Everypony has a story. Some tell of heroic feats and grand adventure. Others tell of villainy against the forces of Harmony. The story of an average guard, however, is one of obscurity. They live in the background, unnoticed but ever-present.

Silent Knight assumed his tale would be like that of his father's: join the Royal Guard and serve Equestria. He would be just another helmet and spear, part of the rank and file. And that was all he ever wanted.

However, when Captain Shining Armor asked for volunteers to form a House Guard for the recently returned Princess Luna, it was Silent's hooves that stepped forwards to set his new life in motion.

Princess Celestia has hosted the Grand Galloping Gala for hundreds of years, the grandest party in all of Equestria and said to be without peer—and has hated every year of it. Now that her sister has returned to her, she hopes to share this painful royal duty. Shame for her that Princess Luna wants nothing to do with the Gala, or any of the other princesses for that matter. Luna is going to have to use all her wits and skills to stay one step ahead of her sister and be anywhere but the Gala.

A stand-alone Winningverse story.

Princess Cadence is a lonely filly who has been shielded and protected all her life as a princess and member of the dwindling race of Sacred Alicorns. She longs for a friend her age to play with, and as a young teen she is sent to stay in Canterlot where her Aunt Celestia would personally mentor her in developing her magic. There she hopes to finally have the freedom she longs for and find somepony to be her friend. Instead, she is asked to foal sit for one of her aunt's royal adviser's fillies who may just be as lonely and reclusive as she.

This is the story of how Princess Cadence learns that the ability to give love cannot be complete without finding love for yourself, and sometimes it is found when you least expect it.