From the Flames of a Phoenix

        We arrived back at our room. Breeze had split off to go talk to Switch sometime after lunch.

Lunch itself was fun, our squad laughed and joked the entire time. Except for Switch and Chasm. I still don’t think I’ve heard Chasm talk. Anyways, Switch was just complaining about everything, but seemed to be less- hateful about everything once Breeze started talking to him.

I entered with Inkwell following closely behind and stopped in front of my bed to stretch my back. I could feel and hear my back pop in a few places and I felt much more relaxed than I had in days. I looked over and saw an assortment of various armored items on the desk closest to my bed.

        I walked over and inspected the equipment.

        Chest piece, leggings, helmet, boots, and gloves. The entire set was golden like that of the majority of the guard’s armor.

        The spar is in a few minutes, so I better get this armor on.

        Inkwell trotted over to her bed and climbed up. She laid herself down to watch me as I put on my armor.

        I took off my shorts and replaced them with a pair of pants, as I don’t want the leggings to scuff my skin.

First up, I slipped on the armor leggings.

        Whoever forged these did a fine job, as the leggings fit perfectly to my form and they kept me protected while still allowing me to have a full range of movement.

        Next up, I donned the chest plate. The plate fit just as well as the leggings. However, the what would have been empty space between the gloves and the chest plate was covered by chain mail. The shoulders stood out like Dawn during one of his speeches. They just screamed strength and confidence. It was like having a large brick on both shoulders.

        The helmet was pretty much exactly like one of the ones the guard wore. I think the only difference would be the shape, mainly the front where a piece of it protected the forehead.

        Lastly, I put on the boots and tested my movement in the armor. The weight was left almost unnoticed, surprisingly. I wonder if they had it enchanted or something like that. I mean, they do have magic, so I can’t be that far off.

        I twisted my arms and legs around and felt extremely satisfied with what I received. I half expected just to get a chest place and helmet like the pony guards did. I guess whoever created the armor realized that it would not be that efficient since if I had one leg cut down I would not be able to fight. Same with my arms.

        Though, that makes me wonder why they have not done that for the guard ponies. Perhaps this time of peace has made them require less and less equipment, so they just use generic-sized suits of armor which only cover the basics to save costs.

        I’m unique, so either way they would have had to make something so I guess they went all out with it.

        I turned to Inkwell and struck a pose, “So, how does it look?”

        She stared at me, mouth agape, “It looks… amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it before!”

        I chuckled a bit and imagined if I told my past self I would be wearing something like this. I would probably call myself crazy and talk about how bullet proof vests are the future, not suits of armor.

        She walked beside me as we left the room and made our way over to the training hall. Inside, the rest of our squad and most of the other squads was waiting inside. They weren’t standing in formation, rather just in clusters talking to each other.

        A few looked at me, most of those which did seemed impressed by my armor. I can’t say I don’t agree, this armor is fucking awesome. Inkwell and I joined up with the rest of our squad and we walked up to hear Dawn claiming that he is undefeated in our squad.

        “Undefeated? Let’s see if that stands true after today.”

        Dawn puffed his chest out at me, “Oh it will! You’re gonna get wrecked!”

        Breeze started hopping up and down, “Oh! Oh! Oh! Dawn and Richard are gonna fight! They’re going to fight!”

        I waved my hand at Breeze, “Yeah we will, we just gotta wait till we get the chance.”

        Alabaster shouted, “Fall in!”

        The groups scattered and quickly reformed into a four-squad formation and we waited until every guard in our platoon was accounted for.

        “For all of you who don’t know what to do, you will spar with another member of your squad. The winners will continue on in a tournament fashion until you have a winner.”

        He called each squad individually into a separate corner and spoke with them. We waited until we were finally brought towards the front of the room and he informed us of the first round of contestants.

        “Alright, first Inkwell and Chasm, Breeze and Switch, Seeker and Richard, and Dawn with the first winner, and so on. Got it?”

        We responded with a quick, “Yes sir,” and he left us to our devices.

        Dawn spoke up, “Inkwell and Chasm, you two are up first.”

        Everyone but Inkwell and Chasm stepped away from the center. Dawn grabbed a spear from a nearby rack and tossed it to Chasm, who caught it with a single hoof and used it to hold himself up.

        I could feel the nervousness rolling off Inkwell in waves as she was passed a spear by Dawn. She gripped it with her magic and held it in front of her

        Dawn started a countdown, “Ready.”

        Inkwell’s spear fidgeted.

        “Set.”

        Chasm stood up on his back hooves and grabbed the spear with both front hooves.

        Well damn- he’s one of those ponies who has the balance to stand up.

        “Go!”

        Inkwell sent her spear flying forward. Chasm expertly dodged it and flicked his to catch the base of the head of her’s. He spun his entire body around and forced her spear to fly out of control. Her spear clattered across the floor as he turned back to her and swung his spear over himself and stopped right above her head.

        He gave her a small bow and they walked out of the impromptu arena. Inkwell walked over to where I stood and sat on her haunches and looked up at me. I gave her a small smile and looked back at Chasm.

        Damn. He’s fast on his feet and he put Inkwell down in seconds! It would be quite the challenge to go against him. I’m not sure if I could win against him after seeing that.

        Switch grabbed the spear from Chasm while Breeze picked up Inkwell’s.

        They walked to opposite sides of our arena.

        “Oooh! This is gonna be fun!”

        “I hate spears.”

        They both spread out their wings and lifted themselves from the ground.

        Dawn counted down once more, and once he finished, it sure was a sight to see. Both of them duel-wielded their spears as they flew at each other, metal clashing against metal. Each swing by one was met by the other. Unless I knew otherwise, I would say it was like watching someone fight a mirror of themself.

        The two fought it out until Breeze made a mistake and Switch forced Breeze to drop his spear. Breeze was doomed after that, as it only took a second before the spear head was at his throat. Not that it would hurt him, with the enchantments and all. Still, the speed of these ponies is amazing.

        The two of them landed and Switch handed his spear to Seeker. I walked over to where Breeze’s spear had fallen and picked it up. I think I quite enjoy spears Light-weight, sharp, long. Perfect!

        I walked into position across from seeker and gripped the spear with both hands and held it diagonally across my chest.

        I gave him a quick nod and stated, “Good luck.”

        “Ready.”

        I looked at Seeker and watched as he levitated the spear in front of him in the same position as mine.

        “You too.”

        “Set.”

I gripped harder on the shaft of my spear and prepared to fight.

        “Go!”

        I pushed myself to the left with my right foot and finished my feint by using my left foot to stop myself and leap to the right of Seeker. I swung my spear at him while he was turned away.

        He had fallen for my feint and had turned to his right while I approached his left. However, he caught himself and levitated his spear in front of me to block my attack.

        He continued by pushing me… with magic. I was caught surprised by that, and stumbled backwards as I tried to catch myself.

        He decided to use that moment to try and stab me. I took his over-confidence and worked it against him as he thrusted a bit too far and I copied what I saw Chasm do. I dodged to the right and caught the end of his spear with my own and swung it away from him, forcing his magic grip on it to shatter.

        I finished it with a leap towards Seeker and a swing that stopped at his neck.

        I pulled my spear back and told him, “Good fight, Seeker.”

        “You too, Richard. You performed well.”

        He walked to reclaim his spear while I passed mine off to Chasm, who trotted into the arena.

        Seeker handed his spear off to Dawn. They two of them waited in silence.

        Oh shit, yeah, gotta do a countdown since Dawn is fighting.

        I sounded off, “Ready.”

        Chasm remained still with impressive patience while Dawn moved around a lot, just waiting to start.

        “Set.”

        “G-”

        Dawn leaped forward and sent blow after blow after Chasm, who dodged half and blocked the rest. However, after a good fifteen seconds of being on the defensive, Chasm slipped and shot a hoof down to the ground to stabilize himself.

        That proved to be his downfall, as Dawn already had him by the neck before he could lift his spear back up.

        The two of them left, passing the spears off to me and Switch.

        The spar between him and I was very much like Dawn’s and Chasm’s, except Switch was the aggressor and he kept swooping around me and trying to defeat me from above.

        However, I found a pattern in his flight and at the right time, thrusted my spear into the air where he zoomed by. The spear poked him in the chest and so descended to the ground.

        “I hate spars.”

        Switch tossed his spear to Dawn.

        Final fight, here we come!

        Dawn walked up to replace Switch.

        “You ready Dawn?”

        “Yeah I am, I’m going to kick your flank!”

        “We’ll see about that.”

        I slid my right foot back to hold myself in case Dawn charged right off the bat. Breeze counted down.

        Alright, so he’s fast- but he tends to be overly aggressive, perhaps I can force him onto my spear if he jumps at me.

        “Go!”

        Instead of the charge I was expecting, Dawn stood still. He was using one hoof to hold the spear. If I can get his other hoof off the ground, I’ll get the advantage. Unless if he can stand like Chasm, then I’d have a much harder time. Though I did not see him stand like that in his earlier fight.

        Perhaps he purposely did not. Regardless, I must be cautious.

        Left hoof.

        I sprinted to the right and swung my spear in a wide arc towards his front left hoof. He jumped back and once my swing passed his original position, leaped at me.

        I shoved the back of my spear into the ground and pointed it to his incoming chest.

        These may be enchanted, but damn will this hurt.

        I braced for impact, but Dawn twisted himself upside down, mid jump and the spear impacted his armor, but rather than delivering what would’ve been a lethal hit, if not enchanted, his armor caught on the tip and my spear fell down along with him.

        The arc he and my spear followed flipped him back on his hooves and he charged at me.

        Now this is the point where I decide I’m pretty much fucked, my spear is on the ground and there is no way I can get it before he reaches me.

        So, I did the one thing any man would do in a time of desperate need.

        I prayed to Chuck Norris to that this will work.

        I pulled my right leg back, then using my left ankle to pivot my body, I brought my right leg soaring in an arc and attempted a roundhouse kick.

        Which I completely failed and promptly fell on my ass.

        Dawn brought the tip of the spear up to my neck while I tried to get up.

        Damn, I doubt I’ll hear the end of this.

        Breeze was laughing at me as I pulled myself up.

        “Good fight Dawn, definitely got the better of me.”

        He smirked and replied, “Yeah, and you better remember it!”

        Breeze continued laughing his ass off and pointed a shaky hoof at me, “Hahahaha! That last kick was funny! You messed up big time!”

        I rubbed the back of my head and turned my head towards the floor, “Yeah, I really did mess that up. I’ve only seen it done by other people.”

        “Why did you try it then?” Inkwell asked.

        I shrugged, “Thought I could pull it off.”

        Dawn gave me a smug grin, “Well you didn’t! Good try though.”

        Breeze hopped in small circles, “Oh! But if you did, I bet he would’ve gotten knocked out by it! It sure looked powerful and I bet you can knock out anypony with it!”

        The seven of us sat back and watched as the other squads finished up their competitions. Two of the other winners were unicorns and the last one was a pegasus.

        Alabaster dismissed our platoon. However, night had fallen and so Dawn, Inkwell, and I left to head back to our room.

        Dawn was talking about how tomorrow after guard duty, that the rest of the squad will be heading out to the bar. Both Inkwell and I agreed to go with them.

        We made it back to our room and I took off my armor and threw it in a pile. Tired as hell, I collapsed onto my bed and closed my eyes.

        You know… what if I don’t get home?

        I’m not even sure how I got here, so would I ever be able to go back?

        Regardless, I need to think about the future.

        What will I do? Settle down- but with who?

        I mean- these ponies, wouldn’t that be beastality? Wait no- that would be xenophilia. They are sentient. And besides that, I know almost no mares. I’ve seen some around the castle, but still.

        There’s Inkwell, Celestia, that Twilight girl, and the nurse.

        Celestia is out of the question, a ruler would definitely not do something like that with someone like me.

        No idea who Twilight or the nurse is.

        Inkwell… I guess.

        I’m not a good judge on looks, but she’s cute and she’s pretty friendly.

        Urgh- maybe in the future.

        It just seems wrong to even think about it right now.