Love and War

Chapter 2

“Alright, so lets see here.  He said to go to the gate at three and the guards will escort me to the training field,” I said to myself as I walked up to the castle gate.  I was met with the sight of two white Pegasi in royal golden armor.  As I approached the gate I stopped in front of the two guards.  I stood still for a few moments, waiting for them to acknowledge me; but they didn’t move a muscle.

“Umm, I'm here to see General Tullius,” I said, as they looked at me.  They looked at each other and then back at me again.

“This way,” One of the guards said, as he began to lead me through the courtyard.  I quickly followed, taking in all the different sights as we approached the training field.  I could see General Tullius coaching some recruits on what looked to be sword training.

“Good.  Good form and technique.  Remember to watch your stance.  The key to wielding a sword is all in your stance.”  He then turned to see the guard and me approaching.  “Ah, Thorn.  Just the pony I was expecting,” He said, walking over to us and giving me a hoof shake.  He then turned towards the guard.

“That will be all private.” He said, as the guard saluted him and walked back to his post.  He then focused his attention back to me.

“I'm glad you could make it.  Usually half of the ponies that say they will come end up having second thoughts.  Glad to see a pony true to his word.”  I looked at him with a small smile.

“Of course.  What kind of pony would I be if I didn’t honor my word?”  General Tullius began to laugh.

“Right you are.”  After a few moments of laughing, he stifled his laughter and called one of his recruits over.  The pony quickly ran up to him and gave him a salute.

“Private Frost, reporting for duty, sir.” The pony said.

“Private Frost will be your sparring opponent.  I want to see what you can really do.”  Tullius said, as I smiled at him and gave him a nod.

“Alright.  Let’s give it a go Frost.”  General Tullius took a few steps back so it was just Frost and me.  We both looked at each other and shook hooves.  We then assumed are fighting positions.  There were a few moments of silence before we heard General Tullius speak.

“Begin.” He said, as Frost rushed me.  I held my ground as I stood on my back two hooves.  Frost continued to rush and right before he was about to tackle me, I sidestepped and gently grabbed the back of his mane as I directed him towards the ground.  Frost smashed face first into the ground but quickly got back up to his hooves.  Some of the other guards stopped their training and watched as we continued fighting.  Frost stood up and shook his head.  He then turned around and stared at me as I was now standing on all fours.  He charged again as I smiled and waited for him to tackle me.  The moment Frost tackled me, I fell backwards and using his momentum rolled him over to where his back was on the ground and I had him pinned.  I smiled as I helped him back up to hooves.  He got up and smiled as he took his fighting position again.  I took a few steps back and assumed my fighting position.  A few moments went by as Frost charged me again.  This time, he performed a zigzag maneuver, hoping to catch me off guard.  I only stood there as he came closer and closer.  I waited for the right moment and as he charged in at me.  I jumped in the air placing my front hooves on his back and flipping over him.  He stopped as I landed and proceeded to buck me.  I saw this and quickly ducked under his hooves as I did a low sweep with my back hoof.  This caused Frost to lose his balance and topple onto his back.  I jumped back and waited for Frost to get back to his feet.  As I waited, I didn’t notice that a certain pony was also watching the fight.

Celestia’s Balcony

“And don’t forget about your meeting today at 5:00pm.  Then after that you have dinner and then Luna will take over from there,” Celestia’s assistant said, as she looked at a very distracted Celestia.  “Excuse me Princess, did you get all of that?” she kindly asked, as Celestia snapped out of her daze.

“Yes I did.  Sorry about that, just lost my train of thought for a second,” Celestia said, as she was standing on her balcony watching Frost and I.  Her assistant walked over to the balcony as well and looked at what was happening.  They stood in silence as they watched Frost and me continue the fight.

“Quill, do you know who that is?” Celestia asked, as Quill looked at her and shook her head.

“I'm sorry Princess, I have never seen that pony before.  Would you like me to find who he is?” Quill asked, as Celestia shook her head.

“That will not be necessary.  I was just curious is all,” She said, as they continued to watch us.

Training Field

“Whoa,” I said, dodging Frost’s tackle.  “You are a fast learner Frost,” I said, as he spun around and performed a low sweep kick.

“Thanks,” He responded, as I dodged his sweep.

“Now you’re stealing my moves.”  We both laughed as we panted.

“Lets see you try to steal this one,” I said, rushing towards Frost.  Frost stood his ground, as I was about to tackle him. I quickly stopped right before I was about to tackle him and swept his front hoof out from underneath him.  This caught him off guard as I grabbed his hoof and jumped in the air.  I rolled over on his back, while I had his hoof in my grasp.  I then flipped him over onto his back using my momentum.  As he landed on his back I positioned my back hooves and got him in an arm-bar.  All the guards were shocked at what just happened, including General Tullius.

“Tap out,” I said, as Frost tapped his hoof on the ground and I let him go.  He stood up, a little wobbly but unharmed.

“What was that?” he asked, as I smiled at him.

“That is what you call an arm-bar,” I said with a little laugh.

“Alright and break.  Good work you two,” General Tullius said, as Frost and I shook hooves.

“That was amazing.  You have to teach some of those moves sometimes,” Frost said, as I smiled.

“Sure thing.  You aren’t bad yourself.  You seem to be a really fast learner.”  Frost laughed a little and smiled.

“Yeah, always have been.  If I see something done once or twice, I can almost instantly duplicate it.”  He said, as I laughed with him.  General Tullius approached us as we looked up at him.

“I am very impressed with your abilities Thorn.  I haven’t seen anypony perform those moves before,” General Tullius said, as he looked at Frost.  “Good work as well Frost.  You are dismissed,” He said, as Frost saluted him and gave me a smile.

“I will be waiting for a rematch,” He said, as he walked off.  I turned my attention back to General Tullius.

“Thorn, how would like to join the guard.  You seem to be able to handle yourself pretty well in a scuffle, not to mention you seem to have a lot of experience in fighting.  If you are interested, I might be able to pull a few strings and let you enter as a Lieutenant.  If I can do that, you will most likely be in charge of teaching recruits the basics of fighting hoof-to-hoof combat.  You seem more than qualified in my opinion,” General Tullius said, as I looked at him with a smile and stuck out my hoof.  A smile crossed his face as he shook my hoof.

“Sounds good to me,” I said, as we stopped shaking hoofs.

“Excellent.  I will see you back here at 8:00am sharp.  We can start your orientation then.”

“Yes sir,” I said, as I saluted him.  He let out a little laugh.

“Haha, already have that soldier spirit.  I like that.” He then returned my salute and walked back off towards his other recruits.  I smiled to myself and began to walk home.

“Hmm, the Royal Guard.  I sure haven’t been a soldier for a long time.  Be nice to get back into it, even if it’s a little different,” I said, laughing to myself as I continued to walk home.

Celestia’s P.O.V.

“Did you see that Princess.  I have never seen anything like that before,” Quill said, astonished by what she just saw.  Celestia stood on her balcony, watching me as I was talking to General Tullius.

“Indeed.  There is something very strange about that pony.  He isn’t your typical unicorn.  He seems... different,” Celestia said, as Quill looked up at her.

“What do you mean by different Princess?” Quill asked, as Celestia thought for another moment.

“I don’t know Quill.  His fighting style is something I have never seen before.  It’s almost like he is used to standing on his back two hooves,” She responded, Quill looking slightly confused.

“But Princess, he is a pony.  Isn’t it natural for us to stand on all four hooves?” she asked.  Celestia thought again before she sighed.

“Yes, but I guess someponies just don’t have that natural sense,” Celestia said.

“Or he isn’t the pony he seems to be,” Celestia muttered to herself.

“What was that Princess?” Quill asked, Celestia turning her head and smiling at her assistant.

“Nothing.  That will be all Quill,” Celestia said.  Quill bowed and then walked out of the room.

“Looks like I'm going to have plenty of time to get to know this new Unicorn.”  Celestia said, starting towards the door.