Knocking on the door I heard permission for myself to enter as I found it strange seeing that there were no guards in the area where the princess was. Closing the door behind me I found the princess smiling at a book she was reading as she sat next to a lit fire place. Giving a small sigh as I began to have second thoughts I quickly moved over and gave her a bow as she gave me a small giggle before I took a seat across from her. "after thinking things through princess..." I took a deep breath as I noticed her eyes staring at me. Hope and fear together in her eyes as I looked into them. "i have decided to put you through my clans training"
"thank you Hanzo! You wo-" I raised a hand to stop her from speaking.
"i must warn you Twilight. You will be doing things you find extremely uncomfortable doing and this could and potentially will interfere with your everyday life. Once training starts nothing is allowed to interrupt it until I say it ends for the day." she looked unsure but she nodded. "the training could occur in the middle of the night, it could go from sunset to sunrise, it could happen at the crack of dawn, or it could even happen for only a minute. Do you understand princess?" she nodded with determination in her eyes. That was a trait to look out for in a Trainee as it meant a lot of good things in the long run.
"i understand Hanzo." I nodded.
"the training can also occur in a large variety of temperatures going from drought causing heat to blizzards. Should I feel you are capable of getting through it I will put you in it when the time comes." she once more gave me a nod. "finally all of our training sessions will either be physical or mental. Mental being that we just sit down as I explain what you need to know about the clan. Do you fully understand what is going to happen in your training?" she nodded. "i need a vocal conversation princess. After you agree things will change between us massively during your training to where I wont be your friend or guard... I will be the one that will put you through hell to ensure you have a greater chance to learn and survive."
"i understand Hanzo." I nodded.
"then I welcome you to the beginning of your new life Trainee Twilight... tomorrow I will come and get you for an evaluation so I see what I am working with. What is your age?"
"i am 25 Master Hanzo." I was surprised by what she called me. The rules said that you weren't allowed to notify them of what the Sensei was required to be called by the Trainee until they messed it up. It also surprised me to hear that she was just a year younger than me.
"then I now have the information I can compare your stats with. Although I am surprised you knew you had to call me Master or Sensei." she blushed a little bit and glanced away.
"i once read a few books about the happening's and the bond between a teacher and a student Master Hanzo."
"i will tell you now princess. That you will only have to call me master during our lessons. Any other time it would be as if it was a normal day between the two of us. By your word." she smiled.
"your dismissed Hanzo... and thank you."
"I'm sorry to say princess..." I started as I spoke up. "but there is a great chance you will be reascending those words once your lessons begin." leaving the room in silence I began to mentally bring up what I would need to prepare for her evaluation as I quickly found myself in the training room. Thankfully there were a bunch of wooden weapons that I could watch her use for a few minutes to see if she had any natural ability with them. It was highly recommended to use a weapon that was in tune with their body but it was rare for one among all that are trained, even in the clans, to have a natural ability to use certain weapons. I myself didn't have any natural ability with any weapon but I did show a natural need to protect others during the mental evaluation and I was allowed to pick from the small group of weapons laid out for me, the katana obviously being included in this bunch.
I began to pull out the weapons and lye them down in the middle of the room as I found I had every weapons I would need to do a proper evaluation. I also grabbed one of the bows that was in the room as it was a weapon that was extremely rare to use in my clan but not unheard of. Anyone could take up the bow but it would cut into their own training with their chosen weapon and limit their free time even more then what it already was. I had a small feeling that the princess would be capable of using twin daggers easily considering her body structure and they could easily be concealed during her royal duties when she is required to dress formally.
Once I finished with the weapons I had quickly found a scroll, quill, and ink pot and began to write out the mental portion of her evaluation. While the answers may of seemed like they were the only reasoning behind what classification we wished to go for it was ultimately up to the examiner to make the final decision on what they would be best at or where they would be most needed with their set of skills and mindset. It took me a couple hours as I found myself having to drink the energy brew I had to keep myself awake to finish the preparations I would have to get completed. Although it did take a little while to set things in a organized fashion as I desired to keep the full evaluation in this room.
I already had everything planned out in what order I needed to have done and I know the princess would most likely alert the two sisters of whats happening so I should prepare a letter to them to send once I am finished checking over everything to alert them of the situation as it would be better for them to be told now then finding out during one of our lessons. Once said check overs were complete and the letter was written I simply began to patrol around the castle as I awaited for the sun and moon to be replaced by the other and wished to send the letter to the princesses before retrieving princess Twilight for her evaluation. Despite me not trusting the princesses after what I had heard about them supposedly committing illegal acts it would be for the best to let them know regardless. I also added a few questions that I wished to ask of them to help further my investigation towards the one truly behind all of this.
Soon the sun replaced the moon in the sky as I already found myself missing the soothing calmness of the moons presence. I still found it strange as to just why there were no guards patrolling around the castle and it unnerved me to no end.
I waited a few more hours before I luckily came across the princesses assistant walking out of his room rubbing his eyes. "good morning Sir Spike." he jumped hearing my voice and spun around before a nervous smile came onto his face.
"um. Good morning... Danzo?"
"it is Hanzo Sir Spike. Might I ask a favor of you?"
"oh uh sure thing!" he spoke up happily.
"could you assist me with something the princess is doing later today? She is taking an evaluation from my clan and I could use the assistance in making sure everything goes smoothly." his eyes brightened up.
"sure! When do I need to be there?" he then asked as I chuckled. He was the only other one I could truly trust in this world next to the princess. Hes lived with the princess ever since she hatched him and they have a extremely large sibling bond with one another that even I could tell would never be broken much like my own with my brother. Despite him going into hidden divisions he still kept me updated on his doings and I did the same with him.
"i believe once you send off this letter to the princess of what princess Twilight has asked of me to do." I spoke pulling out a scroll stamped with my clans symbol, that of a half dead half alive oak tree. "should they find out at some point during our lessons I fear of the consequences if they were left unknown of the situation." he nodded as he quickly sent off the letter as I wholeheartedly expected a reply within the hour. After finally locating a guard inside of this castle on patrol I thankfully found that the princess was in the newly formed barracks working on patrol schedules. Thankfully the guard lead us there and left us without another word as I stopped Sir Spike from going in. "lets wait Sir Spike. It would be better for them to finish before pulling her away."
"oh OK!" I stood against the wall as every now and then two guards would leave the room and either go to the left or the right of the hallway but they would always stop for a second and glare at me before doing so. "why is Twilight being evaluated anyway?" I then heard Sir Spike ask.
"when I let my own anger get the best of me on our journey home I had spoken my own thoughts that I wished to keep to myself in my fit of anger. I had explained that if I did want the princess dead she and many others would be unable to stop me."
"because of your resistance to magic right?" he asked with a tilted head as I was surprised by what he said as I could of sworn the princess spoke of our discovery to no one else. "I'm the one who usually cleans up after her whenever she falls asleep... although I did my best to hide the scrolls she wrote down her findings on when I noticed that nopony else must know."
"i... thank you Sir Spike. You have my eternal gratitude." he simply shrugged.
"hey your protecting her. From what I read in comics and books information is power." I chuckled.
"same motto that my brother lives by." I said with a smile. "as I was saying she took what I said to heart and found that my observations were... extremely true. When she asked about my clan laws I simply suspected this was another attempt to figure out a way to make living easier for me if she knew them. When she asked the question on how one would join the clan I had given her all the ways that were known... and when I told her about the training I knew that she figured she would be capable of killing two birds with a single stone should she be able to convince me."
"don't let Fluttershy hear that saying. Everypony does their best to ensure she never hears it after the last... incident." intrigued and curious at what he was saying about Lady Fluttershy I filed that piece of information away. "so she talked you into it?"
"that is... partially correct. What really matters is during the first month or so of training she will have to quickly realize how serious this is... and until she fully realizes this I wont be able to truly train her in my clans ways."
"Twilight's a fast learner!" he spoke up in her defense as I chuckled.
"i have no doubt about that Sir Spike of the princesses capability to learn. The only doubt I have is her willpower to get through the training fully... I will not lie Sir Spike this training will massively restrict her free time and her lessons must go uninterrupted to the point they can only be interrupted should the world be in true danger. My lessons will be harsh and they will demand much in the beginning of her training but I will not be as strict as others who had taken on Trainee's. Should she get sick she will be given the time to recover, injured, she will get as long as she needs until she is able to move like she has before. But at no point in time will I allow her to continue the lessons should they prove fatal to her health!" I spoke in a harsh tone in the end as he looked at me in awe.
"why do you need my help then?" he then asked me.
"despite it being mandatory among the clan to learn the proper ways to train a Trainee I did almost the bare minimum as I knew I would be unable to truly bring one under my wing to learn my clans ways. Others agreed with me and the Elder's allowed this to pass for me as long as I learned the basics should there be no choice." I honestly told him. "for the princess to agree to my own thoughts made me feel as if I failed my right as her primary protector and I awaited punishment for assaulting the guard my anger had decided to use as a outlet but it never came... I feel as if she is doing her best to get on my good side. But should it ever happen again I am going to willingly bring myself to Canterlot and notify the princesses of what I have done so they may give me the proper punishment."
"but she understood why you reacted as you did!" he spoke up as I gave a small frown.
"that is no excuse to simply give me a slap on the wrist for what I did. I committed a crime in her presence and yet I was not punished... for now I will let it slide but I must not allow it to happen again regardless of her reasons to not punish me."
"wow... your are extremely serious on protecting her aren't you?" he then asked.
"that is a very logical conclusion yes." we stood in silence until... until Sir Spike burped out a message with the Royal Sun stamp on it.