//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: The Dawn Guard 
// by Sun Aura 
//------------------------------//

	After Pinkie Pie’s ‘We made Friends with, like, all of the Changelings!’ party, there was a meeting held in one of the many rooms of Twilight’s castle. She, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Shining Armor, and the newly crowned King Thorax sat around a table to discuss how the alliance with the Changelings would go forward. 
They did discuss a nation-wide campaign to show Ponies that the Changelings were no longer a threat. They also discussed the fact that Chrysalis was still out there, and that not every Changeling had embraced the idea of ‘sharing love’, or a new King.
Mostly it was just smoothing out the details. But Twilight had thought of something else.
“I think I need a Guard,” Twilight said. 
The four ponies and a Changeling turned to look at her.
“What?” Twilight frowned. 
“You did not want a Guard when I offered,” Celestia said. 
“I know,” she sighed. “But considering what’s happened since then, I think it’d be helpful. I mean, Starlight broke in. And while that ended well, a Guard could have subdued her and let be talk to her without a battle through timelines. And we just had Changelings waltz in here and kidnap me and Spike!”
“To be fair, the Guards did little to help us either,” Luna stated. “Not that they don’t have their uses, but the Guard cannot detect Changeling Magic. If they could, even the Wedding Invasion would not have happened.”
“Again, sorry about that,” Thorax said. “But I might be able to help.”
“Really?” Cadence asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “We’re all friends now, so I can assign a Changeling here to help you figure out how to detect them.”
“That’d be great!” Twilight exclaimed. “I’ve wondered how Changeling Transformation differs from Glamour spells! It’d be a great help not only in protection, but also just in research in general! Oh stars I have so many questions!”
“Before we continue,” Celestia interrupted her rambling. “One of the reasons you did not want a Guard is because Ponyville would not like them patrolling the street. Has their opinion changed?”
“No, but I have ideas to meet them in the middle,” she said. “First, a smaller Guard. We have a smaller town with a much smaller crime rate, so we don’t need the same amount as Canterlot. Secondly, I don’t think this Guard should have the Glamour spells.”
“No Glamour?” she mused.
“It’s a bit unnerving seeing copies of ponies,” she said. “If, stars forbid, they are needed to fight a war, we can discuss the Glamour then. But Ponyville is a town of Friendship, and the facelessness of the Glamour would go against that.”
“A fair point,” she nodded. “Quite unconventional. But the armor is still intimidating.”
“Actually, we might have an answer for that,” Shining said. 
“Do tell,” she said. 
Shining Armor lit his horn. He summoned an object out of hammerspace. It looked like a metal collar, with a green gem in its center. 
“This is an experimental item we’ve been working on,” Shining said. “It’s an enchanted crystal we found in the Workshop.”
“Pray tell, what does it do?” Luna asked.
Shining levitated the collar over his head and settled it around his neck. His magic moved to the gem in its center. As the gem began to glow, a set of Crystal Guard Armor appeared on his body.
“How did you-“ Twilight began.
“Hammerspace spell,” Shining answered. “We put a set of armor into Hammerspace, and attach the summoning spell to the gem, so that when activated it summons armor directly onto the body. The idea was that off-duty guards could carry around their armor, so that they could put it on in case of an emergency.”
“Quite brilliant,” Celestia said.
“It still has a few kinks to work out,” Cadence said. “We haven’t completely figured out how to get ponies other than Unicorns and Crystal Ponies to use it. And we also have to figure out how to make sure that enemies can’t deactivate it.”
“Why isn’t he purple?” Thorax asked. 
Everyone looked to see that despite the Crystal Guard armor, Shining was still his usual white and blue. Shining turned in place, looking himself over as if he just noticed. Celestia gave a small smile, but Luna failed to hide her snickering.
“Some ponies are immune to Glamours,” Celestia explained. “Spells would work, but an enchanted item doesn’t seem to. I believe one of the guards we transferred up to the Empire is similar?”
“I thought his Glamour was broken,” Shining frowned. 
“Guess your natural colors didn’t matter in the Solar Guard Glamour?” Cadence smiled. 
The rest of them got a good laugh out of that. Even Celestia allowed a chuckle for herself. 
“In the meantime,” Shining said, using his magic to take away the armor. “We should put some defensive spells on the castle. I don’t know what would work though. Since your friends come in whenever, we can’t really have a tripwire spell. My shield spell would be good, since it scans everyone who walks through it. But it’s difficult to keep going for more than a few days.”
“You know,” Twilight thought, “if you do what you did for the Hammerspace Spell with the Shield Spell, maybe it could have the Castle itself maintaining the spell to scan everyone.”
“That actually might work!” he said. “The tricky part would be getting it to recognize who is a threat or not.”
“We could program in Magical Signatures,” she replied. “Anyone who is banned from the castle, anyone wearing a Glamour, and any disguised Changelings once we know how to look for it!”
“Now that that’s settled,” Celestia said. “I believe Shining Armor could use his expertise as ex-Guard Captain to pick a few ponies for the job?”
“I already have a few in mind,” Shining said. “But we need a Guard Name for the transfer papers. Would you like ‘Ponyville Guard’ or ‘Twilight’s Guard’?”
“Both sound a bit off,” Twilight answered. “But if I have to call them something-“
“What about ‘the Dawn Guard’?”
All five Ponies and a Changeling jumped to see another pony in the room.
“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight groaned.
“What?” Pinkie asked, as if she had no idea she’d just given them all heart attacks.
“I will still never understand how she does that,” Celestia sighed. 
“She has a good idea,” Luna said. “The ‘Dawn Guard’ has a nice ring to it, does it not? Along with a certain joke to ‘Dawn Guard’ being for ‘Twilight’.”
“Fair enough,” Twilight agreed. 



A few months had passed since then. Shining Armor sent a letter to Twilight to say that the guards she picked would be showing up in Ponyville today. She’d already asked Pinkie to let them get to the castle before she overwhelmed them with a welcome party. 
Twilight paced by the door. She jumped, hearing the knock. She opened the door with her magic, and was surprised to see a familiar face. 
“Flash! What are you-“ Twilight began.
“Guess who got a transfer!” Flash Sentry replied in an almost sing-song voice.
“You didn’t!” She laughed. 
“I did!” he confirmed. “You’re looking at one of the first members of your new Dawn Guard!”
“That’s great!” she exclaimed, pulling him into a hug.
“I would make a comment about Guards being friendly with the Princess they’re supposed to protect, especially considering the stallion that hoof-picked us for the job, but I think this says it for itself.”
The two of them jumped away at the new voice. She was a Unicorn mare, gray with a blue mane, and gold eyes and freckles. She was easily in her thirties. 
“Well,” Flash stammered for a response. “Ex-Captain Armor thought it would be nice to have a familiar face. And I have family in the area.”
“I thought you said you lived in Canterlot before the Empire transfer,” the mare said.
“Long story?” he offered.
“I feel tired just remembering that story,” Twilight sighed before turning to the mare. “Hello, I am Twilight Sparkle.”
“Pleasure to meet you,” the mare said. “I am Valor Knight. And don’t worry, ex-Captain Armor already told us not to call you ‘Princess’, along with the other differences with this Guard.”
“Good to know,” she said. 
“Though somepony still wishes to ask a question,” she said.
Valor looked behind her to two more ponies, pulling a small cart that she assumed were filled with the ponies’ belongings. One was an Earth Pony stallion with a reddish-brown coat, and a mane that looked white, but seemed to shift color in the light. The other was a small Crystal Pony, green with a pink and red mane.
“Oh, right!” the stallion left the cart with the mare and practically bounced over to them. “Hi, I’m Iridescent Blade! When ex-Captain Armor suggested transferring me, I said ‘alright, as long as there’s houses there because I live out of the barracks with my husband, so we’d both need to stay, so he said you could help me find a place because I’m not going to be a train ride away from him. I mean, imagine the cost of tickets all the time?”
“I already talked with the mayor,” Twilight answered, translating the rapid-fire talking. “The castle has barracks if you want, but there are a few houses in town that are ready for someone to move in.”
“Really?” he said. “Thank you! Sparky’s going to love this town, trust me! Eventually. He’s stubborn but I already mapped out a few places he’d love to see!”
“You are… not unnerved by how fast he talks?” Valor asked. 
“Wait until you meet Pinkie Pie,” Twilight replied. 
“Please never let them be in the same room,” Flash said. 
“Welcome party,” was the only response she had. 
The Crystal mare walked up next. She left the cart at the bottom of the stairs, as she was too small to carry it on her own.
“I’m Little Burst,” she said. “Er, forgive me if it takes a bit longer for me to settle in. Everything outside the Empire is still a little weird.”
“Take your time,” Twilight said. “How about we all head to a room where we can get to know one another a bit.”
“Sounds great,” Valor said. 
They all filed in. Twilight used her magic to teleport the cart into the hallway. Just as she was about to close the door, another mare walked up. 
“Sorry!” the mare said. “I’m a little late!”
The mare was a Unicorn. Her coat was a pale blue, and she had a golden mane. Something about her felt a little off.
“Who are you?” Valor asked. “You were not on the train with us?”
“I’m, uh, from somewhere else,” she said, giving a glance to the Guards. “I was sent by, uh, ‘Crystal Hoof’?”
“It’s alright,” Twilight said, closing the door. “You can be yourself here.”
“Are you sure?” she asked.
Twilight nodded. The mare breathed a sigh of relief before magic flowed over her. In the Unicorn’s place was a Changeling with her colors. 
“Hi, I’m Honeycomb,” the Changeling said. “King Thorax sent me to be a part of the Dawn Guard, and to help Princess Twilight study Changeling magic.”
“You’re going to be a great help!” Twilight said.
“Uh, maybe,” she replied.
She looked to the Guard. Valor and Iridescent looked slightly uncomfortable. Not meeting her eyes. Flash looked better, but his wings were still set to fly.
“Guys, seriously?” Twilight sighed. 
“How many of you fought during the Wedding Invasion?” Honeycomb asked. 
All but Little Burst raised a hoof. Honeycomb brought her hoof to her face. 
“I don’t blame you for being uncomfortable around me,” Honeycomb said.
“They still shouldn’t,” Twilight frowned. 
“Sorry,” Flash said. “I should be used to it since Thorax was living in the Crystal Empire, but-“
“No, I get it,” Honeycomb said. “Near death experience, you haven’t learned to trust me, all that stuff.”
“I will try to trust you as much as any other Guard,” Valor said. “Feel free to yell at me if I don’t.”
“I could do something that might help,” she said.
Honeycomb’s magic washed over her once more. When she was done, she looked sort of like a much more colorful Chrysalis, half way between ‘Changeling’ and ‘Pony’. She still had the Changeling’s curved horn, gemstones, and fairy-like wings, but she also had her blonde mane and tail from earlier, as well as eyes almost like a Dragon’s.
“You shouldn’t have to change your appearance to be accepted,” Twilight said.
“Seriously,” Flash agreed. “I’m sorry, we’re being jerks but-“
“It’s fine,” Honeycomb waved off a hoof. “I kind of like this form anyway. My favorite part of being disguised was always the mane, so I’d have wanted it anyway.”
“Still, we should be better about this stuff,” Iridescent said. 
“We’ll work on that,” Twilight said. “Trust exercises and such. For now, we can talk about one another. ”
They walked down the halls of the castle and into the library. They settled around a table and looked to Twilight expectantly. 
“So,” Twilight began. “Let’s start with ‘what are your talents’?”
“Lookout skills,” Flash replied with a smile. “An eye for details and all that.”
“Skills you seem to forget when I’m around,” she pointed out.
“Hey, you walked into me the first time,” he defended. “Then the second time you and your friends were taking up a hallway and not looking, so I had to bump into one of you. And the third time I was looking for something specific. You should see me in action.”
“Well, now I’ll get a chance,” she smirked.
“Wow,” Valor chuckled. “Think we’ll get a second ‘Guard and Princess wedding’ within the decade?”
“Only if I want to invoke a curse,” she mumbled.
“Curse?” Little Burst asked.
“Long story,” Twilight said. “Moving on?”
“I’m an Elementalist,” Valor said. “I’m best with the Moon Elements, Water and Air, but I know many spells for all four. I’m also an alumnus from the School for Gifted Unicorns, and went into the Lunar Guard after graduation. Ex-Captain Armor offered me a transfer here, and said I would be promoted to Captain.”
“Congratulations,” she said. “I’m sure you’ll make a great Captain. Who’s next?”
“I’ll go!” Iridescent said. “I’m a weapons expert. Swords, knives, axes, spears, anything with a blade. I’m not too good with arrows though. You ever met Gleaming Lance? The scar on his cheek is why I’m not allowed around arrows anymore. Seriously, he was inside the castle when that happened.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said.
“I’m next, I guess,” Little Burst said. “I work with explosions.”
Everyone stopped and stared at her. 
“What?” she asked.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” Twilight said. “I would have thought, well-“
“Stealth,” Iridescent said.
“Because I’m small?” Little Burst asked. 
“A little,” Flash said before getting a kick to the leg for the pun.
“When you’re as short as I am, you have to make a lot of noise,” she said. “I use Crystals combined with fire and lightning spells to make explosions. A lot of the time I’m used for fireworks or demolitions, but unlike Iridescent, I’m good with arrows. I use arrows with an Explosion Crystal a lot of the time in combat.”
“That would be good for the Everfree monsters,” Twilight said. “What about you, Honeycomb?”
“Defense,” Honeycomb answered. “Uh, this isn’t going to really get me any points in the ‘winning you guys over’ department, but I was kind of the one who figured out that if the attack on Canterlot were to work we’d need to disable Shining Armor’s shield spell? I mean, I obviously regret that now, but at the time I thought I was doing the right thing.”
“Hey, it’s okay,” Valor said, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “The duty of a Guard is to do as their leader commands. Your leader happened to be a manipulative madmare.”
“Makes me feel so much better,” she rolled her eyes, but she smiled as she did.
“It’s not all bad,” Irisdescent said. “At least we know you’re good at your job. I still don’t know how the Shield Spell works.”
“It’s really complicated,” she said. “It doesn’t exactly keep things out by default. When someone tries to pass through the shield, the caster analyzes their magic and decides who to keep out.”
“How does he stay awake?” Little Burst asked. “I’ve heard he protected Canterlot for a few days, but Princess Cadence had a lower-power shield spell around the Crystal Empire and fainted from Magic exhaustion in less than a day.”
“I can answer that!” Twilight said. “For Shining specifically, as long as he eats a lot and doesn’t do too much physically, he could keep the shield going until he falls asleep normally. But Unicorns can funnel Magic into one another to replace the energy that you would regain by sleeping. So far it’s only been tested to work for about a week, but that’s only because, well-“
“While your body gets rest, your mind doesn’t,” Honeycomb interrupted. “You get real loopy without resting your mind. It also makes you easier to succumb to mind control spells or magical suggestion.”
“Which is obviously a problem when the threat is disguised as your fiancé,” Twilight huffed. “It makes you do dumb things like ‘ignore the fact that your fiance is acting like a different pony’ and ‘yell at your sister when she points it out’ or ‘think that the fact that you’ve been casting the spell for three days is enough of an excuse not to send your siblings a wedding invitation until literally the day before’.”
“Wait, he didn’t tell you about the wedding until the day before?” she asked. “We knew about it for two months beforehoof! Who doesn’t tell their own sister about their wedding?”
“We didn’t tell Sparky’s sister about the wedding,” Iridescent said. “Mostly because she’s terrible.”
“You know, Shining might be ‘ex-captain’ now,” Valor began, “but I think he’s still on the list for Guard Pranks.”
“I have a few ideas,” Twilight grinned. “Spike had a few good ones too. I kept putting it off  because of the various disasters popping up, but I think we’ll have a little bit of free time.
“I know a few of the Crystal Guard who could help!” Little Burst offered. “And I’m pretty sure Princess Cadence would be on board.”
“Rainbow said she’s good with pranks,” Flash added. “I’m sure she’d be a great help.”
“Is this really what we’re doing?” Honeycomb laughed. “The first mission of the Dawn Guard: Revenge Pranking.”
“I guess it is,” Twilight said. “Depending on how elaborate we want to get, I know a few other ponies and not-ponies to bring in. Including three Immortals.”
“So what’s the bets on this spiraling out of control?” Flash asked. 
“It will,” she said. “First thing about anything that happens in Ponyville: if you try to do one simple thing, the entire town ends up getting involved and turning it into a catastrophe. But we can have fun pretending it won’t.”