The ceremony had been over for a while, and the unavoidable "after oath party" had just run out of steam - aside from the unstoppable Pinkie Pie herself, that is: to everypony's horror, some idiot from Manehattan had slipped her chocolate covered coffee beans, and that meant that she'd be supercharged for a few more hours.
The troops had retired to the barracks, and now Twilight had asked Celestia and Luna to join them (and her) for a second part of the ceremony, something that didn't necessarily involve the currently dozing crowd that had attended the swearing of the oath - and that she was keeping irritatingly secret. Apparently, Celestia had taught her well. The Royal Sisters gladly joined her, and the trio (plus Spike, who was carrying a pillow covered with a cloth) moved to where the Force currently was, after making a short stop to ask the Troll guest to stop brushing Shining Armor (Cadance, being incapacitated by laughter, was of no help whatsoever).
The building that Twilight led her guests to was a bit weird, a combination of standard military barracks and a barn, that had been affectionately nicknamed by the town pegasi "the air strip" for its resemblance to an airship hangar; funnily enough, the blueprints for it had come not from any of the pegasi, but rather from the town's resident Earth Pony flight enthusiast, Cherry Berry.
Twilight got to the smaller door (no need to use the hangar one, since the only dragon in her current group came in petite size), assumed a posture of utter dignity and knocked - and was consequently the victim of a drive-by pomfing: a pillow thrown with spectacular force and precision got her straight on the face. Lost Cause, with a wide grin, peered out of the door and shouted "Gotcha!" only to freeze in horror when he realized WHO he had actually "got".
From down the road, Garmak and Lana, carrying large bags of provisions, calmly strolled to the door, bowing respectfully to the princesses before entering. As they stepped in, Celestia could clearly hear the tall centaur say to his canine teammate "And THAT is why I told you to wait before getting back."
Princess Celestia looked inside the main hall of the barracks, seeing a bunch of embarrassed troopers, the rest of the (equally embarrassed) Harmony Six and what looked like the remains of either an indoors hurricane or the best pillow fight in years. Probably the second, although given the presence of at least two pegasi the first idea could be a possibility as well. Then she noticed Rainbow Dash frozen in the act of loading two pillows in the nostrils of the resident draconess, whose head was stuck into a doorway connecting the building to her oversized living area. Nope, definitely the second.
After Twilight recovered, the Princesses (plus dragon) stepped in, and Twilight, trying to act like nothing had happenned, turned to Princess Celestia, smiling.
"Princess, I'd like to introduce to you the members of my Omnicultural Multi-ethnic..."
And was subsequently re-pomfed by a couple of sneezed pillows.
Sera sniffled. Apparently, while quick exhalations to play living cannon were fine, two pillows stuck in her nose were awfully ticklish. "Sorry."
Twilight stood back up with a groan, and raised a magic shield. Once was fine, twice could happen, three times would be ridiculous.
"As I was saying, I would like to introduce to you my Force."
As the troopers bowed politely (and with great difficulty in Sera's case) , Celestia nodded in acknowledgement.
"Before you start, Twilight, do you mind if I ask HOW did you do that "troops appearing out of nowhere" trick? I couldn't perceive any magic!"
Shadow Mirror stepped forward, with a deep and respectful bow. "That, Your Majesty, was because there was absolutely no magic in that. We were hiding in holes in the road, under camouflage tinted sheets, and used the distraction caused by the flag unrolling to quickly spring out."
Celestia looked at him, confused "I didn't know of any holes in the road..."
The midget artist grinned: "We made them, Your Majesty. That's one advantage of having a Diamond Dog among us. Of course, the big problem was that Rutgerd and Leaf had to plug them with their bodies until the time was right... had anypony fallen in, the trick would have been for naught."
Celestia nodded. "And the pony troopers - and the okapi?"
"Hidden in the crowd, Your Majesty. With all the dust raised by our titanic teammates, joining the rest of us was simplicity itself. Of course, their special talents helped..."
Twilight smiled, then pointed to the five ponies: "I guess that's my cue to start the introductions. Princess Celestia, let me introduce to you Utterly Irrelevant, formerly of the Royal Society of Ornithology."
The tall, lanky unicorn stepped forward. "My special talent, Your Majesty, is being unnoticeable where needed. If the wary Diomedea Exulans can't spot me, neither can a pony."
Twilight nodded. "And now, here's Background Pony, former Private Investigator in Manehattan."
The calm, athletic looking earth pony mare took a bow. "I'm good at not standing out in a crowd, Your Majesty."
"This one is Walk-In Role, once member of the Glitz Theatre Company of Bridleway."
The grey earth pony stallion took a VERY deep bow. "I've always been part of group scenes and background actions, Your Majesty. I'm trained at never, ever, ever attracting more attention to myself than needed."
"And, of course, here is one of my inseparable couples, Lost Cause..."
Twilight was interrupted by Rainbow Dash's voice "Don't you mean Loose Pillow, Twi?"
Shooting her witty friend a harsh stare, Twilight continued: "...Lost Cause and Nyota."
The two bowed politely. "I'm a linguist, and Nyota is a dancer."
Luna raised an eyebrow: "Wait! What tomfoolery is this? Neither of your talents has anything to do with hiding!"
Lost Cause turned his head slightly to hide his blushing. "We... we knew that most ponies won't pay much attention to a couple making out. Of course, we tried to keep within the limits of decency..."
Nyota smiled tenderly and raised her hoof, gently caressing Lost Cause's cheek. "[Ponies have long, wide, dexterous tongues. I loved this, my sweet one.]"
Celestia tapped slightly a hoof, then spoke. "[I'm sorry for not telling you earlier, but I speak perfect Zebrican, and so does my sister.]"
At those words, Nyota let out a squeak that would have made Fluttershy proud, blushed brightly and hid under the closest hiding place, namely the right wing of the pretty, slender and elegant pegasus mare to her left.
Twilight pointed at this one: "Oh, and this is a member of our aerial team, Window Dressing. She took the right wing. Literally."
Celestia smiled to the mare, who looked quite uncomfortable. "Why, you're one of the aerialists in the formation! That was some good flying you did, miss Dressing!"
Window Dressing smiled back, shyly. "Thank you, Your Majesty. I loved doing that. It made me feel... more than just my special talent."
Celestia frowned. "You... want to be more than your cutie mark says? Mind if I ask why?"
The gorgeous pegasus' head dropped low, with a sad sigh. "My special talent is... being pretty. Just that. At school, I was the pretty filly. At college, I was the pretty mare. I even had to escape Photo Finish's attentions. But today... today I was more. More than just a pretty mare."
No sooner had she said this, Window Dressing found herself wrapped in the embrace of the wings of Celestia and (to the utter surprise of anyone but the Harmony Six and Spike) Fluttershy. The tall Sun Princess lifted her chin with a wingtip.
"You're not alone. You have no idea how much time it took me to be more than "She who raises the sun". Some days it felt like the only ones who knew me were Luna and Starswirl. I miss that old oddball."
Twilight wasn't sure if it was appropriate to interrupt Celestia and Window Dressing's moment... luckily, Celestia took a step back and looked at the three diminutive Ring Brothers.
"Moving on, do you mind introducing to me these three fine gentlecolts?"
To Celestia's words, Trapeze took a step forward and gave one of his exaggerated bows, quickly imitated by his brothers. "My name is Trapeze, Your Majesty, and these are my brothers Baton and Shadow Mirror, who you met earlier. We're the Ring Brothers, Circus Performers: acrobats, jugglers, stage magicians... by the way, the "appearing Force" trick? All my talented brother's idea. Shadow Mirror is a master of misdirection."
Luna's eyes shone, and she looked at the trio excitedly: "Are you three also... clowns? Like Ponyacci?"
Baton smiled a sad smile. "Fan of the old master, are you, Princess? Yes, we're also clowns, if needed. But we're not good at it. Besides, we're not like Ponyacci."
The three - and Pinkie Pie - spoke in a single voice: "Nopony is like Ponyacci."
Twilight coughed slightly. Things were not going as she had planned... and yet much better than she feared. She pointed at Rutgerd and Leaf.
"These are our other inseparable couple, Rutgerd and Leaf in the Wind. They're among the mightiest members of our team still in pony size."
The two gave a deep nod, more or less a bow for such massive creatures. "Rutgerd honored to meet Sun Princess."
"I'm honored as well."
Twilight turned left, then suddenly looked down. She had almost missed Kissy. The Luvcat was TINY!
"This one is Sunlight Kissing the Morning Flowers. Kissy, if you prefer. He's tiny, but he's got a big heart."
Celestia giggled, then leant forward and nuzzled the minuscule Luvcat. "Greetings, little one. Glad to meet you."
Kissy wrapped Celestia's nose in a warm, fuzzy hug. Luna cooed in delight, and went for a hug of her own. The introductions were paused while everyone tried not to look at two aeon old princesses acting like schoolfillies.
After a while, Celestia lifted her head and turned to look at the other troopers, silently telling Twilight to go ahead. Luna followed after a moment, leaving somehow a chubby opossum nestled on Kissy's head.
"Tiberius was hidden in my mane. He wanted to see the ceremony, but big crowds unnerve him."
Twilight looked for a moment at Luna's marsupial pet, then shrugged and turned to the oversized head filling the door in the back.
"That one is our logistics and transportation unit, Serendibite. Well, at least her head."
Celestia nodded politely, and a powerful impact on the other side of the door hinted that Sera had tried to bow... forgetting that she was already lying down.
"I, I'm a honor, Your Princess. I mean, I honored, Majestic Celestia. I mean, It's a Celes, your Honored Majestia. I mean..."
Twilight turned to Stormwreaker. "I thought she was over her awkwardness."
The griffon shrugged. "With us, sure. With ponies she doesn't know? Not so much."
Twilight sighed, then turned to Celestia: "Princess, let me introduce to you the practical mind behind our little group: Acting Sargeant Stormwreaker."
Stormwreaker lifted a talon, looking really embarrassed: "Well, Princess Twilight... Today I was thinking about our oath. The Omnicultural Multi-Ethnic All-Encompassing Defense Force..." Twilight was astonished: it was the first time that Stormwreaker used the fuil name! "... is a peaceful, kind Guard, unlike the Griffish Militia. They don't need a Stormwreaker. What they need is... me."
The griffoness took a deep, respectful bow in the direction of the three Princesses. "Your Majesties, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Acting Sargeant Glinda Goodfeather. I'm honored to be in your presence."
Spike looked at her in utter confusion: "Goodfeather?"
"I told you that my dad loved fairy tales. What I didn't tell you is that he wrote a lot of them."
To say that Glinda was surprised by Twilight and Steady Ascent's reaction would be an understatement; the Princess of Friendship and the cultured giraffe literally pounced on her, pinning her to the wall, with giddy grins on their snouts.
"Your father is Gordon Goodfeather? THE Gordon Goodfeather? The author of "The Little Kitten and the Sun"? Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
Again, the troopers took a little pause to avoid seeing their Royal leader and one of them acting like crazed fans. Celestia, on the other hoof, was used to it. She moved to Lana.
"So, since I already know Steady Ascent, I guess that leaves you and the tall gentletaur. I hope you won't mind if I ask your name myself."
Lana shrugged. "Am Lana. Wear uniform, dig holes, help new pack." she gestured to indicate the other troopers. "Is all."
Gaemak moved forward, as Celestia turned to look at him. For both was kind of unusual not to have to look down to meet someone else's eyes.
"I'm Garmak, Princess Celestia. I've been citizen of Equestria for years, and now I decided to repay the kindness of your people and show them that the centaurs aren't all terrors like he who was once my Prince. To that end, I answered the call of the Princess of Friendship."
Celestia looked at him, thoughtful. There was a tone in his voice... almost as if... She looked at Twilight, then back at Garmak.
"You took the oath, right? The Centaur oath? Hoof on the forehead and all?"
Garmak blushed a deep, dark purple. "Yes."
Celestia turned back to Twilight. "Twilight... Sorry if I disturb your fanfillying by asking, but... are you aware that a Centaur oath of loyalty is for life?"
Apparently, Twilight wasn't; she promptly forgot about Glinda and turned towards the colossal Badlander, aghast. "WHAT?"
Celestia let out a small giggle: "Oh, don't worry, Twilight... what I meant is that unless you remember to release him from his oath he's pretty much at your beck and call until either of you passes on. Just remember, unless you have a good reason for releasing him, doing so is considered an insult."
Twilight looked at her mentor harshly. "NOT HELPING, Celestia."
Garmak coughed. "Well, it's an insult among centaurs. Not sure about ponies."
Twilight sighed deeply, then straightened up and motioned to Spike. The little dragon moved closer, still holding the pillow.
Twilight looked at the assembled troopers, then spoke.
"Acting Sargeant Goodfeather. Trooper Garmak. Please take a step forward."
As the two obeyed, she nodded to Spike, that pulled the cloth off the pillow, revealing two shining insignias.
"A Guard needs leaders, gentlebeings. And while I think all of you deserve to be so, I believe that the two of them have the necessary attitude. These insignias mean greater authority, but also greater responsibilities. I hope that you will accept, Sargeant Goodfeather and Corporal Garmak."
The two simply saluted, as the other troopers let out a short cheer. Twilight floated the insignias to the collar of the uniforms, a gesture that made Garmak instinctively move his arms to cover his chest.
Celestia looked at Twilight, puzzled. The other shrugged. "Kind of a long story."
Then, as Twilight was talking to Celestia, Glinda turned to Kissy and smiled. The little critter scurried off.
Glinda snapped at attention and saluted. "Permission to talk, Princess?"
Twilight looked at the griffon, confused. "Uh, granted, I guess."
Glinda grinned. "I noticed that, in the oath, among the things, people and ideals to protect and uphold there wasn't your name, and so did my teammates. I guess you meant that you weren't supposed to be served... or be in the chain of command, except as a "founding Princess". You don't want or need a guard, only someone who wants to help others... just like you do." Twilight nodded, dubiously. "Well, too freakin' bad. Sorry, purple mane, but you're in this for keeps, just like us. You gathered us, you swore us in, and guess what? You're stuck with us - as our leader. OUR Princess. Sure, we won't ask you to always be around, what with being a heroine and everything, but if we're in, you're in. We're a team, period. Pull my insignia back off for insubordination if you want, but know that we all think the same."
Twilight, deeply moved, took a step forward, then hugged the griffon. "I really hope that I'll be worthy of you guys."
Glinda hugged back for a moment, then took a step back. "Oh, and another thing... Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, in everyone's name I'd like to request a full pardon for the crime of offense to the Crown."
Twilight, her eyes moist with tears, hadn't yet noticed that Kissy had armed everyone in the room with pillows.
Celestia lifted her own pillow, mirrored by her sister, then grinned wickedly. "Granted."
The ensuing pomfing echoed for hours.