Will of Fire

Chapter 34 - Shining Armor Vs. Lightning

By: TheXIIILightning

There is a link in this chapter, click it if you feel like listening to something.

Good morning, Light.
Trixie had to leave early today, for her shift, she's sorry for not waking you up.
You looked like you were sleeping so soundly, Trixie just didn't have the hearth to do so.
Be sure to remember our date, Trixie's looking forward to it!

XOXO
~Trixie

I had just woken up to find this letter on top of my bedside table. After reading trough it I couldn't help but smile and feel slightly giddy, Trixie's just so adorable that she even writes in the third person.

After folding the letter neatly and storing it in a nearby drawer, I looked at a small clock that was pinned on one of the walls in our room.

"Damn, I just missed lunch... again." I said to myself, deflating slightly. "It looks like I'll have to eat the Mess Hall... again." I made my way towards the bathroom to freshen up, and started planning what I would do for the rest of the day.

For starters I need to eat something, I can't run around on an empty stomach. Afterwards I could go visit Trixie, watch her perform or something like that. I'm sure she'd love it, hay, I would love to see her in her environment. After that we can go on our date, yeah, seems like a solid plan.

I made my way towards my new 'armor' and put it on. The sword fit perfectly in it's sheath and Sunshine gave me her last smoke bombs. I'll have to visit an apothecary and make some new ones later, you're never have too much supplies.

I made a small mental note for the bomb issue as I made my way towards the door of my room. When I opened it I saw Shining Armor standing there, with his hoof high as if he was about to knock. I greeted him.

"Oh, good morning. You and I need to have a little talk." He didn't sound angry, he was just being Shining Armor in his work-mode.

"Sure, no problem." I said, getting out of my room and closing the door. My stomach rumbled. "Uhh, would you mind if we talk while I eat something? I'm kinda starving." He smiled a little.

"Of course, I'll accompany you. My squad should be there as well, I think they would be happy to see you again." He said while patting me on the back. I couldn't help but grin.

"Damn, that really messes up my plans for the day." I said, with a hoof holding my head while my elbow lied on the wooden table.

We ate in relative silence, the recruits were still kinda scared of me, and I was too hungry to start a conversation. They may have been serving oatmeal, but I ate it like it was apple pie.

"Sorry, but it's only for the day." Shining said, shrugging a bit with his voice low."We need to get you an alibi, so you're spending most of the day with me. It's not that I enjoy it really, we just have to deal with it."

"I guess it's for the best..." I sighed. "I just hope that I can make it to the date I have with Trixie..." Shining gave me a mischievous grin.

"I wouldn't worry about it, if Cadence knew I was standing in the way of love, she would make me sleep on the couch for a month. I'll make sure you don't miss your date." He stretched his foreleg over the table so I could bump his hoof, I did so and thanked him.

"Thank you Shining, I owe ya one." He smiled again.

"That's what I wanted to hear!" He pointed behind him. "You're training those guy's today." I looked behind him and saw three pegasi. They looked like recruits, fresh out of the barracks. From the look they gave me when they saw me staring, they must have talked with the same unicorns from yesterday's training.

"Come on Shining, I sparred a ton of times with Sparrow, three pegasi would be boring!" Normally most ponies would be offended by what I just said, but they looked more relieved than offended. Shining noticed and sighed.

"You'd expect morale would be high, after the Changeling Invasion we had about seventy or so ponies asking to join the guard, but they don't have the spirits to train as much as we do." Idea!

"Hey Shining!" I yelled, so everypony in the Mess Hall could hear. "I know how we can raise morale!" He shrugged and rolled his eyes.

"Oh, pray tell..."

"You and me. Right Now. We will have a friendly spar with no rules, anything goes! I'll use my sword and you can use your magic. The first one to land a punch wins." I extended my hoof. "What do you say?" A few guards got around us, cheering for Shining Armor, after a few seconds he smirked and bumped my hoof.

"You'll see why I am a Captain of the Guard."

"Kick his flank, Captain!" Yelled a unicorn.

"Show him who's the boss!" Yelled some random pegasus.

I think there were about... forty or so soldiers around the training fields. Most of them were guards, but I could see a few maids and civilians in the middle of the crowd. I don't know how they spread the word so fast, but they're gonna have an hell of a show.

I gave a few flaps of my wings and tucked my armor lightly, everything fit perfectly. I won't use my sword so soon, I want to see if Shining can fight first, not that I won't go all out, I'm mostly doing this for fun.

Shining Armor was using his normal Captain armor but his only weapon was his horn, he assured me that was all he needed.

"Last chance if you want to quit." I said jokingly to him, he just laughed.

"Yeah right, I'm going to buck your teeth in." He grinned, and the crowd toned a bunch of 'Ooohs' and 'Ahhhs'. Yeah, I'm going to have some fun.

"We'll start when the ball hits the ground." In a few seconds his horn produced a small violet ball of magic, it moved slowly towards the ground.

...

...

...

"GO!" We both yelled.

I was the first to reach him, since I was lighter by wearing no armor. I turned around and bucked him in the chest, he only flinched slightly due to the massive armor. I felt one of his forelegs lift my right hindleg, as if to throw me off balance, a quick flap of my wings got me out of harms way, a few feet ahead of him.

Shining charged forward and tried to headbutt me in the sides, near my cutie mark.There wasn't much I could to to avoid being hit, since he could use magic, so I just lifted my hindleg to try and buck him in the head.

The attack worked but hurt us both. Shining was now a bit dizzy and I limped for a few seconds. I'm used to fast opponents but Shining is like a powerhouse with magic, really unpredictable. I have to take the offensive.

I took out my sword with my mouth and got up on my hindlegs, while using my wings for support. I saw many griffins fight like this while using their talons, I kinda adopted their style. Shining noticed I was getting serious and smirked before lowering his head, his horn was letting out a few sparks.

I charged forward, dropping my stance until I got closer. I made a downwards slash with my sword while Shining made a sideways one with his horn. When our weapons met I only saw a slight purple glimmer and heard a very low shattering noise. My sword got deflected a bit so I compensated by doing a full turn and slashing upwards. This time I saw what Shining Armor was doing.

While he moved backwards and deflected my attacks, he was creating small shields in the path of my sword. They were small enough that I could break easily, but they were also tiring me and forcing me to compensate a lot, increasing my chances of making a mistake.

After a few more slashes I was forced to change my attack plan, so I took flight to keep away from his melee reach.

I said 'melee' because he started shooting the same balls from earlier at me. I didn't know what they did so while I dodged I purposely hit one of them with my sword. The impact was really strong, it made me lose a few feet of altitude and the grip on my weapon. I had to act fast or I was going to lose this battle.

I tucked the sword in my belly and dived towards Shining, copying the attack I did on the Manticore while I dodged his spells.

As soon as I got within reach to attack, I felt some force tugging at my tail and wings. Shining was keeping me in place with his magic. Before he could punch me and win the match, I used my forelegs to lift the sword upwards, hitting his horn with the flat tip of the weapon. It didn't cut him, but the surprise was enough to make him drop the spell, making me fall to the ground in front of a panicking Shining Armor.

After recovering from the fall, I lept forward as I tried to punch him in the face and win the match. Shining Armor reacted more quickly than I expected.

I only felt my hoof hit a larger version of the shields from earlier, but this one was around me... And getting smaller!

I held up my sword sideways, and it managed to stop Shining's spell from shrinking any further. I had to lay down with my legs tucked underneath me so I wouldn't touch the spell.

We were both panting by now and the crowd was silent. Nopony knew who won.

"I... I win this one..." Shining said, towering over my trapped form. I laughed.

"No... You don't." He lift his eyebrow. "Right now I'm safely inside this shield, the same shield that's making you tired and wiping out your magic reserves." He gave me an impressed look, clearly he's thinking the same thing I am.

"You can't hit me if I keep the shield, but if I drop it to try and hit you, we're back on square one." I nodded.

"Exactly, and the longer you keep this up, the better it is for me." I gave him a smug grin. He just chuckled and dropped the spell.

"Well, I'd say it's a tie then." He held up his hoof again, I bumped it without hesitation.

"Phew, this was fun. Do you think we have an alibi now?" We turned around to the massive cheering of the crowd. Dozens of ponies were yelling our names and asking for a rematch. Shining Armor looked happy with this new rise in morale.

"I don't think we have to worry about that anymore."

End of Chapter 34

Shining Armor is a beast!
Well, he is Captain for a reason.

Now for the Hype. *Ahem*

Mushy-mushy Trixie waifu stuff in the next chapter.
Do I even need to hype this?

Find out in the next chapter of...
Will of Fire!