The Land With The Hidden Blade

Saving Blade was supposed to be just his title but after learning that every pony in Equestria follows the same pattern, he thought it’d be easier to have that as his name.

Saving Blade, that was his name now. It was strange to think about. He felt like a newborn…foal. He almost said-

What was he going to say again? Inside, Blade growled in frustration. Every time his train of thought would lead back to his old past, it was immediately blocked. So far his name and his “cutie mark” have given a slight clue to who he is.

‘Strange,’ he thought, ‘I remembered I knew things only a few would know and now…’

-and now what?

Curses.

After his encounter with Celestia, he was sent to the medical facilities to check up on his health, physically and mentally.

“Physically, you’re in perfect shape. Better than most earth ponies are in any case,” one of the doctors said.

“Mentally, you’re as empty as a newborn foal,” another added.

Blade took that to mind. His body was well developed, just as it was supposed to be. How he sensed that he did not care anymore. Such thoughts just cause him pain. After the examination he asked to be directed to somewhere that can fill his mind with knowledge. Anything.

They took him to the library, where he began to collect books. He started early in the morning. It’s now sunset and large stacks of big, fat, god-killing books. On the left, were small stacks, which are the ones Blade hasn’t read yet. On the right, however, are books both numerous and bloated that could give a year-long nightmare to any student.

During that time of reading that nopony should ever subject them to, Blade learned of math, science, literature. These things felt easy for him to grasp. He also learned of Equestria.

Equestria’s history can be summed up in centuries of peace, culture and love. Unaffected by wars except for a few powerful beings here and there in the history books. Blade felt glad to be in such a place of harmony. A side of him was also envious, knowing almost subconsciously that the place where he came from wasn’t as peaceful.

There were also the books that held combat and military techniques. Blade felt something tug within him, prompting him to read books on combat. Another part of him urged him to read about the society so that he can blend in. What spawned these desires was another of the many things Blade doesn’t know and instead let it lead him.

The military books also intrigued Blade. How can a nation built upon the foundations of peace and love contain detailed information about swords, axes, bows and other things related to removal of life? Upon inspecting some of the older books, it became clear that the centuries of peace came at a risky stalemate.

The Griffin Empire. Natural predators with an aggressive society, all information concerning them and Equestria pointed to their mastery of warfare, political and physical. They lacked magic which prompted advancement in technology and gave them weapons of war that terrified the two princesses.

What kept the griffins from stepping into Equestrian soil was the global importance of the princesses who held the celestial bodies in place. The other thing that kept them out was the Equestrian military. Ponies aren’t born fighters but they had magic; magic was powerful indeed.

It interested him of the latent magic within everypony. Earth ponies, the breed he was classified as, have a way with the soil and nature. They also had a telekinetic field on their hooves which lets them carry things. Blade stared at his hoof and tried to flip a page. Indeed, the paper stuck to his hoof like a hand would have. Blade didn’t notice it until now because he was used to such an action-

How did he know how to use a hand in the first place? What was a hand anyway? He was a pony, not a-

“Horseapples,” he muttered under his breath. Every single frickin’ time.

“Pardon, sir?” asked somepony from behind him. Blade turned to see what was supposed to be the librarian here. She had a violet coat and slate gray mane and tail. Her storm blue eyes were looking at him with concern. Further observation showed that her cutie mark was a heart broken in two, the color faded and the cracks jagged. The image provoked sadness and pity for the pony, as well as curiosity.

"How is it that the castle librarian’s cutie mark is a broken heart?” He asked. The violet mare raised an eyebrow at this, but answered anyway.

“Written Fiction's the librarian here, mister. I'm his assistant. You must be the Hillborn, right?”

Blade has never heard of that title. Using common sense it seems that he arrived here on a hill that much is certain. There could also be the off-chance that a Hillborn is somepony else.

“I am not sure dear, would you mind refreshing my memory? I only remembered awakening in Celestia’s room,” The mare blushed at this. “We didn’t do that thing you think we did.” He stated quickly and flatly as he could, but a blush also formed on his face.

"Well, the day was all fine and good and then suddenly, a pillar of light landed on Visitor's Hill. A few seconds later, the light disappeared and you were there. The guards dragged you to Her Majesty so she can figure out what to do with you. I asked a few of them and they said you screamed weird random words. Being found on a hill, I guess people call you the Hillborn now."

Blade’s left ear twitched. It had never twitched before, so it must mean something significant.

“What were those words?”

The mare appeared thoughtful for a moment before speaking “I think I recall you saying ‘Connor’, ‘Haytham’, ‘Templar’,‘Assassin’-”

“Enough,” Blade whispered breathily. He was panting hard now, sweat beading on his face. Each and every one of those words was like a chisel pounding on him. They were painful to hear, yet slight recollection accompanied each one. “I think I have read enough for one day. Thank you, misses?”

“Broken Heart,” she said. “What’s your name?”

Inside, Blade is destroying his face with a block of steel. He forgot manners. From whatever place he came from, losing posture or manners can blow away cover and destroy your plans. Saving Blade considered where that deceitful motivation came from, and shrugged it off as ‘hulabaloo from the past’.

Outside, Blade gave a tranquil smile. “My name is Saving Blade. Thank you for asking.” He started to walk towards the exit before stopping to look back at Broken Heart. “Would you tell me where the castle gardens are?”

“Just go to the left until you go outside, then you will see it as you go.”

“Thank you.”

He trotted forth, admiring the castle’s design and feel. While it is intimidating in a way, its colors a bright and people move to and fro throughout the hallways. Blade smiled peacefully, a carefree smile on his face. He nodded and said “hello” to many passer-by’s.

He was curious what this placed looked like apart from the inside of the castle. He knew from the windows here and there Canterlot was the hub of Equestria, and the history books supported this heavily. From there he saw busy streets and ponies wearing sophisticated clothing with heads held high with self-importance.

Self-importance breeds arrogance. Arrogance breeds corruption.

Blade wondered what kept them all in line. Is Celestia’s power really as far reaching to them that they wouldn’t do things when nobody’s looking? Who is tasked to making sure that none of them go too far? Blade knows that wherever he came from, they had an organization for that.

After several minutes of trotting through the huge corridors, Blade finally got out of the castle. His hooves were on grass and the sky was blue, white clouds floating immobile on the sky. It felt slightly strange to Blade. ‘Those clouds are supposed to move,’ an instinctive part of him said. He turned his gaze back to the ground.

The gardens were beautiful. Trees and bushes were aligned and trimmed. A dirt path was visible and clean. He began trotting towards the garden. Stopping near a tree, he studied it for a moment. He placed a hoof on its trunk and slowly a sense of instinct returned to him. He clambered up on the trunk until he stood on a branch.

As a pony, standing on it with four hooves was tough. He took hold of the main trunk with his forehooves and shakily got up on his hindlegs. Spreading his forelegs on his sides for balance, he walked slowly but surely, eyes trained on one hoof as it moves past the other.

Blade saw another branch and with an effort, he jumped to it.

It was a split-second moment where he was flying. He was absolutely free, away from gravity and force. The world seemed to be full of possibilities in a span of that moment and just as fast, disappeared as his hooves landed on the branch.

He was breathing heavily now, sweat on every corner of his body. He placed a hoof on a trunk for balance as he regained the air from the jump. He continued to jump from branch to branch, savoring every moment that each jump gave him.

Several hours of tree-jumping later, a small crowd had gathered to watch the brown pony which came from nowhere fly across the castle gardens. They followed him wherever he went. Blade looked below him to see a group of ponies trying to keep up with him. He felt a devious thought enter his mind.

‘Time to have a little bit of fun,’ he thought as he abruptly jumped left to a forked trunk and swung right from a branch from above. He zigged and zagged in an almost random fashion, keeping his movements unpredictable but still heading in a general direction. The crowd was full of gasps, sweat and dissapointment as they failed to keep up with Saving Blade. Some tried to go up the trees as he had but failed, their bodies unused to bipedal movement.

Blade laughed jovially, a smile on his face. He jumped and swung from tree to branch to trunk with ease that came from a body used to years of movement.

‘What years-’ the thought came unbidden and made him lose his hold on a branch. His swing foiled by himself, he fell to the dirt on his rump with a dull thump. He shakily stood up, shocked from the fall. It took another second for him to notice he was standing on his hind legs; and it felt completely natural.

Confusion swirled around him. Shouldn’t he be on all fours?

“There he is!” a voice announced from somewhere back. Blade didn’t have time to consider his thoughts and ran in surprise. He jumped inside a nearby bush, eyes warily searching for his pursuers, body ready to spring at a moment’s notice.

  Why was he hiding? He released the tension from his body. These people were friendly and he didn’t have any reason to hide. He slowly walked out of the bush to see a crowd of ponies stare at him strangely?

“What?” Blade asked but then he saw it. He was still standing upright. He went down on all fours, the feeling both being strange yet natural. The crowd was looking at him with curiosity and some even fear. How can this pony bend his forelegs like that? Indeed, Blade’s front legs were twisted in a human fashion that would have normally required breaking a bone or two.

Murmurs went into the crowd. Blade studied the gathering of ponies. The nobles were easily identifiable; they wore colorful or heavily designed clothing that covered a large portion of their bodies. Those that showed their cutie marks often, if not all held an image of a star or something similarly vague.

There were also worker ponies in the gathering. The crowd contained a dozen or lesser ponies but as if there is a barrier that split the group into two. On the one side clustered were the noble ponies. On the other were the workers. Their cutie marks held something one could actually do for a living. He spotted a broom, scissors and even strangely a whistle on their marks.

Lastly were the guards. They were colored and dressed similarly with their coats being white and having golden armor. They even shared a neutral yet alert expression. The only thing that differentiated them from each other was a small color piece of cloth hanging below their golden armor that either signified rank or duty. There were only two guardsponies within the dozen or so crowd.

The ponies felt Saving Blade’s scrutiny and slowly dispersed, a few nobleponies giving suspicious glances at Blade before leaving. He sighed in relief from the removal of attention. He felt naked and exposed at such a large number of people focused on him.

He thought about continuing his climb but rather thought against it. He was in a strange land and he will make himself harder for being even stranger; He was a stranger being strange in a strange new world. So strange, this predicament he is in.

Thinking back of his interest in combat, he decided to wander aimlessly until he found the barracks. Blade didn’t care that he ended up in the land of rainbows and happiness. As long as there is a big-flank castle with snot-nosed nobles, there’s bound to be guards all over the place.

Blade continued to trot in the gardens, which had a calming effect on him.

Sure enough he saw spiked metal fences where the garden ended. Looking at the exit, he thought of asking for directions when he heard hooves stomping in unison. His thoughts were verified when he heard the drill sergeant shouting at the recruits.

“Are you guards or are you foals!? Seriously, you weak-legged dandelions can’t make the ground tremble? And you expect to make ponies tremble? Shame! Repeat!” a loud muscular voice yelled.

“Sir Yes sir!” the chorus of male voices returned the favor.

Saving Blade smiled as he approached a large stone clearing where 4 dozen or so ponies were doing a practice routine. All of them were sweating and faces contorted in pain and fatigue. Some held more neutral expressions that was a preview of the royal guards they will soon become.

He was now sitting on a stone bench as he continued to watch the exercise. A few minutes later he was approached by the drill sergeant. He was a large earth pony with muscles that actually bulged. He was bleach white with a blond mane and red eyes that gave him an intimidating look.

Suddenly he was ripped back to another place and another time. The air stank of sweat and wood. The ponies were replaced by civilians mulling around and the earth pony turned into a large uniformed man that stood over him, holding an axe that complimented his size.

“No hooded killer can get through a Hessian,” grunted the man as he lifted his axe to swing it. As it fell down Saving Blade was sent back to be face to face with the big pony, who seemed quite irritated.

“Distracted,” - The pony gave a short chuckle - “I said: ‘Would you like to spar with me?’  You seem to have good muscles and you walk with nice balance. I want to give my boys a show to lift their spirits up a bit.” He said.

Saving Blade blinked in confusion before nodding with enthusiasm. Whatever that vision was, he’d best forget it for now. He stood from the bench and approached the sergeant, who was at a space in the clearing away from the trainees but still visible to them.

The sergeant cracked his knuckles...or hooves.

“Tell me when to step so I won’t break any bones,” he smiled devilishly. Blade gave an even more devilish smile and blew some hair off his eyes.

“At least give me your name before I knock it out of you.”

The sergeant chuckled. “This one’s got guts!” he told the trainees. They smiled and bits were flying into different sets of hooves as bets were being placed. The sergeant looked back at Saving Blade. “Name’s Macetera but you can call me Big Mace.” He added, and then winked.

As if by some unspoken rule, the two ponies circled each other. Blade studied his opponent. It’s obvious that his punches will hurt like hell if he lets it through his defenses. He’d best be dodging and using his smaller size to outmaneuver him.

Big Mace made the first move, charging towards Blade to ram him with his large head. Blade dodged to the right and suddenly the scene changed.

He was back in another world once again. The Hessian recovered and began to walk towards him to swing his axe once again. Blade had no time to wonder, only to react. He went under the tall man’s guard and punched him hard in the gut. He followed up by landing calculated blows on several parts of the Hessian’s body. The axe swing flew away as the Hessian toppled down to be beaten bloody by Blade.

After he was done with him, it only took a split second of reaction before getting slammed in the head by a large white pony as his world spins back into the match.

Miraculously, he dodged Big Mace’s charge but the second one got him flat in the stomach. Cheers erupted from the trainees for their drill sergeant. Macetera took a moment to glance in their direction to smile, giving Blade the chance to stand up and recover from the blow.

Blade ran on two legs, using his remaining hooves to smack right into Mace’s jaw. With a grunt, the drill sergeant returned the favor with another blow. Soon the entire match became a work of art and wonder for the trainees as two ponies, one large and muscled and the other agile and on two legs, duke it out with punches and and blocks, counters and locks and lods of other moves the royal guard haven’t been taught yet.

Many trainees switched their bet to Blade. It was a dual sight for them. This was the first time they saw their drill sergeant to be actually giving a bucking effort and barely holding on. On the other hoof, a few trainees stared dumbly at Saving Blade who was twirling, kicking, jumping and punching like some acrobat.

Soon the battle ended with a stalemate as both Macetera and Saving Blade lied down on the cold stone ground and panted heavily as their bathed in their own sweat.

“Th-that was amazing,” Big Mace panted out. Blade could only nod in agreement.

After a moment of rest, Macetara stood up and offered a hoof at Saving Blade. “We should do that again sometime.”

“Agreed.” Blade smiled. He felt that he made his first actual friend in this strange world.