The Story of a Royal Guard [OUTDATED]

by Himntor

Discord

CHAOS!

Sword Shield awoke with a jolt. He looked out the tent's window to see it was just after sunrise.

"Strange dreams," thought Sword Shield.

He had dreamed he was in the middle of Canterlot flying on his sword, but everything was wrong, nothing was correctly in place. Sword Shield massaged his eyes and shook himself awake, forgetting about the dream.

It had been a week since that chaotic night at the Gala. Sword Shield had since been spending his time with the Captain, helping organize the Royal Guard and filing paperwork for more recruits. He left his tent, heading towards the barracks for his equipment.

"Morning, Lieutenant," said Arden as he left the barracks.

"Good morning, Sergeant." responded Sword Shield.

"Aha! So you heard about my promotion?" asked Arden.

"Who hasn't? Swifty won't shut up about you," answered Sword Shield with a short chuckle, "Congratulation, you deserved it, but I'm keeping an eye on you."

"As always," Arden gave a salute, "Lieutenant."

Sword Shield saluted back. "Arden."

Arden continued towards his post and Sword Shield walked inside the barracks and to his locker. He put on his armor and helmet for the day and teleported his sword to him, which had been left in his tent.

Shining Armor walked in, "You heading to your usual post?"

Sword Shield looked at Shining Armor confused, "I was about to, why?"

"I need you to go to Ponyville today, I'm planning to set up a small outpost there, and I need you to map out the town and find a good spot for the outpost. You've got your sword to fly on, so you'll have a good view of the town," explained Shining Armor.

"Yes Captain. A quick question though, why Ponyville?" asked Sword Shield.

"It's right next to the Everfree Forest. If something were to escape the forest, Ponyville would know it first," answered Shining Armor.

"Alright, I'll head there immediately," Sword Shield gave a salute, brought out his sword while changing it, hopped on and took off towards Ponyville.

He arrived at the town after an hour of flying. It was much faster than taking the train, as it had to chug through tons of mountains, while for pegasi or Sword Shield they could easily just fly straight down towards Ponyville.

It was as usual as any other day in Ponyville, the townfolk had began setting up their shops in the marketplace or turning their 'Closed' signs to 'Open'.

Sword Shield stayed up in the air circling around on his sword for a while then came down and landed in the middle of town, drawing a few looks from the local ponies. It was one thing for a pegasus to come flying down, but for a Royal Guard with a flying sword to come in and land was something quite different for the citizens of Ponyville, but they continued on their day without paying too much attention to him.

Sword Shield walked into the town hall building to meet with the Mayor about acquiring a piece of land for a new outpost to go. She gave him a stack of paperwork. He took it with an exasperated sigh and began filling out everything that was needed.

"I'm not getting payed enough to do this," said Sword Shield half way through the paperwork. He stopped and stared blankly into space, "I don't even remember if I'm getting payed at all." He shook his head and got back to the paperwork.

Once everything was finished up he handed in the paperwork and walked back outside, but something seemed amiss. There was a small change in the breeze, and Sword Shield's guard instincts told him something was wrong. He continued outside when he felt a raindrop hit him on the head, and another on his nose. He looked upwards at the sky and was greeted with a small pink ominous cloud.

"What th-" The cloud immediately started to pour down brown liquid onto Sword Shield. He quickly raised his sword over his head and morphed it larger to shield him from the brown rain, then stuck out his tongue and tasted a drop.

"Chocolate milk?"

It was raining chocolate milk.

Sword Shield looked around to see if it was going on anywhere else, and sure enough he could see in the distance near Sweet Apple Acres it was raining chocolate, and there was popcorn everywhere with gigantic apples growing on the trees. He recognized some of Twilight's friends, confused and trying to stop the chocolate rain.

This was bad, something was definitely wrong and Sword Shield knew he needed to get word to Celestia, but how was he going to report this without going all the way back to Canterlot? He felt that he should stay in case anything else bad happens. An idea came to him, and went back inside the Town Hall building.

"Mayor! Where are you?" called out Sword Shield rather loudly

Mayor Mare walked out of her office with a small frown on her face, "Right here, what is it?"

"Do you have a magic mail system to send a letter to the Princess? I need to report to her, right now." said Sword Shield urgently as possible.

"Oh, yes, in my office. Follow me." The Mayor led Sword Shield to her office and pointed to a set of blank scrolls and a simple stamping device. He quickly took one of the scrolls in his magic and began to write a message.

Celestia, Ponyville in trouble. Raining chocolate milk, strange pink clouds, popcorn everywhere. Help? -Lieutenant Shield

Sword Shield rolled up the letter and used the magical stamping device to send it off instantly. He wasn't sure how long it would take to get a response, or if something could even be done. He thanked the Mayor and walked back outside, using his sword as an umbrella.

As he got back into the chocolate rain a bright flash encompassed the entire city, forcing him to shield his eyes. The light faded and Sword Shield got another look around. Nothing had changed, the town was still swimming in chaos and chocolate.

Sword Shield saw Twilight and her friend's trying to tidy everything up, they gathered up the pink clouds together and let the animals eat them away, but even the animals were strange, their legs had grown ridiculously long, and their bodies disfigured, it was nothing like anyone had ever seen.

Twilight and her friends soon left Ponyville to Canterlot to see the Princess, at least that's what Sword Shield assumed. After they had left, Ponyville quickly became a chaotic mess once more. The buildings burst out of the ground and started floating upwards, some turned upside down in the air or began spinning.

Sword Shield was clueless how to stop it, he took to the skies on his sword careful to avoid any of the cotton candy clouds. He watched as the town was thrown into chaos, the ground changed into a colorful checker board, pigs were flying through the air and buffalo were dancing around in tutu's. The townsfolk had begun going insane, even the Mayor was dancing around like a ballerina.

There a dragon shaped figure skating around on the ground, but it was not a dragon. Sword Shield recognized the creature from books he had studied in Magic School, they were called Draconequus.

"Halt!" yelled Sword Shield and flew down in front of the Draconequus.

"Oh what now!? Another pony to try and stop me? Hurry up, I'm missing some excellent chaos," said the Draconequus, skating circles around Sword Shield.

"Who are you? Are you behind all this chaos?" asked Sword Shield.

"Chaos you say? What ever would make you think that? And I'm Discord, Spirit of Chaos," the Draconequus introduced, now known as Discord.

"Pleased to meet you, care for some chocolate milk?" asked Discord, pulling a glass cup out of nowhere and filling it with the chocolate milk raining down.

Sword Shield wasn't amused, "Uh-huh, 'Spirit of Chaos'. Well, I'm-"

"Swordulan Thunder Shield, or more commonly known as Sword Shield, Lieutenant Royal Guard of Canterlot, son of Steadfast Shield and Sacred Shield, known for his obedience. Quite BORING if you ask me." Discord finished his sentence.

"Wha- how did you...?" Sword Shield stood dumbfounded.

"Don't act so surprised, I know who you are. I know everypony around here, and I know that there's nothing I can say that will make you let me go, so go on, arrest me. I deserve it!" said Discord dramatically as possible.

"Like I have a choice, you're coming with me to see Celestia," said Sword Shield lowering himself to the ground, turning his sword into a giant police box and opened the door to it. Sword Shield motioned for Discord to step inside.

"Alright, you got me! I surrender," said Discord as he walked into the gold and grey colored police box, "You really should know though, I have Claustrophobia, so this is insanely cruel and unusual punishment!" Before stepping inside, Discord spilled his glass of chocolate milk on Sword Shield, drenching him completely.

"Nice..." replied Sword Shield frowning. He shook off the chocolate milk and shut the door tight to keep Discord trapped. After a moment there was no sound of movement inside the transformed sword. Sword Shield approached the door cautiously and reached for the handle when the door burst open.

"SURPRISE!" shouted Discord, but the shout did not come from inside the sword, it was from behind. Sword Shield jumped and dashed forward straight into his police box, shutting the door behind him. A mini-Discord appeared back inside next to him.

"Ohohoh! The look on your face! Sheer terror!" laughed Discord.

"Enough of this!" yelled Sword Shield. He walked out of the box and changed his sword back to normal.

"Aw, but it was just getting fun. Don't you like to have fun?" asked Discord, still miniaturized.

Sword Shield growled and lashed out his sword, morphing the end of it into a giant fist and having it grab and hold Discord in place.

"Not like this. We're going to Canterlot, I'm sure the Princess would like to speak with you," said Sword Shield, beginning to trot towards the train station.

"Celestia will see me soon enough," said Discord. He teleported out of the grip of the sword and reappeared in front of Sword Shield at his normal size again.

Discord brought Sword Shield in close and stared into his eyes, "Listen here Mister Lieutenant, Equestria is now mine to rule in Eternal Chaos, along with you," he said with an evil smile.

"You've got to be joking," responded Sword Shield, staring back coldly. Discord reeled backwards and laughed.

"Hahaha! Joking! It's what I do!" exclaimed Discord, he popped into a volatile explosion of confetti and reappeared behind Sword Shield.

"Now try to listen again, my little pony, all of Equestria is mine now, all you've ever known will be thrown into an Eternal Chaos. This is just the beginning, just wait until you see what I have planned! Ponyville will become the Capital city of Chaos!"

"You'll have to go through me first," said Sword Shield, standing in defensive position with his sword ready.

Discord looked curiously over at the Lieutenant, "Oh please, there is no need to get violent. Fine, I'll leave, but you'll have to suffer the consequences." Discord then disappeared into a cloud of smoke, leaving no trace behind.

"Well that was easier than expected... I guess I can go tell Princess Cele-"

"SWORDULAN THUNDER SHIELD!" a familiar voice called out, startling Sword Shield out of his armor. He turned around to be greeted with his father, Steadfast.

"Dad? What the hay are you doing here?" asked Sword Shield.

"What am I doing here? What are YOU doing here?!" asked Steadfast.

Sword Shield took a step back, "I don't understand... I'm here under orders. Shouldn't you be back in-"

"Manehatten? Yes! I should be back there, but instead I'm stuck here with a FAILURE!" yelled Steadfast. Sword Shield cringed as his father spoke.

"But... Discord left, I won."

"You only think you won! Why didn't you strike him when you had the chance? Bring him down like a real stallion would! Shining Armor would be absolutely ashamed at how you handled the situation! And don't even get me started on Princess Cadance!"

Sword Shield winced at every word his father spoke to him, "I... I was only following Shining Armor's orders."

"And you failed them! I can't even bother to look at you, nor even call you my son. You're on your own, I have to get back to Manehatten and comfort Sacred, she's very upset at you for not visiting us or even sending letters. You should have come with us to Manehatten, then I wouldn't have to deal with how much of a failure you've become," said Steadfast, he walked away and disappeared into Ponyville.

"I'm... a failure? Even after following orders correctly?" asked Sword Shield. He sat down and looked at the ground, staring at his reflection in the chocolate milk puddles. What he did not see is Discord hovering above him.

Sword Shield's mane, tail and coat all turned a much grayer shade of color. He looked back towards Canterlot and slowly rose to his hooves. He pulled out his sword, which had also grayed significantly, and transformed it to fly. He hopped on and slowly drifted towards Canterlot.

The flight took two hours, mainly because Sword Shield was flying so slowly. He landed back at the Royal Barracks and slowly walked inside.

Shining Armor was waiting inside his office, "There you are, Sword Shield! Celestia made me put the guard on full alert, apparently something is wrong. Have you anything to report?"

"Report? Why in Equestria should I report anything to you?" replied Sword Shield disrespectfully.

"Huh?" Shining Armor was notably confused.

"I just wanted to come in and say, I quit!" yelled Sword Shield. He stomped his hoof and walked right back out of the Barracks, not even bothering to return his armor.

"What!? Sword Shield you get back in here right now! That's an order!" said Shining Armor with a tone of authority.

Sword Shield gave a cold stare to his former Captain, "I don't take orders from you anymore." He proceeded out the door.

Shining Armor watched Sword Shield leave, stunned that his top Lieutenant had actually quit in a matter of seconds without even discussing the matter.

Sword Shield just kept on walking, passing multiple guards, all of which saluted him but he gave no salute back. He passed his old home and neighbors, not paying any attention to anyone or anything. The head of his father kept spinning around in his mind, whispering, "Failure! Failure! Failure!" over and over in his thoughts.

An angelic voice brought him out of his trance, "Sword Shield? Are you okay?" It was Cadance.

"Why should I answer you?" asked Sword Shield. He continued to walk right past Cadance. She followed right next to him.

"Because I'm your friend, and I know when something is wrong with another one of my friends," answered Cadance sternly.

"Pfft... I don't have any friends," said Sword Shield casually, as if not having friends didn't mean anything to him.

"Yes you do! You've got Shining Armor, me and almost the entire Royal Guard!" argued Cadance, she moved in front of Sword Shield to block his path. He tossed his head and looked away.

"Like I said, I don't have friends. Not you, not Shining Armor and definitely not the Royal Guard. If you'll excuse me, I've got things to do, places to go," said Sword Shield, he walked around Cadance and again turned his head away from her.

"Go where? You don't even have a home."

That made Sword Shield stop. He slumped down into a sitting position and looked at the ground, a few tears falling from his eyes. "You're right, I don't have a home. I'm a failure just like my father said, and my failures have gotten me no where."

Cadance came next to him and put a comforting hoof on his shoulder, "That's not true. You are a Lieutenant of the Royal Guard, and you should be proud. You aren't a failure, and you shouldn't look for your father's or your friend's approval in what you do, only you should look for your own approval for what you do."

"But what if it turns out they are right? What if I am a failure? So far I have not been able to stop a single catastrophe as a guard. The Nightmare Moon incident is all my fault, and now all of Ponyville is in chaos and I wasn't able to stop it," argued Sword Shield.

"You saved Shining Armor, that has to count for something."

Sword Shield looked at Cadance for the first time with a confused look, "How did you know about that?"

"I have my ways. Shining Armor is bad at keeping secrets from me," answered Cadance, "But that's not the point. You aren't a failure, and you aren't useless."

"But what if I-" Sword Shield tried to argue but was cut off from a whack to his head.

"NO! You aren't! Get it out of your head!" yelled Cadance, smacking Sword Shield on the head a few times, "You. Are. Not. A Failure. Now give me the real Lieutenant of the Royal Guard I know."

She began to use her magic on him. His coat and mane's color started to fade back in.

"Ugh, what happened?" asked Sword Shield as he massaged his head, he looked up at Cadance, "Oh no. Cadance, I'm so sorry... Discord messed with me, I thought I saw my father but I must have been...I don't know."

"It's alright, but you may want to go talk to Shining Armor." Cadance suggested while pointing towards the Royal Barracks.

Sword Shield facehoofed, "Right, I need to go get reinstated. Thank you, Cadance." He saluted her and trotted back to the Barracks.

Shining Armor was sending out squads of guards around the city to prepare for any chaos that might come. He had the pegasus clearing the sky of any pink clouds and unicorns keeping chaos to a minimum.

Sword Shield walked over to him and shamefully spoke up, "Captain... I would like to request reinstatement. I was not myself and did not mean to quit, and I apologize for everything I said to you and the way I disrespected you."

Shining Armor gave him a smile, "All is forgiven, I knew you weren't yourself. You have your rank as Lieutenant back, and to be honest I could use your help. I need eyes in Ponyville, my sister Twilight is down there."

"Right away, Captain," said Sword Shield with a salute and bringing out his sword.

He used his Sight Seeing spell on the sword and flew it over top of Ponyville and 'zoomed in'. He could see Twilight and her friends facing Discord with the Elements of Harmony, but something was off; they were all gray except for Twilight. He watched as they tried to use the Elements against Discord, but they failed. One by one Twilight's friends tossed aside their Element and walked off, and afterwards even Twilight turned gray. Sword Shield cut the spell and let out a small gasp.

"What is it?" asked Shining Armor.

Sword Shield teleported his sword back and shaped it into a surfboard, "I have to see Celesta, no time to explain." He quickly flew off towards the castle. He found Celestia pacing around in the throne room.

"Princess Celestia! I need to speak with you," said Sword Shield as he hopped off his sword.

"What is it?" asked Celestia.

"Ponyville is in chaos. I saw Twilight and her friends, they failed to use the Elements to stop Discord. They're all gray, and I don't know what to do!" explained Sword Shield.

"I see... I know what to do, follow me." Celestia motioned for him to follow. Sword Shield followed Celestia to her reading room. It was filled with scrolls and books, old and new.

Celestia looked around. "I can send Twilight's old reports on the Magic of Friendship back to her, maybe it will help her remember to keep fighting. I don't know what else I can do. Sword Shield, I need you to help me find me all the reports from Twilight and give them to me," she instructed.

Sword Shield nodded and began searching for Twilight's reports, giving any to Celestia to send back. They searched until there were none left to find.

"That's the last of them, Princess," said Sword Shield as he handed Celestia the last scroll, "Will it be enough?"

"I hope so. It's up to Twilight to bring back her friends and stop Discord." she answered while sending the last scroll off.

"Is there anything else I can do?" asked Sword Shield.

"I'm afraid not. We can only hope that Twilight and her friends manage to stop Discord," answered Celestia, "For now you should report back to Shining Armor, I'm sure he'll have something for you to do."

"Yes your Highness." Sword Shield made his way back to the Barracks and Shining Armor.

Shining Armor had nothing for Sword Shield to do but stand guard on the wall overlooking Ponyville. He looked down at the once peaceful town, buildings still floating, animals running rampant all over. He looked away and began to simply wait.

Half an hour passed, Sword Shield continued to pace around the walls becoming more and more anxious each minute.
Suddenly there was a bright flash that came from Ponyville. He ran back up to the wall and looked at the town. A huge rainbow soared over it and collapsed on either side, forming a bubble. The bubble expanded and flashed as bright as the sun.

Sword Shield closed his eyes and waited a moment before opening them, and when he did Ponyville was no longer chaotic, but back to normal. The buildings were back on the ground instead of floating in the air, the animals were returned to normal and there were no more pink clouds raining chocolate milk. It was as if nothing ever happened. Sword Shield let out a cheer and got onto his sword flying throughout the town.

"Discord is defeated! Twilight and her friends have done it!" He shouted their victory to everyone, they quickly spread the word.

Soon afterwards there was a ceremony and celebration for Twilight and her friends for defeating Discord, but Sword Shield decided to sit it out, instead he went to see Shining Armor at the barracks, "Captain, if I might ask, I'd like a day off to move."

Shining Armor looked at him curiously, "Move?"

"I have decided to, er, move to Ponyville. While I was... Discorded, Cadance said something to me, and it made me realize that I don't really have a true home. I would like to change that," explained Sword Shield.

Shining Armor smiled in understanding, "I'll allow it, and even support it. We still need that outpost in Ponyville, and having you move in might make things a bit more easy."

"Thanks Cap'. I'll see you tomorrow."

"I count on it. I expect you to find a good spot by then as well," said Shining Armor.

Sword Shield gave a salute. "Yes sir!"

Author's Note:

Discord! Discord! Goodness I love writing for Discord!

Why am I so horrible at it? Okay, maybe not horrible. But I basically rewrote what happened with Sword Shield and Discord. Before, Sword Shield gets sucked into the 'void' as Discord teleports his sword away, in turn he teleports to it and brings him to the void for a short while.

I scrapped that, it was stupid and unnecessary. I like this one much much more. Also, yes, his full name IS Swordulan Thunder Shield. He just prefers being called 'Sword Shield'. To him it's some sort of symbolic meaning that gives him a slight ego boost than just being called 'Swordulan'. No one but him and his parents know that though.

Comments

[Lucky424]

Moving to Ponyville............so, which one is he going to shack up with?

[Himntor]

2404663

Originally he ended up moving next door to Lyra & Bon-Bon, but I felt that was bringing a bit too much fanon into the story so I didn't include it in the rewrite.

I thought about shipping Swordy with Twilight (As they both have some similar interests) but decided against it, I'm not much of a person for shipping OC's with actual characters, plus it wouldn't make much sense.