Lies and Deceit
It was after dark when Sword Shield left the restaurant. He quickly flew to the barracks and alerted the entire Royal Guard using the callback horn.
"Listen up, we've received a threat against Canterlot. Shining Armor wants all guards at their stations and patrols. I want you pegasus guards to be doing fly by's around the castle and over every neighborhood, keep a keen eye out for anything suspicious. Report anything out of the ordinary. Shining Armor will call you back tomorrow morning for extra assignments. Move!" ordered Sword Shield.
All the Royal Guards came to life as they dispersed throughout Canterlot, securing every inch of the city. Sword Shield let out a sigh as he watched them go. This was gonna be a long night.
He went over to the barracks and changed out of the tuxedo he was still wearing and put on his armor. He headed for the castle where he expected Shining Armor and Cadance to be. He walked into the throne room, and sure enough the two of them were talking with Celestia.
"-sure you can handle it?" asked Celestia.
"It's no problem, Celestia. The Royal Guard should be more than enough to counter whatever is threatening Canterlot," answered Shining Armor.
"I hope so. To be safe, I want you to cast your shield spell around Canterlot, I don't want anypony getting in or out without my say," ordered Celestia.
"Understood." Shining Armor then began to use his magic, he gasped as he used it but managed to create a large shield surrounding the entire city.
"That should do it," said Shining Armor as he finished the spell. He looked back at Celestia, "If you haven't heard already, I proposed to Cadance and..." Shining Armor looked over at Cadance with a smile.
"I accepted!" said Cadance gleefully.
"We would like to have the wedding here at the castle," said Shining Armor.
Celestia gave a smile, "That's wonderful news! I'm so happy for you both. And of course we can have the wedding here. It may be on such short notice, but it should be safe enough at the moment, we need time to prepare however. After tomorrow I will invite Twilight and her friends to help with the wedding, but I think we should get some rest now, it's very late, and we have much to do tomorrow. Good night everypony."
Cadance, Shining Armor and Sword Shield all left to get some rest. Each of them were offered a room at the castle, Cadance and Shining Armor accepted, but Sword Shield declined and slept in his tent outside the barracks, wanting to be ready the moment anything happened if Canterlot was attacked.
The night passed quickly with no disturbances, Sword Shield woke up at the crack of dawn and was grateful nothing had attacked Canterlot during the night, yet his nerves remained on edge. Waiting for an impending attack was the worst part of an attack, the longer the enemy waited the worst it would get. He left his tent and took his own station on the wall overlooking Ponyville.
His old recruits, Arden and Swifty, were also at their posts on the wall nearby.
"Hey, Sword Shield! Long time no see huh?" Arden called over.
"Yup, it's been a while. You guys have been staying out of trouble I hope?" asked Sword Shield.
"Well, no thanks to your training, yes," answered Swifty.
"Well let's hope you can hold up to what I've taught you, cause we might be in a bit of trouble soon enough," said Sword Shield in a serious tone.
There was a few moments of silence until Shining Armor came over by the wall looking for Sword Shield, "Hey, have any of you seen Cadance anywhere?" Shining Armor flinched for a moment and rubbed his head as if he was having a headache.
"Why? Did you lose her?" asked Arden. Swifty and him both cracked up into a laugh while Sword Shield simply rolled his eyes.
"No, I haven't seen her anywhere this morning. Did you check back at the castle?" asked Sword Shield.
"Yes, but I think I'll check again. If you see her though, notify me," said Shining Armor he began to walk off when Cadance appeared in front of him.
"I'm right here, Shining Armor. Is there something you needed?" asked Cadance.
Her appearance surprised Shining Armor, "Uh, yeah. I need your help with something back at the castle. Sword Shield, I want you to come along too, I'd rather you be patrolling inside the castle than the walls."
"Alright," replied Sword Shield. He hopped onto his sword and flew ahead of them to the castle and continued on his patrols inside.
The day passed by quickly, ponies were scrambling around setting up decorations all day long, Sword Shield stayed in the castle patrolling. No attacks ever came, but something was bothering Sword Shield about Cadance, she didn't seem to be acting like her normal self. Every once in a while Sword Shield saw her out the corner of his eye, and she was frowning, she seemed generally unhappy.
When he watched her talk with other's she always seemed to smile, but it looked fake to him. He knew Cadance never smiled that way, and she rarely ever frowned, she was always a very happy pony. Sword Shield mostly brushed it off as wedding anxiety, planning a wedding was never meant to be easy, was it?
The next day Twilight and her friends showed up and started to help put the wedding together. Sword Shield always tried to stay near Cadance, guarding the doors to the rooms whichever she was in, sometimes listening in on the conversation.
Over time he became more and more confused with the way Cadance was behaving, she never acted rude or self-centered when he was her personal guard, or the occasion they ran into each other, but today she was acting abnormally so.
He decided to take a walk after night had fallen and his shift ended, he wandered around outside thinking to himself and started overhearing a conversation at a table nearby. It was Twilight and her friends. Twilight sounded upset and was arguing with her friends, she seemed to be obsessed with the way Cadance was acting today.
"-I'm sure it's the result of being an awful pony who doesn't deserve to even know Shining Armor let alone marry him!" yelled Twilight, "Maybe there shouldn't even be a wedding!"
"Think maybe you're being just a tiny bit possessive of your brother?" asked Applejack.
"I am not being possessive, and I am not taking it out on Cadance! You're all just too caught up in your wedding planning to notice that maybe there shouldn't even be a wedding!" argued Twilight.
Sword Shield was surprised hearing Twilight say that, he knew something was wrong but not to the extent of cancelling the wedding, but it seemed he wasn't the only one who had noticed Cadance's sudden change in behavior. He wasn't sure what to do about it and decided to simply retire to his tent for the night.
The next day Sword Shield came up to Cadance while she was alone in her room. It was about time somepony confronted her.
"Cadance, are you feeling okay today? You haven't been acting like yourself lately," said Sword Shield after knocking on the door.
"I'm fine! You don't need to be checking up on me," answered Cadance. She didn't even bother opening the door.
"Are you sure? Cadance, if there is something wrong you can tell me," insisted Sword Shield.
"I said I'm fine! I promise. Now go, I need to get ready for the rehearsal!" said Cadance.
Despite her saying otherwise, Sword Shield was still convinced something was wrong with Cadance. He took out his sword and shrunk it down into a marble and used a Sight Seeing spell on it and rolled it under the door to spy on her.
Like she said, she was getting ready for the wedding rehearsal, nothing unusual, but Sword Shield noticed something; when she used her magic to levitate something, the magic aura of Cadance's horn wasn't her normal color, it was green, not the light blue it was supposed to be.
Sword Shield brought back his sword and returned it to normal. He was convinced that Cadance was not the actual Cadance, at least the Cadance he knew. He suspected her to be under a spell of some sort. He made his way to the room where everyone was rehearsing to warn them, but was stopped by one of the guards in the hallway.
"You'll have to wait Lieutenant, Princess Celestia doesn't want any interruptions with the rehearsal," explained the guard.
Sword Shield sighed and began to wait impatiently for rehearsal to finish. He saw Cadance come through the hall and enter the room, Twilight came through a moment later as well, entering the room rather aggressively.
"I'm here!" Sword Shield overheard Twilight yell, "I'm not gonna stand next to her! And neither should you!"
The door closed and there was silence. Sword Shield was suddenly interested and took out his sword, morphing it into a marble again and used a Sight Seeing spell on it. He rolled it secretly under the door without the guards noticing and watched what was going on in the room.
"You have to listen to me!" Twilight continued yelling.
"Oh goodness, are you okay?" asked Fluttershy.
"I'm fine," responded Twilight.
"Ya sure about that?" asked Applejack. Twilight pushed her away.
"I've got something to say!" Twilight walked forward a few steps and pointed at Cadance, "She's evil!" Sword Shield was surprised at how straight forward Twilight was. Everyone in the room looked at her confused.
"She's been horrible to my friends," Twilight teleported behind Cadance, "She's obviously done something to her bridesmaids, and if that wasn't enough, I saw her put a spell on my brother that made her eyes go all," Twilight motioned with her face what she had seen, motioning her eyes spinning in circles. She cornered Cadance into the wall and stared at her.
Cadance let out a gasp and started crying, "Why are you doing this to me?!" She ran out of the room, nearly running over Sword Shield.
"Because you're evil!" Twilight teleported next to the door, "Evil! And if I don't stop you you're going to ruin my brothers life!" Sword Shield was again taken by surprise this time from Cadance's reaction, but he didn't go after her, he still wasn't convinced.
Twilight stepped back into the room and ran into Shining Armor. He stared down at her angrily.
"You want to know why my eyes went all," Shining Armor copied the motion Twilight had done, "Because ever since I started having to perform my protection spell I've been getting terrible migraines. Cadance hasn't been casting spells on me, she's been using her magic to heal me. And she decided to replace her bridesmaids because that she found out that the only reason they wanted to be in the wedding was so that they could meet Canterlot Royalty. And if she hasn't been on her best behavior with your friends, it's because with me being so busy, she's had to make all the decisions about the wedding!" Shining Armor paced around furiously while talking.
"I... I was just trying to-" Twilight tried to argue but Shining Armor cut her off.
"She's completely stressed out because it's really important that our big day be perfect! Something that was obviously not important to you." Shining Armor let out a gasp and reached towards his head as if another migraine was coming on.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go, and comfort my bride." Shining Armor started to walk out of the room but paused one last time, "And you can forget about being my best mare. In fact, if I were you, I wouldn't show up to the wedding at all."
Sword Shield was at a loss for words. He hadn't expected Shining Armor to say that, but if Twilight was right, it's possible that if Cadance was casting spells on Shining Armor she could possibly be controlling him to make up excuses.
Sword Shield was almost tempted to smack Shining Armor and agree with Twilight as he walked by, but held back out of fear of being talked down as well, or even being demoted.
"Come on y'all, let's go check on the Princess," suggested Applejack. They all followed Shining Armor out the room.
Celestia began to follow them as well. "You have a lot to think about," she said to Twilight as she passed and slammed the door shut leaving Twilight inside.
Sword Shield had had enough, he teleported his sword back, put it away and approached Celestia, "Celestia." he said as sternly as possible.
"Not now, Sword Shield," responded Celestia, attempting to walk past him. He raised his hoof and stopped her though.
"This is important your Highness, and I must request that you stay and listen," said Sword Shield in a slightly demanding tone.
Celestia sighed. "Very well, Make it quick."
"I have to side with Twilight. I believe she is correct, but before you cut me off on how stupid I possibly sound, hear me out: I was a personal guard for Cadance for quite a while, and over time we became good friends. I know Cadance, and the real Cadance I know would not have acted like the way she did today," explained Sword Shield.
"Unless you have valid proof to back your claim, I'm afraid I can't help," said Celestia impatiently.
"Have you noticed her magic's aura? It is not light blue like it's supposed to be, her magic aura is green. Why would she suddenly have a green aura?" asked Sword Shield.
Celestia paused to think, "I... I don't know."
"Princess, with all due respect, you need to do something about this, before all of Canterlot is in grave danger if it isn't already," said Sword Shield very seriously worried.
"I can't, I need further evidence to make me absolutely positive I can take action. I'm sorry," answered Celestia, she walked off and disappeared into the castle's many halls.
Sword Shield let out a sigh, he wasn't sure what to do now. He walked back to the door and looked into the wedding rehearsal room, Twilight was nowhere to be seen though. He thought she must have teleported off. Not very convenient for him, she was the only other pony who thought Cadance was not herself. He gave up hope and went back to his patrols around the castle.
A few hours later the wedding began. Sword Shield decided to stay and see what happens. He stood at the back of the crowd near the doors, just to be safe. Cadance came in and the wedding music began to play. She walked up the red carpet to Shining Armor and Princess Celestia.
The music was silenced and Celestia began to speak, "Mares and Gentlecolts, we are gathered here today to witness the union of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor."
Sword Shield didn't listen to the rest of the sermon, he was too busy keeping an eye on Cadance and her every move. Near the end of the ceremony Sword Shield's attention was broken, Celestia was about to pronounce the two mare and colt when suddenly a voice shouted out.
"Stooop!"
Sword Shield looked over and saw Twilight standing in the doorway.
"Ugh, why does she have to be so possessive of her brother!?" asked Cadance angrily. Sword Shield smirked as everyone stared in confusion at Cadance's outburst. She immediately began to tear up, "Why does she have to ruin my special day?"
"You're pushing your luck, whoever you are," thought Sword Shield.
"Because, it's not your special day, it's mine!" another voice called out. Now standing in the doorway was the real Cadance, the entire crowd looked at her and gasped.
"WHAT? But how did you escape my bridesmaids?!" asked the 'fake' Cadance.
Cadance explained how she and Twilight had escaped from the bridesmaids by distracting them with a bouquet.
"Hmph, clever, but you're still too late," continued the fake Cadance.
"I don't understand, how can there be two of 'em?" asked Applejack.
"She's a changeling, she takes the form of somepony you love and gains power by feeding off your love for them," explained Cadance.
Suddenly a pillar of green magical energy surrounded the fake Cadance. While everyone was distracted by it, Sword Shield quickly snuck out the door.
He ran down the hall and headed for the Elements of Harmony. While he was running he took out his sword and quickly transformed it and jumped on to go faster, he needed to reach the Elements quickly, it was the only way he felt he could stop whoever this fake Cadance was.
He reached the building containing the Elements of Harmony, but before he went inside he looked up into the sky. Outside of Shining Armor's magical barrier were thousands of changelings, pounding away at the barrier. After multiple attempts to break the shield, every single changeling charged one last time and shattered the magical shield. They began to swarm into Canterlot by the hundreds. Sword Shield quickly flew inside and shut the door.
He flew over to the sealed door that kept the Elements safe, inserted his horn and tried to open it, "Come on, open! Open!"
It wouldn't unlock, his horn was too short, only the Princess could unlock the door. Sword Shield tried something else, he got off his sword and changed its shape to look like a long unicorn horn long enough to fit, and inserted it into the lock.
Just as he inserted his sword, changelings burst open the door and started pouring into the room. Sword Shield wasn't able to unlock the door fast enough, changelings began to jump onto his back and strangle him to the ground.
He flew his sword up into the air as he was pinned to the ground and morphed it again to fly on. He teleported himself on top of it away from the changelings, but that didn't stop them, they flew towards Sword Shield and struggled to get him off.
Sword Shield began flying around the room and kicking any changelings that came near, but they started to become too numerous for him to deal with, and was eventually hit on the head by a random flying changeling. He fell off his sword and gravity pulled him to the ground, knocking him unconscious.
When Sword Shield awoke, the changelings were gone, in fact there were no signs of them ever being here. He quickly stood up and took his sword, transforming it to a unicorn horn again and putting it into the keyhole for the door containing the Elements of Harmony. It unlocked, and he levitated the box out and made his way back to the castle as fast as he could, running into the wedding room at full speed.
"I've got the Elements! We can stop the changelings!" he shouted as he burst through the door. He looked around the room with no sign of the changeling queen. Everyone in the room stared at him for a moment and started laughing cheerfully.
Cadance walked up to Sword Shield with a smile, "It's okay, she's gone."
"The power of true love prevailed against her," remarked Celestia.
Sword Shield looked at Cadance for a moment and back to everyone else, "Oh. Good." Everyone laughed once more.
Celestia walked up to Sword Shield and took back the Elements, "I'm sorry that I doubted you before, Sword Shield, and Twilight. My ignorance lead to all this destruction, I will take full responsibility for all that has happened today."
"That will not be necessary, Celestia. There's nopony who can truly be to blame that it might as well be all of our faults. I'm just happy that everything turned out okay." said Sword Shield trying to find the bright side of things.
"Hey! Aren't we supposed to be planning a wedding!?" shouted Pinkie Pie suddenly.
Everyone nodded in agreement and started scrambling around to prepare the wedding once again. It only took half an hour until everything was finally ready. The wedding began and Sword Shield watched from the crowd as Cadance walked up the aisle to Shining Armor and Celestia.
"Mares and Gentlecolts, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of the real Princess Mi Amore Cadenza-" began Celestia.
"'Princess Cadance' is fine," said Cadance.
"-the union of Princess Cadance, and Shining Armor. The strength of their commitment is clear, the power of their love; undeniable. May we have the rings please?" Spike brought forth the rings and Celestia placed them on Shining Armor's and Cadance's horn. "I now pronounce you, Mare and Colt."
Cadance and Shining Armor walked out onto the balcony and viewed all the subjects who had come to see them and shared a kiss.
"That's your cue, Rainbow Dash." Celestia whispered to the rainbow maned pegasus. Rainbow Dash flew into the air and performed a sonic rainboom, creating a rainbow over all of Canterlot.
The wedding was over. Sword Shield attended the wedding after party, dancing with everyone else, even performing a few tricks on his sword for entertainment, but when it was time for Cadance and Shining Armor to head off on their honeymoon he had to stop.
He'd been tasked by Shining Armor to be their driver. He waited until they were finally ready to leave and hopped on the driver seat. He used his sword to pull the carriage and headed off into the moonlight, onward to a completely new adventure.
The End
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Kinda feel bad for Sword at this point. Tries so hard to fix the problems that happen only to arrive just a bit to late, poor bugger
Should have used his sword............as a freaking sword!! That's the idea, to kill your enemies!!!
2404572
Heheh, the deleted comments were from waaaaaaay back when I first wrote the story. Since then I revised and rewrote about 60% of it, so I didn't think they were relevant, so I deleted them.
Thanks! I hope the story is enjoyable, and don't forget the sequel which, in my opinion, is a lot better.
2404687
He wasn't trained to kill changelings! That and it seemed a better idea at the time to try and fly to avoid them, swinging a sword around when there's hundreds of changelings around could only get you so far. But then again, neither did trying to avoid them. I suppose he wasn't able to think fast enough.
2405854 Yeah, I got it open in another tab with about ten stories of my read later list. I'll probably start it in a little while. Something to read this evening.
2405867 He is now a Lieutenant in the Royal Guard. Why wouldn't his dad be impressed. Unless he really is a butt nugget.
2405893 Sword. Guard. Useless. Is he some kind of pacifist?
2405926
> Is he some kind of pacifist?
In a matter of speaking, yes. I believe Royal Guards aren't trained to kill, but either capture, drive off or incapacitate. Weapons are used for intimidation.
>Why wouldn't his dad be impressed. Unless he really is a butt nugget.
He really is a butt nugget. His dad is a jeeeeeeeeeeeeeerk. His father doesn't care what Swody is unless he's a Captain and doing the same great things as his grandfather did.
2405945 And that is why the Wonderbolts get the 'real' jobs. Because they aren't pussies.
2405957
Yup, too bad they're just as useless.
2405986 Very true. I think I need to pay a visit and train them properly.
"This is a arrow. If you fire it at an enemy's chest, it will kill them. That is what you are supposed to do. Any questions?"
"Yeah, why do we have to kill them?"
"Would you rather they killed you, and your friends and family?"
"No, not really."
"Then you have just answered your own question. Now get to bug hunting!"
Rushed, and not all that well written, but an interesting take on a Royal Guard OC.
~Crystalline Electrostatic~
6068813
Yeah, honestly I'd really like to rewrite this whole story (like, I wrote this back in 2012. I was fricken awful at writing back then). I just don't have the patience/time to do so right now. Same goes for the second story in the series. In terms of writing quality, only the third one is any good in my opinion.
6070903 The second one is much better than the first, the third is even better than the second...
But that's just how it goes with writing.
~Crystalline Electrostatic~