Balance of the Mind and Body

by Swift Blaze

Chapter 24: Royal Guard Training, Part 1

Author's Note:

I have new editor and will be mentioned in the next chapter. This is the last one done by Rubahhitam. I would like to thank him again for his help in all the previous chapters and wish him the best on his future endeavors.

Now then, onward to the Royal Guard Training!

The train ride was quiet. The only sound was from the train itself going along its tracks. Swift Blaze got comfortable in his seat to enter is mindspace. Inside there, he could still hear the sounds of the train. He changed the environment from an open grassland to an industrial warehouse. The stallion made some clones of himself as ponies and they went off practicing jutsu of every kind he had read about.

As the clones practiced, the original started to wonder what the other trainees were going to be like. Blaze couldn’t recall anything from the show that might have said anything about it. He could only recall some stories his friends back on Earth had told him about bootcamp. The others were rumours he heard about. The stallion didn't think it would be that extreme.

So, he went back to reading some more jutsu styles to be more prepared for any situation. Blaze came across the jutsu that talked about storing chakra in other parts of the body. He thought, That will come in handy. I think I know the perfect place to store it, behind my cutie mark. The stallion performed the jutsu and started to regulate very small amounts every few hours.

After an hour of jutsu training in his head, Blaze had the clones switch to sparring. He also increased the weights by five pounds each. They all noticed the change and worked on toning their muscles to the new weight. The sparring lasted for a couple of hours before he exited his mind.

The stallion looked outside to see where the train was in relation to Canterlot. He was about halfway there. As he still had a few hours left in his travel, he figured he might as well get some normal sleep in. Blaze laid down on the seat and got comfortable as he could get, mainly because of the rocking train going up the mountain. It did not take long before he fell asleep.

The sound of screeching brakes woke the Earth pony. The jerking of the cars caused him to fall out of his seat, onto his head. Blaze looked outside and saw we are still on the mountain path. A train conductor came rushing through the aisle.

“Excuse me. Why did the train stop?” the red stallion asked him.

“There’s been a rock slide that’s blocking the tracks,” he replied. “I’m looking for a Unicorn that can help us clear the path.”

“I think I can help.”

“Thanks, but it’ll take an Earth pony several hours to move all those big rocks.”

“Have you found a Unicorn on the train?”

“Sadly, no. You’re the only passenger. Can’t see any other choice.”

“Trust me. I’m not an average Earth pony.”

Blaze followed the train conductor outside and to the front of the train. When they got there, the red pony saw the size of the rock slide. It was a massive one, as tall of the train and the length of one of the cars.

“As you can see, it’ll take some time for all of us to clear this all out,” the train conductor said.

Blaze replied, “If you can please stand back, I’ll have this cleared quickly.”

He did and stood next to the steam engine. The red pony went to the front of the rock pile. He raised one hoof and pointed at them. The stallion gathered his ki and sent several energy blasts into it. They exploded and created a dust cloud. Once the ponies could see again, they saw the tracks were now cleared. The train conductor walked the track to look at the work.

“Dammit!” he shouted.

Blaze walked up next to him and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“The rocks managed to bend and break the tracks. I take you don’t have anything to fix this?”

The red pony looked at the damage. Both tracks were bent and twisted from the force of the rocks. It was a longshot, but he believed it might be possible.

Blaze turned to the conductor and said, “Yeah, this is a big problem. I’ll see what I can do.”

The train conductor backed away. The red stallion stood on his hind hooves and drew some the chakra. The first jutsu was fire. He used it to heat up the metal to glow cherry red. Blaze walked to the stone wall and placed his fore hooves against it. This next jutsu allowed him to create stone armor around each hoof. This was so the Earth pony could rebend the hot metal and straighten it back into place. He reheated the metal a couple times until he was satisfied. Once good, he sprayed the track with a water jutsu to cool it back down. Blaze repeated the process on the other track.

The train conductor just had a surprised and shocked look on his face when the red stallion turned to face him. “I don’t know who you are, but thank you. I don’t think I know of any Unicorn that could’ve done all you did,” he said.

“Glad to be of service. Let’s get this train moving. I have Royal Guard Training I’m starting in the morning,” Blaze said.

“Right away! If you want, you can ride up in the locomotive. I’d like to know more about the pony that do miracles.”

“Sure. That way, you don’t have to think I did some sort of forbidden magic.”

They got into the locomotive and he started the process to get the train moving again. Blaze told his tale of not being an actual pony, how he couldn’t show him his human form, and finished with explaining about the chakra and ki abilities.

The conductor said his name was Smoky and thanked him again for what he did. They chatted about different things as the train moved along. They soon arrived at the station for Canterlot.

Blaze got off the train with his saddlebags and started the walk to the Castle. Smoky shouted from the train, “Hey Blaze, if you ever need a train ride. Just hop on, free of charge. You saved me by clearing and fixing the track.”

“Thank you for the offer. Glad I could help,” he replied as he waved goodbye to him.

The stallion walked through the dark town. He followed signs that directed to the castle. The sun was still down and all the ponies were still asleep. After some time, the Earth pony made it to the front gate and stood in front of the guards there.

“Swift Blaze reporting in for Royal Guard Training,” he said with a salute.

“You’re not suppose to be here until ten in the morning. That’s five hours away,” the guard said.

“Then why did Twilight tell me . . .” Blaze began to say as the reason popped into his head. He thought, Dammit Twilight! You didn’t have to help your brother. He was going to get plenty of me during the training.

After regaining his composure, the red stallion said, “Seeing I have time to spare, I would like an audience with Princess Luna.”

“Follow me.”

Blaze followed the guard into the castle and into the throne room.

“Swift Blaze, requesting an audience with you, Princess Luna,” the guard announced.

“He may enter,” she replied. The guard bowed and walked out and closed the door behind him. “So, what do I owe the pleasure of you coming to the night court?”

“Consider this the start of the hazing from Shining Armor for evading his guards. With the help of Twilight Sparkle,” Blaze said. “Nice to see that speaking lesson is helping you.”

“Yes, I’ve been warming up to the other ponies in the castle as they are able to understand what I’m actually saying. So, are you ready for the training?”

“I think I am. Do you think I can find out about the other ponies I’ll be training with?”

“I don’t see the harm. Let me have a guard bring the paperwork.”

Princess Luna used her magic and a guard came in through the main door.

“You summoned me your highness?” the guard asked.

“Yes, please bring the files for the Royal Guard recruits to the dining room,” the blue Alicron replied.

“Yes, your highness.”

The guard left and closed the doors once again. Princess Luna turned her head to the Earth pony and said, “Blaze, would you like to join Celestia and I for breakfast? She should be up soon so we can move the sun and the moon.”

“I would like that, Luna.”

The Princess of the Night smiled that he remembered to call her that. The Princess of the Day soon came strolling in. She soon realized the other pony was there too.

“Blaze, I’m surprised to see you here this early. You normally do your morning exercise in your front yard,” she said with a big yawn.

“So, you admitted you’ve still been spying on me each morning. Just be happy Ihaven't thrown anymore apples through that peephole of yours,” Blaze said.

“I only watch your training regimen. The rest of the time I leave you to your privacy,” the white Alicorn said.

“My sister is telling you the truth. We’ve only watched the morning events,” Princess Luna added.

The stallion said, “Et tu, Luna? I’m surprised.”

“What did you say, Blaze?” Princess Celestia asked.

“I paraphrased a line from an old, well-known play on my world. Et tu translates to ‘And you’.”

“If you would excuse us, Blaze, it’s time to raise the sun and lower the moon.”

He bowed to them and they channeled their magic. The Earth pony went to the window and watch the sceptacle of them controlling the massive objects in the sky. Once they were done, the stallion returned to where he’d been standing.

“Now then, Blaze, shall we go and get some breakfast?” Princess Celestia asked.

He nodded and left with the Princesses to the dining room. The three ponies all sat in the same spots as last time. The waiter gave them green colored menus. Blaze wished he go back to his human form to get some meat. Anyways, the stallion looked over the menu of pony style food. Ninety percent had either flower or hay in it. He figured he should get used to eating it as he would be a pony for the next two weeks. They placed their orders and the waiter returned to the kitchen.

All of a sudden, a big magic window device appeared over the table. Blaze looked at it to see what it was on the display. It was an aerial view of himself. The Earth pony looked in the direction of where the peep hole would be.

“I’m sorry, Blaze. I forgot to deactivate the auto spell I placed. As you can see, this is where we have been watching you,” said Princess Celestia

“I’m not mad, your highness, but I will get even. Water Style! Water Jet Jutsu!” he said.

He aimed the jet for the peep hole and made contact. From the magic screen, water shouted out and hit the white Alicorn. She was getting soaked and the blue Alicorn was laughing her flank off. The red pony stopped the jutsu after a few minutes.

Blaze looked where Princess Celestia was and saw how soaked she was. The mare looked like she just got out of a cold bath. The stallion joined in the laughter with the other Princess. The white mare spat out some water.

“Nice aim, Blaze. You caught me off guard,” she said. “I didn’t expect you to perform your jutsu in your pony form.” The Princess wiped some water off her face with a soaked napkin.

“I learned how to do it yesterday in my mind space. Would you like me to help you dry off?” Blaze asked. “I can create and hold a fireball in my hand.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Princess of the Sun activated her horn. Her body began to glow and the Earth pony felt warmth come from her. The mare deactivated it once she was all dry. “Comes in handy when you control the sun.”

“I can see. You promise not to spy on me anymore?”

“I promise.”

The guard from before came into the dining room carrying some paperwork with his magic. “Here are the documents you requested, Princess Luna,” he said.

“Thank you. You’re dismissed,” said the Princess of the Moon. “Here you go, Blaze.”

“What are these, sister?” the white Alicorn asked.

“Blaze asked if he could look at the list of ponies he’ll be training with. I don’t see the harm as he will meet them in a few hours,” she replied.

“That’s a reasonable request. Blaze, would you mind telling us why you are here so early?”

“Just like I told Luna, I believe this is the start of the hazing from Shining Armor before I start his training,” he said. “I believe Twilight helped him as she told me he likes to start very early with the trainees.”

“Did you get enough sleep so you won’t be tired on your first day?”

“I did some time in my mind and had a few hours of sleep on the train ride. I think I’ll be fine. I did have enough energy to go up against an Ursa Minor and a tornado on different days.”

“True. You have done things that no mere pony can do. I do realize you are not a pony.”

“So, let’s take a look at the ponies I’m going to be training with for the next two weeks.”

Luna gave the stallion the first folder and he read it over. The first pony was a Unicorn stallion. His name was Star Dust. The picture attached showed he had a blue coat and a black mane and tail with yellow at the tips. His eyes were yellow. His cutie mark was a shooting star. According to the file, he got the cutie mark when he was stargazing. He specialized in cosmic related magic. Blaze didn’t think his magic level would be on par with the Princesses. He couldn’t wait to see what he was capable of.

The Earth pony put the file down and the blue Alicorn slid over the next one. It was a Pegasus stallion. His name was Lightning Trails. His picture showed he had a black coat and white mane with several strips of black in a zigzag pattern. It looked similar to Vinyl Scratch’s hair style, from what he could tell. The color of his eyes were a light blue. His cutie mark was two lightning bolts that crossed like an ‘X’. The document said that as a small colt, he had been repeatedly struck by lightning during a nasty. He survived and his cutie mark appeared then. There was also a mention of something having happened during flight school. Though the record was sealed and didn't elaborate any further.

Luna gave him the next one and he started to look it over. It was another Unicorn stallion named Colorful Sparks. The picture showed he had a blue coat and orange mane and tail. His eyes were different colors. The left one was red and the right one was a dark blue. His cutie mark was multicolored sparks in a random pattern. Blaze thought it was an interesting one. The next section informed him why. It said he was specialized in light based illusion magic. Seemed he had been chased by some bullies and got it in a small lightning accident.

The stallion thought, Another cutie mark by lightning strike? What is so different about the lightning here in Equestria. It went on to say the lightning struck his horn and overloaded it. An illusion clone appeared next to him and the bullies tackled that one. They went through it and ran into a fire hydrant.

The Princess sent over three with her magic at the same to Blaze. He looked up to her with a confused look.

“These three are a special case and are all siblings,” she said.

The Earth pony spread them all out so he could see all the pictures. He realized now from them as they were Zebras. He picked up the first one and it said his name was Cancer. The first thing he noticed about the Zebra was that he had a horn. His coat color was white with red stripes and the mane and tail were the same pattern. The color of his eyes were a blood red. His cutie mark was a red pocket watch. There was nothing else about how he got it or what his special talent was.

Blaze picked the next one in line and notice similar things to Cancer. The Zebra’s name was Dragon and also had a horn. His looked identical to Cancer except one thing, Dragon had blue stripes and light blue eyes. The stallion thought they might be twins. As he continued to read, it said Dragon’s cutie mark was also identical to Cancer, except that his was blue. Again, nothing about how he got it or his special talent.

The last one surprised him. The Zebra was a mare and her name was Fang. She didn’t have a horn like the others. Her coat was black with white stripes. Her eyes were also blood red like Cancer. It said her cutie mark looked like a fang, but it blended in well with her stripes. Just like the other Zebras, nothing on how she got her cutie mark or what she was good at.

Luna pass over the last one and Blaze take a look at it. It was his file. The stallion looked it over and was surprised what it had. It has his name on it, but there was no picture of him. It also just listed him as a pony, no specific species. Everything else on the paperwork was listed as classified. Blaze looked up to the Princesses, expecting an explanation.

“As those Zebras have a special case why they are getting Royal Guard Training, you are also a special case,” said Princess Celestia. “The reason why we didn’t add a picture of you or add anything else was because you said you prefer stealth and secrecy. You don’t like to be out in the front lines when it comes to battles.”

“I do remember saying that. Of course, I was talking about how these abilities are normally used. I’ve been here for two weeks now and I’ve used these abilities for the opposite purpose,” he replied. “No secret or stealth type things, I was out on the front lines stopping a weather disaster, took on an Ursa Minor and Timberwolves, and had put on three shows for the ponies in Ponyville where I showed off my abilities.”

“What are you saying, Blaze?” Princess Luna asked.

“What I’m getting at is I’m reconsidering your offer. I still don’t want to be a soldier, but I feel like I do need to be on the front lines. I’m still going to go through the training and come up with some Taijutsu training for your guards. But, I would like to propose that I teach your Captains these moves and they pass them along. For the next part, I’ll need to explain this by telling you some more about my world.”

“Go ahead,” said Princess Celestia.

“Like I said before, the country I lived in had military divisions. One thing they also had in these divisions are specialized groups. They’re kept separate from the others and only report to the higher ups. They are given the near impossible missions and somehow able to carry them out. What I would like to propose is that I get placed in a group like this and only report to you.”

“I see where you are coming from and already prepared something like that. These ponies were originally rejected from becoming Royal Guards,” said the white Alicorn. “I’ve reconsidered them for the sole purpose of putting together a special ops group, as you would have called it, to handle any difficult tasks that might come up.”

“I take it you got this idea from my memories of my world?”

“I did and after recent events of the strange things happening to my kingdom, I realize now my Royal Guard are not prepared to go on the offensive when trouble arises. Depending on how you do in the training will determine if you should be made leader of the group. After the training, the others will find about this and which one will be in charge.”

Princess Luna said, “Whoever we think is the best of the best will get the position.”

“Thank you Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for allowing me to change the agreement we made.”

The waiter strolled in with the food and placed it in front of them. “After breakfast Blaze, I’ll have a guard escort you to the training grounds and meet the other ponies,” said the Princess of the Day.

The three ate breakfast in silence. Once it was over, the red stallion went with a guard to the grounds. They arrived and Blaze saw the other ponies from the files. He walked up to them and waved his hoof and said, “Hello there. I take it You’re here for the Royal Guard Training?”

The first one who spoke said, “Yep. Name is Star Dust.”

The red pony gave him a hoofshake. “My name is Swift Blaze. My friends call me Blaze,” he said.

“My name is Colorful Spark,” he said.

As Blaze went to shake his hoof, it passed right through an illusion. He put a confused look on his face as he didn’t want to give away that he knew some of their abilities.

“Don’t worry about it. He got us all with that illusion,” said Star Dust.

The next pony that came up was a black Pegasus. He said, “Hello Blaze, my name is Lightning Trails.”

As the red stallion moved his hoof to shake his, a thought came to his mind as he saw the other ponies expressions. Lightning Trails must have obtained the ability to control lightning. I take he has shocked some of the others. Two can play that game. Blaze channeled chakra into his hoof to block from being shocked. When their hooves touched, nothing happened. They all looked surprised as nothing happened.

The Earth pony said, “I take it he was going to shock me from your expressions.”

“How did you prevent it?” asked the Pegasus. “I know I made contact with your hoof.”

“You’re not the only pony that can control lightning.”

“And you're just an Earth pony. How can you control it?”

“Like so.” Blaze placed his hooves together and did the hand signs in his head. The stallion’s right hoof had a Chidori glowing from it.

Lightning Trails came over to him and touched it. He quickly jumped back and shouted, “Ouch! That is not normal lightning! What is that?”

“I’ll explain later,” he replied as he pulled the chakra back. “I see we also have Zebras joining us in the training.”

“You know of our species?” Cancer asked.

“Yes, I do. But, you’re the first one I’ve met face to face. Nice to meet you.” Blaze said as he held his hoof out.

The Zebra with red stripes went up and shook it as he said, “My name is Cancer. This is my twin brother, Dragon. Finally, this is our big sister, Fang.” The others waved at me.

Blaze said, “Looks like we have an interesting group.”

All of a sudden, a pony shouted from behind them. “Ten hut you foals!”

They all got in line and stood at attention. The pony that shouted was Captain Shining Armor. He was wearing his purple armor and looked serious.

“For the next two weeks, your useless lives are in my hooves. When I address you, you will add ‘sir’ to the beginning and end of what you reply.DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!” shouted the white Unicorn.

They all said, “SIR, YES, SIR!”

“You will eat when I tell you, sleep when I tell you, and follow all my orders while I train you. DO YOU UNDERSTAND!”

“SIR, YES, SIR!”

“I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

“SIR, YES, SIR!” They said louder.

“Stow your bags in barrack twenty and meet me on the track field. You have five minutes. MOVE IT!”

The ponies ran to the barracks and each put their bags away. The red Earth pony realized they were sent to the furthest barrack to the track. Blaze didn’t want to deal with getting yelled at for being late. So, he stopped in his track and performed a teleport jutsu to the location. The stallion arrived arrived seconds later. Shining Armor was surprised that he appeared out of nowhere.

The Unicorn walked up to him and said, “Hello Blaze, did you get enough sleep last night?” There was a smirk grin on his face.

I knew it! he thought. The white stallion told his sister a lie to have him come extra early. The red stallion hoped the grudge would end soon, or it would be the death of him.

Blaze calmly replied, “Sir, I got plenty on the train ride, sir.”

“I thought you could not perform any hand sign jutsu while in pony form?”

“Sir, I learned how to yesterday, sir.”

“You are hereby ordered not to use your chakra or ki skills during training. Unless I authorize it. Do you understand?”

“Sir, yes, sir!” the Earth pony replied with a salute.

The others soon arrived with three seconds left. They were out of breath. Several were surprised Blaze got there before them, and not out of breath.

“Get in line you maggots!” Shining Armor ordered. Each one did so very quickly. “Ok, I want twenty laps from each of you. But, for you Swift Blaze, you’ll have to do fourty as you somehow got through my magic barrier. None of you are to use your abilities. When you are done, you can go to the mess hall and get some chow. You have three hours to complete this. If you don't finished by then, you don’t get lunch. BEGIN!”

The trainees started to run the track course. The red pony had to run faster as he had twice as many to do. Cancer was somehow able to keep up with him.

He asked, “So, Blaze, how did you get here before us? The captain said you got through his magic barrier. That’s why the other Unicorns and I couldn’t just teleport from our barracks.”

“My abilities don’t use magic,” he replied. “Actually I have no magic in me at all. I can explain more during free time tonight.”

The red stallion picked up his speed as the zebra slowed back down and joined the rest of the group. Blaze had to go twice as fast as the others if he wanted to finish in the time limit. After two hours down, the others only had a few laps left. The red pony, still had fifteen left. He calculated in his head how long it would take him to finish. At his current speed, the stallion wouldn’t make it, and he was maxed out.

Blaze thought, Shining really has a grudge against me. It’s not my fault that his guards never expected to encounter me, a human with my abilities. You know what, screw the weights. I’m hungry. He said the command to his clothes to remove the enhanced weights.

What happened next, if one looked from the sidelines, was as if the stallion had activated some afterburner as he shot forward with flames hoof prints on the track. The Earth pony was struggling on the turns. At his speed, with no banking, he was pulling several G’s while just trying to stay on course. The others had moved to the outer lanes to avoid being hit by the red blur. Blaze finished with the requirement with fifteen minutes to spare. The other trainees had finished five minutes prior. When the Earth pony finished, he collapsed onto the ground. The other ponies came over to check on him.

“Dude! Blaze, what in the world was that!?” Dragon asked.

He replied while catching his breath, “I wasn’t going to finish in time at the speed I was going. So I deactivated the weight enhancement on my clothing.”

“Why are you wearing weighted down clothing?” Star Dust asked.

“Long story.”

“Do you need a hoof to get to the mess hall?” Lightning Trails asked. “I won’t shock you.”

“Nah, I think I’ll just float there.”

Blaze started to use his ki and floated off the ground.

“HOW IN EQUESTRIA ARE YOU DOING THAT!” Colorful Spark shouted.

“Again, long story. Let's get something to eat before we run out of time.”

The group went to the mess hall and grab some of the prepared food from the buffet. Blaze had loaded his up to the max. When he sat down with the rest of the group, they were again surprised at the amount of food the stallion took. The trainees ate in silence and quickly before Shining Armor could show up. Every crumb that was on their plates was gobbled up and they ran back to the track. The Unicorn Captain was waiting there for them. Each one got back in line as they were once were before.

“Blaze! Step forward.” Shining Armor commanded. The red pony did so. The white Unicorn walked up right to his face. “Care to explain why you disobeyed my order on using magic and abilities.?”

He replied, “Sir, you said to not use them. But nothing about deactivating the magic spell that’s on my clothing, Sir.”

“What spell?”

“Sir, weight enhancement, sir.”

“Explain.”

“Sir, I asked Twilight Sparkle to add a spell to my clothes to make them heavier so I can continue my morning routine. Would you care to see how much weight I have been training with, sir?”

“Take them off and put them on that scale,” he said as the stallion pointed to one in the middle of the track field.

Everyone headed over and Blaze took off his gi and the hoof bands. The scale said their weight was about a pound. The others looked like they didn’t believe him.

The red stallion said, “Return to previous weight setting.”

The scale platform dropped down hard and re-balanced itself. It now said the articles weight were a total two hundred and fifty pounds. The trainees dropped their mouths open. Blaze went and put his gear back on and stood back in line. Shining Armor turned and faced the front of them.

“This afternoon, you’re going through the obstacle course until all of you can do it under three minutes, each. The pony who does not complete this by sundown doesn’t get dinner. Oh, and Blaze, increase your total weight to three hundred pounds,” the Captain said, with a smile on the last part. “This guard will keep track of your times and call them out as you cross the line.”

“Sir, yes, sir. Increase total weight by fifty pounds,” the red stallion said.

The new weight placed a good strain on his body, making it difficult to move. He realized that Shining Armor was trying to get him to fail. Just to gloat that it was not for everyone. It might have been a plus side of punishing Blaze. Well, the Earth pony would play the Captain’s game and beat it.

The trainees took to the course and went at full speed to get it done as fast as possible. Swift Blaze was dead last due to the increased strain on his body. But, he didn’t stop. The stallion was determined to show the white Unicorn he couldn’t break him.

Fang slowed down when she came up from behind to match the pace as the red pony. The mare asked, “So, what did you do to get on Captain Shining Armor’s hate list?”

He replied, “I stayed here once. I wasn’t aware at the time that I was suppose to have an escort. The guards thought I was an assassin when I did one of my abilities right in front of them. They were shooting their magic at me and I manage to evade two dozen of his guards.”

“You must tell us the tale sometime, Blaze.”

“Maybe tomorrow night. I think tonight we should get to know what each of us can do.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Fang sped back up and continued going through the course. From what his body was telling him, he’d be feeling the burn later on.

After two hours of training, the others averaged close to three and a half minutes. Blaze was at five minutes. He was getting used to the weight. Each run through showed proof. As the red stallion was halfway through the obstacle track, he heard a scream that came from the start/finish line. Lightning Trails was flying all around screaming,

“I did it! I got under three minutes!” the Pegasus shouted.

The others nearby congratulated him. Blaze continued working hard on the course to get his time better. The next pony was Cancer getting under the objective. The others finished in order of, Colorful Spark, Dragon, Fang, and Star Dust. The red Earth pony was at three minutes and fifteen seconds.

The other trainees started to cheer Blaze on as he was knocking a few seconds off each time he finished the course. There was an thirty minutes left and the stallion only had a few seconds to go. With twenty minutes left, he broke the three minute mark. They all cheered loudly for doing it. Then realized the red Earth pony didn’t stop.

“Blaze! You did it! You completed the objective! You can stop running!” Star Dust shouted.

He shouted back, “NO! I AM NOT DONE!”

Lightning Trails flew over to me and followed as he continued the course. “What else do you got to prove?” He asked.

“Tell me, what does that say over there for the course record?”

The Pegasus flew to the sign and said what it read, “Record time, two minutes and fifty-three seconds.”

“Now then, who set that record?”

“Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard. Are you going to try and beat this Blaze?”

“Eeyup.”

The others trainees heard what the stallion was planning to do. They cheered louder to push him on. At twelve minutes left, the time was two minutes and fifty-five seconds. Blaze was close and he felt he could do it. The stallion pushed harder and harder on his body. The pain was increasing, but he pushed it to the back of his mind.

With six minutes left, it was two minutes and fifty-three point five seconds. “You’re almost there, Blaze!” Colorful Spark shouted.

The next lap was two minutes and fifty-three point zero five seconds. Last lap. the Earth pony said in his head. He pushed his body past its limit as the stallion wanted to beat the record. The finish line came into view. Blaze made one massive leap across it. He landed on his belly and slid on the dirt to a stop.

“That was awesome, Blaze!” Dragon said as he and Cancer picked him off the ground.

He replied, “Thanks,” while full blown exhausted.

The two Zebras took the red pony over to a bench so he could have a rest and let his hooves from stop aching. As the adrenaline was wearing off, the pain came knocking with a sledhammer all over his body. Blaze worked on it with his chakra to heal where it hurts. The others were about to start ask some questions, when they saw Captain Shining Armor heading to them.

“I take you all were able to get under the three minutes,” the white Unicorn said. He turned to the guard and said, “Soldier, read out the results.”

He cleared his throat and read the results, “First to finish was Lightning Trails, with the time of two minutes and fifty-nine point seven seconds. Next was Cancer with the time of two minutes and fifty-eight point two seconds. Colorful Spark had the time of two minutes and fifty-nine point three seconds. Dragon had the time of two minutes and fifty-eight point four seconds.”

“Hah! I beat you again, Dragon!” Cancer interrupted.

“Ahem, Fang’s time was two minutes and fifty-seven point seven seconds.”

“And I still beat you both, little brothers,” Fang said as she smirked.

“Star Dust had the time of two minutes and fifty-eight point seven seconds.”

“Now then, what time did Swift Blaze finished the course, barely?” Shining Armor asked. “He probably had the worse time.”

“Um, . . .” The guard started to say.

“What was his time on the obstacle course? That’s an order,” the white stallion commanded as was getting mad.

“Swift Blaze’s time on the obstacle course was two minutes and fifty-one point nine seconds, sir.”

The other trainees cheered after hearing that the red stallion broke the record. The Earth pony had a smirk on his face as he looked at the Captain.

Blaze turned to the other Royal Guard and said, “You can keep Captain Shining Armor’s name on that record wall. I would like to just be on it also. With a note that I had 300lbs of weights on me.”

“Congratulations recruits,” said the white Unicorn. “You’ve survived the first day of training. Go and get your dinner and get plenty of rest. We’ll get to the hard stuff tomorrow.” He then teleported away.

The group headed back to the mess hall. Blaze floated with them as his hooves were still aching. The red pony sat at the table before getting food as he wasn’t hungry, yet. He wanted to finish healing his body enough so it would stop aching. The others went and got their food and joined the Earth stallion at the table.

“You’re not going to eat, Blaze?” Star Dust asked.

He replied, “I’m working on healing the ache and pains my body is telling my brain. The food hunger is being overwhelmed by them.”

“Care to tell us how you can do all these things that no Earth pony has ever done before?” Colorful Spark asked.

The stallion let out a sigh. Then said, “You’re not going to believe it when I tell you. I can’t even show you as my body is under a magic spell. I ‘m not actually a real pony.”

“BULLSHIT!” Dragon shouted.

“Then how would you explain how I can fly without wings or do magic like things without a horn?”

The others started to think what would cause a Earth pony to get unique abilities. They looked him over and couldn’t see a sign of a broken or ingrown horn. No signs the stallion had wings at some point in his life and had lost them.

Once they realized they couldn’t, Blaze told his tale of being a creature called a human and how he came to Equestria. He covered the chakra and ki energy sources and demonstrated some of them. The red pony finished with the tornado and how he was stuck in pony form for about two weeks.

“Now I remember!” said Colorful Sparks. “I saw you in your human form at that Award Ceremony for the orange Earth mare.”

Blaze asked, “Then how come you didn’t recognize my pony form when I went back on stage to get the citizenship certificate and the gift from Princess Celestia?”

“I was in the back of the crowd.”

“Ok, I don’t recall seeing at other times when I was in Ponyville. Where do you live?”

“I’m on the northeast side of town. I used to work at the magic gag shop over there.”

The stallion smiled as he thought of two ponies that probably went there often. “I take it then you know a pink Earth mare and a light blue Pegasus mare then?” he asked.

“Oh, you mean Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash? I do know them as they shop there a lot. Last time, Dash said he had to pull a prank on a certain somepony for backfiring one of hers.”

“I can tell you they have yet been able to prank me.”

“That was you too! What was the prank she tried to do?”

Blaze told the story at the restaurant of how Dash tried to shoot a spit wad at him. The other ponies laughed after hearing what happened.

“My body is healed enough. So I’m going to get some food. When I get back, how about we go around and tell something about each of us. Seeing how I’ve shared.”

The red stallion got up and got some food. Again he filled the tray up with so much, it looked it would feed six ponies. He returned and started to eat as the pony waited for one of the others to start telling their tales.

----------Star Dust Backstory-----------

Star Dust wiped off his muzzle of food before he said, "I think I’ll start. Before coming here, I lived in Manehattan. I lived there with my little sister. Our parents moved away to Canterlot due to family problems."

"What kind of problems?" Dragon asked.

"I’d rather not discuss it. At the time, I was only a teenage colt and didn’t have my cutie mark. Our parents wouldn’t even send us money to survive so I had to take small jobs here and there to get by."

"Sorry to hear that,” said Blaze. “I kind of know what that’s like when I lived on my planet. I used to live with my Mom as a child, but I had to help out by getting a job to buy food and other things.”

"Thanks. One night, after I put my sister to bed, I stayed up and read a book I checked out from the local library. It was about the stars and how Princess Luna created them several thousand years ago. I loved the night sky each night I could view it. I remember my Dad telling me a tale of how each star up there was for a pony that died in the past thousand years."

The red Earth pony thought, Hmm, that reminds me of something from my childhood. Can't recall exactly what, but I heard something similar in a story.

"From working several odd jobs, I manage to save enough bits to buy a telescope. On the clearest night, I snuck out of the house after my sister was asleep. I went to the park and set the telescope up and in the biggest field there. I was truly amazed at what I saw through it in the vast depths of space. It seemed I was out there for a long time, when it was only twenty minutes."

"That must have been magical to see all the things in space," Colorful Spark said.

"You can say that. I started to get tired so I was about to put my telescope away when I saw something shimmer in the sky. I was seeing a shooting star! I quickly pointed my telescope to it and began to track it. I notice something was off. It was not moving side to side, like how you would normally see it. It was getting bigger. I realized then it was coming straight for me!"

"What happened?" Cancer asked with an anticipation look on his face.

“I’m getting to that. The shooting star flew right over me. I did not know how, but my horn started to use magic and emitted a bright light that covered the field. After a few seconds it faded out. I was amazed at what happened so I tried to see if I can recreate the light. I was able to, but not as intense as before. It looked like a tiny star was floating above my horn. I then noticed my cutie mark appeared. A shooting star with the cosmic tail. I ran home to my little sister and told her the great news. She was happy I got my cutie mark.”

“Such a touching tale,” said Lightning Trails. “It brought a tear to my eye.” He wiped away said tear.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what is your sister name and where is she now?” Blaze asked.

“My sister’s name is Flower Dust. When I received a letter from Princess Celestia that I was finally accepted for Royal Guard training, I got worried for my little sister. I sent a letter to her asking if my sister could stay at the castle while I’m training. A few days later, a Royal Guard showed up at my house and said he was ordered to take me and my sister to the Castle in Canterlot. We were both happy that we quickly packed everything that we had and left Manehattan complete, never wanting to return there again.”

“That’s very kind of the Princess to offer. I can’t wait to see your sister,” Colorful Spark said.

“I told her to stay in the Castle and not to wander Canterlot. I don’t want her running into our parents.”

“They must have done something pretty bad if you never want to see them again,” Cancer said.

“I think I’ll go next,” Lightning Trails said.

----------Lightning Trails Backstory-----------

“I’m from Cloudsdale, The City in the Sky. Such a beautiful place. I lived there all my life and had many friends as a colt. My mom works in the weather factory in the snowflake room. My dad was a Royal Guard that worked the night shift. He was gone sometimes to do missions for Princess Celestia,” the Pegasus said.

“That’s cool that your father was in the Royal Guard,” Colorful Spark said. Everyone else nodded.

“At the time, I just finished basic school and was in Flight School to learn some unique flight techniques we Pegasus can do. We were getting a tour of the weather factory and how all the weather was made in Equestria. I got distracted by how to read the wind patterns in the sky and fell behind the group. I went to look for them and entered a room. I didn’t realize it, but I’d entered the testing room. I wandered around looking for them when the door to the room closed and locked. The lights went out and I heard thunder in the room. Lightning began to strike everywhere. I was struck by several of them and was knocked out.”

“What happened!” Dragon asked in an excited voice.

“I didn’t find out what happened until sometime later, when I woke up in the hospital. For a week, my mom was beside my bed and looked like she hasn’t slept the whole time. When she saw I was awake, she quickly gave me a hug. I don’t know how, but I somehow shocked her, literally. She jumped back quickly after receiving the jolt and assured me everything was going to be fine. She told me that I entered a test for a new kind of lightning that would be safer. I didn’t die, but it was painful. She also told me I'd suffered some after effects. I could harness lightning by absorbing it and dishing it out. She also told me I had my cutie mark. I quickly threw the bed sheets off to take a look and saw two lightning bolts crossing each other.”

“Shocking development,” Blaze said, trying to be funny. The others just rolled their eyes at him.

“I had to practice controlling since I didn’t want to hurt anyone. It was fun having this ability as I could shoot it out and disperse clouds very quickly. Years later, as I was half way through Flight School I received terrible news when I arrived home. My mom was crying on the couch as a Royal Guard Pegasus was standing there. She saw me enter the house and quickly pulled me into a hug. She told me that my dad got injured on his latest mission. I asked what happened. She told me he was on a mission in the Griffin Kingdom and something went wrong. I asked where is dad. She said he’s alive in the Canterlot hospital. But, he was severely injured. He can still fly, but won’t be able to use any of his hooves, ever again. At this point I joined my mom crying as we cried for who knows how long.”

“Sorry to hear that, Lightning Trails,” Cancer said. The others nodded also.

“Thanks. He’s still doing fine, but it was a little hard for him at first to not be able to do anything by himself. When I returned to Flight School after a week of visiting my dad in the hospital and bringing him home, word has spread about what happened. Some ponies said they were sorry for what happened to him. There were some that started to make jokes about him. I was very furious when they talked about him like that. I lost it one day, I sent lightning at that pony making fun at him and put him in the hospital. Before I could be disciplined by the Flight School, I dropped out as I don’t want to be anywhere near those jerk ponies. I made my decision then to join the Royal Guard to be like my dad. I submitted who knows how many applications over the years and get rejected. I learned enough to get a job to help pay the bills and buy food as my mom started to work part time as she was caring for my dad now. It was not till last week when I finally got the acceptance letter. I was excited that I sent off lightning in different directions.”

“So how is your dad doing?” Blaze asked.

“He still has his hooves, if you are wondering. The doctors said they are all healed, but the nerves are not making the connection to allow him to use them. They tried every magic to make them work and nothing so far.”

LIghtning Trails saw the red pony was a deep thought about this. He don’t know why he was interested in this.

“Can I go next?” Colorful Spark asked.

No pony objected so he cleared his throat as he was about to tell his tale.

----------Colorful Spark Backstory-----------

“Where shall I begin? Well, I was born and raised in Ponyville all my life. My years as a colt were not as fun as others. Because one eye color is different from the other, I was picked on by the other ponies,” the Unicorn said.

“As we heard so far, all of us had some trouble when they were young. None of will ever pick on what makes a pony unique to the others,” Dragon said. The others nodded in agreement.

“Thanks. I did make friends with a grey Pegasus filly. She too had a slight problem with one of her eyes, it would wander looking in another direction.”

“I know that mare,” said Blaze. “She’s Ditzy Hooves. That mare is nice to hang out with. Always full of fun and joy. Her filly is also cute too.”

“You know Ditzy? We have more friends in common Blaze than I ever thought. Getting back to my story, Ditzy and I hung out together in the whitetail woods so we were away from the meanies. One day, we were walking through town when we saw the school bullies. They liked to pick on us the most because of our eyes. They spotted us and started to head towards us. We started to run away and they followed, catching up. Ditzy flew off to get help from an adult. I ran all through town with them in tow. I was starting to get tired and stopped by a fire hydrant. They circled around me so I could not escape.”

“What happened next?” Cancer asked.

“As I was keeping an eye on them, I saw a dark cloud being pushed to me. Ditzy was pushing it and the bullies did not notice. When she was over, she gave it a hard kick to have lightning come out. What happened next I did not expect. The lightning hit my horn.”

“Ouch. That’s gotta hurt,” said Blaze, in a strange voice none of the others recognized.

“When it struck the tip, I got a magic overload and sent a bright light over the area. When I could see again. I looked around as saw everypony else was rubbing their eyes to see again. I then noticed to my left was something that looked like me. I decided to stand still like the thing and see what would happen. When they could see again, they thought they were seeing double, they argued for a bit then decided to lunge towards the fake. When they did, they flew right through it and collided with the fire hydrant that it was hiding.”

The ponies listening laughed at that. Colorful Spark joined them.

“Seeing my horn is drawn to lightning, can you, Lightning Trails and Swift Blaze, keep the lightning use under control? Don’t want to get another power boost by accident.”
“Sure thing. I don’t shoot my lightning off by accident, anymore,” the Pegasus replied.

“I have to supply chakra and do things called hand signs to make my lightning appear. I don’t even know how my chakra lightning will affect you the same way,” Blaze said.

“Let's not find out then. Getting back to my tale, so while they were knocked out, Ditzy and I got away. Once we were safe, Ditzy informed me that I got my cutie mark. I looked and saw several sparks of different colors on my flank. I was so excited, my magic with off again and more illusions popped up around us. That is when I discovered my talent was making illusions. I checked out books from the library that were about it and began to study. Ditzy helped me when I went to test to see how real the illusions are.”

The red pony asked, “So, did those bullies bother you and Ditzy again?”

“No, they didn’t. After running to that hydrant, I think they were afraid to run into something else and seriously get into trouble. Here are my thoughts on what I think about others. If somepony is mean to me, or mention something bad about my eyes, I no longer care what happens to them. If they are a kind pony, or says something positive about my eyes, I will be your friend for life.”

“Those are good things to believe in,” said Blaze. “Of course, there are some times when someone acts out in a bad way because they are also hurting on the inside from something. If I can get that pony to change their ways, they will be grateful for it.”

“When did you get so philosophical, Blaze?” Lightning Trails asked.

“Probably has to do with my beliefs about balance and restoring it on different levels,” he replied.

“So who is next to tell us about themselves?” Star Dust asked.

“I guess we’ll go next as we are siblings,” Cancer said.

----------Cancer, Dragon and Fang’s Backstory-----------

“Unlike the rest of you, except for Blaze here, Dragon, Fang, and I was not born within the land of Equestria. Our homeland is called, Zebrawbway. It is a beautiful place like Equestria. The only thing is we don’t have magic so abundant like here. I take you are wondering why my brother and I have horns then. Our mother was a Zebra and our father was a Unicorn. We were the first to ever receive a horn and were shunned because of it. It got so bad, our family left Zebrawbway and enter this land. We moved to a place outside of Dodge City so we don’t scare the ponyfolk. When it came time to go to school, our father used his magic to hide our stripes. The ponies were nice and friendly, but we hated hiding our true selves.” Cancer said.

“Sorry you got ran out of your homeland. Just like the rest of us, we don’t care about how everypony looks. It’s their actions that determine how they are liked,” Lightning Trails said.

“One thing my brother and I did quite often is we challenged each other. I have won most of them.”

“No, I won more than you!” Dragon shouted

“No, I did!”

“No, I did!”

“Hold it!” shouted Fang. “Do I need to put you in your place again?”

“No, big sis.” Dragon and Cancer said at the same time.

“Then stop making everything a challenge.”

“Yes, sister. Back to the story. We raced each other to and from school as twins always conflict with each other. On one day, it was raining when we left the schoolhouse. We ran as fast we did to get home. When we got into our yard, we notice something strange. The rain was no longer falling. It was suspended in mid air,” said Cancer.

“How is that possible?” Colorful Spark asked.

“We did not know at the time, but both our horns were emitting magic. We seemed to have stopped time. We cut our magic off and the rain started to fall again. Cancer and I were surprised at what happened. We then noticed the illusion spell disappear and showed our stripes again. There was something else that also revealed, our cutie mark. We both had a pocket watch, except it match our stripe colors. We began to work on exactly what our cutie mark stands for.” Dragon said.

“So what did you find out?” Blaze asked.

“We were correct that it was something time related,” replied Cancer. “Dragon has the ability to slow time around him making him look like he is going at super speed. I can speed up my own time to make myself go faster. The downside though now is our father’s illusion spell to hide our stripes was no longer working on us. We had to face the fact that when we go back to school the next day, we might get picked on.”

“What happened?” Star Dust asked.

“When we got to the schoolhouse, the other fillies and colts were happy we got our cutie mark, but were surprised we were also hiding the stripes. They all thought it was cool. Cancer and I were filled with joy that they did not think we were strange or freaks. Life became happier since as we could show our true selves freely without being picked on. We still continued having challenges every chance we got.” Dragon said.

----------Fang POV----------

“What about you, Fang. Tell us about yourself. Do you have some interesting talent like the rest of us?” Blaze said as he was across from her

“I would think so. You tell me.” the black Zebra said as she pointed one hoof at him.

Everyone was wondering what was going to happen. The mare focused on her hoof and sent out a blade that stopped mere inches from Blaze’s nose. Several gaspped, except for her brothers because they already knew about this.

“Yea, that’s an interesting skill,” Blaze said as he cleared his throat. “Can you retract it please?”

Fang did and it pulled itself back into her hoof. The pain of it returning was still there as it was when the first time it happened.

“Would you all like to hear my tale now?” she asked.

They all nodded their heads and paid attention.

“I was a filly when my brothers were born. I too was surprised they had horns. My family love out ruled the tribe’s beliefs. I was sad that I had to leave my friends behind in Zebrawbway. I soon was glad to leave them as I found out later how some turned against my brothers. I too received the illusion spell from my father so I could finish school. Times were a little tough living just outside of Dodge City. I took up being a privateer, somepony who gets hired to retrieve . . . things the client wants. Some of it was dangerous, but my original coat, after the illusion spell wore off, allow me to sneak through the night and blend in,” the mare said.

“Sounds similar to a group of people on my planet. Of course I think they were called something else. Can’t recall what though.” Blaze said as he rubbed a hoof against his head.

Fang glared at the stallion, hoping he doesn’t say the other name. “On one of the jobs, we were spotted by the enemy and had to get out of there quickly. I got stabbed in the hoof by one of them. When we were out of sight, I looked at my injury and saw a blade was still in there. There were no hospitals near by so we setup camp in the forest. The next morning, I did not feel the pain from the blade in my hoof. With the sunlight now, I got a better look at it. I saw that it was not stabbed into me, but came out of me. I thought I did not want that blade there and I started to retract back in. The wound healed up quickly where the blade came out of.”

“What was the object you were sent to retrieve?” Lightning Trails asked.

“Sorry, it’s classified. I cannot talk about any missions that I went on. I later found out that the blade was not tied to just that hoof. I could have it come out of any surface on my body. I began to train with it to understand how I can use it and how quickly I can have it come out. After I got a handle on it, I returned home and found about these two getting theirs. Years later, as we were hanging around the house, we received a letter from Princess Celestia inviting us to be trained in the Royal Guard. We were all shocked at this. Then, filled with joy about what this could bring, we quickly packed our stuff and left the next day.”

--------------End of backstory---------------

“It begs the question though, why she would have only us train together? They normally have several dozen doing it each month.” Star Dust said.

“Well, it’s getting late and I would like to get plenty of rest before Shining Armor has me do something overboard again,” said Blaze.

They all laughed at the thought, knowing it will probably happen. The trainees returned to our barracks and headed off to sleep land.

Comments

[falconstrings]

hey great chapter i hope to see more soon

[djponyfl]

more?

[Chaos Nightmare]

Are you ever gonna update my dude?

[djponyfl]

Update?