The Cutie Mark Crusaders
I touched down at my house in Ponyville after about a twenty minute flight, and opened the door. I took a death breath as I let in the scene of home. Everything looked normal, although the kitchen was nearly empty. It never really had anything in it, I always ate on the move, too busy to sit down and actually have breakfast or dinner. I never liked the idea of eating alone like that anyway.
The living room had been set up like an extra Royal Guard barracks, a map of the town had been laid out on a table and I kept a small stash of swords and spears nearby, and there was only one couch to sit on. I walked into my room, my old bed still sat there. I needed to get a new one, but that could wait for later. I walked back into the living room and took off my armor, but kept my sword close at hoof by changing it into a belt and wearing it. Not the most stylish thing in the world, but it would have to do.
If I was going to be home for a week I needed to stock up on supplies a little bit. I walked back towards the front door when I heard a knock. Strange, I wasn't expecting company so soon. I opened the door to be greeted by three familiar little fillies.
"Whoa. You sure you got the right house, Applebloom?" the orange pegasus whispered to her friend.
"Of course I'm sure!" assured Applebloom. The earth filly cleared her throat, "Howdy, um... Sir! I'm Applebloom, you remember me right? I'm Applejack's little sister."
I looked at the three of them curiously, "Yes, I remember."
"Oh good. These are my two friend's, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle," Applebloom pointed at either of her friends which both gave a smile. "We wanted to come and ask you a question... uh... go ahead Scootaloo." Applebloom nudged her friend.
"Me? But it was your idea!" argued Scootaloo.
"You were the one who wanted to do it the most, you should ask the question!" said Applebloom.
I cut in, "Whoa, hey there, no need to argue, just ask your question."
"Well you see, we saw you fly down to Ponyville on your awesome sword!" started Scootaloo.
"I had the idea to try and get our cutie marks by being Royal Guards!" said Applebloom.
"We wanted to see if you could teach us," Sweetie Belle finished.
I thought for a moment. "Are you sure? It takes a lot of work to become a Royal Guard."
The three of them sighed. "It's okay, you don't have to teach us if you don't want to," said Scootaloo glumly. The fillies started walking away.
"Hold on a second, I didn't say no. If you want to be taught, I suppose I can help with that."
All three of them rushed back up to me excitedly. "Really?! You'll teach us?" asked Scootaloo.
"Why not? I've got the week off, and I suppose I can try to help you," I answered. I walked back inside and gathered a few wooden training swords I always kept. A few months back I had the idea of starting my own small training academy for unicorns who wanted to learn how to sword fight, but I never got around to it. I walked back outside and levitated a sword to each of the fillies.
"Here are your weapons. Now be careful, even though they are just wooden training swords they can still hurt quite a bit."
---
"But I don't want to be a Royal Guard, Dad! I want to learn magic!" protested Sword Shield as he was given a training sword.
"It is important that you remember where your heritage lies, and that you honor it! Now get in the ring!" ordered Steadfast.
Sword Shield slowly walked into the arena ring, holding his sword in his mouth with a terrified expression. His opponent walked out from the crowd and entered the ring. A whistle sounded, and Sword Shield's opponent rushed up to him, raising the sword and slashing out.
Clack! Clack! Clack!
Sword Shield frantically deflected each swipe, flinching each time their weapons collided.
Clack, clack, thud!
"Agh!" Sword Shield dropped his sword and fell on his backside. He had lost the match. He looked over at his father in the crowd, who could only manage to shake his head in disappointment.
Sword Shield was picked up by one of the trainers and brought back into the crowd to his father.
"I'm taking away your books, you will not be allowed to practice magic until you learn how to wield a sword in combat." said Steadfast.
"What?! But-"
"My decision is final. We're going home."
---
I shook my head. Flashbacks. Since when did I get flashbacks?
"Are you okay, Mr. Lieutenant?" asked Sweetie Belle.
I came back to my senses and focused on the three fillies, "Yes, I'm fine, sorry."
"I can't wait to start hacking and slashing down monsters in the Everfree Forest!" said Scootaloo while jumping up and down excitedly.
"Yeah! We can be Cutie Mark Crusaders Monster Slayers!" suggested Applebloom.
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS MONSTER SLAYERS! YAY!" All three shouted at once.
"Hold on a minute girls, it's not a good idea to simply stroll into the Everfree Forest and attack everything that moves. When you have as much combat knowledge as I do, you do not go seeking battle just for the sake of battle. With such abilities you need to be responsible, protecting, trustworthy and loyal. These are all traits taught to the Royal Guard, and I will teach them to you." I hadn't much experience with teaching fillies, but I thought I could handle it.
"Aww, but we wanna FIGHT things!" said Applebloom.
"Yeah! We wanna be tough!" added Scootaloo.
"There's more to fighting than just being tough," I dashed to the side and swerved my way behind the fillies, "You have to be quick," I teleported myself onto the roof of my house, "You have to be observant and precise," I leaped off the roof and landed with a tumble and recovery, "And most important, you have to have control over your emotions and actions."
"Whoa!" said all three fillies in awe.
"Can you teach us how to do all that?" asked Scootaloo.
"It takes a lot of practice, but if you're willing to learn I'll be glad to teach you. Follow me and we can get started." I lead the three excited fillies to the training grounds of a Royal Guard outpost that I had helped set up when I first moved to Ponyville. It had a couple of training dummies, targets for firing practice and a nice open arena for dueling.
I brought out my sword and transformed it into a large statue of a dummy and placed it in the center of the dueling arena. "Okay, first test: Each of you are to try and knock over the dummy made with my sword. Applebloom, you're first."
Applebloom made her own little salute, "Yes Sir, Mr. Lieutenant!"
Applebloom walked over to the sword dummy and give it a small nudge with her hoof. It didn't budge, so she began to push it with all her strength, only managing to move it over an inch or two. She walked back over to her friends, panting, "It's too heavy, I'll never be able to push it!"
"Scootaloo, you're next," I called.
"You're going down, dummy!" said Scootaloo as she walked up to the sword.
She reached the sword and gave a large push on it, using her wings to help, but still couldn't manage to knock it over. She walked back a few steps and charged at it, "Hiiiii-YAH!" She jumped into the air and made contact with the sword, but instead of knocking it over she smacked into it and fell on her backside.
Scootaloo rubbed her head for a moment, "You're right, it is heavy." She joined her friends again.
"Sweetie Belle, you're up," I called.
"Um, I don't know, if Applebloom and Scootaloo couldn't do it, than how could I?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"You can do it Sweetie Belle. The Royal Guards are taught that even if the strongest are beaten, you should never give up or surrender to defeat prematurely. You have to believe in yourself. This test is not a test of strength, but a test of willpower, now I want you to get over there and push that dummy over!" I ordered.
Sweetie Belle took a deep breath and gave a salute, "You can count on me!"
She walked over to the dummy confidently and looked at it for a few moments, then looked back at her friends uncertainly.
"You can do it, Sweetie Belle!" cheered Applebloom.
"Show that dummy what you're made of!" added Scootaloo.
Sweetie Belle looked back at the dummy and took hold of one of the legs, and instead of pushing she pulled back on it as hard as she could. The dummy began to lean over, Sweetie Belle looked up and quickly jumped out of the way as the dummy crashed down where she had been standing just seconds before.
"I did it! I knocked the dummy over!" exclaimed Sweetie Belle excitedly. She ran back to her friends who couldn't believe what had just happened.
"How did you do that Sweetie Belle? We could hardly move that thing an inch!" said Scootaloo.
"Easy! After looking at the dummy I saw that there was more gold on one side than the other, and gold is a lot heavier than steel. You were pushing against the gold side, so it wouldn't fall over. I pulled it instead, so it fell over from its own weight!" explained Sweetie Belle.
"How could you know something like that?" asked Applebloom.
"Rarity uses gold from time to time in her dresses and I picked up that little bit of info while watching her work," answered Sweetie Belle plainly.
"Nicely done, Sweetie Belle, putting that unicorn thinking to good use," I said while transforming my sword back into a belt. "That is how you defeat your enemy by being observant, you watch your opponent and search for a weakness, then use their weakness against them. Unicorns are the best at this."
Scootaloo looked up to me curiously, "So what are Pegasus the best at?"
"Pegasus are quick, agile and precise. They have wings to help them get into the air and have an advantage over grounded opponents," I explained.
"Hmph, I can't fly with my wings yet," remarked Scootaloo.
"With practice you'll be able to get flying in no time. I've seen you scootering around Ponyville from time to time, and that is some excellent skill in being quick."
"What about Earth ponies? What are they good at?" asked Applebloom.
"They are physically stronger and can take more hits before going down, like your sister Applejack for example, she bucks apples off of trees with ease, how many other ponies do you know that can do that? Not many I'd bet. Even I can't do it, I have to use magic. Unicorns are the best at thinking fast and making split second decisions, and being observant like I said before." I searched the ground and picked up a few sizable stones then handed them to the three fillies.
"What're these for?" asked Applebloom.
I walked into the center of the arena and drew my sword, changing it to its normal form. "I want you three to throw the rocks at me. Give it your best shot. I'll give you three throws for each of you to hit me, you can throw from any distance outside of the arena and from any position."
"Are you sure about this? We don't want to hurt you," said Sweetie Belle.
I laughed, "Don't worry, you won't, but don't ever throw rocks at anypony else, this is for a test."
Sweetie Belle hesitated, "Okay, if you're sure." She walked a bit closer and pulled back her hoof, then with all her strength threw the rock at me. It was an overthrow, I ducked my head slightly and the rock flew right over top of me.
"That was a close one, but try to control your strength. You don't want to attack with all your strength, otherwise you might tire yourself out faster and miss, giving your opponent the advantage. Control your attacks and strength." This wasn't the first time I had trained others, of course the last couple were only slightly younger than I was, these were fillies, so I wasn't sure how fast they could learn and understand.
"Alright, my turn!" said Applebloom. She stepped up and pulled back her hoof holding the stone, keeping her eyes on me. She took a moment and then threw the rock forward, but it didn't fly towards me. Applebloom had slipped and the rock went straight up, falling down right under my nose.
"Aww! I did everything you said! Why didn't it work?" asked Applebloom.
"While you were able to control your strength, you need to learn to direct it at the right moment and in the right place. Control your breathing, know when to release the rock to hit your target. Precision is one of the hardest skills to learn for Earth ponies," I answered.
"My turn!" said Scootaloo.
I chuckled, "You know you don't have to be taking turns. The goal is to simply hit me, doesn't matter how you do it. But this is good, you're learning. Go ahead Scootaloo."
Scootaloo walked up and took aim, she concentrated on the rock and then me, in a second launching her hoof forward, sending the rock straight towards me. I used my magic and adjusted the position of my sword slightly.
Clink!
I lowered my sword, "Good throw Scootaloo! Your posture could use a little work, if you separate your legs a bit more you'll have better freedom of movement, but otherwise it was almost a perfect throw."
"Awesome! Thanks Lieutenant! I'll try and practice my posture, I'm just so used to keeping my legs close together while on my scooter." said Scootaloo.
"Retrieve your rocks and try again, and again. Let's see if you've learned anything yet," I ordered.
The three fillies picked up their rocks and continued to toss them at me, sometimes missing horribly or making me use my sword to block the shot. I let them continue to practice throwing even after their three tries had been used.
Sweetie Belle spoke up after another miss, "I just can't do it! I'll never get my cutie mark at this rate. In fact I might just end up getting a cutie mark at being good at being bad at throwing rocks!"
I tried to encourage her, at the same time adjusting my sword to block the constant bombardment of rocks from Applebloom and Scootaloo, "This is just one practice out of many. Some you may be good at, others you might not be good at. That's why you keep practicing and learning what you can and what you can't do."
Sweetie Belle let out a sad sigh, "But what if I'm not good at anything? What if I have no special talent?"
"Who's to say you don't? The only pony stopping you is yourself. You have to have some self confidence, and show yourself that you do have a special talent. You may not know what it is yet, but that is why you keep doing new things and learn from those new experiences. I'll say that what you three fillies are doing is going to be very helpful to you in the long run. I never had adventures or searched for my cutie mark, I always wanted to be a magician, but my father forced me into something else I didn't want to do, but then I learned I am good in either of those things."
"Really? So how did you get your cutie mark?" asked Applebloom.
Oops, I should have known this was coming, "Well... It took me a while. I was actually older than you are now when I did finally get it. It was during an arena match. I was against another unicorn who fought by holding his sword with his magic, while I still fought with a sword in my mouth. I didn't know I could fight with my sword using magic, so I tried to copy my opponent. It worked a little bit, but I was still losing, when suddenly there was a blast of noise that came from the sky and a flash of color. Everypony was distracted, including my opponent, so I took advantage of that, managing to strike him and win the arena match, and that's when my cutie mark appeared."
"Whoa, do you know what the loud noise was?" asked Applebloom.
"Don't remember, but I know it was some sort of rainbow," I answered.
"A Sonic Rainboom! That was Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom!" exclaimed Scootaloo.
I thought for a moment, "Yeah, that does sound about right. I remember Rainbow Dash performing it at the wedding of Shining Armor and Cadance and it seems similar. How do you know about the Sonic Rainboom?"
"Oh my gosh! We have to tell Rainbow Dash and the others about this!" said Scootaloo.
Confusion beginning now. "Why?"
"We learned how they got their cutie marks a while ago, and each time it was because of Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom! They learned that they were all connected before they even met, and if you got your cutie mark because of the Rainboom, then maybe you're also somehow connected!" explained Sweetie Belle.
"Oh, well that's certainly interesting. I don't know, it's possible, but it's also possible that I was just lucky." Suddenly I wanted to find a book to see if there was anything on Sonic Rainbooms and cutie marks.
"Come on! Let's go tell Rainbow Dash!" said Scootaloo, she and her friends began walking back into Ponyville.
"Uh, not right now girls," I looked over at the setting sun and realized how long I've been doing this, "In fact I think it's time to head home. Tomorrow we can tell Rainbow, and if you want we can do a new training exercise."
"Awww." All three fillies moaned at the same time.
"We'll come back tomorrow afternoon! I'm sure we can still earn our cutie marks," said Applebloom.
I waved the fillies off and put away some of the extra equipment I had gotten out of the outpost. As I walked back outside I was greeted by a gust of wind and a familiar rainbow maned pegasus dropped in.
"Did I hear somepony call my name?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Hey Rainbow. Yeah, you heard it alright, but you're a bit late," I answered pointing in the distance to the retreating fillies.
Rainbow Dash turned her head,"What? Late? Darn it, I've been practicing my flying a whole bunch lately to get accepted into Wonderbolt Academy that's coming up in a few weeks but it seems I need to work harder."
"Wonderbolt Academy huh? Well good luck, I'm sure you'll get in."
"Thanks. Say, I remember challenging you to a race a while back. We never got to that. You still got that sword to fly on right?" asked Rainbow Dash.
I pulled out my sword and transformed it into a surfboard, "Yup, got it right here."
Rainbow Dash took to the sky with a loop and began to hover, "Awesome! When are you free to race? I want to make the day memorable when I beat a Royal Guard, but I'll go easy on ya just to give you a small chance."
"I've got the week off, so anytime you're able. Don't go easy on me either. If you're getting into the Wonderbolt Academy you want to be tough, cause they'll try to break you. Give them a hard time with that, but don't push it too hard or you might mess up." Today was just full of advice blabbering out of my mouth.
Rainbow Dash landed back on the ground, "Thanks, but are you sure you don't want me to go easy on ya? I'm a pretty fast flier, I don't know many ponies that can beat me."
"I can handle myself in a flying competition, you'll see. I may even surprise you." I did have a magical flying sword and magic on my side after all.
"Suit yourself! Meet me at Sugarcube Corner on Thursday at three in the afternoon, I'll be waiting," said Rainbow Dash.
"I'll be there."
"Great! See you then." Rainbow Dash took to the sky and flew off to her home in the clouds, while I hopped on my sword and flew back to my house in Ponyville to catch a good night's sleep.
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Hehe, great chapter.
2126644
Thanks! I hope the future ones are even better.
2126685
No problem, hes a good OC, also. Enjoy a follow, you've earned it.
Oh Dear Celestia Luna and Faust..............Cutie Mark Crusader Royal Guards.......
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Yeah, I haven't been here for a while, but I'm back now!