Chapters Alright. I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm... dead. I opened my eyes. I'm not dead. Amazing. My eyes immediately went shut when I felt the blinding sensation of a bright light. Slowly, I opened my eyes again and adjusted to the bright light.
I still have hooves. I sighed. If only I was back in my human form again. It took me a second to realize that there was somepony talking.
"Now fight, ponies who are chosen by the sky! You've gained the power, manifestation of the soul, Blaze, to grasp your own future!"
What? Fight? Blaze? What is going on?
The ponies around me were stunned for a few seconds. Then I saw the ponies around me hop off their chairs and faced the pony next to them. A partner duel? The stallion to my left hopped off his chair and faced me. All the ponies around me put their hoof to their chest, and with one word, all hell broke loose.
Everypony put their hooves on their chests and yelled that one word. "Blaze!" Fire appeared from their hooves with weapons that followed shortly after. If this is another universe of Equestria, then Twilight and her friends must be here somewhere! But where? Then the realization hit me. They... won't know who... I am. It's as if I was just forgotten. But I still must confirm this!
I looked around for them but I could only find Fluttershy hiding from the battle, behind the grand marble pillars. During my quick search, I had let my guard down and soon enough I turned to find a spear headed towards my chest. No way. I'm dead already? It felt like an anvil hit my chest and the pain of the blade going from my chest to my heart.
Covering my chest with my hooves, I slowly stood up. When I looked down, I found no blood on my clothes. How? I wondered as I glanced at my opponent.
He stared at me. "Your soul would have taken much damage from that. Surrender."
I shook my head and backed up, towards two chairs. "Sorry. Not my style." My opponent pointed the tip at my chest once again. I had already realized that I had no hidden blades, just a sword sheathe and what I would presume to be my sword.
Since these weapons don't actually deal physical damage, I don't think I should use my sword right now. I wanted to see what would happen if I did the whole Blaze thing too, but if it was a bad weapon, I didn't want anyone to see it.
As my opponent lunged towards me, I brought the two chairs closer. When he was close enough, I used a hoof to kick the bottom of a chair which sent the spear up and over my opponent's head.
This chair is so light! I noticed as I grabbed the leg of the other chair to trip my enemy. I kept the chair in my hoof and slammed it into my opponent. I released the chair and it lay besides him as I took in my surroundings. Nopony seems to be engaging me, perhaps you don't switch partners.
Where the hell is Twilight? Applejack? Rarity? Rainbow Dash? The dust had not cleared and it actually seemed to be spreading even farther, obscuring my line of sight. Some got in my throat and I coughed.
A loud bang to my right startled me and I heard a faint bit of dialogue. Time's up? What is the pony on the stage saying? Everything went quiet and yet I still couldn't hear a thing the mare onstage was saying. Absolute... duo?
The ponies who were still conscious took a moment to catch their breath and they all walked out of the room. I followed them outside to what I assumed was the entrance, which past it was a road with beautiful cherry blossom trees. Where have I seen these before?
I shook my head. I shouldn't be concerned about the trees. How did I get here? Again? Nopony knows me anymore... I leaned on a tree, falling asleep and awakening in a few hours. Just in time too. Ponies are going into that building again. I followed the crowd inside the building and I followed a large group of ponies into a room.
Everypony sat in a seat and I found myself an empty seat. I hope the seats aren't chosen already. I closed my eyes and concentrating on using my Eagle Vision ability. In a second, it felt as if my mind expanded, covering the entirety of the place. It marked a few ponies who I assumed were guards, but not hostile. Wait, but who's that? I wondered in my mind as I watched somepony through the wall. That pony was marked yellow.
Weird. That only happened when- I gasped. Is that somepony I know? I disabled the Eagle Vision ability and I watched the yellow marked pony walk down the hallway. Only when the pony came in that I found out that she was a mare.
"But why? Why are some ponies marked yellow?" I muttered to myself. The stallions went deadly quiet while the mares most likely started talking about the newcomer. I placed my muzzle to the desk. You stallions are so weak to a pretty face.
The mare stood in the front of the room. "My name's Silva, Silva Milta. I hope we can all get along." At this, I smiled. Just a new classmate. Seems friendly. The stallions started to approach her they started ogling the new mare. With my muzzle still on the desk, I brought my hoof to my forehead. Males. It takes one to know one.
"The stallions here are going crazy over the new mare, Silva wasn't it?" A mare said, watching the commotion. "If I heard her name correctly the-" I started to say before immediately stopping the minute I looking to the mare speaking to me. Twilight!? Or is this some other identical looking mare? "Then yes, her name is Silva. I would agree with you though, the stallions are indeed going crazy. It's such a shame to see this." I resumed, making it seem that I never paused at all.
"You're certainly different from the others. My name is Twilight Sparkle. What's yours?"
"Ray, Ray Longfellow, nice meeting you." I said and shook her hoof. Still has wings.
"Likewise."
"I hope being different in this way isn't a bad thing." I said, watching Silva nervously make her way through the crowd. I shook my head. Wait... what am I wearing? I looked at my new clothing and it wasn't my Assassin outfit. Why am I so surprised? I looked at my clothes during that fight before.
A black suit with a white v-neck under it. Added with a nice blue tie. It felt unnatural and different for the sudden change of clothing. I felt as though my hooves were restrained.
I watched Silva finally free herself from the crowd and walk down the classroom before taking a seat next to me. From a reflection, I could see that she was a bit embarrassed and nervous from the attention.
I introduced myself to her, making her smile. "I'm Silva Milta, if you hadn't heard me say in front of the room, I'm new in this school."
"As am I, I somehow managed to make my way through the battle. It was insane." I said. "I feel bad having to fight ponies that I didn't know. It felt so wrong." I said, not actually feeling bad at all.
"I know how you feel. I felt the exact same way the minute the fighting broke through." Silva agreed and I saw another pony walk in. I couldn't speak when she walked in. How do you respond to this?
"Hello! Hello!" I heard before witnessing a mare land on a windowsill and jump again, doing a variety of stunts before finally landing on the desk upfront. "Nice to meet you! I'm your homeroom teacher, Rito Tsukimi! Oh but call me Professor Bunbun!"
...
"Dear me! What could be the problem?"
...
"Oh! Are you perhaps dazzled by how gosh-darn cute I am?" Rito said, a wide smile appearing on her face. What the buck? Her clothing is... unusual.
"Goodness me!"
While everypony sat in silence and shock, I couldn't help but bring my hoof to my forehead. Again. This is going to be interesting.
"Okay, your turn! Introduce yourse-" Rito started to say before I quietly slipped away. With my back against the wall, I slid down against the wall slowly. What is this? I want to just go back to my regular life.
Through the wall, I listened in, hearing about some student I.D. used as a source of bits. I managed to sneak myself back into my seat without a problem. I don't care much about the introductions. Nopony needs to know who I am.
Soon enough, Professor B- or Rito, wrote something on the board. Duo. We have a special Duo system here, it boils down to students pairing up and living with partners. So basically like a roommate who is also a teammate? I think I get it.
Deep within my thoughts, I was caught off guard when it was stated that the pony next to me was my duo. Many were caught off surprise with this statement, including me. I heard ponies utter words of shock.
"You're my Duo?!"
"How can this be?!"
I turned to Silva with all the commotion and chatter going on. Smiling, I said to her, "So we're a Duo huh?" She smiled back, "I guess we are." I turned to Twilight. Wait... who's that? It took a few seconds but I managed to identify Twilight's duo. She seemed happy and I could tell why. Twilight's duo was Applejack. What would their Blaze's be? I wonder...
The class had resumed for a while and when it ended, I was one of the first out of the room. I started stretching on my way out of the classroom. I opened a window in the hallway and jumped out, closing the window behind me. I climbed up, feeling less stress on my hooves than usual.
What is giving me this extra strength? Oh right, that Luciful thing... I felt that something was wrong, the lack of effort needed to pull myself up from a ledge.
Let's see the place from above. I thought as I climbed a few stories high. I had a hoof on a windowsill as I looked down from above. I'm pretty high up. Just a quick examination shouldn't hurt. I scanned the area, but had not found a place that made interest or curiosity spark inside me.
I managed to descend at a rapid pace, partially because of the impact that I usually feel from a moderate distanced fall didn't occur this time. I was a few feet in the air before Silva ran up to me.
"Ray, what are you doing up there?" she asked me. I let go and I managed to land without a problem. "I was just looking around the place, trying to find some interesting places."
Silva looked behind her for a second. with a hoof to her muzzle, her eyes wandering aimlessly. Evidently she's thinking. "If you're looking for some interesting places, you should look outside of this area. The place is a bit dull and people are always really anxious."
"I should go one day. Well, what about you Silva? What are you doing at the moment?" I asked.
"I was thinking about going to the room we were assigned. Have you seen it yet?"
"Not yet, would you mind if I came with you?"
Silva smiled. "Not at all. In fact, it would be great. I wouldn't mind some company."
We walked through the entrance to the scho- I mean academy which was a term I had overheard a few minutes in a conversation between students, and took a few flight of stairs up. Our room was apparently a bit far from ground level. Fantastic, if I ever had to jump out of a window I most likely would be killed.
I opened the door to the room and examined the inside. I nodded my head in approval. "Clean room, enough space so you aren't cramped. It seems nice."
After a few steps into the room, I saw that there was two beds, one above the other. To my right was a small closet. And in between was a table, which had a note saying, Look in the closet Ray.
I crushed the note, and put it in my pocket. I opened the closet and hid my surprise. "Oh I forgot that I had somepony bring this up here."
Inside was my Assassin outfit, along with the outline of hidden blades inside the sleeves. Another note was next to my outfit.Attached to outfit. Lose outfit, lose weapon.
I crushed that one too and took out both notes, immediately throwing them in the trash.
Silva looked over my shoulder in curiosity. "Say, why do you have another piece of clothing? We've got these uniforms for a reason."
"It's because I can't leave this. It's something important to me, an object from my past. I failed to accomplish something in the past and I want to make up for it." I responded, remembering the death of my parents, how if I hadn't made foolish decisions, they'd be still alive, I wouldn't be an Assassin and I may be with them longer, not in the pony world, but in the human world.
"I need a second." I said, going into the bathroom. I can safely assume that these uniforms are a must. I switched, having the outfit under my current uniform. The hood and bottom were still visible when I did this. I put the hood on and saw the familiar triangle that slightly obscured my vision.
After changing, I got out of the bathroom. Silva looked at what I wore. She made a sound that I could only describe as approval, and said, "It looks good on you Ray."
"Thanks." I said, and placed my sword on the table. "Do you usually carry a wooden sword around?" I heard to my left.
"It's not wooden." I responded, pulling the sword out of the sheath.
"Wow!" Silva exclaimed, examining the sword closely. "It looks just like those in the older times!"
"It... kind of is a sword from the older times." I nervously said. I opened a window and took a random note from the trash. No wind. I unraveled the paper and threw it out the window. With a quick thrust, my sword penetrated the thin object.
"If that doesn't seem realistic enough, I can make a small cut on my hoof." I said, hoping that I did not actually have to do that.
"No, no, no, don't do that! It's fine, I believe you." she said with a nervous chuckle and waved her hooves quickly.
I took the sheath and sheathed my sword.
"That's a relief. I really don't need random injuries."
"But you have a separate sword. You have a Blaze already, so why do you need the sword too?"
"It's because of the fact that I had never seen my Blaze. I never used it, nor did I use it for that fight." Please know what I mean by that.
"Never?!" Silva said, shocked. "You're given your Blaze the minute you receive the Luciful injection."
"Mine didn't show. It was strange, but I was told to not use my Blaze for a few days. I have no idea whether or not a few days has occurred yet." I lied. I never was given the Luciful, but I assume that the ponies had to have Luciful to get in, so I might have it.
"Well, let's see." Silva said. She put her hoof to her chest. "Blaze."
A fire appeared by her hooves and when it disappeared, two blue guns appeared by her hooves. It looks like muskets... but they're not. They're a shorter version of muskets.
"My Blaze are dual pistols. Due to me having an incident in my foal-hood, it's been the only guns I was able to use without having a breaking down. Having a ranged weapon makes me an, 'Exception'.
Breaking... down? Exception?
"Exception?" I asked.
"An Exception is when a pony who was injected with Luciful and qualified for the use of a Blaze is given a Blaze which is a ranged weapon, or a weapon that isn't an offensive weapon. But the latter hasn't happened yet so I wouldn't be concerned about that."
"Let's see your Blaze now Ray."
"Alright, but don't expect anything special."
"Blaze!"
I closed my eyes and instantly I felt a strange sensation escaping from my chest and creeping in my blood to my left hoof, a fire magically appearing. It surrounded the weapon that was now my Blaze.
The fire ceased and I opened an eye and gasped. My eyes widened. A... bow?
Chapter 3: Shifting Power
It was nighttime before I drifted away from the land of dreams to reality. I had the bottom bed so getting to the floor wasn't a problem whatsoever. I looked through the window to see the moon and stars. I opened the window and slowly made my way out of the window, just to not wake my roommate, closing the window afterwards.
Because it was the nighttime, I felt no reason to be too quiet outside, all the dorms have windows that should keep my footsteps silent and the students would be the guards' top priority, so leaving may not be the best idea. I double checked the outside area for a second and deemed myself correct.
I walked to a blossom tree and summoned my weapon. The bow appeared in my left hoof like before and I took aim at the tree. I had to find out a way to fire the bow. I was worried that I may have to make my own arrows but before that I wanted to try out the possible ways to fire an arrow from the bow. I first just pulled back the string to test it out and nothing.
Guns require some sort of will to fire. I thought about firing a bow. "Fire." I commanded but nothing still. Maybe... not visualizing the weapon action. But the projectile itself? I closed my eyes and imagined a light blue arrow, that got lighter till the tip was pure white. I kept the image in my head as I opened my eyes, sure enough, that did the trick. There was a faint outline of an arrow on my bow. I drew it back, and the arrow solidified even more, the arrow soon looking like what I had visualized in my head.
I released the arrow and it imbedded itself deep within the tree bark. "Lots of power, probably a good weapon for multiple hits with one arrow." I continued shooting arrow after arrow at different trees, getting the hang of using the weapon. My previous arrows disappeared from the trees, but the mark did not.
After shooting a few more arrows, I gathered up many cherry blossom petals to make a suitable place to sleep and I fell asleep with the smell of roses around me.
I awoke in the morning, about a few minutes later then I would normally wake up, easily told time from the sky. If the time was correct, Silva should be waking up now, probably would go to the cafeteria soon. I walked to the fountain and used the fountain water to quickly rinse my mane and fix it up. When I examined my reflection in the water, I smiled. "All fixed."
The scent of roses overwhelmed me as I closed my eyes and relaxed, which probably what I shouldn't have been doing, just because of the danger of being caught outside. But well, maybe I'd lie my way out of it. I opened an eye in annoyance when I heard a stampede of clopping coming towards me.
The pony had spotted me already so I felt like running would make things worse for me. He had a frantic look in his eyes and I could see that there were other ponies behind him, so I realized that he may have been being chased. The pony quickly stopped in front of me and looked back. He pressed a syringe in my forearm, and I reacted by backing away.
"What the buck are you doing?!" I demanded, as he looked back again.
"Use the power." he said before running off.
"Hey! That doesn't answer my question!" I shouted at him as he ran farther and farther away. "Geez. Now to deal with these guys."
"Blaze." The dark blue colored bow appeared in my left hoof as I looked down at the ponies that ran closer and closer. It didn't seem like they'd stop, so I thought firing at them may have been the best option. I took aim and fired off one shot that penetrated from one pony to the other. In an instant, the small group had been knocked unconscious. Or dead.
After entering the academy, silently of course, and eating, daily activities resumed. Small bits of information about our Blaze's. But what had really been interesting was the sparring session that took place somewhere in the day. We were paired up with our Duo, so I guess that's something.
"Have you figured out how to use that bow of yours Ray?" Silva asked me as she drew her guns and examined them for a second.
"Definitely. Just a bit of sleep and I found the solution. Hopefully." I said.
"Well, somepony wasn't in their bed, or the room in the morning and suspiciously smells like roses." Silva said with a grin. I smiled back. "Maybe some," I whispered. "Nighttime activities." I said. After I said it I realized that I may had just screwed up. Silva's cheek turned red as she thought about what I had just said.
"No, no, no, that's not what I meant!" I said. I lowered my voice. "I just meant that I was using my bow in the night. I was just wondering how to use it." I could already feel the heat rising in my chest. "Either way. Let's get started."
"Blaze." I said to myself as my sword appeared in my hoof. Wait. Sword? I stared at the weapon, intrigued. I examined the weapon for a second. A golden hilt with a dark blue blade, the same color as my bow with a white bar down the middle of the sword.
"What happened to your bow?" Silva asked me, confused.
"I... I don't know." I hesitantly answered. With a sword in hand, I felt the same power that I always felt before, if not even more. Really powerful. Eternal. Invincible. "Let's get started." I said. Silva pouted for a second. "But... it isn't fair, you're not using a ranged weapon."
I shrugged. "My life has never been very fair."
"Alright, but don't be surprised if I beat you."
"I won't." With that statement, Silva fired a shot, and I heard a loud bang that echoed throughout the room. Immediately I felt as if time slowed down. It wasn't like I could see the bullet or anything like that, but it was slow enough for me to see a glimpse of the bullet and it's path. Enough time to dodge. The bullet that was aimed for my head flew straight past my head over my shoulder.
Silva widened her eyes in shock for a second but then narrowed her eyes in concentration. She fired off three shots from both guns. I dodged two and deflected three bullets with the flat part of my sword, finally slicing the last bullet in half. I didn't know where this new power came from but it was really helping me from getting my flank kicked.
"H-How?" she asked in surprise. I narrowed my eyes. It wasn't the time to be considering her an ally but an enemy. Time slowed again as I lunged forward, my sword in an inverted position, opposite of how I would normally hold it. I held it like a dagger as I lunged forward. I held the blade at her throat and both her weapons disappeared. I backed away and willed the weapon to disappear.
And that's a win.
