be small, but her inner strength is without bounds."

Marcus nodded, and thought on the sight of grown men cowering before HighClaw, "Hmm. I suppose one should not be judged by size alone."

---

Strike. Strike. Block. Dodge. Strike. Repeat.

Strike. Strike. Block. Dodge. Strike. Repeat.

Over and over the rhythm of the movements played in Valen's head as he swung his practice sword in time with other recruits in the drilling grounds set aside from the city. Here he, and every other man and woman of fighting age from the various clans, or Imperial Districts as they were being called now as each clan was assigned to an area of the Empire to live in and build upon, drilled and practiced combat.

The sounding of the bell ended the drills, and Valen was glad to finally take a break after a long day in the heat of the summer sun. The sun seemed especially brutal today, perhaps to make up for lost time during the winter?

Valen caught up with his friends on the way back to town, where they talked of their patrols or other minor things. Some times they talked of the future, and their thoughts on the new nation of the clans. But eventually, they all parted ways and Valen found himself walking the streets of Val alone.

A quick smell of his body told Valen that perhaps a bath would be the first thing. He made his way to the first bath house of the Empire, which really was nothing more then a walled and hall filled building with a number of large pools, fed by the new aqueducts that brought fresh mountain water. Cold, but refreshing. Valen supposed he could have a hot bath prepared, but he didn't want to have to wait while the water was heated up.

"Hey, give it back!"

Valen stopped and looked down a street and saw three young men surrounding a small boy. The boy jumped as high as he could, trying to reach for a book held in one of the young men's grip, above the boys head in a taunting matter.

"Why don't you try and take it small stuff." The young man mocked, his companions chuckling.

"Please, that book is really important. I had to wait months before I could buy it. Give it back." The boy pleaded.

Valen growled, recognizing the three young men. Eldoth, Edwin and Lucas, soldiers like him who he sometimes drilled with during training. They weren't the brightest sorts, and often bullied the younger soldiers by virtue of their seniority. Valen disliked them, and seeing this, now he hated them.

"Hey, leave him alone." Valen called as he rushed over.

Eldoth and his friends looked up and Eldoth smirked.

"Well, if it isn't the horse fucker." Eldoth sneered.

Edwin and Lucas chuckled, as Eldoth pushed aside the boy and stepped up to face Valen. The book held in his grip and hung out in front of Valen.

"What? You want this now? If they baby wants his silly paper he should be a man and fight to get it back." Eldoth laughed.

"Please. Help." The boy begged, looking at Valen with tears in his eyes.

Valen scowled, "Look Eldoth. Give it back to the boy and walk away. I don't have time to deal with you."

"Oh," Eldoth said, mockingly, "Is that so?"

Eldoth looked to Edwin and Lucas, "Hear that boys, the horse fucker says we should give this back."

Eldoth jiggled the book and smirked at Valen. Valen growled, fists clenched as he tried not to punch the mans lights out. But if he kept calling him names, and no doubt mocking the girls he cared about, he might end up spending a day in a cell.

"Tell ye what, we will give it back, if you can take it from us." Eldoth said, pulling a dagger out. Edwin and Lucas also pulled daggers and laughed.

Valen sighed, and with some effort, he worked to do as Castus had taught him. He felt that well of power, the ocean of energy that waited beyond his rich. That threatened to consume him. Even after his training, that feeling always sent a chill of fear up his spine.

Carefully he drunk from the power of the Wind, and wove it in the almost natural way as he could, until a blade of light and fire seemed to burst in his hand. The appearance of the blade causing the three trouble makers before him to jump, dropping their daggers and the book.

"Fine. You first?" Valen said, pointing his blade at the three.

Eldoth and his friends ran, and Valen sighed as he released the Wind and the blade vanished. He felt relieved to release that power, and yet sad as the world seemed to grow duller because of it.

Picking up the book, Valen walked over to the boy, who looked up at him with wide eyes.

"Are you okay? Hey, your Hendar's, the Forgemaster's, son. Right?" Valen said, finally recognizing the boy.

The boy blinked, rubbed at his nose and nodded, "Y-yes. Wh-who are you?"

"Valen. Here. Who are you?" Valen asked, as he gave the book to the boy, who took it and held it tightly to his chest.

"V-Valen. Oh, my father spoke of you. Did you really kill the changeling commander in the war?" The boy asked before adding, "O-oh, my name is Kanithar."

Valen blushed and rubbed the back of his head. Since the war ended, talk of how he had slain the commander of the changeling forces had spread amongst the clans. It had made him something of a hero for a time. The workings of building the Empire had take the attention of most however, which Valen had preferred. All that attention made him uncomfortable.

"Uh, yeah. Though it was a close thing." Valen said, thinking back on that day. It had been too close, cause if he had not been able to use the Wind...well he didn't want to think on that.

"Th-thank you for helping. I-I feel so ashamed though. I should have fought back." Kanithar said, sniffling.

"No, that would have been worse. Eldoth and his cronies are the kind that like to pick fights, especially when they know they can win. Fighting would have just made them hurt you." Valen said.

Kanithar sniffled still, "I-I just wish I could be strong. If I could learn to fight, I know they wouldn't pick on me."

"Well, you look old enough to start. What is stopping you?" Valen asked.

Kanithar frowned, "M-my heart. The healers say I have a weak heart. Even running leaves me exhausted. They said there isn't anything they can do, because I was born with it."

Valen frowned, even with the addition to the Wind in their healing arts, it seems that the healers of the clans and the empire still could not heal everything. Then again, Castus had always said that would be the case, had always been the case.

Valen could see that the boy was troubled, so he decided to change the subject.

"So, what is that book?" He asked.

This seemed to brighten Kanithar's mood, "Oh, I had to save up my allowance, but I was able to buy this from a Zebra trader who came into the city a week ago. See." Kanithar smiled as he held the book out for Valen to read.

The title of the book read: Condensed Sciences of the Natural World. It was written in Equestrian.

"I just learned to read the pony language in school and this book has so many pictures in it, but I couldn't read what it said about them until today. I was heading home to read, when those three ran into me. They said I was a baby, and that my book was just gibberish." Kanithar frowned, holding the book tightly to his little chest.

Valen frowned, "They are just saying that cause they can't read. Most of the older men and women can't. You should be proud you can read, especially something like this."

Kanithar smiled, but frowned again, "But...is it okay? Its from the ponies."

Valen frowned. Though the war was over, trust between humans and ponies was still low. The two nations had some minor trade, but over all they stuck to their lands and left the other alone. Only Castus, Emperor Marcus and himself had any real extensive time in contact with Equestrians.

"I can't say I know much of what's in that book. But I know that the ponies are more advanced in things we can't even imagine. As are the other nations. If we can learn what they know, that will only serve to make us stronger. Maybe by reading and learning what's in that book, you can help to bring its knowledge to the rest of our people and make us all stronger for it."

"R-really? I could make everyone stronger?" Kanithar said, smiling.

"Lord Castus once told me, the strongest blade is not a sword, but an educated mind." Valen said, patting the boys head.

Kanithar smiled and hugged Valen, taking him by surprise, but he smiled and returned the hug.

"Thank you. I'll read the whole book, and more books. And one day, I'll teach what I learned to everyone in the Empire." Kanithar said, pride and determination in his voice.

"I'm sure you will. It's getting late, so how about I walk you home. Besides, Eldoth might show up again." Valen offered.

"Oh that's okay. My home is just down this road there." Kanithar said, pointing to a house down the street. It was not far from their location. And Eldoth had ran in the opposite direction.

Valen nodded, "Okay. Stay safe Kanithar."

"I will, and thank you." Kanithar said, as he made his way home.

Valen watched the boy walk off, and felt a smile on his face.

Kanithar might not grow to be a strong warrior. But Valen felt that he would grow to be strong in other ways. And that might do more to improve the Empire then anything he could do with a sword.

Comments

[Moongaze14]

Nice to see a bit of how the human world is doing. Thanks for the chapter.

[Sipioc]

I sense fanart

[ConfettiColored]

... Why were they calling Valen that? Did he do what that implies he did?

[Sipioc]

orig11.deviantart.net/5be6/f/2016/133/1/f/wop__sarah_the_beast_whisperer_by_sipioc-da208h5.jpg fanart confirmed

[TheGrandNil]

7203456
Remember when he smelled like perfume that "masked" some scents

My response to that insult would be "well at least I'm not a virgin"