Chapter 24: Royal Guard Training, Part 2

The next morning, I woke up at my usual time. I did not want to disturb them so I stayed in bed and went into some meditation time. I focused on muscle training as I had a feeling Shining was going to over push me again. I also scanned through the scroll after hearing what happened to Lightning Trails dad. There must be something here about nerve repair. This went on for an hour when I heard a horn going off. I exited to see what is going on.

Captain Shining Armor was standing at the entrance to the barracks. He had a big smile on his face. "Get up you foals! Time for some more training." Shining Armor shouted.

We all shot out of our beds and stood at the front of them. What do you have planned for us Shining Armor? Shining Armor began to walk down the middle of the room as we stood at attention. He looked at each of us as he went by us. When he looked at me directly, his smile grew bigger. Oh I am going to be in pain today.

"After breakfast, report to the track for another session of running. You have 30 minutes to get ready and have breakfast."

He left and we quickly went and made our way to the mess hall and grabbed some food. We ate in silence and quickly as we did not have much time. We made it to the track with a few minutes to spare. We stood in line and at attention, waiting for what we are going to be doing. Shining Armor teleported in front of us when the 30 minutes were up.

"Now then, yesterday when you ran the track was to see how you do. You are going to need to improve your time quite a bit. Everypony's average time to do one lap was around 5 minutes. You are going to run this track until you are under 1 minute."

Everypony knew this was going to suck as I saw in their facial expression. Shining Armor then turned toward me. What now.

"Blaze, you are to increase your weight enhancement spell to 375lbs. Have fun. NOW START RUNNING YOU MAGGOTS!"

I really hate you Shining Armor. I do not care you are big bro to Twilight. You give me a chance to fight you, you are going to feel it for the next week! I said the command and increased the weight. I was struggling now to move even a step. The other started running and saw I was struggling to get going. I was determined again to beat this challenge. It took me just a half an hour to do one lap. This is going to be a long day.

Three hours later, Colorful Spark, Cancer, Dragon, Star Dust, Fang, and Lightning Trails had got under the 1 minute mark. I was up to 10 minutes. Shining Armor came and told them to go and get lunch and then do 3 hours on the obstacle course. He came running next to me after they left for lunch.

"You having fun here Swift Blaze, or should I call you Slow Blaze?" Shining Armor said. I did not answer him as I was focused on the task. "What? No back talk like the morning you evaded my guards. You wish you never did that now do ya."

"Sir, permission to speak freely, sir." I said as I was getting very angry now.

"Sure, why not. There is nothing you can do anyway to hurt me if you want to stay here."

"I really did respect what you do here and that you are Twilight's brother. But that all changed when you turned into a complete motherfucking asshole! I know you were embarrassed that I evaded your guards that morning. Just realize no pony on this goddamn planet ever saw a human in over a thousand years, let alone one that can do these crazy things I can do. You only have me do these ridiculous things harder than the others because you are hoping I would break down and give up. I got some news for you, we humans NEVER GIVE UP! WE PUSH THROUGH THE HARD TIMES. LET ME TELL YOU THE SECRET THAT HAS LED ME TO MY GOAL. MY STRENGTH LIES SOLELY IN MY DETERMINATION!"

I gain a burst of speed and started to run faster. Shining Armor could not believe I would not give up. He teleported away and left me alone with a guard that was keeping track of my time. It took several more hours before I finally got under the 1 minute mark. When I did so, I activated my ki flying so I would not fall face first into the ground. I made my way to the guard and he informed me I can go have dinner and turn in. I nodded and made my way there. I entered the mess hall and see the others eating their dinner. They were talking among themselves and stopped when I entered. I went and got my massive pile of food and joined them.

As I was starting to eat, they were just staring at me. Great, now what do they want to know. "Do you have a question you all are wanting to ask me?" I said.

"Remember when I asked you why you are on Captain Shining Armor hate list? You said you would tell us exactly what happen." Fang said.

"I do remember saying that. I shall tell you while I eat as I did not have lunch today."

So I told them about the morning when I woke up and was lead to these training grounds. I told them about the nice soldiers that escorted me and about the sparring matches I had with myself. I then told about using my teleport jutsu and scared the guards outside of the dining room. Going into the details of what happened in the chase all the way to where I did the solar flare to blind them and teleported to the Princesses.

"No wonder Shining Armor has a grudge against you. I would too If I was embarrassed like that in front of the Princesses." Star Dust said.

"His guards were never trained to deal with something like me and the abilities. He should not make me suffer for it." I said.

"I agree. You should go and tell the Princesses of what he is doing." Dragon said.

"Then the Princesses will think I am weak and could not cut it. I just need to find a way for him to treat me as an equal and not the enemy."

"What about challenge him to a match?" Lightning Trails said.

"What?"

"My dad told me about it when I was young. A recruit can challenge the training officer if he or she believes they are being singled out from the rest of the group. It does not happen often, but that is there so the pony does have something they can do instead of quitting."

"Lightning Trails, YOU ARE A GENIUS!" I shouted and started to leave.

"Where are you going?" Fang asked.

"Going back to the barracks to get ready." I said as I left.

I entered the barracks and made my way to my bed. I made two clones to help me out. I will have one clone go into meditation, one clone will get some sleep, and I will watch over them to make sure no pony will disturb them. When the others finally came to the barracks, they all did a double take at what they were seeing.

"Um, is the fatigue from today finally getting to me, or do I see three Swift Blaze?" Cancer asked the others.

"I then see the same thing you are seeing." Lightning Trails said.

"I can explain why you see three of me. Come on in and I shall tell you about this jutsu." I said.

They entered and came to the foot of my bed. I told them about my shadow clone and what this has allowed me to do since I came to this world. I could tell they were amazed at something new they never seen before.

"So you are getting some sleep, while another of you is meditating on things, and you are here to keep an eye on them." Star Dust said.

"That is pretty much what it sums up to. I am going to tell you right now. Do not try to enter my mind as I have placed barriers to protect the knowledge I have. I don't want any of you getting trapped in them." I said.

The Unicorns nodded to me that they will not intrude into my mind. They all headed to their own beds for some sleep. The only pony that was left awake was the one of me that was watching over the other me's.

The next morning, just before Shining Armor would enter, I woke up the other two of me and released the jutsu. I quickly went over what my clone did during the meditation and began to prepare myself for the fight. Shining will regret what he as done by the end of the match. I won't hurt him, much.

I saw Shining Armor come in and was surprised I was already awake. He blew the horn in his magical grasp to wake the others. "Alright you sleepy heads, you know the drill. See you on the track in 30 minutes." Shining Armor said and then teleported away.

I left for the mess hall as the others took care of their morning business. I grabbed my normal amount of food I eat and sat at the usual table. The others shortly joined me at the table with their breakfast.

"Are you ready to challenge Shining Armor today Blaze?" Colorful Spark asked.

"As ready as I will ever be. This is going to be a match for the books." I said.

"Maybe all the other guards and the Princesses will come and see the match." Cancer said.

I looked in the direction where the magic pin hole would be if they are still watching me. "I think they might if they want to see some new jutsu I have come up with."

"What are you looking at Blaze?" Lightning Trails said.

"Oh, thought I heard a fly buzzing around and was up in that direction."

"Let's get going before we are late." Star Dust said.

We finished breakfast and got to the track with a few minutes to spare. When time was up, Captain Shining Armor teleported in. Before he was going to tell us what to do today, I interrupted him by saying, "CAPTAIN SHINING ARMOR! I HEREBY CHALLENGE TO TO A MATCH FOR SINGLING ME OUT DURING TRAINING!"

Shining Armor strolled up and faced me, face to face. "So, you are going to invoke the challenge. What are your conditions for the challenge." He said.

"It will be a no holds barred match. Anything can go. I will be allowed to use my chakra and ki and you can use your magic. We can use weapons, but cannot kill the opponent. First to lose consciousness, loses the match. If I win, you will treat all of us fairly like you would normal recruits. If I lose, I shall drop out of the training and leave Ponyville, forever."

"I accept your terms. Follow me to the battle arena."

We followed him to another part of the training grounds we have not seen before. We entered and stopped at a stairway.

"The rest of you can go up these stairs and watched from the seats around the arena. Blaze, follow me to the arena itself."

We all complied and followed the instructions. Shining Armor led me to a double door and opened them. A bright light shined through the opening first and then revealed the field. I began to hear lots of ponies cheering. I looked around and saw the place was filled with lots of guards. I then saw Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in the Royal box to watch events from. I see they were still watching me. Guess they had all the other guards show up to watch too. I looked over to Shining Armor and he looked surprised to see so many guards were here.

He turned to me and said, "Do you have something to do with this?"

"How could I? I have been on the training grounds. I have not been in contact with no pony except for you and the others I am training with." I said.

"I think this will be good now when I humiliate you in front of those I command."

"Don't think having your guards here will help you win."

"I was going to kick your flank no matter what."

"Then let's stop chatting and head to the center of the field."

We made out way and stood in the center. I whisper the command to take the weight enhancement so I am at top speed. Princess Celestia stood up and walked to the balcony just outside of the Royal box.

"Good morning everypony! We are all here to watch the match between Captain Shining Armor and Swift Blaze. They have set the terms among each other and ready to fight. Let's cheer for both as these are two great stallions." Princess Celestia said using her Royal Canterlot Voice.

The crowd cheered louder after the speech. Shining Armor and I turned and faced each other and got into a battle stance. We both had serious looks on our faces as we stared at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move.

"You can still back out and just accept to treat me better like the others." I said.

"You can also back out before being humiliated in front of all these ponies. I have yet to lose a challenge." Shining Armor said.

"There is a first time for everything."

"Enough chat! Time for battle!" Shining Armor shouted.

Shining Armor charged his horn up quickly and fired a spell at me. I let it hit to see what it would do. It was a barrier spell that surrounded me. I touched it and saw I could not pass through it like the others.

"Too easy. What are you going to do now? That is my strongest barrier spell. Nothing can break it." Shining Armor said as he was gloating.

"Guess you did not hear me. I said there is a first time for everything. Let me show you how I can easily break this barrier of yours." I said.

I began to charge up my ki. Shining Armor watched to see what I was doing. I started to have a red glow around my body. The barrier was starting to buckle as I charged up higher. When I was ready, I release the energy and shattered it to nothing. Shining Armor was surprised and then got furious. He fired another spell at me, but I easily dodge it with my new speed. From his view, it looked like the spell shot right through me.

The crowd gasps at what happened and could not understand how it happened. I took a guess there was one pony that could have possibly seen what I did. I scanned the crowd quickly looking for my team and I spotted them. They all had surprised looks on their faces, except for one. Cancer. His horn was glowing so I suspect he activated his ability to speed himself up. He is going to like this next part.

As Shining Armor was charging up another spell, I moved at full speed to him. Time slowed down as I ran. I got to him and quickly placed a hoof band on his horn. I then stood next to him a distance away. When time went back to normal for me, he thought I disappeared. I whistled so he would look in my direction.

He turned his head with a confused look. "How did you get over there?"

"The weight training, remember? Want to know what it feels like? Increase left fore hoof band back to previous weight."

His head suddenly took a nose dive and his horn penetrated the ground. The crowd was cheering and I heard some laughter too. Shining Armor slid the hoof band off and pulled his horn out of the ground. He looked furious.

"ENOUGH OF THESE GAMES! COME AND FIGHT ME LIKE A STALLION! IF YOU HAVE THE BALLS!" Shining Armor shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Fine then, let's get serious."

We charged at each other and started to throw hoofs at each other. Each was blocking the other. I had no trouble with my speed as I was able to read his movements. I was amazed he was keeping up with blocking mine. Kicks were also exchanged. This lasted for several minutes and neither of us was making headway. I jumped back as this was getting boring. Let's see if he can dodge these.

I gathered the chakra energy, hand signs in my head, and shouted, "Fire Style! Rapid Fireball Jutsu!" I shot several fireballs at Shining Armor. He activated his horn and had water shooting out and hit the fireballs. They made contact and burst into steam. I decided to play with this and covered the field in a fog. I summoned my samurai sword to me and began to sneak around the fog.

I could sense that Shining Armor was getting frustrated. "You call this fighting! You are hiding in a fog afraid to attack!" He cried out.

This fog does have a purpose. Let me teach you. I ran by him sever times in different directions. Each time, I had my sword hit him in a spot that would be fatal. But it wasn't as this was the reverse blade sword and I was hitting him with the blunt edge. He fired spell in the directions I ran away, but missed. He then sent an energy wave of heat and that cleared the fog.

"You want to play with swords now? Let me show you what I can do." Shining Armor pulled four swords off the arena and held them next to them. "Can you dodge all these?"

He began to swing them at me and I used mine to dodge. I had to pick up my speed as the magic was allowing him to swing them faster, plus there were four blades. I was getting pushed back as I was defending myself. The crowd was now cheering for Shining Armor. Ugh, they cheer who is winning. I need to change this up before I get diced up.

I side stepped and rolled out of the way. I then energized my sword with electricity and launched a wave at him. He pulled up a barrier shield to deflect the wave. As he did this, I performed another jutsu and gave myself some stone armor. When he swung the blades at me again, I let them hit me and they got stuck in my armor. My sword was still energized so I sent another wave at him. He was too close to bring up some protection. It made contact and got the jolt pretty good. He lost control of the blades and they fell off me. I took my armor off so I could move again at my faster speed.

As Shining Armor was recovering, I went in and performed an ice jutsu that encased all his hoofs to the ground. He began to try and pull them out, but no such luck.

"Last chance to concede before we go to the next level." I said.

"SCREW YOU YOU MOTHERFUCKING FREAK!" Shining Armor shouted.

"I really did not want to cause you pain as I still respect you, but you leave me no choice."

I quickly backed away as he used his magic to free himself. He then fired rapid shots of magic at me. I dodge the best I could, but I got hit several times. Where I got hit, I felt a burning sensation that would not go away. I sent water jets at bullet speed and hit him several times. This has to end soon.

I played a desperate play and launched a ki ball at Shining Armor. He brought up a barrier to block, but it just went right through an exploded. He got knocked back several feet. I stumbled towards him as he was now barely standing. We both looked at each other. Bruises were all over us and I was really hurting.

"I will never give up. You can't make me lose consciousness. You will have to kill me." Shining Armor said.

"Guess I have to pull out all the stops to make you lose." I said.

I stepped back a bit and perform the massive shadow clone jutsu. Hundreds of me now filled the arena. Shining Armor looked around and chuckled.

"So, you plan on beating one pony up with many of you? Only proves what a monster you are."

"No, I am not going to beat you up physically. I am going to do something you would never expect on the battlefield."

I can tell everypony that was there were wondering what I was going to do. Time to show my favourite funny jutsu that Nauto does, with a slight modification. "NINJA ART! SEXY LINGERIE TRANSFORMATION JUSTU!" All of me shouted. A big puff of smoke fills the space. When it dissipated, everywhere you look you could see different pony mares wearing lingerie of different styles. All the stallions shot blood out of their noses and fell over due to the overload. Shining Armor too fell for this as I had done several Princess Cadance next to him. I released the transform and clones so I was the last pony standing, literally.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna flew down from their box to me.

"Well, that was an unexpected way to end the match. Not only did you knock out Shining Armor, but the rest of the guards that were not on duty." Princess Celestia said.

"Why would you come up with a jutsu like that." Princess Luna said. I saw a little bit of blood still on her nose.

"I actually did not come up with it originally. The main character did something similar to his superiors as he was a kid. Being human, we wear clothing all the time so his version was of naked women. Seeing ponies are naked all the time, I figured clothing is used for those special times between lovers." I said as I was catching my breath, sitting on the ground.

"Well, you do have and interesting imagination. You are clearly the winner today so you can go and rest yourself. Shining Armor will honor the agreement between you two." Princess Celestia said.

"Thank you your highness. The guards should be waking up soon so I will take my leave."

I went and picked up my loose hoofband and sword. I placed the hoofband back on and sent my sword back to my basement. I then teleported out of there and reappeared at the barracks. I entered the washroom to take a look at my injuries. I had several bruised and cuts over my body. The cuts have closed up and the bruises were starting to blacken up. Man, Shining Armor knows how to dish it out the pain. A normal pony would be knocked out five times over. Looks meditation will be focusing on healing. I then heard the doors to the barracks open and several ponies walking in. I walked out of the washroom and saw my teammates. Several of them had tissues plugging their noses.

"Wow Blaze, you sure took a beating. I am surprised you are still standing." Colorful Spark said.

"What in Equestria was that last move you did? I never saw something like that in a fight." Lightning Trails said while breathing through his mouth.

"I had to come up with an ace in the hole that would make any stallion fall over and be out for a while. That was the best option as it would not cause major damage." I said as I sat on my bed.

"Well it was super effective as all of them, including these ponies, fell over with blood coming out of their noses." Fang said as she laughed.

"Can you warn us next time before you do that thing again? I fell and rolled over several ponies till I stopped at the bottom of the section we were in." Cancer said.

"I don't plan on using that unless I need to evade some ponies." I said.

"It was impressive how fast you dodge that second spell." Cancer said.

"He did not dodge it, it went right through him. Never saw anything like that." Star Dust said.

"Right, none of you can see super fast movement."

"Huh?" The other asked in confusion.

" I shall explain as I did it." I said. "You know I have these on to actually continue training and so I don't run too fast. I had deactivated all 375lbs so I felt super light. My body could move so fast, that I did that dodge within a blink of an eye."

"That's fast!" Dragon said.

"Yea, I would show you my speed. But the pain is now getting to me so I really don't want to move for a while. It is going to take a while in meditation to heal these wounds."

"If you want, I can use some healing magic on you to help you out." Colorful Spark said.

"That would be great. Any help in relieving the pain will be good."

"Ok Blaze, hold still as I am a little out of practice."

Colorful Spark activated his horn and the same glow formed around my body. I began to feel a nice warmth and the pain was lessening. I looked over my body and the injuries were starting to disappear. Soon, the pain was gone and my body looked healed.

"Thank you Colorful Spark. You saved me several hours of meditation."

"Anytime Blaze."

A loud rumble was heard in the barracks. They all looked around to where it came from. Then turned their eyes to me as my stomach went off again. I chuckled a bit and said, "I think my stomach is telling to get some food."

They all laughed and we made our way to the mess hall. We grab our food and began to eat. As we ate the doors to the mess hall burst open. Standing there was Captain Shining Armor, all healed. Probably done by the Princesses. He walked over to our table.

"Congratulations Blaze. Very few have beaten me in a challenge. *Cough* Let alone in that method. I shall let you have the rest of the day off to recuperate your strength back. The rest of you, after lunch, I want you to go to the sparring area and pair up. A guard will be there to give you the rules. I would like to have a chat with you Blaze after lunch. I will be by the track." Shining Armor said and left before we could get a word in.

"Wonder what he wants with you Blaze?" Star Dust asked.

"Do you think he is going to surprise attack you?" Lightning Trails said.

"I don't think he will do anything like that. I think he would like to know more about these jutsu and ki abilities I have." I said.

We finished eating our lunch and parted ways. They went to spar and I went to the track to see what Shining Armor wanted to talk about. I do hope he is not going to ambush me. I got to the track and did not see Shining Armor anywhere. Ok, this doesn't feel right. I opened my senses to the surroundings to stay on alert. I heard a twig snap behind me. I spun around and was about to launch a ki ball at what was behind me. I held it as I saw it was Shining Armor. He was surprised at my reaction.

"It is ok Blaze, I am not here to fight you. You proved that you are on another level with your skills." Shining Armor said.

I pulled the ki back in and lowered my arms. "Sorry about that. Being called to an area and no pony was there, my instincts kicked in to prepare for anything. Good thing I looked before I launched that blast." I said.

"Yea I want to talk about those abilities some more, but I had something else on my mind I need answers to. When you did that last move that knocked me out, mentally, you had several of you turn into Princess Cadance. I checked with Princess Celestia and you have never met her. How were you able to look like her, let alone getting them exact."

Oh I knew that was going to bite me later. Guess he needs to be told a little bit more about me. "Shining Armor, I think we to finish this conversation with Princess Celestia. She will understand why."

"Alright, but I do want an explanation when we get there."

We left the track and made our way to the castle. When we entered the throne room, Princess Celestia was sitting there on the throne and only guard ponies were in the room. We walked up to her and bowed. Shining Armor stood up first and I followed.

"Your highness, Swift Blaze said he will tell me about Princess Cadance, but only in your presence. Will you honor us a court session so we can understand how he knows her." Shining Armor said.

Princess Celestia looked at me and I felt her enter my mind. Does this have to do with your knowledge of future events of Equestria Blaze? She said in my head.

Yes your highness. I would like to include Captain Shining Armor in knowing the real truth about me. I replied in my head.

"Very well Captain. You guards may leave us and close the doors. I wish not to be disturbed."

"Yes, Princess Celestia." The guards said. They left and closed the doors. Princess Celestia used her magic and sealed the room. She gave me a nod when it was done.

"Captain Shining Armor. What you are about to hear does not leave this room. Only Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and yourself are the only ponies I will have told this to you. You cannot repeat this to anypony that I have not mentioned. That includes Twilight Sparkle." I said with a serious face

"What could be so secretive that you have that only the Princesses knew about before me?" Shining Armor asked.

"I told a partial truth to your sister when I informed her and her friends of how I came to this world. I said I wanted to go to a world that has not seen war and greed of the human kind. The real truth is I chose this world specifically by name."

"How can a human know about this world when they have not been here for over a thousand years.?"

"Like this." I summoned my iPad to me. "Back on my world we created things like tv shows and they are made about anything. Don't freak out to what I am about to show you."

I began to play the first episode. His eyes grew wide to what he was seeing and could not believe. Once it was over, he sat down and looked like he saw a ghost or something in that nature.

"How is that possible? I chatted with Twilight about that day and that is exactly what happened. Is this just a show for you and we don't really exist"

"Shining, listen to me as this place is real as I have realized when I arrived. I keep this a secret for the exact reason to how you reacted. I don't know how to explain it either but I have knowledge of future events. I have now found out the episodes are not in chronological order so I really don't know when they are going to happen until I recognize something from the episode. Before you asked as the Princesses have, I will not show you what is coming as I don't know when it would be. So when I say to trust me, believe me in what I say that I know what is going to happen."

"Swift Blaze does speak the truth as you have seen in that device he has shown you." Princess Celestia said.

"If what you say is true, then tell me something only Twilight Sparkle and I would know." Shining Armor said.

"Very well, you have a nickname for your sister. You call her Twily. She has one for you too. She calls you Shiny. Twilight's foalsitter was Princess Cadance. They did the ladybug song whenever they saw each other." I perform it in front of them.

"Ok, you have convinced me that you know more than you let on and how you know Princess Candance. So why did several of your clones changed into my marefriend?"

Oh shit! I cannot let them know about this knowledge! Think! Think! Think! "She makes an appearance on an episode and you two are friendly with each other. That is all I can say."

"Ok, can you go over some of those moves you did in the arena? I feel I should know how to block some of those in case you do lose yourself again."

"I agree. Blaze, each day during training, you shall go over some style of jutsu with Captain Shining Armor so he will have a better understanding of how they work." Princess Celestia said.

"Of course your highness. I wish I would never have to experience all that rage ever again. I had no control in what I was doing like that. It was the worst feeling." I said.

Shining Armor and I left the throne room and return to the training grounds. When we were getting close to the sparring rings, we could see the pairings and them fighting.

Star Dust was going against Dragon in the first ring to the left. They were throwing hoofs and buck kicks at a good pace and blocking them too. In the next ring was Colorful Spark and Cancer. Colorful Spark was dodging Cancer's attack with no issue. I then saw Cancer get hit with a roundhouse kick to the chest, sending him out of the ring. In the third ring I saw Lightning Trail avoiding getting hit by Fang. As we got closer, I could hear some shouting from Fang.

"Come on Lightning Trails and FIGHT ME!" Fang shouted.

"I can't hit mares. It is wrong." Lightning Trails shouted back.

"STOP USING THAT EXCUSE! NO PONY TAKES ME SERRIOUSLY BECAUSE I AM A MARE!"

Looks like Fang need a better sparring opponent. I should be healthy enough to assist.

Shining Armor walked up to the guard standing there taking notes on the fights. I headed over to Fang and Lightning ring to have a quick chat.

"How's it going Lightning?" I asked.

"SHE IS TRYING TO KILL ME!" Lightning Trails screamed.

"I am not trying to kill you. If I was, you would be dead in 5 seconds." Fang said.

I could hear take a big gulp down his throat after hearing that. "Why don't you hit her?" I asked.

"Because she is a mare and I don't hit mares." Lightning Trails said.

"Do you think she is acting like this is because you are treating her like a mare? She is here to join the Royal Guard. If she doesn't get this combat training. She would get hurt in a fight. So get your balls out of your flank and hit her!"

Lightning Trails agreed to what I said and faced Fang. He charged at her to throw a hoof into her face. It did not make contact. If you blinked you would have missed it. Fang easily blocked the hoof, grabbed it, and tossed Lightning Trails over her. She followed through and pulled him straight to the ground, landing on his back as she pinned him.

I walked up to where Lightning Trails head was and said, "Of course, she could have prior knowledge before coming here." All I could hear was a moan coming from him.

"Great, now I got no pony to spar against." Fang said.

"Hold it for a second. How about I be your spar partner?" I said.

"You? Are you sure you are up for it? You did go against Captain Shining Armor and barely won."

"Colorful Spark healed me and I have relaxed this afternoon so far. Yea, I am able to do it. Just need to know the rules."

"Ok, don't blame me if you get hurt again. The rules are simple. No use of abilities, must stay within this ring, and no killing your opponent."

"Those are simple rules. I will keep my weighted clothing active to make it a fair fight."

"Agreed. Now then, will you give me a challenge, or whimper out like Lightning Trails?"

I charged at Fang and tried to do a roundhouse kick to the chest. She dodges it and stepped back. "Does that answer your question?" I said.

"Oh this is going to be fun." Fang said with a big smile.

Seeing as we can't use our abilities, I will stick with the Taijutsu style of fighting. Will be good practice of my skills instead of me fighting me. We got into fighting stance, waiting for the signal to start. Captain Shining Armor came over to observe and judge the match himself. Lightning Trails was levitated out of the ring and placed on a bench nearby.

Shining Armor looked at both of us and said, "Ready?" We both nodded without taking the stare off the other. After a few seconds, which seemed minutes, he then said, "FIGHT!"

We both charged at each other and began to throw and dodge hoofs from both ends. She was able to block my hits and I blocked her attempts. We danced around the ring, not ever making hits. I focussed on her movement to try and find an opening. Time to change it up. I ducked down and did a leg sweep. I made contact with one of her hind hoofs. As she was starting to loose balance, I went for a grapple hold. I got her and she fell down. She then managed to lift me while holding her and reversed the grapple. Argh! Did not see that coming. Fang really knows her moves. I struggled to get out, but she had a good grip. Ok, this looks bad. I am going to feel this if I want to break the hold. With all my strength, I pulled on the grapple to break free. My shoulder was crying out in pain until I heard it popped. I twisted my hoof out and broke free. I was down one hoof as I backed away on three hoofs.

"Why did you not give up Blaze?" Fang asked as she was surprised I did that to my body.

"My determination to win drives me to do anything within the rules of engagement." I replied in pain.

I got on my hind hoofs. This is going to hurt too. I swung my arm from having it on my side to out as far I could take it. Another pop was heard as my shoulder went back into its socket. The pain subsided a little bit. I could see Fang did not like that sound. I rotated it around to make sure it was back in place. I went back into battle stance and waved the hoof in front of me to notify her to come for some more. She acknowledged by charging me. I changed tactics to which method I was going to fight. I managed to land some hits and she got some in also. We did this for several minutes. Fatigue was starting to get us as we started to slow down. We landed more blows as we blocked less. I need to end this soon. Never thought this was going to last this long. In one last move, we both gave the other a hard upper hoof, which sent us flying out of the ring. I just laid there, recovering my strength a little bit before I tried to get up again.

Star Dust and Colorful Spark came over and stood over me as I looked up to the sky.

"Blaze, I don't know what got in your head to get into another fight." Colorful Spark said.

"Yeah man, that is crazy. I have never seen a pony take two beatings like that in a day." Star Dust said.

"One, Fang needed a sparring partner that can match her. Two, not actually a pony, remember? This is a human thing." I said as I breathed heavily.

"Guess I should go and heal you again." Colorful Spark said.

"No, go and help Fang. I can manage this one." I replied as I got myself back up.

Fang was being looked after by her little brothers as they got her back onto her hooves. I walked over to them.

"That was the most difficult match I had in a long time. I can't wait for another round when we can use our abilities. Thank you for sparring against me." Fang said.

"You're welcome. I have to admit that was difficult for me too. I have been so used to using my ki and jutsu, that I now see I need to strengthen the fundamentals some more. I am looking forward to our rematch." I said.

"I am glad to see Blaze you are going to get something out of this training. I am sorry again for being a little harder on you these past few days." Shining Armor said.

"It's water under the bridge." My stomach began to growl yet again.

"Dude, when are you never hungry? I have never seen a pony eat so much and never get any fat on them." Dragon said.

"I have a fast metabolism."

We headed to the mess hall for dinner. Shining Armor actually joined us tonight. We discussed about all the matches that happened today. We laughed at all the fun parts that happened. We talked about what each pony was thinking during their matches. We also critique about them so everypony knew where they need to improve on. After dinner and the discussion, we made our way back to the barracks. The others went to sleep and I went into meditation to finish healing and work more on my basic fighting fundamentals in my pony form.