Wings of Fire

The next day, Solaris woke up to somepony shaking him. "Wake up, dude! You don't want to miss your first day of training, do ya?" Solaris bolted up, just so the pony would stop screaming in his ear. He turned, noticing there were two ponies. One was a bright golden yellow with a curly orange mane covering her eyes. The other was bright orange with many black stripes on her coat.

"Welcome to Ponyville!" The yellow one said. "I'm Dandylion. This here's my sister, Tiger Lilly. Let me be the first to say this, but as soon as you fell on the bed, you were out like a light!" Solaris took his chance to look around the room. It was wood based, had the same brown ceiling and floor.

There were seven beds, each placed at different points in the room. All except his had named carved on them. From his vantage point, he could see "April Showers", "Spring Greens", and "Gumball Goof". He deduced that two of the ones he couldn't read belonged to the mares right in front of him, but wondered who had the last one.

"Come on! Mom wants to show you around the town real quick before Lightblade's ready." Tiger Lilly made her way to the other side of the room, then seemed to vanish downwards behind a bed.

"That there is my bed." Dandylion told Solaris as they went to follow her sister. "I fall out a few times, but thank Celestia I'm a sleepflier."

Solaris reasoned that he was so shocked with his mother's allowance of him being a knight, that he didn't remember anything past that. Anyhow, he was in Ponyville, and he was going to start his training. He made his way downstairs with Dandy (As she preferred being called), and saw the other four residents of the home.

Around the table were two Pegasus ponies and two Earth Ponies. The first Pegasus was sky blue with a bright pink mane, while the second one was a mint green and had a deep magenta mane. They were both mares, and were the first to notice Solaris' arrival.

The other two, the Earth Ponies, were both shades of green. The oldest was a dark shade with a darker mane. He seemed to hold a bored look in his gaze. The younger one was a shocking lime, with a mane the same shade as his father, but with some brighter streaks. The second the younger one, later told to be Gumball Goof, noticed Solaris, his teeth started to chatter, as if a cold air had entered the room.

"Now Gumball, don't you go on with your worrywart nonsense. He is not going to hurt us." The older one said. As if to snap sense into his son, the older stallion gave Gumball a sharp tap with his hoof. The younger one shook his head furiously and did his best to remain nonchalant.

"Good morning, Axis." The sky blue pegasus greeted. "Glad to see you're awake." She made a quick whisper to him once he had taken his place at the table. "Don't make eye contact with Mayflower. She's feisty and will jump at any possible challenge." Solaris deduced that Mayflower must've been the mint one, so he did his best no to look directly at her.

He didn't eat much of what he was offered. His stomach was turning from the surprise, giddiness, an anxiety of his training. Mayflower hurriedly put her plate in the sink when she was done, then blurted a few words. "The Palm Trees are getting ready for their spring announcement performance. I have to hurry or I won't get a spot in it." Her parents and sibling all said goodbye as she trotted out the door, quickly taking wing and flying off.

After Solaris managed to consume a few carrots, Lilly and Dandy offered to show him around Ponyville. He nodded, placing his plate in the sink like Mayflower did, then following them out the door. He managed to utter a thank you to Spring Greens and April Showers before he left.

"Well, before you see any other pony, you might as well go see Pinkie. You know where she lives, correct? Solaris took a moment to clear his head, but nodded, replying.

"Sugarcube Corner, correct?" Tiger Lilly nodded back, then stopped at the familiar gingerbread-like building. Within a second of their pause to open the door, Pinkie was suddenly right in front of them, little Tormented Spirits on her back.

"There you are, silly billy!" She cried, taking hold of their hooves and ushering them in. "You're just in time to play Hide-N-Seek with Pound and Pumpkin! Pound's it, so you better get hiding!" And then Pinkie took off, leaving the three others confused and startled. About a minute later, the two older Cakes stepped in, both doing their best to balance a large cake.

"Careful, Carrot. Filthy Rich wants this cake at his festivities by noon!" Mrs. Cake warned.

"I know, I know!" Mr. Cake replied. After a long moment of adjusting angle and position so it wouldn't fall over, they managed to place the cake on a nearby table.

"Ah! Dandy, Lilly!" Cup Cake said when she noticed the two at the counter. After a moment, she peered over and saw Solaris. "And Axis, too!" She giggled. "What brings you here?" Lilly smiled, the gap between her teeth showing.

"We're just showing Solaris around Ponyville." Tiger Lilly explained, frowning slightly. There were a few thumps from upstairs, a little loud to be a pony.

Carrot nodded. "Well, this is Sugarcube corner. By the sound of it, Pound has found Pinkie and Spirits." As if to prove his statement, ther was a chorus of squeals and giggles. Within seconds, Spirits rolled down the stairs, laughing. She was not hurt, but her laughter made it quite difficult to breathe. Once she managed to catch her breath, her senses weren't as mixed up.

"Hey bro!" She called, walking over to Solaris.

"Hey. How are things with your mom?" He asked, glad to see his sister.

"Just fine. Dad spent a little time playing with us in the snow last night, then he left. I hear you're going to be training with Lightblade. Is it okay if I watch?" She looked up at him with pleading eyes, hoping that he wouldn't think to ask Pinkie or Discord. After a moment, he replied solemnly.

"We'll see what your mother thinks." Solaris looked at Spirits with a stern, but bright, face. Pinkie came down the steps a few minutes later, motioning for them to be quiet.

"The little foals are asleep." She whispered. The older Cakes nodded, then went to the back room, while the other five exited the shop.

"Ah, there you are, Solaris." Called a voice. Solaris looked up to where the sound was coming from, and his heart almost skipped a beat. A few trotlengths away was a group of eight ponies.

Solaris quickly ran their names through his head in backwards order. There was Heaven Dawn, a grey alicorn with a bright red mane. There was Sonic Rush, a sky blue Pegasus with a cyan and blue mane. There was Serenity, a pale pink Unicorn with a medium purple mane. There was also Blizzard, a serious-looking white Pegasus with a light blue mane.

After him came Affinity, a lavender Unicorn with a shocking magenta mane. Next was Solarflare, an orange Pegasus with a red and orange mane. After him was Thunder Shock, a pale blue Pegasus with shocking shades of blue in his mane. Finally, there was the one Solaris idoled. Lightblade, a white Pegasus with a blue and white mane.

They each looked at him with a judging quiet. After a moment, Pinkie nudged him forwards. "Yes, it's Solaris, right here in the flesh, and he's ready for training!" She was prattling off about how she expected him to do, but everyone registered it as background noise.

"Very well. Are you ready, as she says?" Lightblade asked. Despite the fact of seeing him almost every day, Solaris still felt like he would faint on the spot. Instead, he steeled his nerves and replied.

"Yes, sir. I am indeed ready. Tiger Lilly and Dandylion were just showing me around 'till you arrived." While speaking to Lightblade, Solaris felt the gaze of Blizzard boring into him. He did his best to ignore, then saw Blizzard whisper something to Affinity out of the corner of his eye.

"Alright. Let's head over to the clearing we prepared." Lightblade replied, grabbing Solaris' attention again.

Solaris nodded, then asked. "Is it alright if Spirits watches?" He asked, glancing back at the foal. Lightblade pondered this over, then smiled.

"Of course. But she might want to keep some distance. We're going to judge where you currently are in combat." Solarflare broke into a grin, walking up next to Lightblade.

"I hear you used fire-based attacks! So do I. They don't call me 'flare' for nothing!" Solarflare neighed joyfully, then stamped his feet, causing embers to jump up. The knights behind him backed up a bit, but seemed unsurprised. Solaris gave an appreciative nod, then followed them down the road.

"Alright. Here's the clearing. We'll start as soon as possible. What we're going to do is have you sparr with each of us and see how well you can adapt to each enemy. We'll stop when you either catch one of us off guard, defeat our main challenge, or you become unable to." Lightblade walked to one side of the field, then called to the other seven. "Who wishes to volunteer first?" They began to mutter amongst themselves, then Blizzard stepped forward.

"I suggest we start with the coveted Fire versus Ice." He said. Solaris didn't realize it at first, but the Pegasus' voice sent a small shiver up his spine. He did his best to shake his uncomfort and nodded, signaling he was ready.

"Let the first spar begin!" Lightblade cried. Spirits jumped off her position on Solaris' back, created a pink cloud, then rose up, making a sound similar to a bird call to imitate a bell.