Blade Northblood rode the train from Canterlot to PonyVille, Where he would be staying until the war ended. He was a young man with dark hair, light skin and viridian eyes, he was also ticked off.
When he faced the Princess for his 'special' assignment he thought of glory and battle, not neighborhood patrols and small towns. Blade knew he deserved better, after all he did win the "Young Swordsman's competition", his father was Bastion NorthBlood, former captain of Celestia's guards, he had war in his blood, and now he couldn't carry it.
The train slowed to a stop, Blade noticed that the train station was empty. He grabbed his things; a bag of clothes, his sword, his leather jacket, and most important his families most precious heirloom: The Northblood ring. Blade walked out into the sun, he looked around. No one was here to greet him or to even show him to the guard tower, 'Assuming there is one.'
Thankfully the town square actually had some people in it, Blade walked over to an apple stand and spoke with the owner, a girl about the same age as him.
"Hello," Blade said, "I'm Blade, the new guard in town, and I was wondering-"
The girl took his hand, "Nice to meet you mister Blade, I'm AppleJack." She took a look at Blade and nodded approvingly. "We haven't had a guard here for over... forty years now. Its nice to see that the princess cares about us in these warrin' times."
Blade felt a bit of pride sweep over him, but swallowed it when he remembered his dutie. "So, is there a guard tower, or someplace warm I can stay tonight?"
AppleJack could see Blade's displeasure by being here but shook it off, "Yeah, the princess had some builders come by a few months back, its been sitting by my friend Fluttershy's house for a while now." She turned to a small girl, "AppleBloom, you watch the stand!"
The town grew less populated as Blade approached the edge of the legendary EverFree forest, and the only buildings around were a small cottage and the guard tower. AppleJack was dragging Blade towards the cottage, to meet her friend.
"Open Up Fluttershy!" AppleJack yelled in a friendly way. "The new guard is here!"
The door slowly opened to reveal a slender girl, with light pink hair and a soft tone to her skin, "AppleJack, you know how I feel about, strangers." She spoke in a voice that rivaled the wind for how quiet it was.
"Well considering he's going to be stayin' in that tower, you might as well get to know 'em." AppleJack was being persistant.
Blade looked over to the small girl, she had two yellow feathered wings. Not an odd site considering one-third the population had them."H-hi," Blade squeaked out, he didn't know why he felt so nervous about Fluttershy starring at him, but he almost went into a trance.
Fluttershy was surprised for a second, she was actually really busy at the moment with a sick family of hedgehogs and attempted to use her 'stare' to have him say hi and tell AJ that he wanted to leave. But here he stood, with nothing appearing to have phased him. "I-I'm very busy AppleJack, and I really must be getting back to my patients, if that's okay."
AppleJack could feel a bit of tension in the air are proceeded to take Blade to the tower.
"N-nice meeting you," Blade called out.
Fluttershy squeaked and closed the door.
The tower was fresh and new, it had a bedroom with all of the essentials, a kitchen with quite a bit of food in it, a sparring room, and a large telescope on the battlements. All in all Blade was happily surprised.
"Well," AppleJack said, "I'll let y'all go on with unpackin' and such, see ya later!" She shut the door behind her and she was gone.
Blade went into the bedroom, threw his bag on the bed and sat on the floor, If he was to be prepared for an attack he might as well make sure his mind was ready. He closed his eyes and did a routine that had been passed down from his family for generations; he began to play chess in his head.
This was technique passed down by the warriors of the north, to which Blade was descended. It was simple, when facing an opponent skilled in magic, or gifted with the ability of controlling others, you throw up mental barriers. Emotions, memories and yes, even playing chess in your head. Through this technique no one could see what you were planing to do, use magic on you, or get 'inside' your head.
Blade's meditation was interrupted by a knock on the door. He climbed down the stairs and proceeded to open it. It was his new neighbor, "Uh, hi?"
Fluttershy just stared at him for a few minutes, watching his every move.
"Well, this has been a lovely visit but I really should take a walk around town, get my bearings." Blade slipped by her, her eyes still following him.
Blade's mind was still playing chess, it almost always was. He turned to make sure he wasn't being followed, thankfully Fluttershy had some more important things to take care of.
Blade saw a bouncing girl dressed in pink walk over to him, she seemed to be having random tweaks and twitches. "Oh my gosh, your new!" She got closer to him and her twitching stopped.
"Uh, hello." Blade introduced himself.
"Ooh," Pinkie Pie pulled hi sword from its sheath, "Shiny!"
"HEY!" Blade yelled, "Give that back, its not a toy!"
Pinkie stopped bouncing she apologized, returned the sword, and continued to bounce around.
Blade shined the sword on his shirt, "Thank you."
A crowd started to gather, seeing a strong young man with a sword was a strange site in PonyVille. He felt very awkward and decided to return to his home.
His return home was followed by immediate sleep, a very comfortable sleep which was going to be interrupted.
Twilight Sparkle was out for a night of astronomy, it was clear that night and the stars were shining. She gazed into it, seeing all there was to see in Luna's night sky. However, a bright light from beneath her. She took her eyes away from the telescope to see a horrific sight. A drake, a real drake, stood before her. The beast was breathing flames onto the plains beneath her. She saw where it was headed, PonyVille, and fled to her home.
"Everybody run!" She was shouting through the streets, "A drake is attacking!"
The drake busted through a building, it had heard the screams and shouting, Its response was a breath of flame.
"Help!" Three girls called out, they were about to be crushed by the monsters sharp tail.
The drake flung its tail at the three girls, expecting to feel the warmth of blood on its scales. What it actually felt was the cold of steel.
Blade's sword had deflected the tail, "Run!" He yelled at the girls.
They followed his advice, they ran to AppleJack, who clutched her little sister while watching Blade.
"That all you got?" Blade shouted at the drake, which responded with fire. Blade rolled out of the way and lunged at the beast, its hard scales weren't even scratched by the steel broadsword.
"Come on, I'm waiting!" Blade antagonized his foe, who swiped at him with a massive claw. Blade sliced the claw from its hand, the blood burned him as it splattered.
The drake cried out in pain, and began to flee the protector of the village.
Blade fell to one knee out of pain, "And stay out!" He was painting, a shard from the claw had made contact with his leg, creating a deep cut. He used his sword as a crutch, stood up and faced the crowd who was watching him.
The residents of PonyVille began to cheer, no lives had been lost, and the girls were safe.
The three girls walked up to him, and introduced themselves as the 'cutie mark crusaders.'
One of them, AppleJack's sister had begun to speak, "You saved us mister!"
Blade winced from the pain in his leg but kept smiling, "Its my job."
The purple haired on, Scootaloo, said "Then your the best knight ever!"
He smiled and began to walk to the tower, there would be medical supplies in his room.