//------------------------------// // Royal Guard 101 // Story: The Guard And His Sword // by Himntor //------------------------------// “So when do we get to go into the Everfree Forest to fight monsters?” Scootaloo asked as we rounded my house. “Uh, never, if you’re lucky,” I said, looking at my spear-sword and reshaping the tip to be flat and edges dull. No reason to use a weapon that was actually dangerous. “Aww, but where’s the fun in that?” I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Fun? Fighting monsters is almost the complete opposite of fun. Have you ever stared down a charging hydra before?” “Well, no.” “You should be glad that you probably never will.” I made it far enough away from my house to feel comfortable and took a standard guard position, facing the three fillies. “Now, the first thing for you all to know is that there are different stances and styles for each race of pony, all specialized to make use of their strengths. For instance, earth ponies make great immovable vanguards, unicorns are the best at weapon specialization and ranged engagements using their magic, and pegasi can outflank and outmaneuver any ground force.” The three fillies looked between each other with frowns. “I can’t fly,” Scootaloo said. “And I’m still learning how to use my magic,” Sweetie Belle said. “Yeah, how are you going to teach all three of us to use our strengths?” Apple Bloom asked. “At your age, that sort of training wouldn’t come for a couple years, but we can start with the basic earth pony forms, which all guards are required to know. They’ll help you keep on your hooves. Let me give you a demonstration which you can participate in.” I shaped my sword into a statue of a pony in standard guard position. “Try to knock this over from the front.” Apple Bloom walked up to the sword and gave it a kick, making it fall over. “Well that was easy,” she said. I reshaped the sword so it was crouched down in a basic defense stance. “Now try.” Apple Bloom gave it another kick, but it didn’t budge. She pushed against it, again without success, and her friends joined in to no avail. “Wait, let’s try to kick all together,” Sweetie Belle said. “One, two, three, kick!” The sword toppled to the side finally, and the three fillies cheered. “See how much harder that was?” I asked. “And it was only a statue. Imagine trying that against a real earth pony who can quickly recover his balance.” “How are you supposed to knock down somepony like that?” Scootaloo asked. “A lot of momentum, magic, or a weapon, and if faced against a tower shield, you’d need a pegasus to fly in from behind or a unicorn. Now, stand in a line and watch closely.” The fillies lined up, already trying to imitate the standard guard position. “Alright, I’ll show you how to get into basic defense stance. It’s simple. Right foreleg forward, left hind leg back, bend the knees, widen your stance, and imagine your hooves and the earth becoming connected, solid and immovable.” The fillies copied me and took the stance with ease. “Pff, this is easy,” Scootaloo said. “We’ll get Royal Guard cutie marks in no time!” Apple Bloom said. “Now stand like that for two hours,” I said. The fillies gaped. “Two hours!?” “Or do the standard guard position for five hours. A lot about being a Royal Guard has to do with standing different ways for a long time, you know.” “But what about learning how to fight?” Sweetie Belle asked. “You wanted to learn how to fight on the first day?” The fillies broke their stance. “Yes!” I sighed. “It doesn’t work like that. You can’t fight until you know how to stand.” “But you just showed us how to stand,” Scootaloo said. “Yes, one way to stand, but there are forty-seven stances across all three races, and you need to be able to switch between at least three of them instantly and hold them for an hour, and then practice holding them with somepony trying to tackle you down.” I took a deep breath. “And then you get to learn how to fight.” Scootaloo looked at her friends. “I’m not sure about this anymore, girls.” Sweetie Belle nodded. “Same here.” Apple Bloom frowned and looked at me. “I guess we aren’t ready to be Royal Guards.” I gave a sly smile. “You expected to be guards in a single day?” “I guess so. Sorry for wasting your time, Lieutenant. We’ll see you—” Apple Bloom gasped, her eyes shooting open. “Your cutie mark! What happened to it?” I looked back at my flank and noticed the bottom left star had returned. I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank Celestia, they are coming back.” “Huh?” “My cutie mark had been slowly disappearing for the past while, and it’s finally coming back. I’m still not sure why.” “Why would your cutie mark have been disappearing?” Sweetie Belle asked. I shrugged. “I guess because I haven’t been sure about who I am and what my purpose is, but considering that I don’t know why it’s coming back, maybe it was something else.” “You certainly don’t seem like somepony who’s unsure about himself,” Apple Bloom said. “I don’t, huh? Hm. What makes you say that?” “Cause you seem to know everything about being a Royal Guard, and it’s obvious that you’re really good at it. You must really love your job.” I blinked. “Yeah, I guess I do. But I keep feeling that I’m missing something.” “Like what?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I don’t know. Whatever the thing is you have that means you have a life.” “Isn’t being a Royal Guard your life?” Scootaloo asked. “In a way, yes, but I don’t want it to be my life. It’s my job, but my life should be something different. I need something that is my own, something that only I have.” “Like the talent that goes with your cutie mark?” Apple Bloom asked. “My talent? That’s just…” Something that was my own, that nopony else had. But what did that mean? “That’s not really what I meant. I mean more like something I do that only I can do.” “I think that narrows it down to three things,” Sweetie Belle said. I raised an eyebrow. “Just three?” “Sort of. If you want something in your life that only you can do, that one thing has to be either for yourself, for everypony, or for somepony specifically. What do you think?” Something I can do for… was I trying to have something, or do something, only for myself? Or did I want something that would be for everypony? I couldn’t see how I’d want it for only one pony specifically, that didn’t make sense. “Maybe you’re right,” I said, rubbing my chin. “But I don’t know. Am I only supposed to choose one?” Sweetie Belle shrugged. “Why should you have to?” I nodded slowly. “That’s a good point. I know I want to do my job, and there are very few ponies out there who can do it as well as I can. Maybe my job is what I do for everypony. Yeah, that makes sense.” “Maybe you need to find something to do for yourself,” Scootaloo said. “Yeah, I think so. Thanks, Crusaders. Sorry that training to be a Royal Guard is so hard.” Apple Bloom waved a dismissive hoof. “It’s no problem. Sorry we’re too impatient to learn, we just really want to earn our cutie marks.” I smiled. “I’m sure you will. Keep trying new things, pay attention to what feels right. It’s funny, I remember being torn between my training and magic studies, and I was horrified I might end up with a cutie mark for one thing or the other. Instead I got one that fit me perfectly.” I glanced at my flank. For the longest time, anyway. “How did you get your cutie mark?” Sweetie Belle asked. I took a deep breath and sat down, and the Crusaders also sat as I began to tell the story. “Well, I got it by doing something wrong for a while. When I began training with a sword, I used my mouth. I just thought that was how it was supposed to be done. My magic wasn’t very strong at the time either, so I didn’t think that using it would get me anywhere. When it came to dueling in the arena, I’d lose almost every time. I could never swing the sword right. “Eventually I dueled a unicorn who used his magic to fight, and he beat me within seconds in the first round, but right as the second round began, there was a giant exploding rainbow that half scared me to death and made me drop my practice sword. I instinctively caught it in my magic and brought it up to block my opponent’s attack. He didn’t seem fazed by the explosion at all, so he kept coming at me, but I kept blocking. “It was like everything fell into place as I used my magic to fight. Suddenly it made so much sense, and after successfully defending for so long, I swung at him and managed to land a round-winning hit. The third round was a blur of strikes. I became the sword, my body only being something to defend from the opponent. In only a few short seconds, I won the duel. That’s when my cutie mark appeared.” The fillies looked between each other in disbelief. “No way,” Scootaloo said. “What do you think it means?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Isn’t it obvious?” Apple Bloom asked. I raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t what obvious?” Apple Bloom looked at me. “That rainbow explosion is what led to Applejack, Twilight, and the rest of their friends getting their cutie marks!” Sweetie Belle nodded. “Fluttershy said it means that they all had a special connection before they even met. You must have a special connection to them too!” I pulled my head back. “A special connection to Twilight and her friends? No, I don’t think so. Sure, the same rainbow explosion being a part of getting our cutie marks is a connection, but the only special connection we seem to have is our attempts to save Equestria. The difference is that I fail every time while they succeed every time.” “You tried to save Equestria when they were too?” Scootaloo asked. I sighed. “Battled Nightmare Moon, couldn’t stop her. Confronted Discord, couldn’t stop him. Fought a changeling army, couldn’t stop them. Encountered King Sombra, couldn’t stop him. Yup! Just about every time Equestria was in dire need of saving, I was there getting my flank kicked.” “Aw, come on, Lieutenant, don’t be so hard on yourself,” Apple Bloom said. “Yeah,” Sweetie Belle said. “I’m sure you played an important role in saving Equestria at some point.” “There’s no way you didn’t,” Scootaloo said. “I mean, you faced all that and survived! You have to be pretty awesome to do that.” “That just means Twilight and her friends are all the more awesome for facing it and not only surviving, but winning," I said. "Well, it doesn’t matter, it’s part of my job. I shouldn’t be upset about it. Thank you for your kind words, but you fillies should start heading home. It’s getting a bit late.” “Yeah, alright,” Apple Bloom said. She stood up and gave a cute salute. “Have a good day, Lieutenant!” I returned the salute. “You too. Keep up the crusading, I’m sure you’ll get those cutie marks in no time.” “And I’m sure you’ll figure out what you want to do,” Sweetie Belle said. “Cya, Lieutenant!” Scootaloo said. I smiled as the fillies trotted off. They were right about one thing, at least. Being the best Lieutenant of the Royal Guard I could was my duty to everypony. But what was I supposed to have for myself? What did I want for myself? I wasn’t sure, but the sun was setting and I was tired. It had been a long day. Going back inside, I sat down on my couch and sighed. Oh ponyfeathers, the Summer Sun Celebration! That was only three days away and I had completely forgotten. I hadn’t even been told where I’d be needed for it. Sweet Celestia, it had been a whole year since Nightmare Moon. Where had the time gone? So much was different now. Would things be so different next year too? Wait, would this celebration be as disastrous as the last? No, no, to Tartarus with that idea. Everything would be perfectly fine this year. Two Summer Sun Celebrations in a row turning to disaster? No way. I took a deep breath and went to my fridge, levitated a jug of pineapple juice to my mouth and took a swig. Just two more days, nothing to worry about tomorrow. If anything goes wrong, it’ll be on the night of the celebration. I can sleep easy tonight. Yes, everything would be perfectly fine.