Starlight Glimmer understands now. There's so much more to Friendship than being equal, but is she ready to learn about it? After everything she had done, could she make a true friend? And did she deserve one? Luna intends to convince her she does.

Swordulan Thunder Shield has trained his whole life to become a Royal Guard at the demand of his father. Finally having achieved his father's wish in joining the Royal Guard, Swordulan is faced with all the trouble Equestria can throw at him, and it doesn't help when he's constantly bested by a group of mares. Yet what else can he do? It seems to him the only way he'll ever make his father proud is by saving Equestria, even when the rest of his family is falling apart.

This story follows the show's canon events and chronology as closely as possible, with Swordulan having little to no effect on the TV show (besides filling some plot holes/missing details). Basically it's written like it's a parallel TV series focusing on a single Royal Guard (similar to what The Lion King 1½ is to The Lion King). I try really hard to pay attention to details, but I can't be rewatching the show over and over in order to get everything right, so if you spot something that doesn't align with the show, please let me know in the comments and I'll do what I can to solve that. Thanks!

Frequent Show Characters: Shining Armor, Cadance, Celestia, Luna, and Discord.

Art Gallery!

This story was previously known as The Story of a Royal Guard series, completely rewritten from the ground up for the sake of quality.

This story is a sequel to The Story of a Royal Guard [OUTDATED]

The Story of a Royal Guard series has been completely rewritten for the sake of quality, making this outdated. See The Guard And His Sword for the updated and higher quality story!

This fic will remain for the sake of still retaining the source material.

The Story of a Royal Guard series has been completely rewritten for the sake of quality, making this outdated. See The Guard And His Sword for the updated and higher quality story!

This fic will remain for the sake of still retaining the source material, but if you decide to read it, be warned, the writing quality is pretty bad. Seriously, don't read it. If you do you're nuts. Go read the other one.