Ch 4, Training of the Hoof.

Garn couldn’t help but shake his head as he looked with a mixture of amazement and anger at the kitchen, now covered in flour and other assorted ingredients. She darted her head around excitedly as she turned the oven off, pulling out a golden cake while sliding it onto the counter for all the others to admire.

“This is so much fun!” she cheered, twirling around as she grabbed a stack of plates and spread them at the breakfast bar.

Garn was surprised that the breakfast bar sat everybody down with room, but quickly felt his stomach turn at their meals. Amongst the stack of brightly colored cupcakes and cakes were salads, and other vegetarian style dishes. He sighed and went to the fridge grabbing a container of ham and throwing some between some rye bread, sitting next to Luna and Celestia as they excitedly talked about the wonders they had discovered in the new world.

“This world is so much more colorful than Equestria, I found at least thirteen different kinds of butterflies around here.” Fluttershy whispered excitedly, her hand balancing a robin as it sang joyously.

“Garn taught us new magic, when we get home I’ll have to add it to my collection and see if it can be made useful in our world.”

Garn looked over and saw Rainbow Dash picking at her salad and fuming. He leaned against the counter while chewing on his sandwich and blinked.

“Something wrong Dash?” He asked with genuine concern.

Everyone looked at the young flyer and she slammed her hand on the plate, standing in challenge while glaring at Garn.

“Why are we just sitting around eating when we should be out fighting Chaos?” she yelled, slamming her fist on the table again.

“And how do you propose to defeat him, by throwing rocks and hoping a swing of the hammer will crush his skull?” At that remark Twilight and Rarity lowered their heads, and Applejack scratched at the back of her head with a free hand.

“Do you propose to fly at him and then be struck dead with a whisper from his mouth? Face it Rainbow, you are just not ready. He’s biding his time, waiting for a challenge. And while he waits I’m going to push you all to expose your true power.” He finished and sat back down, getting glances from all the women.

“I…Flutter brain!” she screamed, and sped down to her room, slamming the door as loud as she could.

Garn sighed and placed his head in his hands. He hadn’t meant to be so forward with the truth, but everyone knew he was right. Luna placed her hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

“You told her the truth, and that can be the hardest thing to do sometimes.”

Garn sighed and stood, walking to the balcony and sliding the glass door shut behind him. Fluttershy had been watching Rainbow and stood, walking to their room as Celestia comforted her sister.

“He knows what he did was right little sister, but he still feels the stress of destiny. Without us, all of us together, we cannot hope to defeat Chaos.”

Luna nodded her head and hugged Celestia tightly, and all of them knew that even though the princesses were thousands of years old, they were as scared as the rest of them. Applejack looked at Rarity and nodded her head, and the two left, followed by Pinkie.

“Luna, what is it you aren’t telling me?” Celestia whispered, still holding her little sister tightly.

Luna separated and looked at Celestia with eyes glistening with tears. She wiped her eyes and glanced back at Garn as he stood on the balcony.

“He knows the power of Miasma as much as I do, I saw it in his eyes. He’s the one that knows that darkness, and he is scared of it. He’s scared of all that power, how it can corrupt a person to their core.”

Celestia nodded her head thoughtfully. She had noticed a strange connection between Luna and him, but ignored it for the sake of Luna. She stood up and hugged Luna again before making her way to the balcony.

“Go take a bath little sister, I need to have a word with Garn.”

Luna meekly nodded and retreated down the stares, a silent prayer that Celestia would not hurt him.

Celestia opened the door and stood next to Garn, watching as his hair swayed in the mountain breeze.

“would you like to speak somewhere more quiet?” She inquired, nodding her head to a higher gathering of trees a ways from the house.

“I don’t need to talk, I need to vent.”

“I think even in this new form I will be more than a challenge for you.” she insisted, rising off the balcony and hovering in the air with her hand hanging from her sides.

Garn sighed and took flight, following the princess of the sun to the top of the mountain, where they landed in a clearing. Celestia walked to the opposite end and raised her hands calling forth her weapon of choice, the spear.

Garn merely nodded and held his hands to his side, taking a stance of a runner.

“Let’s see what you got.” He muttered.

He dashed forward with his hands glowing the bright blue as they had during the first battle Celestia witnessed. She parried the punch with the shaft of her spear, leaping over him and thrusting with the blade, aiming at his chest.

He dodged by rolling, missing the blade by mere inches. Dust flew up in a cloud from where he landed, and he raised his arms in defense as Celestia aimed the spear at him, holding it in place behind her back.

“What is it your hiding Garn?” she yelled, charging the blade of her spear with a golden light.

A streak of golden lightning erupted from the tip, and shot high into the air as Garn deflected it with a whisper.

He didn’t speak, only deflected each of the magically charged blasts the princess fired at him, slowly being pushed back towards the trees. The more she fired, the more fatigued he felt, and he began to wonder how she could persist with her attacks.

“How can you continue to attack?” He asked, deflecting another blast.

She stopped and planted her spear in the ground, pushing her hair out of her face.

“you deflect attack as well as you deflect my questions.”

She paused and smiled, walking forward and stopping short of him. He stopped and breathed heavily, he was wondering what she planned to do next. Instead of a frown he found her smiling and she leaned forward, hugging him tightly.

“Your just like your mother, I almost forgot what she looked like.”

She closed her eyes and let the tears fall.

“You have her eyes. I forgot how lovely they were.”

Garn froze and stiffly hugged her back, feeling tears he forgot he had surface to his eyes.

“How long did you know?” He asked, choking on his feelings.

“When you summoned us here, I knew only your mothers power could separate the barrier between Earth and Equestria. And besides.” she stated, separating and brushing his face.

“How could I not tell you were the last male Alicorn?”

He looked down and shook his head.

“I was born a human, my mother gave up that duty years ago. She gave up immortality to bring me into this world. I am no Alicorn.”

Celestia nodded her head and looked him over, a mere child compared to her and Luna, but his eyes betrayed someone wise, one who had seen the toils of years of war.

“What were Nethers’ last moments like?”

He took a deep breath and smiled.

“She died dreaming of Equestria. She regretted leaving her best friend, you, behind.”

“A brave sacrifice, one that was not sung of.”

Garn nodded his head, he knew no records of his mother existed any longer, and the only one to remember her was Celestia.

“It’s a shame Luna never met your mother, she would have loved her comedic personality.” Celestia complimented, hovering off the ground.

‘Princess? About Luna.”

Celestia place a finger to his lips and smiled.

“I am not the one you should be telling.”

He smiled and nodded, following her back to the house where the group gathered and the balcony and waved them down. As they landed Garn was overrun with questions and concerns. He comforted them all that everything was fine, and almost fell off the banister when applejack planted a finger in his chest accusingly.

“What in the good Apple name were you two doing up there, looked like a thunderstorms angry mother up there.”

Celestia giggled and looked at the smirking Garn.

“Training, we were training.” he stated.

“Well you promised you would train me an Pinkie today! Or did you forget?”

“No! We can start right now, we can use the cement pad down below, so the others can watch.”

“Like a party!” Pinkie yelled.

Garn groaned and leapt off the balcony, landing on the pad beneath them with a soft thud.

“You coming?” He asked jokingly, knowing full well they wouldn’t jump.

He was quickly proven wrong as Applejack leapt off and landed with the top of her hammer crushing a section of the ground.

“When do we start?” Applejack asked with a wicked grin.

“Twilight? Will you turn on the music, it’s the stereo next to you.”

Twilight obliged and turned on the stereo, and Creed’s “Freedom Fighter” blared over the speakers.

“That hammer is an extension of your soul, you must wield it like you control your limbs, with fluid grace. Try hitting me.” He explained.

Applejack charged forward and did a thrust attack with the hammer, and fell over as Garn pushed down on the top knocking it to the ground.

“What the hay?”

Applejack prepared again and swung the hammer in a wide arc, only to have the same thing happen again. Garn smiled and raised his hands in front of him in a freestyle boxing stance.

“I’m the one with no weapon here, this should be easy for you.”

Applejack grunted and raised the hammer over her head. Garn suddenly dashed forward, pressing a palm against her chest, sending applejack and the hammer flying backward.

“Applejack! Pinkie yelled, rushing to the aid of her friend.

“I’m fine I’m fine. What the hay was that?”

Garn picked up the hammer and set it standing on the pavement, walking over to offer applejack a hand.

“I used your force against you, you have a great amount of power, but it needs to be refined.”

Applejack grunted and stood, waving off the dust from her arms as she took up the hammer.

She made another arc with the weapon and Garn braced himself to block, but instead of attacking she stepped forward and kicked him, catching him off guard. While he blocked her kick she brought the hammer down across his legs, knocking him to the ground.

“Not bad for a filly eh?” She joked, raising her hand in victory.

“Yeah, not bad at all. Again.” Garn remarked standing once again.

A few hours later everyone was too tired to move, and retreated into the house where Pinkie had whipped up dinner. As they ate their meals in glorious peace, Garn noted that Fluttershy and Rainbow were sitting much closer together, and Fluttershy gazed at Dash between bites of her salad, blushing when Rainbow met her stare.

After the meal they retreated to their rooms, leaving Garn once again to walk to the balcony and stare at the moon in silence.

“Mom? If you can hear me, I want you to know we will defeat Chaos. Even…” He paused and looked to see if anyone was listening. With a deep sigh he closed his eyes and stared across the expanse of tree’s, his home.

“Even if it costs me my life.”

End part 4