"Alright... The first thing you should know about swordplay, is the weight of your own blade." Said shinning armor. Shining armor, twilights brother, was to be my trainer in swordplay. Being the grand captain of the royal guard he was the perfect pony to show me the ropes of using a sword. I have had some practice using wooden swords before, but I was surprised when he gave me a real one right off the bat. He had taken me out back to the training grounds for the royal guards. There were practice dummies and targets for archers all around and large sand circles for soldiers to spar in. There were a few ponies out here already training, but it was quiet otherwise. It was early in the morning and I was a little tired and hungry. I held the large iron blade in my mouth and gripped it tight... It was very heavy.
"So what now?" I asked.
"Get the feel for the sword... Remember, it's an extension of yourself... Not just a weapon." He said. "Now... Attack the dummy on my command." He said. I got prepared to attack and everything went silent. "NOW!" He said, I reacted and lunged forward and slashed at the dummy which was made of straw and cloth. "Again." He said. I responded and brought the sword back hitting the straw dummy again. "One more time... Now!" He said. I moved the sword and hit the straw dummy a final time. Everything went silent and I let the sword drop out of my mouth.
"How did I do?" I asked.
"Terrible..." He said.
"Oh..."
"Your attacks are sloppy, you're trying to force the sword." He said. "Your movements with the sword don't flow together evenly, and your stance is terrible, meaning that you're wasting too much energy on simple attacks." He said. "But...at least you know how to swing the sword...and that's one thing."
"Am I really that bad?" I asked.
"Well... I can see that you've had some training before." He said.
"I have... My dad's old friend thunder rush taught me a few things." I said.
"Don't worry...we'll have you swinging that sword like a pro in no time."
"Hey hey...what's going on here?" Asked voice suddenly appearing from one of the doors out into the training yard. A familiar looking pony walked out. He was that pony from last night who was sniffing me. What the hell is that guy doing here.
"Why are you here daystar?" Asked shining armor.
"I heard there was training for the hero girl and I was curious to see how it was going." He said. I noticed that when he walked out he was wearing a silver circlet on his head with a sapphire in the middle.
"Who is this guy?" I asked. "He was in my room the other day... And he was being really weird."
"This pony is daystar." Said shinning armor. "He's the grand paladin of the Corning circle... A group of grand clerics entrusted to keep the peace in all of Equestria, and the grand paladin is the highest ranking member of those clerics. They're pretty much the princesses royal adventurers and heroes."
"Really... And this guy... He's the strongest of them?" I asked.
"Absolutely... He's incredibly strong..." He said.
"I'm not that strong... I'm sure the daughter of the famous crimson will surely be a match for me... Some day." He said. "Do you mind if we spar...?" He asked immediately walking over to a large bucket with wooden training swords.
"I don't think that's quite the good idea." Said shinning armor.
"Oh don't worry...these are just wooden swords, I'm not going to hurt her... I just want to see the extent of her abilities." He said. Shining armor looked over at me and I just shrugged.
"I guess it's fine... You two enter the ring, I'll judge." He said. I walked over to the ring hesitantly after grabbing a wooden sword. The small sand ring was big enough to hold a sword duel, but it wasn't too large. I held the sword in my mouth and daystar stood across from me with the sword in his mouth too. Shining armor stood out of the ring and lifted his hoof up.
"Alright.l. I'll be judging, when I decide that the other opponent would normally be defeated, I'll call the match." He said. "Ready... Fight!" He said swinging his hoof down. I immediately charged at daystar and started swinging, but he either blocked the attacks or dodged them completely.
"C'mon... You must be better than that..." He said. "I know these aren't the limits of your abilities... Try something else." He said. Something else... I thought for a minute...then It came to me.
"The flow..." I said softly.
"The what?" He asked.
"Nothing..." I said. Ha, I've got him now. If I connect to the flow, he'll never be able to touch me. I stood still and closed my eyes and started to connect. First I had to let the flow of the universe into my heart, once I started to concentrate I could feel my heart beating and with every pulse I felt waves flowing off me. I could see the waves, the currents... The flow of the world around me. I felt daystar's presence in front of me.
"Dawn open your eyes..." Said shining armor, but I could barely make his voice out through the serenity in my mind.
"No..." Said daystar. "If she opens her eyes she'll lose concentration." He said. "This is good... You've connected with the flow... Something that few are able to accomplish." He said, I was a bit shocked to see that he knew what was happening. Suddenly I felt the rippling of his movements, and he went to attack, but the strength of his movements created waves that pushed me away. I floated away to the left, like I was underwater. I stopped and started to sway side to side with the push and pull of the flow. Another attack came my way, but with every one I dodged. Then I found a current moving towards him and I shifted my body and moved into it.
"I see it..." I said as I followed the flow right towards him and struck with my sword. I felt my sword make impact when it hit something, but it wasn't him. I opened my eyes and I saw that he had blocked my sword with his own. He looked at me and smiled, then suddenly he was gone... Vanished. His speed was unmatchable, and all I could do was sit there and stare in horror at the amazing speed that he held. Suddenly something from behind creeped up and a wooden sword drew itself across my neck. Daystar stood behind me with a terrifying smile on his face, which was only inches from mine as he held the wooden sword to my neck.
"Alright... Stop, that's the match... Daystar has won." Said shinning armor. Daystar smiled and backed away with his sword, all I could do was stand there in horror. After a minute I forced myself to move and I returned my wooden sword to the bucket of other training swords. Daystar was on the other side smiling.
"You know, you're much better than you look..." He said smiling. "You're able to enter a serene state of mind, and follow the flow of battle... But you use up too much concentration." He said. "If you keep training you'll soon be able to follow the flow without even thinking about it." He said smiling.
"Is that what you were doing?" I asked. He just smiled and shrugged.
"Who knows?" He said smiling. He turned around to walk back into the guard building but looked back at me. "I enjoyed this due very much, there's no doubt in my mind you'll make it into the academy... But you've still got a long way to go." He said. "When you get stronger, perhaps we can duel again..." He said walking forward and disappearing behind the door to the building. The whole training yard went silent now.
"Don't worry about him." Said shinning armor. "He's a very eccentric hero... And he acts strange all the time. But he's smarter than he looks, and always seems to have a reason for everything he does."
"Even coming into my room and sniffing me saying that I smell like strawberries and mango." I said raising an eyebrow.
"Well... He is weird like that... Sometimes the small things he does are without reason." Said shinning armor. "He's weird, almost impossible to understand, but he's a smart pony, with amazing skills... It's almost a shame that he's crazy."
"I take it that he has a hard time understanding personal space..." I said.
"Yeah... He does..." He said. "He's a serious pervert..."
"Oh god..." I said shivering. That explains why he was all over me yesterday, and I was sure he didn't have to be right on top of me like that before to put the sword to my neck.
"Yeah... It's pretty bad." He said. "In fact he partitioned to have the maids where uniforms that prop their tails up... And he wanted the female guards to wear short plate skirts." I felt another shiver run down my spine. "Of course these never came to see the light of day... But it still doesn't stop him from ogling over the other mares... But he does have this strange chivalry about him. He doesn't like seeing mares get hurt, and he never actually lays his hooves on another mare unless she wants him too... He just looks."
"I knew it... This whole castle is full of freaks..." I said.
"Yeah... It is isn't it?" He said. "Anyway... Let's back to training." He said.
"Alright..." I said getting back to training. Training with shinning armor went on for the rest of the day with a break for lunch. After training I had dinner again with twilight and the princesses. Everypony was there, even daystar, who had many tales to tell about our exciting battle earlier today. I just quietly ate my food. The whole castle feels like a strange place, it would take me a while to get used to it, but after the first week I was already starting to feel at home. And training kept up every day making sure I practiced all sorts of skills needed to survive in the academy.
For the entire month of training I worked as hard as I could. I got up early in the morning and trained until nightfall. I sweat, and bled, and got covered in dirt, but I could feel myself getting stronger. It was hard at first, but after seeing my progress I became determined to keep going. I would always train in swordplay the first half of the day, then after lunch I would be brought to another place to be trained by something else. Luna taught me more about connecting with the world and nature, shining armor taught me how to fight with a sword and about battle strategies. Twilight taught me how to concentrate of focus my magic using it more efficiently.
They often set up courses and gauntlets training my quick thinking and agility and ability to react. As well I did a lot of strength training, mostly building muscle mass and cardiovascular health by running, and doing all kinds of fitness exercises. I was already fit for somebody of my class, but I could always get stronger. Along with the physical training, I had to train mentally too, I had to study all sorts of things. Monsters, and fighting styles, as well of other kinds of things I'll need to know if I'm going to be an adventurer. Every day was a full on crash course in all kinds of things, and it felt almost like extreme schooling. It made me wonder if the academy was going to be like this too. As the days went by I couldn't help but feel nervous for the upcoming entrance exam. Within a week of the exam we had to go and register to take the exam, and they said that two days before the exam they would release details of the test. It's now Wednesday, two days before the exam, and twilight said she was going to find out what the exam would be. I sat in my room, it's late at night now, and there was a sudden knock on my door.
"Come in..." I said excitedly. The door opened and twilight walked into the room with a smile. Seeing her made me excited, she must know about the test. "So did you find out?" I asked.
"I did... The test this year is very different from the past ones..." She said.
"How so?" I asked.
"Well, they brought back the tournament test... So you'll be fighting against another entree." She said. "But it's not like it was before... Even if you lose there's still a good chance you can get in." She said taking a seat on the bed with me. "They have you fight in a real battle, and they evaluate you based on how well you fight they analyze battle strategy, movements, technique, and all your other skills that you use in a fight. And the winner of the fight isn't even guaranteed acceptance either. As long as you meet their fighting standards you'll pass."
"That's great... Now all I have to do is fight to the best of my ability and I'll be assured a spot." I said confidently.
"Don't get too confident..." She said. "It's better to think that you will fail if you don't win, so fight to win, and you'll be fine..." She said. "Now get some rest... Tomorrow we'll go over everything you've learned so far, and then Friday is the big test. After you pass the test we'll start getting you ready for the school year. They want all the students who pass the test to move into the freshman dorms right after so that they can get settled in."
"What are the dorms like?" I asked.
"Well... They are coed, and they do assign most students a roommate to conserve space. But the girl dorms are on one side of the building, and the boys dorms are on the other side, the only thing separating them is a short walk..." She said.
"So I'm not going to be bunking with a guy... Right?" I asked.
"Of course not..." She said. "But it wouldn't be bad if you visited a boys room once in a while." Said twilight. I just let out a disgruntled moan.
"Not you too..." I said. Why is everypony trying to force guys on me... I don't want a relationship right now, I'm not ready for that kind of thing.
"I heard daystar has taken a liking to you..." Said twilight.
"Ugh... That psycho pervert... No way." I said.
"You know... He's only 20." She said.
"Is he really?" I said surprised. I knew he looked rather young, but only 20?! That's ridiculous. "Anyway..." I said shaking away my thoughts. "I don't need a guy in my life right now, besides... I haven't even met any that I like anyway."
"Well... Maybe you'll meet somepony in the academy... And you two can work together." She said. "In a place where students are willingly allowed to duel, it's a good thing to make friends along the way... If not you'll be all on your own."
"Don't worry...I'll make friends... I'm good at that, I've got plenty of them in ponyville." I said. "It's just boyfriends that I'm not interested in."
"That may be so... Ponyville is a small place where everypony is family and everypony loves one another... But you must remember that most other places are not like ponyville." She said. "Hero is just a term for ponies who fight for a living, a real hero is somepony who forgives, and fights for a just cause and with just means, not all ponies at the academy are hero's, many of them will lie, cheat, and step on others to get their way... It's a ruthless place for some, and really is like being a hero in real life." She said. "You have to be careful, and make as many friends as you can."
"Don't worry twilight... I will." I said.
"Now..." She said wrapping up the conversation. "Before you go off to bed, the princess said she wanted those see you, I can show you to her private study... Follow me. So I did, I followed twilight out of the room and down the halls. All the way I was wondering what the princess would want to talk to me about. I only really see her at dinner and around the castle, and sometimes she checks up on my training and says hello... But we haven't actually had a serious talk together. Twilight brought me to a large wooden door which had strange symbols on the door frame.
"Here... It's just through here, she wanted to speak to you alone... So I won't be coming." She said. I thanked twilight as she walked away and I opened the door. I walked into the room and looked around. The room was a large study looking room, with bookshelves lining the walls, maps and scrolls lying around. Strange contraptions and a large globe over in the corner of this large circular room. There was a glass door which opened up to a balcony, and out the balcony I could see that I was now at the top of the tower of the castle, the door I went through must be some kind of magic doorway to teleport me here. Lying on a pile of cushions was the princess who had her face buried in a book ,but she lowered it and looked over to me with a smile. I bowed to her but her smile just grew bigger.
"There's no need for formalities... Come here... Sit down with me." She said. I did as she asked and walked over to a cushion on the ground and sat next to her.
"You wanted to talk to me?" I asked.
"Yes..." She said. "I know you've been staying at this castle, but we haven't had a serious discussion yet." She said. "Before you leave to live in the dorms of the academy I wanted to have a sincere talk with you." She said. "And I want you to know that you are welcomed in this palace at any time, and I'll always be here to help you and give you guidance, so is twilight, my sister, and anypony else you've met along your way." She said.
"Thank you..." I said tipping my head down in courtesy. The princess just giggled.
"My... I never noticed, but you really are just like your father... Always managing to find the excitement in everything, and having a strong heart as well in the face of uncertainty." She said. "You're very kind and courteous, and also very curious as well too... As well as a quick learner." She said.
"Thank you." I said.
"You've been able to pick up many techniques in these past few days... I'm very proud of that." She said smiling and closing her eyes. She looked off to the large glass door leading to the balcony, and I could see that she was reminiscing about something, most likely my dad.
"Princess... Are you alright?" I asked feeling worried for her. She had a sorrowful face, and I could see a sense of longing in her eyes. She must really miss him, I've seen that face before, on my mother, and twilight, and all of their friends and everypony who ever knew my father.
"I'm fine..." She said forcing a smile on her face, a very weak one. "It's just that it's hard to believe... It's been fifteen years since any pony's seen your father. With the sudden return of both twilight and his friend thunder rush as well as your mother, we thought he had been victorious. We waited for him, but after a while we began to doubt, and soon three years had passed, and you were just a little filly at the time, only six, just starting school if I remember." She said. "We thought maybe because of the portals and the trans dimensional properties, we thought he would come out, but in a different time. But then that journal you have with you suddenly appeared... After reading it, we knew exactly what happened... To think he projected his own thoughts into a last will, a copy of his entire life."
"I've always wondered why my dad decided to do that." I said. "Was it a way of saying goodbye, maybe letting everypony know that he wasn't coming back... Or was it to share his life?" I asked her.
"Both of those... And there's a third reason." She said. "It was to preserve his existence..." She said. "When your father fought that day, it was a clash of great beings with immortal lives... The only way two beings like that can fight is to issue a duel between deities... And in this duel the one who loses ceases to exist... The duel ended in a draw... And your father created this journal, from the most powerful magic he had, and used it to bind the existence of his soul to this book, keeping his memories forged into the paper."
"Wow..." I said softly. "I guess my dad really was amazing... The more stories I hear about him, the harder it seems to catch up to him... I wonder if I ever really will become just as strong as him."
"You will... And maybe even stronger than he was..." She said. "Your bloodline is a very amazing one, unmatched bravery, and selflessness, as well as an untold ability to summon magic without the use of a horn or spiritual help."
"Do you think that my magic will help me in the test?" I asked.
"There's no doubt..." She said smiling. "Not only will the other pony be expecting it, but once you do summon magic, the whole school will know who you are... In fact, the entire school was built around the basis of your fathers actions, he inspired others to become valiant heroes and adventurers, seeking out riches, and helping others."
"Then I'll be sure to give it my all." I said.
"As well as that... There's something I'd like to give you." She said smiling. As her horn started to glow a large object made its way from the inside of a large chest on the other side of the room, and it floated over to me. From the looks of it, it was a sword. Wrapped in cloth it gently floated in front of me and unwrapped to reveal the sword. It was a large sword, but not a claymore, or a two hooves heavy weapon, it was a long sword. The blade was wide, about four inches wide all the way to the top. I unsheathed the sword to get a better look at the blade. The blade itself was unmatched in beauty and radiance as the blade not only caught, but reflected the light. The blade stayed four inches wide until the tip where it quickly jetted to a point. Holding it in my hooves, it was light, but not weak. The hilt was golden and shone brightly, and I felt a radiant magical presence resonating from the sword.
"What is this?" I asked.
"This is the blade that I gave to your father." She said. "With that book, it too was returned here... Now that you've taken his place, I give this to you, to use for good, and to defend the ponies of Equestria, or any other nation... To protect those whom you care about." She said smiling. Then she let out a quiet giggle. "You know... It's almost like your father anticipated all of this, leaving you his necklace, that journal, and I'm sure he knew I'd give you this sword as well... So he sent that back too... But dawn... You have to promise me you'll use this blade to bring light wherever you go... And never fall into the darkness." She said.
"I promise..." I said happily.
"Then I shall tell you the name of the sword, so you can wield it and call it your own." She said. Then she told me the name of the sword, which shone as bright as the sun, and cut with razor like precision with the power of a roaring fire.
...Dawnbringer...