All seven of them run down through the corridors of the castle, barely dodging maids and fellow guards. Smooth Edge and Elegant Crease are both competing for first place in this race of speed. Making the group's males share a single thought.
[i]"Who's going to make it there first?" [/i]
And those thoughts only increased as they all saw the Smooth Edge, being the crass mare that she is. Purposely bumps into Elegant Crease at the last moment, making her tumble to the side, crashing into a nearby cart belonging to a maid.
"Ha, take that prude!" Smooth Edge taunts as she makes her way outside, onto the training grounds.
A noisy "ooooh" out of concern is heard from FireForge as he watches the infuriated Elegant Crease get up from the several blankets, towels, and small cleaning appliances and huffs.
Jeff frowned in disapproval of Smooth Edge's action. "It's no longer a race when someon- I mean somepony tripping somepony." Jeff said with a shake of his head.
Elegant Crease slowly gets back up and checks for any major damage on herself. "While I do appreciate the sentiment I must disagree. Although I also believe in being honorable, I too, see the point in being a cheater." Trying her best to fix up her mane and coat she wastes no time in moving towards the entrance of the training grounds outside. "Well what are all of you gawking at? Get to trotting."
FireForge quickly takes his gaze off of the now only slightly annoyed mare and urges his brother, Sliver Bullet, and Jeff to just go along with it. Jeff simply let out a shrug as he ran off to follow the others into the training grounds.
"Ah how I've missed this place. It's like a third home to me, besides my actual house and the barracks, wouldn't you guys agree?" Silver Bullet asks aloud as he finally steps into the outside, getting a nice breeze across his body and holding a hoof outwards, gesturing to the grand array of different devices like wooden training dummies, several obstacle courses, and stacks of weapons that are neatly arranged on weapon racks. Several of the obstacle courses have sand as their grounds instead of the stone that's used to support the weapons and dummies.
Everypony else just deadpans at him, with an "are you kidding right now?" stare.
"Anyways, besides the fact that Silver Bullet is clinically insane. Here we are Jeff, the training grounds where cadets transform into real stallions and mares. Now I'm sure we can show you a thing or two here." Smooth Edge gleefully ignores Silver Bullet, taking controlled breaths to compensate for how far she galloped.
Silver Bullet holds an annoyed face, completely offended that Smooth Edge would say something like that about him. "Hey I'm not insane-"
But before he can say anymore he's cut off by Snow Leap. "Anywho, like Smooth Edge said, we're gonna be whippin ya into shape. So to start off Jeff, show us what you've got, it'll be best for us to get a grasp at whatcha got."
"Uhh.. well.." Jeff began as he rubbed the back of his head. "What i'm capable of in total, or in one general area?" Jeff asked, a little confused.
"Actually… That's a good question, shows what you know, Snowy." FireForge cockily responds, happy to get a one-up on his brother. "But to answer your question, let's start off with the basics. We're gonna have you do…" He trails off, looking towards the selection of choices at hoof. "Ah I know, we'll test your combative capabilities. It's sweet, nice, and to the point."
Elegant Crease and the others nod their heads in approval. "Smart choice, despite being a rookie yourself you and your brother never cease to amaze me." Silver Bullet replies, although a bit forcefully at that.
"I'm pretty agile on my feet, but my reaction time and swordsmanship definitely needs some fine tuning." Jeff explained.
"Guess we'll just have to put that to the test, alright everypony, who's volunteering to be Jeff's first match?" Snowy asks the group.
"Oh, oh, I will!" Smooth Edge nominates themself in a foalish manner. "I wanna see if the future-greatest hero of Equestria can take me down when I go full throttle!" Practically skipping her way to the weapon rack she cartoonishly digs into it, pulling out a small dagger. "Wait, wrong thing. " The mare digs back into the rack before pulling out a battleaxe that's a foot or two taller than her and all while standing on her hind legs to hold it up-right. "Now we're talking, Jeff, are you ready to get rocked?" She questions with a near mania-like grin.
Jeff's eyes look upon Smooth Edge's battleax, wondering how she's even holding it so well with her hooves, let alone the fact she's still able to stand on her hind legs so well despite being a quadruped. "Wait, we've fighting with live weapons?" Jeff asked in disbelief.
Cheekily grinning even further, Smooth Edge gives Jeff a nod. "Course we are, I've got enough self-control to not accidentally give you any injuries but it still really gives you those realistic instincts and reactions. So I'm just bringing out that side of you."
"Hey I know Smooth seems insane but trust me, she won't actually do anything that'll really harm you. She was my main training partner back in the day too." Silver Bullet vouches.
"And this is normal here?" Jeff asked in confusion and disbelief. The hylian was honestly expecting wooden swords or magically dulled weapons where you'd feel the force but not the cut of the sword.
"Normal? Buck no." FireForge crudfully admits. "But hey, while it's not technically allowed, a lot of us solar guards do it anyways under the right supervision. Tartarus, even Elegant over here turned into what she is because of that training, doesn't that seem appealing to ya? And c'mon, you know I, or any of us would ever lead you astray, we're like family, ain't we?" The fiery stallion questions.
"Din, give me power.." Jeff whispers to himself with a long sigh, mumbling something about crazy ponies. With a little hesitation, Jeff reaches to his side hip and behind his cloak, pulling out the Fighter's Shield and the Magical Sword.
"Now we're talking foal! I'll start our count." Huffing her giant steel battle axe above her shoulder she begins to count. And the rest of the group starts to back up at a safe distance "3…2…1, GO!"
Moving forward with considerable dexterity, the earth pony swings her battle axe in an easily telegraph-able manner at Jeff. The hylian lets out a surprised yelp as he quickly raises his shield to block the axe.
"Big mistake colt." Letting out a controlled huff, she exerts even more force into her already connected swing. At this point, Smooth Edge is practically pushing both Jeff and the battle axe to the side before fully pushing him aside.
"Never try to block an attack like that if you can help it. You said you were agile, right? Dodge next time." She playfully lectures before going in for an overhead strike. Not even allowing for Jeff to gain any breath back. Jeff suddenly backflips out of the way, being reminded so much of how the Iron Knuckles would swing their axe.
"Well shit! Somepony decided to stop playing around and bring out the style in themself, huh? Guess I can let up a bit then." Yanking her battle axe from the ground, Smooth Edge twirls it for a brief moment before her veins inside her legs start to visibly bulge out, yet she still has that playful expression, and using the extra strength she does a quick double diagonal slash in an 'X' formation. The hylian dashes backwards and out of the way, making mental notes to himself that blocking does no good against devastating attacks like that as he lacks the strength to push the axe away. Once a fair distance away, Jeff swings his sword, causing a small crescent shaped wave of light green energy to come flying toward Smooth Edge.
Taking in a deep breath the mare looks to be impressed. "Magic, huh? Never took you for the…" She prepares herself. Placing the battle axe to her side she immediately vertically cuts the energy wave upwards, in half. "Magic type." She finishes before placing her axe down as the bladed part hits the floor. "Phew, alright that's enough, anymore and this may get a little too intense for us both. But I've gotta say, the princess wasn't kidding, you really are hero material."
"WOOOOO!" Three very loud, obnoxious, yet cheerful voices are heard. Belong to Silver Bullet, FireForge, and Snow Leap.
Silver Bullet instantly starts fanfillying over the fight with the successor of his favorite hero. "That was amazing, Jeff, oh my Celestia, that energy attack that you did at the end was spectacular!"
"Hey, the buck did we say huh? We knew you had it in you to fight!" FireForge exclaims with a stupid grin on his face.
"Tartarus yeah we did." Snowy, keeping the same energy, holds his hoof up for the other two stallions to meet him halfway which they do.
"I still have a long ways to go though, the Beam Sword tech is something I can only do when I'm healthy with no injuries." Jeff said with a nod.
Elegant Crease's ear flicks for a moment before turning to Jeff, taking her eyes off of the baby-blue sky. "Excuse me but what exactly is a 'tech?'"
"Short for technique." Jeff explained as he places his shield back behind his cloak and the sword into it's sheath.
"Interesting, well do you feel tired at all? You did have to tussle with Smooth Edge, even though she can give me a run for my money if I'm not careful." Elegant Crease askes. "If so, you could take five as the rest of us train."
"No, I can keep going." Jeff said with confidence in his voice.
Nodding her head, Elegant Crease smiles. "Well since you did so well with Smooth in the first place then you're with her, Silver Bullet you're with me this time, and FireForge and Snow Leap, you two are together. Let us waste no time, begin!" They all started to gather their weapons and start training, like real mares and stallions… Oh and hylians too.
Many hours passed and Jeff was quite exhausted, the most he's ever been, even more so since he forced himself to keep going despite his aching muscles, he wanted to be prepared physically and mentally. But within such a short time frame, he knew that it wouldn't be possible. Still, he had to keep going, for this new world that he was staying in and for this new colorful cast of teammates he was bestowed upon. Even if they aren't the most normal group, they were family after all and family always sticks together.