As the train arrived at the small community of Ponyville I had pulled out the spear not long after the train had stopped and opened the door to find a shaking guard standing to the right of said door. "i was ordered... to let you know... that you are expected at the... castle... at your own... pace." he spoke in stutters as I gave him a nod in confirmation as he quickly rushed off and out of the train car. Sighing I made sure my blade was still attached to my hilt as I brought myself off of the train and out of the train station before I watched it pull out of the station and towards its next destination. I began to slowly move through the town as I already anticipated my punishment for what I have done in her presence and disobeying her own orders.
Deciding to walk through the town at least once before heading back to the castle I smiled seeing the happy community going about their day. Ignoring my presence unlike when I first arrived in this world as they did all that they could to stay out of my presence. I watched mothers retrieving their foals from school. Two ponies bartering merchandise in the shopping district. Pegasus in the sky moving and destroying clouds for the next weather forecast. I believed I also spotted Lady Rainbow in the sky doing the same.
Soon though the small tour for myself was over I brought myself to the front door of the castle. Opening said door as I scowled at the lack of guards protecting the entrance from the outside I walked in and closed the door behind me as I found 10 guards patrolling the entry room for the castle. They looked towards me as some of them looked uneasy at my presence as one of them approached me. "the princess requested you in the map room... should you feel the need to..." he spoke as I nodded. Walking past him as I remembered where the map room was I brought myself to the large door of the room before finding myself thrown up against the wall by a guard.
Immediately defending myself I grabbed the guards snout and threw him to the side as I then kicked him away. He slid across the smooth surface as I found pain spring up in my back from a heavy object. Falling forward I recovered myself with a role before I tackled the pony who had attacked me and delivered a single enhanced punch to the side of his face as his helmet went sliding across the floor. Standing up out of breath I found no one else as I brought this attack on my person revenge for their fellow guardsmen. Calming down I knocked on the door loudly as I looked at the groaning guard at my feet. "come in!" I heard the princess call out as I entered the room to find her looking over the large map of the world. "Hanzo!" she spoke happily as she pulled herself from her seat and I found myself surprised when she hugged me. "are you all better?"
greatly surprised at this change of her attitude from what happened only hours earlier I gave her my response. "i am alright princess. It was simply my pent up anger being left unchecked for a single moment." she looked at me with a longing look of some sort before she nodded and she pulled me over and pushed me into a seat before sitting in the one next to it. Neither of us spoke as I wondered when I was going to be told of my punishment for assaulting a guard but it never came... only something different. "can I ask you something Hanzo? About your clan laws?" surprised but not truly unexpected that she would ask again I nodded. "is there anyway for somepony to... learn your laws legally?"
"there... are some ways yes. But I would not recommend-"
"what are they?" she then asked as I found myself cursing the law to speak the truth to those we are charged with.
"first is when they are brought into the clan through heritage bonding... marriage." she blushed at this realization. "the second would be through a blood bonding between those who are truly close, sibling close princess. Where no lies are spoken between the two and that they trust each other with their very life... although there are restrictions to this bonding. The two must be approved by the elders for both bonders safety."
"w-why?" she asked confused.
"because when the bond is untrue, when someone wishes to use this event to their own gain to learn our laws... both of them die... I myself lost a few of my relatives to this very reason. There was no poison, no diseases for sickness, they simply died in a instant within the merging time frame. The set amount of time to see if the bonding went perfectly. This can go all the way up to a full 48 hours. There are a few more rules to this bonding but since I am unable to head home to ask them, if any of them survived the breakout that is."
"is there a third?" she then asked after a few minutes of silence as I prayed she wouldn't ask that question.
"the third is if a clansmen of high ranking finds one they can truly trust to be trained in the ways of the clan. They are put through the training that fits their age which has lead to... some becoming disabled from how harsh it is... its why the only ones capable of making the choice are those of Blade's and higher."
"Blade's?" she asked confused as I quickly put together a explanation for her single worded question.
"in the clan there are many different rankings that are decided by the the elders or the council should they be unavailable. The council is made of 5 chosen to take this prestigious position while there are only two elders. To advance in rank you must earn the approval of 4 on the council while you must earn the approval of both of the elders. It is seen as higher stature to get their approval over the council. The ranks are as follows... Youngling, Trainee, Squire, Knight, Paladin, Blade, Crusader, Councilor, and finally Elder. To advance in rank you must show certain traits that are unknown to the one who is advancing at the time and is only know to the one's who have advanced to said rank... I myself am... a … Blade..." I froze as this piece of information slipped out as the spark of life came back to the princesses eyes. "princess I strongly recommend you to not-"
"please Hanzo!" she spoke up in a near crying tone with desperation in her tone despite the life that had just filled her eyes now being replaced by sadness. "you were right about what you said on the train!" I froze with my mouth open to try and talk her out of what she was asking. "ever since you went outside to calm down I tried every spell I knew to fit into the situation! You were right! I'm just a pathetic pony who needs an entire guard to protect herself when I myself am not capable of defending myself from a paper cut!"
"princess you are extremely powerful in your own right." I spoke up cutting off her rant. "while you would not be able to defend yourself easily in close quarters as long as you have your guard to cover this small weakness you can easily prepare yourself with the time we give you to get away!"
"but you will all be dead before I can get myself ready!" she then yelled back at me as I found myself cursing myself for not allowing her desperation to end before speaking up.
"and that is our job princess." she looked at me with shock replacing her previous emotions as I continued in a regular tone of voice. "it is our job to go to every extent to protect you from any threat. Being between you and contagious individuals? We will allow ourselves to become infected to prevent you from doing so. Going against a minor threat? We will ensure you wont have to even plan around it. Going against an enemy that would tear us apart? We will die after doing all we can to stall them to ensure your safety!"
"but but that's suicide!" she spoke in a low tone.
"and that's what we signed up for princess." after saying this neither of us spoke a word as the thoughts entered my head that maybe I should train her. That way she would be knowledgeable of my clans laws and know how to properly defend herself. While I pushed this thought out of my mind in the beginning... now it was just a matter of a single decision. To train her would help ensure her own protection but it would take a while to get to the point she is able to advance. To not train her would allow me to properly set up several fallback procedures that include the new Star Guard in them with the time I would of spent training the princess and would allow me to continue harnessing the magic I had gained since coming here as well as continue creating a combat style that fits with my situation. "will you allow me to at least think on this princess?" she looked surprised as her eyes then filled up with hope as she gave me a small smile.
"that's all I ask Hanzo." I gave her a nod as I stood up.
"then I will let you know of my decision in a few hours and before you fully accept the offer I would have to explain many things to you on how things would happen." she nodded as I gave her a quick salute. "by your word." she chuckled.
"you may leave Hanzo. Should you be unable to find me I should be in the library." nodding I brought my salute to a bow before leaving the room. Closing the door I found that the two downed guards were no longer where I had left them as I began to simply walk around the castle on a patrol while thinking on the decision that I had to make. It wouldn't be the first time a royal had been trained by a clan but the amount of times were still few. My own clan was the only one who had not attempted to do so as none were seen fit to be trained by us... so I began the check list in my head that all Blade's were taught should they believe they find someone capable of being trained in our ways.
Stature. She is a royal princess with few royal duties so the amount of time she has is great and nearly perfect for the training regimens. But it also means that should anything important pop up during the training she would have to leave to do so. This was the primary concern as training was meant to go uninterrupted once it began until it ended for the lesson.
Physical Ability. This was the primary reason she asked for the training and with what the training called for it would give her it should she be stubborn enough to continue despite the pain she would be in for those parts of the training. It could potentially cause her to be sore enough to where even moving hurts her massively but this would most likely only occur during the first month or so.
Mental Ability. From what I have seen... she was introduced with death quite often since I came to this world so being in shock would be a small possibility when she had her own first kill was less likely but still a good chance of happening. She values books over knowledge told to her but from what I know she is being broken out of this trait of hers by her assistant Sir Spike. She is capable of making quick decisions but extremely hard ones would require a few minutes at least.
Best Traits. That would be her large knowledge of magic and her desire for learning all that she could if it pertained to the situation. While I would like to keep my own magic a secret I will have to find a few books in the royal library to see if any of them explain the full extent of what magic can be used for as as from what I have seen and felt so far it was a true trump card as long as you didn't rely on it to much. Her desire for learning would be perfect for the training as she would remember quickly but would fight against anything I say if the later training contradicts what she learned in the beginning.
Worst traits. Her desire to learn and the fact her guard would give their own lives to protect her to her is horrible... this is both a good and bad trait with her desire for learning as to advance up in rank from Trainee would be to show the perfect amount of patience. Concerning her guards and myself I would have to most likely stomp into her mind that every job has potential to become fatal regardless of what it is.
The final thing to think about... would I be able to bring myself to hurt her during training should it become needed? Regardless of the oath I made once she was under my tutelage I would be forced to hurt her at times for her to truly learn certain lessons.
Once I made up my mind on the final thoughts I found I had ended up near the front entrance where there were now only a few guards instead of the 10 when I had first arrived. Quickly going through the map of the castle in my mind I began to make my way through the large castle until I found myself standing still outside of the library not even making a move towards the door to open it as I gave a sigh. Knowing that after today things between the two of us were going to change massively to the point I don't even know whats going to happen.