Dan Vs. Sparkle Guard Troopers · 6:00pm Apr 5th, 2021
The Sparkle Guard was unofficially formed the moment Twilight Sparkle became an alicorn princess, with Spike being the first member. It didn't actually gain any real members until Dan was inducted into the Royal Guard of Equestria, becoming the first Captain of the Sparkle Guard. Since then, he deputized more and more members, swelling the ranks of the Sparkle Guard with basically anyone he felt might be helpful. This includes those in his immediate vicinity like Chrys and Fluffle Puff, but also includes randoms like Norm the stormtrooper and Cyrus the cylon.
With the increasing threats facing Equestria, Dan continues deputizing people and ponies, whether they want to or not, and whether or not they understand. Most of them don't, as evidenced when Dan attempted to annex Pone Depot as part of Twilight's Kingdom and put a flag of Twilight atop the building. They stopped him from painting it completely purple, and since then, Dan has been more selective when inducting new members.
Sparkle Guard members are equipped mostly with whatever they have on them, plus whatever Dan thinks they might need. Dan encourages Sparkle Guards to be adaptive and resourceful, and more flexible than the Solar Guard or Lunar Guard. The Sparkle Guard's members include both ponies and humans, but also some of Gust's griffons and a couple crystal ponies, including Reginald.
There is some uniformity in the Sparkle Guard. Answering to Twilight(and Dan) is a given, but purple colors are also a must. Tactics and training have a personal focus, making each Sparkle Guard unique. Some skills are considered basic and are taught to each member if need be, including unarmed combat, survival in the field, tool creation and usage, assault and defensive maneuvers, first aid and medical assistance and climbing, running and swimming. Dan has even ensured the guards receive any training they can get in the operation of vehicles, piloting and driving, because he longs for the return of his car.
The vast majority of the Sparkle Guards are former background characters. Stormtroopers from Star Wars, UNSC Marines from Halo and background ponies from MLP:FiM to name just a few, many are happy for the opportunity to serve again. Their loyalty to Twilight(and Dan) is steadfast, though they sometimes disagree with Dan's extreme stances and unorthodox methods. Some hesitate during the 'deliberation phase' of Dan's response to conflict, and will wait until more concrete orders and plans are made. They are friends of Dan and Twilight as well, part of the team and working together to protect Equestria.
Heavy troopers, assault bombers and gunships are the rarest weapons in the Sparkle Guard's arsenal, kept in reserve for the most desperate of situations. The most elite of these troopers are hand-picked by Dan(because Twilight trusts him and doesn't care all that much) for special missions. Pinkie Pie even helped come up with the name, calling them Heavy Armored Mercenary Super Trooper Elite Ranger Security guards, or HAMSTERS for short. Dan was not informed about the name.
I suspect the Head HAMSTER, is nicknamed King Of The Woods?
It's fun seeing these little supplemental blogs from time to time. Although I was under the impression most of Dan's immediate armies were disbanded after Equestria got reset. Also,
For no reason in particular, I agree this is an excellent acronym.
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Thank you, I do put a good amount of thought and effort into these. As far as your impression goes, that is going to be addressed. Quite soon. It took me a while, but I have finally designed characters of my own design which will fit in the story and cooperate with Dan, Phoenix, Twilight and Chrys well.
Kent and Rals, my Jedi characters, much as I love them and much as they were my way of finding FIMFiction through SWTOR, Dan does not like them. At all. Well, actually Kent he likes but Kent does not like him. I can't imagine them getting along very well right now, and I insist the story have some level of believability to it, a feeling of things going together. So, Norman is going to be the third man. When needed. And Kent fits the role of a Knuckles-type character better; a rival for Dan that bristles at his presence while Dan continues his usual stuff.
Even the plans Dan concocts must be as close to perfect as they can be. If it doesn't sound like he came up with it, I don't write it. It has to come from him.