Son of the Night

by Rafarofa

Training

Son of The Night

Chapter 2 - Training

"Alright ladies, I think that you all have received the notice that you will undergo a special training now that we came to Canterlot. My colleague Meteor was designated to pass the training to the Solar Guard and I was assigned to work with you, but it's better for you to know immediately: it's not because I'm a mare that I'll go easy on you and you should not underestimate me either, who was guarding on the staircase last week saw pretty well what happened."

Desert Thunder spoke to a crowd as if she was already used to train soldiers and who didn't know her would believe that she can use the Royal Voice because of the ease with which she could speak so loudly.

"I'll begin by analyzing you one by one and see what needs to be improved, some of you I've seen in action already but you'll all get the same commitment on my part so I want you to see your dedication as well. Now I want... Aster? What are you doing here?"

The surprise of the soldiers was the same as the trainer to see the foal at the end of rows carrying a sword almost as big as himself.

"I came here for the training, I'll become a Lunar Guard soldier!" The foal said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"How is it? Don't you think that you're still too young for that?" She replied.

"I also took the vow, I'm also a Nightkeeper, I can't do less than any other!" He replied with conviction, you could see in his eyes the determination of a foal with a blank flank wanting to find his place in the world.

"If you say so... But if you can't stand the pressure, do not push yourself to the point of getting hurt." And then the training of the guard followed and at the top of a watchtower a brown pegasus watched the whole scene.

At the end of the night Aster hardly could stand it on his hooves. Whew! This training really got me tired, but at least I didn't have to change the night for the day. He thought as he prepared to sleep. His tent was set in a favorable position right behind the castle: it was a covered area, which protected it from the sun and rain and had walls on two sides which prevented it from flying off in the wind.

A few hours later, Aster woke up and went out of his tent. The sun still shone and a winged shadow approached where the foal was until it was able to be seen clearly. It was a brown pegasus with a semblance of warrior and appeared to be in his forties.

"So you want to become a soldier, isn't it?" He asked in a serious tone but nothing threatening.

"Yes, I do." Aster replied curious with the visitor.

"So what about training with me?"

"And... who are you? "The little one's confusion only increased.

"Well, allow me to introduce myself. I am Hurricane Sword, Royal Army general and I am offering you the opportunity to go through training of the highest quality with me. Now if you'll tell me your name..."

"My name is Aster, of theNightkeeper clan. And you said general, that's..."

"A much higher rank than captain, for sure."

"And why me among everypony else?"

"See, Aster, you remind me of another foal I met many years ago that was about your age, he was also full of willingness to become a member of the guard but lacked somepony who would put faith in him and, unlike you, he had to make his way all by himself. Now I see you here and I want you to have a better opportunity than he had."

"I think I understand. And who was that foal? "

"Me."

Those bulging white eyes made ​​the old general frown his face.

"When do we start?" The excitement was evident.

"It is already setting dusk, so go to sleep and in morning we'll start the training."

"But I'm nocturnal! Besides, I just woke up!"

"I know. And training in a situation which we are not accustomed improves the result, then getting used to the day shift is already part of the training. In a few hours I'll be back. But there was one thing that puzzled me: why an unicorn went to training camp? Wouldn't it be better to have gone to magic school instead?"

Aster looked at his own horn amid the blue mane and then his wings, fur and feathers were so dark that they could barely be noticed as different things. With a little effort he started flapping them and flew at eye of the geneneral stopping after a few seconds and staring at him like a baby dragon who had his ability questioned. Hurricane Sword was fairly surprised that his newest apprentice was not a unicorn.

Alicorn? But all known alicorns are... It's best to let go, if he really was, they would have already done something. He thought.

"Okay then, see you in the morning." And with that he flew off leaving Aster to return to sleep.

The next day they were ready to start training. Aster was carrying his sword.

"Good morning Aster, today I'll give you your first lesson in armed struggle but first you must have this in mind: your weapon, whether sword, spear, axe or whatever isn't just a tool, it's an extension of your body and as such must be felt. Don't just use the waepon, feel it moving close to you, it's important for not to end up cutting yourself. "

"Got it! Feel the weapon ... feel the weapon ... "he looked at the sword in a strange way, as if trying to talk to it.

"Riiiiiight... show me what you can do."

Aster began to swing the sword from one side to the other with a very good coordination for his age but the weight of the weapon quite hindered his movements.

"Stop for a bit, wait here, I'll be right back." Hurricane Sword flew to a barracks and returned with a short sword. "Let's try something more proportional, okay?" Aster took the new sword putting the other aside. And the skill shown was impressive, as if he had spent his whole life fighting.

"Are you sure you've never done this before?"

"Only when I played with the other children of the clan, but I never got into a real fight, why?"

"Nevermind, now let's see... I want you to..."

And the training went on. It took days, months, years, and Aster and Hurricane continued training. Aster's ability was growing and that could be perceived when he fought with another soldier from regular training of the guards, they never had a chance. The dedication of Aster didn't made ​​for less either, he was always willing to do anything to become a better warrior. And over the years the training gained audience because two young mares, one white and the other blue sometimes attended by a castle window.

---

Aster became adult, the training has shown it's result as he had become a stately steed and extremely skilled in swordsmanship. Hurricane could not be more proud of his apprentice. Interestingly, however, the horn on his head was gone.

"Good morning, Hurricane, so what will it be today? Fight? Timberwolf hunting? Or maybe a new technique?"

"Ha, ha, hold your reins there, son. Today before training I have something to tell you."

"And what is it?"

"Aster, do you have any idea on what day is today?"

"Hmmm ... Saturday?"

"Well, yes... too... but the point is that today you complete ten years of training."

"Ten years? It's been all this?"

"But if isn't distraction in pony right in front of me, I still wonder how you can lose track of time so easily. But anyway, today your training completes ten years and it's time for one important thing: your test. If you pass then your place in the Lunar Guard is guaranteed, if not, another three months of training."

"I had an excellent teacher all these years, I'm sure I can do it. What do I have to do?"

At that moment Hurricane drew his sword.

"Fight me."

"What?"

"Fight me. You don't need to win, just show me that you have all the capability to be a member of the Guard. "

"If that's the way," Aster also drew his sword and stood on guard. "let's do this. Haaaa!!!."

The fight began. Aster was quick to attack as much as to dodge the attacks of the other sword, but the old general did not fall behind preferring to block the attacks than getting out of the way.

"Your weapon is part of you, Aster, feel it's movements."

"That's what I've been working all these years."

The battle followed intense and at the top of a tower of the castle, through a window, two expectators vibrated with what happened. With an unpredictable movement from below, Hurricane made ​​Aster loose the sword hitting a kick in his belly right after. Aster fell on the floor and his sword right next to him, but before he could reach it, Hurricane was already leaping toward him to attack once more. The wisest thing to do would be to barrel roll but instead...

"But huh? And his eyes..."

And Hurricane's sword (no pun intended) collided with nothing and bounced back. At the time, nobody understood what happened until a translucent blue bubble formed around Aster who had a light blue aura coming out of his eyes and a silhouette where his horn was supposed to be.

Without thinking twice, Hurricane was all over again but instead simply bouncing off the blade, when it collided with the shield a small explosion threw him back. Aster seized the moment, grabbed his sword and when Hurricane opened his eyes the tip of the blade was just centimeters away of him.

"I thought that aside from the horn disguise you developed based on those books, you knew nothing of magic." Hurricane said as he released his sword.

"And I don't know. And also don't know how that shield appeared but it surely came in handy. "Aster said offering the hoof to the teacher. "So what? I'm approved?"

"Feel free to be happy, kid, because from now on you are the newest member of the Lunar Guard."

"Yeeeaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!" While shouted, Aster raised his arms and wings and left the floor a bit. Probably even the queen woke up with the noise.

"Hold on, boy, no need to fuss. Now let's go to my accommodation, I have something for you."

"Alright, let's go."

And when they started to leave, a distant applause could be heard approaching.

"Impressive. To make a shield like that I needed to develop the technique for weeks and you did it with such naturality"

They looked at who approached them: A gray furred unicorn, with white mane and a long beard also white. He wore a blue pointy hat and a blue cape with stars and moons and several bells by the clothing. The cape hid his tail and cutie mark.

Hurricane and him stared at each other with a straight face.

“Starswirl”

“Hurricane Sword”

Hurricane approached him slowly and sunddenly they hugged each other.

"How long have I not seen you, my favorite little brother?" Hurricane said.

"Hah, don't come with this 'favorite' on me, I'm your only brother. Furthermore you are only three years older and I still look older than you."

Aster looked at the scene gradually understand what was going on.

"So this is the apprentice of which you boast so much? Evidently he is a pegasus and it definitely does not explain how he managed to summon that shield." Starswirl examined Aster with a clinical eye. Aster then took a few strands of his mane, stretched them to become shaped like a horn and when he dropped them the horn was just at the right place and it was greater than a normal unicorn's. This left Starswirl gaping and made him whisper to Hurricane ​​immediately.

"You didn't say he was alicorn."

"He himself developed the spell to hide the horn and it is the only magic he can do. He knows very well how would draw attention walking as alicorn out there so if he wanted to hide it, who was I to tell?"

"Do you have any idea of the impact that it can generate?"

"Of course I do, but he isn't even from Canterlot. I thought it would be best to keep quiet."

"Talking like this, yeah, you're right."

"H-hey, I'm still here." Said Aster intrigued by the conversation.

"Oh, of course. Young Aster, I am Starswirl, younger brother of the general here and High Mage of the Order of Harmony."

"Hold it, The Starswirl? Who has a whole wing of the royal library named after him?"

"Yes, that's me."

"By Artemis, it's a great honor to meet you, even more knowing that you're brother of general Hurricane."

"The honor is mine to know my brother's apprentice. But I heard that you cannot use magic even though having a perfectly functional horn, why is that?"

"Well, I lack the aptitude for doing so and never really practiced much. Aside the horn disguise and what happened just now, I actually never used magic."

"Lack of aptitude is all that this shield does NOT show and you have developed a spell and quite interesting: disguising the horn preventing it from being seen but without having to remove the cover to use magic. Even I never thought about doing something like that."

"Well, I'm flattered by the compliment but..."

"Nanananano, no 'but'. Come on, I wanna see this shield again, do it."

"But I don't even know how I did it."

"Think about what you felt when you summoned it, concentrate on this feeling, channel it to your horn and let it flow naturally out in the form of magic, c'mon."

Aster closed his eyes, and then his horn began to glow.

"That's it, focus and release the spell."

Suddenly the spell came out, not as a shield however, but as a beam of energy toward Starswirl that held it in his aura wrapped hooves.

"Wrong spell, boy, you can stop now."

Aster said nothing, instead his eyes got wrapped in that same blue aura and the power of the burst increased.

"Hurricane, a little help here." Starswirl asked his brother.

"What's the mater? Is the young apprentice too strong for you?"

And the strength of the beam kept increasing.

"Aaahhhh!! Do something, and do it quick!."

Hurricane realized that it was no joke. With a flick of his sword he hit Aster's neck with the handle knocking him out. Starswirl threw the energy that was accumulated in his hands upwards causing an explosion several meters above the castle. The soldiers were alarmed at first but when they realized that there was no threat nearby they concluded that it should have come from the school of mages.

Starswirl came closer to the young pony, passed out on the floor, talking to his brother.

"Star, what exactly was that? He shouldn't be capable of such... "

"So much potential, so much power, proportionately, the only pony I've ever seen do something this magnitude aside from myself was the king himself, and all that power in a body so young and without any control! He needs guidance."

"And is you who's gonna do that?"

"Do you know somepony better?"

Chapter 2 - End

Comments

[Jade Ring]

Not a bad start for your first fic. I kind of dig how the translation from your native tongue gives the dialogue a bit of an olden feel.

Pace and such are a bit clunky, but it's your first fic. You'll improve. Keep writing, keep practicing...