Learning (part 1)

Equestria, the land of freedom, peace, and prosperity. How I wish I could be there to enjoy all that. Sadly I’m not there. There is no hope of me getting there, or is there? My name is Tekk and this is my story of betrayal, lies, murder, greed, silence, and salvation.

Far from Equestria, there was a militaristic country called North Klawrea. We were only militaristic because we dedicated most of our time to defending our borders. We have been prosperous but make no mistake we were far from a perfect country. We had wars, political corruption, and famine. We managed to survive and stay happy after all that though.
That is until an unknown threat that named itself Japain invaded South Klawrea. They were a demonic species. Born from the pits of hell and cast into Japain through a portal. Black and red skin with no hair whatsoever. That was the main trademark of their foul species. Some had black bat wings while others had bright red arrow tipped tails.
Their purpose? They made it very clear while slaughtering their first villages in South Klawrea; to enslave us to make portals to other worlds so they may wreak destruction. Typical demons from story books if you ask me.

My parents were killed by them while they were taking a vacation in South Klawrea. I was in North Klawrea with Uncle Steele. He worked as a blacksmith and forged many weapons and armor for the war. Did I mention he was a bear? Since the relationship with Crushia and Klawrea there have been many immigrants from those two countries, mainly ponies and bears. Other species were rare.

My parents died when I was 10. Since then I pestered Uncle Steele to teach me how to fight. He said it was going to be difficult due to the fact that he didn’t know much about earth pony anatomy. He only knew the bone structure. After about a month of annoyance he agreed to train me in the ways of combat, but only if I left for the army when I turned 16. I happily agreed.

During the first month of training I have already lost my tail to Steele’s white hot blade. He told me it wasn’t going to be easy but I didn’t think it meant dodging a fresh blade right out of the forge! He said it would improve my senses and deal with pain. I couldn’t complain because most of the demonic legions were fire users. Long story short I got my tail cut off and it won’t be coming back.

The day I turned 13 he told me I was time to prove myself. Like in his country all young ones in that age had to fight their mentors to prove what they have learned. Be it intellectually or physically.

[] Epic Battle Scene []

There we stood, locked into his eyes with a murderous intent. First rule of combat; always look to kill your opponent, if they are worthy they will not die so easily on the first strike.

We shuffled around the edges of the stone arena that was built in to his backyard just for my training. He told me after I left it would become a giant stone fire pit for celebrations, including the day when I finally leave for the military. I quickly pushed the thought aside because I was in the middle of my approval test.
I don’t have to kill him, I just have to disable or disarm him.

He then stood on his hind legs and unsheathed his steel sword, iron shield on the other arm.
I did the same. It may have been against the way I was biogenetically built for but it had a lot of advantages. Less speed but more balance and a lot more power.

Since I couldn’t hold a sword like him because I don’t have fingers I forged a blade just for me; it was a circular silver ring that was meant to fit my hoof and can be readjusted with a leather strap. On the top of the ring were 3 gold latches that could hold on firmly to anything I made with the corresponding latch. Why don’t I just take the sword and hold it in my mouth? It was too heavy. I’m not a built pony after all.

I took the blade on my back and latched it to my right hoof, with my left hood I reached for my back and latched on to a banged up iron shield. (I wasn’t that good at forging)

“Are you ready Tekk?” Steele said in his Crushian accent.

I responded with a focused stare to his eyes. He smiled and lunged towards me.

He swung the blade to my neck and I deftly avoided it by dropping to one knee and lowered my head as if bowing to royalty.
I looked up and swung at his thick furry legs, he dodged with ease.
For a large creature he sure can move. I thought to myself.

That though was a mistake.

He slashed my chest and cut through the steel chest plate armor that he made himself for me. He made a good cut as my blood started to drip on the stone floor.

I sideswiped at him quickly to make him back off and he did.
He back stepped a few paces quickly.

“Fokuz Tekk, Fokuz! Do not let your thoughtz hinder your movement in kombat!” Steele yelled.

“Screw it.” I then took my blade and cut off the straps to my armor. The broken chest plate armor clanged as it hit the ground. I also decided to quickly cut off the rest of my armor, discarding my helmet, removing back hoof armor, and taking off my armored horseshoes.

I stood there before my mentor, bare naked, my white fur stained with the crimson color of blood on my chest. I held in my hooves only a sword and a shield.

I sighed and beamed him a victorious smile. I held my shield up and my sword right at the side of it. “Come at me master!!” I yelled.

“Have gone mad boy?! I thought I taught you better dan to let the inzanity of kombat get to you! Lookz like I have to put you down before you do zomething you will regret… I’m zorry Tekk but today you die! ROAR!!!” With that he lunged at Tekk, sword aimed for his throat.

A/N All right thanks to Kaiser i managed to put this story together. As always R&R.

Learning (part 2)

I had only one chance to do this. If I fail it might be the death of me. My master thought I was preparing to block his attack but no, it was entirely different strategy!

I ever so slightly tilted my iron shield, trying to estimate a 45 degree angle while the giant furry brute was charging at me.
“Ngh?!” That was the response I was looking for.

He swung his sword at me prematurely and I backed stepped, I could feel the wind of the sword near my neck. My hooves were right at the edge of the stony circle.

I gathered myself in an instant and sprinted between his legs.

“What in th- AGH!!” What he found below him was a sword through his leg. It went straight through the other side!
I tried to pull it out of his leg quickly but then the unthinkable happened; it snapped in half!

I wasn’t taking the chance of staying there and finding out what he might do next so I pushed on the floor as hard I could with my back legs and skidded a good 10 hooves away from him.

“Haha, zmart Tekk, zmart. You really had me going zere for a zecond… but I’m not beat yet!” He threw his sword outside of the stone circle and gripped the broken blade on his leg.

My eyes narrowed as I figured out where he was getting at.

“Oh you can’t be serious.” It took me a lot of effort just to land one hit on him, not to mention my chest is still bleeding out. My limbs felt as if they were burning from the inside, my head was starting to throb no doubt due to the blood loss.

There, a blacksmith known as Steele knelt. At first glance he looked defeated but in my eyes he was getting ready for the pain. The pain he was going to inflict upon himself and then soon… me.

He quickly sighed and pulled the sword from him leg. He then started to lumber towards me, the broken bloody sword at hand. Due to my poor craftsmanship it was only sharp at the tip and getting duller as it went down, the bottom of the blade was practically round! He knew this fact and held it near the base.

“H-h-hey! That’s not fair! I don’t have a weapon!” I quickly said when he was about 5 feet away from me.

“Oh Tekk, war izn’t fair, learn to adapt my ztudent.” He raised the broken blade in the air, ready to land the finishing blow.
“NO!” I have come too far now just to let everything go to waste! I will join the army, I will stop the invasion, and I will find peace for my country!!

I gathered the last of my strength for a final assault.

He swung the blade and I blocked it with the shield. The blade got lodged in the wooden part of the shield and took this as an opportunity to unlatch the shield from my left hoof.

Planting my fore hooves firmly on the ground I bucked the injury on his leg as hard as I could! I heard something pop.

“Ngh!” My master fell to his side as his leg suddenly gave in to his weight. As he hit the ground he lost grip of the sword and dropped it.

I got up and walked over to the sword that was still stuck to the shield. I was going to regret this in the future but I bit the bottom of the sword, and with my forelegs placed on the shield I yanked the sword out.

The pain in my gums was maddening! I had only used my mouth to carrying light objects such as plates and cloth, and never used it for hard labor.

I nearly dropped the sword but kept my composure.

I hopped on Steele’s chest and pointed the sword at his throat.

It was finally over.

“Heh… you did good Tekk. Konzider this your first real battle… dat you won.” He flashed me a smile.

Ugh, I didn’t feel victorious. It took me a minute to sum up everything that just happened, blood was everywhere, my mentor’s leg was most likely broken and my hooves were stained with his blood.

The feeling made me want to vomit.

War was supposed to be a lot worse than this… the thought scares me to the core.

“The rezt of thiz veek we will take the time to heal and feast! Kongratulationz, you are now a pre-trained zoldier. The training they give in ze army is garbage compared to vat I’m about to teach you next.”

This raises my curiosity but does not take away the guilt of what I had done to my mentor. Also now that I think about it he is also the guardian that has cared for ever since he found out my parents have passed.

The tears were welling up in my eyes as memories that I had not noticed started to surface within my mind. He has given me shelter, food and water, training, and most of all; his love. He raised me as if one of his own and I repay him with his own blood!

I dropped the sword to the side and buried my face into his large furry chest, crying.

“Ah, I will be fine. Don’t vorry about it.” He tried to comfort me but it didn’t help.
I know what I have done but I don’t know how to make up for it. I just wanted to lay there in his fur while we lay there in the stone arena.

“Tekk, *whistle* eyez up front.” He nudged my side to get my attention.

I looked up at him, my face a complete mess if not my mind.

“I kan zee your kinda having a moment but if it’z not too much trouble kould you grab the bandagez on the table over there before we both bleed to death?” He let out a weak laugh.

A/N Thanks to SugarPesticide on pointing out a lot of major flaws on my story. Ill try to make it better as we go along. As always R&R.