It was a bright, sunny day in Ponyville. It was 8:15, so most of the foals were at school preparing for their new school year.
But for three ponies it wasn't just a school year, it was their last school year as they are graduating Primary School and are going to Secondary School. It was a year of preparing for exams, re-learning everything they've had in their first five classes.
All of the Cutie Mark Crusaders are thirteen, so they are now teenagers. But they were not excited about finishing their Primary School. For them, it means that they'll have to study hard, rarely having time for any cutie mark crusade. Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle prepared for their Math class, which was first that day.
Cherilee, the teacher, entered the class and greeted all the pupils. She walked to her teacher desk and said:
"Attention everypony! We are having a new pony this year!"
As she said it, a unicorn stallion entered the class. He was quite hoofsome with his perfectly cleaned, short light gray coat, a black spiky mane and tail with few white stripes in them, pale cyan eyes, and slightly pointed ears. And he was a little taller than Cherilee, making him almost a head taller than the highest pony in the class, who was Scootaloo.
Most of the fillies were frozen in place, staring at the stallion. Well, most of the ponies their age were dreaming about a white hoofsome stallion coming for them to bring them to his castle, so the new stallion was almost a dream-come-true for them.
"Well, would you be so kind and tell us about yourself?" Cherilee asked the stallion. He nodded in response.
"Hello everypony," he started. His voice was a little deep in a good way, which drew more attraction towards the stallion from the fillies. "My name's Silent Strike, I'm fourteen and I came here from a northern village. There isn't really anything interesting about me."
"Alright," the teacher said. "Do anypony has any questions for him?"
Diamond Tiara couldn't miss the moment to mock another... Blank-flank. She raised her hoof.
"Silent, what is your special talent?" she asked.
"I don't have a special talent yet," the stallion replied, looking at the pink filly. The Cutie Mark Crusaders squeed in excitement - maybe the stallion will join their club!
"You are fourteen already and you don't have your cutie mark? That must be a shame," Diamond said with a grin on her face.
"I don't care if I or any other pony don't have a cutie mark. For me, it's just a tattoo on the flanks, nothing more."
"Just a tattoo? It can change you and your future! Blank-flanks can't earn anything in life!" Diamond Tiara said, giggling. The stallion ignored her mocking.
"Hmm, I can see that your cutie mark is your tiara," Silent said with his corners of the mouth up. "Does that mean that your special talent is... wearing a tiara?"
"What? No!" the pink pony said and huffed, silencing. Other foals giggled: finally someone was able to mock Diamond Tiara back!
Suddenly a school bell rang, announcing the beginning of the lesson and the ponies went to their places.
Lunch break, 12:00.
Silent Strike went outside the school, carrying a saddlebag on his back. He decided to lay on the grass nearby. He layed down, opened his saddlebag and took a book out of it. He opened it, covering its title on the cover with his right hoof and began reading.
"Hey there, blank-flank," a sneering voice sounded. "I am the only one who mocks here, you understand that?"
The stallion twitched his ears but ignored Diamond Tiara, reading his book.
"Hey, do you hear me?" she angrily said. "Don't you dare ignore me!"
She landed her left hoof on stallion's book. Suddenly the stallion made some quick moves and a moment after Diamond Tiara was flying towards the nearest tree, hitting it with her head a second after. The stallion glared at her, but said nothing and layed down, wiped his book and continued reading, ignoring Diamond Tiara's groans as she fell from the tree on the ground.
"Wow, have you seen that, Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle asked, staring at the stallion. She and all the CMC were sitting near the school entrance, watching Diamond Tiara and Silent Strike.
"Yeah, awesome!" Scootaloo replied in a cheerful voice. "Rainbow Dash wanted to teach me martial arts, but now I think she's not the only one who is good at it. It was like, I don't know, a second, and here's DT flying towards the tree! That was SO awesome!"
"Yep, dat must've hurt. Ah thought dat stallion was just all fancy, wanting to have a new fillyfriend to do things fer 'im. Ah just thought dat he is like Prince Blueblood, good on da outside ahnd rotten on da inside," Applebloom added, looking at still laying Diamond Tiara who rubbed her head with her pink right hoof.
After the lessons, in the classroom.
Cherilee gathered Diamond Tiara, her parents and Silent Strike in the classroom for a talk.
"Silent Striker, I am disappointed with you. It's your first day and you started it with a fight!" the teacher said. "I want an explanation from you, Silent."
"She insulted me, invaded my personal space, and damaged my property," he replied, taking the book out of his saddlebag. It was a bit dirty and had a small hoofprint on it.
"And is it really Diamond's hoofprint? Perhaps you faked it?" DT's mother asked, glaring at the stallion.
"Just compare," Silent Strike replied. The stallion gave her the book and she compared DT's hoof with the hoofprint. They were the same.
"Diamond, I am disappointed," DT's mother said to her. "I'll have a little talk with you once we get home."
"Well, if I am not the guilty one, I'm going home," Silent Strike said, put his book back in a saddlebag and went out of the school, heading to his home.
His house was pretty small. It had only one floor with only one room. This house had been abandoned for years when finally Silent Strike moved in and bought it for the price of ten bits.
The house was poorly decorated, it looked more like a box with a triangular roof than a house. However, Silent didn't care as long as he had a home to live. He repainted the house white and repaired parts of the roof.
The inside had been pretty poor too. The walls hadn't have any wallpapers and had been very dusty. Once Silent Strike moved in he repainted the walls white and added some furniture in the room.
Now the room is quite comfortable, even if there is only one window with thin curtains. The room had a sink in the right far corner, a bath and a toilet nearby, both covered behind a blue rubber curtain, a wooden bed with a soft mattress beside the window, a chest of drawers with a phone on it near the window, a small dark wooden table with a chair of same material near the wall, one large black wooden box with a lock under the table, a cupboard with plates, forks, spoons and kitchen knives on the nearest wall , and a small painting on the wall near the bed. The painting represented an outside scenery of a large field with a lone tree in its center.
Silent Strike sighed in relief as he was finally at home. He took off his saddlebags and put them near the bed. The stallion stretched himself and went to the cupboard, getting a plate, a fork and a knife, and a loaf of white bread as well. He put the loaf on the table and cut off two slices of bread. He took one of them, smeared it with apple jam which he also took from the cupboard and ate it.
Suddenly the phone rang. Silent Strike turned to the source of the sound and took the phone with his magic. He brought it to his and answered the call.
"Hello, Silent," a low, raspy male voice came out of the phone. "How is it going in Ponyville? Getting on well with your new classmates?"
"It seems that most of the fillies have an attraction towards me," the stallion replied. "Well, one of them tried to mock me for my blank-flank-ness, but I didn't give her a single chance."
"Tell me more about that filly," the voice asked.
"It seems she's the bully in the class. I've heard of her before as she is infamous for her rudeness and her hate towards ones who doesn't have a cutie mark."
"Well, that would explain why she tried to mock you. And what have you done to her?"
"I showed her my skills of martial arts. I think she'll have a headache for the rest of the week, but she deserved that."
"And that's how we do it, kid," the voice laughed. "Never give any bully or anyone else to treat you like crap. Anyway, do you remember why are you in Ponyville now?"
"I do remember the reason," the stallion replied. "Do not worry."
"Good luck then," the voice said and hung up. Silent Strike put the phone back on the chest of drawers, ate the second slice of bread and sat at the table, opened his saddlebags, took some of the textbooks and started doing his homework.
The next day, 9:35.
Silent Strike and the rest of pupils were being taught Advanced Magic.
All ponies were separated into three groups: unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. Our stallion was, of course, in the first group along with Sweetie Belle and other six unicorn foals.
Cherilee decided to ask three famous ponies to come. Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were invited to teach foals their race's magic.
"Hello, my little ponies," Twilight said, walking to the unicorns. "Today I'm going to teach you Advanced Magic. You can see I'm an alicorn, but I was a unicorn before, and quite good one with magic," she smiled and made a short laugh. "Well, today we will talk about Magical Classification," the alicorn levitated a pile of paper and took the first piece of paper. "First of all, there are three so-called magical styles. First one is the Fast Style, which is also called Aggressive. Unicorns with that style tend to use their magic anywhere possible, but they don't use it accurately. Its users are ones who are influenced by their own emotions, such as happiness, anger, sadness and other powerful emotions, so it is not uncommon to suddenly loose control for those who is bound to that style."
"The second one is the Middle Style, also known as Calm Style which is equally accurate and fast. Most unicorns use it on everyday basis, because most of days are calm, so nothing interrupts unicorns from doing their everyday tasks. However, that style is not so special, so becoming someone powerful with magic is pretty hard."
"The third and the last style is Elegant Style. It is the most accurate, yet slow style of magic. It allows a unicorn to perfectly control his or her spells and use them in the most accurate way possible. However, I know only one who use this style, and this is Rarity."
Twilight cleared her throat.
"Do anypony have any questions?" she asked.
Sweetie Belle raised her right hoof.
"Yes?" Twilight asked,
"How can we find out which style is ours?" white filly asked.
"Well, it is possible to find out during a duel on swords."
"Duel? On SWORDS?" everypony gasped.
"It is an ancient way to find out which style is yours. Well, we can go outside and engage in swordplay, as there are eight unicorns in our group. Before I come back, please, find yourself an 'opponent' for a duel," Twilight said and went outside the school.
"Well, who want to be with me?" a unicorn stallion spoke. He had brown short mane and tail, and a red coat. He was the third tallest pony in the class and the most muscular one. He was known for his attempts to find himself a fillyfriend but he was too self-centered to find one. "How about you, newbie?" he spoke to Silent Strike. "You can be very proud of yourself to have such a skill in martial arts against a filly, but who said that you are good at swordplay with a real colt?"
"What is your point?" Silent asked, raising a brow. "Have I offended you before or is it something else?"
Red stallion walked to Silent and whispered angry:
"You are stealing MY fillies! You don't know how hard I tried to have one, but no! Some stallion, you, have to come and have everypony's attention!" he hissed. "Now I will humiliate you and proof that I am better than you!"
"Don't be so sure," Silent replied with his mouth's corners up. "Has your mother ever told you not to threaten strangers?"
"What?! How dare you speak of my mother!" red stallion replied with an angry face. "Prepare to be humiliated!"
"We'll see," Silent said, looking straight into red stallion's green eyes. "May I know your name, the great and powerful duelist?" he asked sarcastically.
"Steel Dagger," he replied, glaring at Silent Strike, who had no sign of any emotion on his face.
"Silent Strike. Very pleased to meet you. May the best win," Silent shake his hoof with Steel's one and nodded.
Fifteen minutes later, at the schoolyard.
Twilight and the pupils were standing in the centre of a small field.
"Well, did everypony choose an opponent?"
"Yes!" the crowd of foals said.
"So, who want to be the first?" Twilight asked. Both Silent Strike and Steel Dagger raised their hooves. "Alright, then. You can pick up any sword, they are only different because of their design, length, and weight."
Silent Strike walked to the pile of swords, which were made of wood, and saw a sword he would like to use. It had one meter long blade, which was a little curvy, had a protection for the hoof, and a blue crystal on the end of the hilt. Silent picked the sword up with his magic and swung it a few times and found it nearly perfect. Meanwhile, his opponent, Steel Dagger, picked up the longest and the thickest sword. It was a simple sword with straight long blade and heavy hilt without any hoof protection. However, hoof protection was needed only for non-unicorn sword fighters.
"Alright, you've chosen your swords," Twilight said. "Well, they will imitate a loud noise upon impact on a pony's body, so it will be easy to know who wins. However, hits can be painful, so try not to aim at head or belly. Now, please, stand in front of each other."
Silent and Steel nodded and stood in front of each other, three meters of open space between them. Silent Strike was calm and seemed to be relaxed, his sword was pointed at the ground. His opponent was sweating cold, holding the sword in front of himself and pointing it at Silent.
"Prepare to be humiliated in front of the princess, filly stealer!" he whispered. Silent Strike chuckled but said nothing in response. He was waiting for a single command to start the duel.
"Draw!" Twilight yelled. The red stallion lunged at Silent but missed. Silent easily dodged his opponent's hit and swung his sword, but was blocked by Steel's sword. He looked angrily at Silent and started to swing his sword in all directions, trying to get to the gray stallion. Without any effort, Silent managed to dodge most of the hits and block the other ones. Suddenly he crouched and swung his blade, hitting Steel's leg with the flat side, making him fall. When he's fell, he tried to get to Silent one last time, but Silent hit Steel's sword with his own, disarming the red stallion. Now Silent was looking at the red stallion, who was laying defenseless on the ground.
"Do not be sad, Steel Dagger," the winner said, almost grinning. "Maybe someday you will be better at swordplay and get any filly without an effort, but not today.""
"How can that be possible?! My cutie mark is two swords, which means I am talented at fighting with swords!" the red stallion replied with disbelief. Silent chuckled in response but said nothing and put his sword back in the pile of other swords.
"Well, now I see your styles," Princess Twilight walked to the two. "Steel Dagger, you use Aggressive Style. I don't say it is bad, but try to control your emotions better," she said to the red stallion, who was in his own thoughts. "Now you, Silent Strike. I must say that your moves are quite professional. However, I can't recognize your style, it seems to be a mix of all three. Well, now you can change your opponent and try to teach him or her what you can."
"Don't we have a lesson to learn?"
"No, that's all for today. It is very exhausting, so you can leave whenever you want," Twilight smiled. "So, who would you like to teach?"
"Hmm..." the stallion rubbed his chin, looking at other foals. His eyes finally stopped at the white filly with two-color mane. "I think Sweetie Belle will do alright."
"Alright, then. Sweetie Belle!" the princess called. "Come over here!"
The white filly trotted to Twilight, looked at Silent Strike and blushed a little, which wasn't noticed by Twilight but by Silent.
"Now, Sweetie, I want you to stay with Silent. Maybe he'll help you earn your cutie mark in dueling!" Twilight smiled as Sweetie Belle jumped in excitement. Meanwhile, the princess headed to other foals.
"So when do we start, Silent?" she asked in excitement. "I am so excited I can't wait!"
'I was like you when I was told that I will be taught swordplay,' the stallion thought and chuckled. "First of all, all you need is patience. It is the first and the main rule of swordsponyship - be patient."
"Everyone keep telling me to be patient!" the filly groaned. "I'm sick of it!"
"Don't worry, it's not like you're going to sit on your flank and do nothing," the stallion replied. "Well, let's see which style do you have. Choose a sword."
Silent Strike took the sword he used to battle Steel Dagger and let Sweetie Belle choose hers. She looked at the pile of swords, unsure which to pick up. Suddenly a sword caught her eye. It had a long curvy blade with inscriptions on both flat sides, a long hilt with a hoof protection and a pink ruby at the end of hilt. Sweetie Belle picked it up.
"A saber? Good choice," Silent Strike said, looking at the white filly. "Well, attack me."
The stallion had the end of his blade pointed down. Sweetie Belle pointed her saber at the stallion and swung it but was blocked by Silent easily. The filly was very nervous but tried not to go too fast. She tried to hit Silent from different angles but all incoming hits were either blocked or dodged by the stallion. Sweetie panted, lowering her saber.
"Not bad," Silent said, lowering his sword as well. "Of course you need practice but you do it well already. And I can tell that you have Elegant Style."
"So... I think we should go tell Twilight about it, right?"
The stallion nodded and went with Sweetie Belle to Twilight, who was observing another duel.
"Princess?" Silent called and Twilight turned around to answer.
"Yes, Silent Strike?"
"Sweetie Belle has Elegant Style as far as I can see," the stallion answered.
"Oh, so she is like her elder sister," Twilight chuckled. "The second known user of Elegant Style. Well, you can go home now."
The stallion nodded and went back into the class to pick up his saddlebags. When he entered the class someone poked him at the shoulder. He looked back and saw Sweetie Belle.
"Um... Would you teach me further about swordsponyship? I really like it," she said, blushing a little. She has never asked a single stallion to teach her anything.
"I can teach you, if you really want," Silent Strike said. "I would better introduce you to my teacher, but he's... out of reach."
"Alright then!" the white filly cheerfully said. "When and where should we meet?"
"At my house tomorrow after the school. I would buy two training swords and you will be taught by me how to become an excellent duelist."
"May I bring friends? Please? They will just watch," Sweetie Belle asked.
"Of course, if it will make you feel less nervous. See you tomorrow, then," the stallion replied.
"Okay!"
Silent Strike nodded, put on his saddlebags and went home. After a brief walk he was at his house, preparing to make himself some food. Suddenly a telephone rang, which Silent quickly brought to himself with his magic.
"Yes?" he said.
"Good day, Silent," the same voice from before came out of the phone. "How did your second day go?"
"Pretty well," the stallion replied. "But there was was a fight."
"A fight?" the voice asked in a surprised tone. "What kind of fight?"
"A duel. A unicorn challenged me but lost. It was just because I was attracting most of the fillies in the class. Nothing special," the stallion answered. "However, it seems I've got a new apprentice."
"Apprentice? So, what are you teaching him?"
"First of all, that unicorn is female. I think she had an attraction towards me, she came to me and asked for swordplay lessons. At the beginning I thought for a moment that I should get her for you to teach, but I figured out it wouldn't be a wise decision."
"And you were right. However, don't you have an attraction towards that mare?"
"Not at all. My mind is crystal clear, all I need to accomplish is my task here," Silent answered. "But I think establishing good relationship at least with one pony will get me closer to completing my mission."
"Then you should train her. One day she will get too close to you that she will be eager to help you in anything," the voice chuckled, "Continue doing what you were doing and accomplish your task, young one."
"Will be done," the stallion replied and hung up.
