//------------------------------//
// Out with the New, In with the Old 
// Story: The Old Guard 
// by Maverick Huntress 
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"Alright, everypony, good work today. Real proud of you all. It's been a grueling month of hard work and there's plenty more to come, but now you're free to go rest up for the night."

A resounding chorus of "Sir, yes, sir!" followed by the clanking of metal on metal was music to my ears, returning the salute  in kind before the ponies before me begin to flow of the training grounds. Watching them for a few moments, making sure there was no stragglers or anypony who had collapsed, I steer myself towards the back of the departing soldiers; my own hooves sore from today's training. My head throbs with every other step as well, the pulsing originating from my horn as my mind begins to wind down. However, it's forced to stall for a moment as I find myself bumping into one of the guards in front of me. Blinking in surprise, I lean to the side to see what the hold up was.

"Where be thy forwast? Thou art of poor colors for a heald and he shall know."  I hear a voice call out, one I'm not familar with at all. It didn't sound right either, like it was muffled or coming out of something other then a mouth. "Thou art all gipee!"

Before I can speak up though, or even see who actually said it, a sudden outburst of gasps, cries, and whinnies fill the air as the guards before me do the same. I watch in horror as they're fly through the air like toys, all of them too surprised to even react in time before they hit the ground or something else. Fortunately, I have enough time to cast a spell before I end up joining them; my horn drawing on what I have left to create a shield just larger then myself. I wince when I hear something hit, looking away before I hear the clang of metal striking stone off to my right. When I look back up though, it was clear who was the cause of all this.

A unicorn wearing purple armor that covers every inch of them stands in front of a group of five or so, even their face and horn were covered by plating with the former protected by a elongated spike that looked sharp enough to impale somepony; eyes obscured as well by something dark as well. The similar suits making it hard just to tell how many there were right now too, though a quick horn-count shows I was right in my guess. Judging how the one closest to me stood away and in front of the others too, it wasn't hard to tell that they were the leader. "Ah, thy be the lone belifend, and one of royalty, I see. What be thy dirige?"

I blink a few times in surprise a few times, not only at the strange way they spoke but how their body didn't move at all, no sign of motion beneath the armor even when they talked. Their voice sounded weird too, neither masculine nor feminine, like it was hollow and artificial as the armor itself. Still, given that all of my best ponies had been thrown around like they were leaves in the fall, it'd be smart to keep a level head and stop things from escalating. "I am Captain Shining Armor, head of the Royal Guard and husband to Princess Celestia's niece, Princess Cadence. "

The armored unicorn doesn't say anything. Instead, they walk forward, closing the distance between us until they're little more then just a few hooves away. It was then I realized that the eye coverings weren't that at all, but simply the interior of the helmet  I was seeing. There was nopony inside. 

"I am Arch-mage Aphelion and feriend of the Warlocks, Princess Luna's royal heald. We hath come to serve under her once more."

Okay, so, they were Luna's guards, that make sense with the weird armor and speech. Still, assaulting royal guards was a criminal offense. Does it count though if they guards too though?  Do I have the power to arrest Luna's own guards? This is gonna be a headache to deal with. Taking a deep breath, I clear my mind. "It is an honor to meet you, Arch-mage Aphelion," I lower my head for a moment. "But I must know why you attacked my guards, they didn't do anything to provoke you."

I hear what I think is a snort from the talking suit of armor but it's hard to tell. Even so, the tone Aphelion uses makes their thoughts pretty obvious. "Their form and execution were egle, none fit to bewerian nary a door. Thy own as well, lo thy did beorgan thyself. "

"They are the best Equestria has to offer and act as Princess Celetsia's own personal guard." I shoot back, gritting my teeth while my muscles tense up. "We've been training nearly every day for the last month, improving our minds, bodies, and magic, so yeah, they're gonna make mistakes after a while."

"Mistakes one cannot made in battle." The armored unicorn steps closer, no more then a hoof's distance away now as I look into those empty slits. "Were Equestria's foes to lay siege, surely all would perish... thy healds the first."

I freeze up as I hear cries from all around me, eyes darting to each of my soldiers as their bodies begin to convulse and spasm. Even though I couldn't see Aphelion's face, I could sense the look they was giving both me and each member of my guard: disgust. 

"Thy failure to both see and bid us be grave should we hostile to the crown, and who say we arth not? Thou hast - " 

I don't even give them time to finish before conjuring a shield not around myself but the unicorn before me, barely bigger then their whole body and quickly shrinking as I focus what remains of my energy on Aphelion. I think I caught them by surprise, but it was hard to tell without an actual face to read. Still, the cries stopped as the suit of armor quickly spreads its legs in an attempt to stop the shield from getting any smaller. 

"Listen here, I don't care who you are, where or when you came from, or that you supposedly serve Luna. Nopony hurts my guards. Nopony."

Aphelion's legs begin to buckle as I tighten the shield around them, the metal itself not bending but the points where it connected. I stop for a moment though when I hear a very unsettling sound, unable to tell what it was until I realized it was coming from the armor I was currently crushing. "Not waiting to attack, good. Hesitation to finish off a foe... a fatal mistake."

My horn lets out a crack as my shield is suddenly blasted apart, the feedback making me cry out as I reel in pain. I shake my head as the living suit lands softly on the ground, my eyes widening as I recognize the charging pose. However, I was in combat mode now and already busy figuring out the best way to take Achelion down. I conjure a second shield, tensing for impact as the spiked horn aims straight for me. The suit of armor suddenly vanishes though, catching me by surprise once more as I quickly look around for my opponent. 

"Where'd -"

I let out a cry as something slams into my shield, not from the side but from above. I look up to see metal hooves, narrowing my eyes at the metal pony before wrapping the shield around them and hurling them into the air. Again, they vanish right, only to reappear back on the ground. Our gazes meet, taking a deep breath and shifting to a offensive pose as I draw more magic from what I have left. I needed to end this fast, I didn't have the energy or endurance for this kind of fight, especially against somepony who could teleport.

Mirroring Achelion from before, I charge. While I do though, I conjure two spheres out of their field of view: directly behind and below their jaw. As the armored unicorn prepares to counter, I expand them starting with the rear shield and then the other. As I expected, they didn't have enough time to react as the first sphere sends them right into the second before their head snaps upward in the blink of an eye. Unforunately, it didn't seem to do much other then bother Achelion as they blinked out of view again. I look around for them but aside from the others, I  couldn't see Arch-mage.

"C-captain, t-the castle!" I hear one of my guards call out weakly, violent coughing following suit as I whirl around.

My eyes widen as I see stones pulled out of the ground and the palace itself, ascending into the air before coming to a stop around the purple-plated unicorn who now floated above the courtyard. "Hold thy tongue, thou hast naught permission to speak!"

A cry fills me with icy terror, the cracking of stone audible as well as I immediately turn to the source of both. One of my guards was grasping their throat, white stone lodged in it and on the ground turning red as blood drains out. I lift a hoof to move towards them, but a second stone block embeds itself no more then a hoof in front of me.  "Thy focus shall be on me and none other."

I grit my teeth, glaring  at the Tartarus-damned unicorn as I feel my magic flare in strength. "This is how Luna's elite operate? Attacking non-combats and inflicting pain to ponies who don't deserve it?" My mind races, eyes darting to each brick and trying to determine the best way to block them all. That's when I realize I don't need to.

"Battle is naught but a means to an end. Do what thy must to win, as thy enemy wilst do the same."

"If you say so."

The bricks drop as the unicorn begins to twitch, plates beginning to groan as they bulge. "What be this magic? I cannot move!" I could actually hear some panic in the unicorn's voice, smugness and condescension turning into fear as their body was being forced apart.  

"You said to win at any cost, so that's what I'm doing. Thing is... the price is your life." I felt cold, dark, when I said those words, but I meant them. This madpony had insults my gaurds, assaulted them, and was now fighting me. If I couldn't beat him, there's no telling what Achelion would do to anypony else they'd come across. "Since you were Luna's personal guard, and the fact my shield didn't crush you before, I figured that your armor was resistant to conventional attacks and spells. However, I learned about a little something called pressure from my sister. The more pressure you have on something, the more it wants to break apart, even metal. You can't teleport away because I keep increasing the pressure, stretching you out a bit more each moment to stop the spell from working. You can't move either because my shield has filled up your armor too, every last bit of it." 

To prove my point, I make Achelion wave and then bow in an overly dramatic fashion. Sure, supporting a suit of metal was getting taxing but right now, I feel like I could last another hour at least. "It wouldn't take much more pressure to make you burst like a balloon, sending your parts everywhere. I'm not sure if you'd die, not even sure how you're alive, but if it means stopping you, I'll do it."

I give Achelion a few moments to respond, keeping them in place just how I described. The same eerie laugh fills the air not long after, though it's not as forbidding as the first time. "Thy words arth that of a hearding. Decisions must be made, none all pleasant. Saros, tend to the injured. Nadir, the castle."

I glance towards the other armored ponies, having completely forgotten about them during the fight. I can't tell which one is actually doing the repairs to the palace seeing how four of them are still standing in place, but the one named Saros did move to check out the other guards; metal hooves clanking against the stone with each step.

Turning my attention back to Achelion, I lower them back to the ground but keep the unicorn suspended just above it and in a few hooves in front of me. Narrowing my eyes, I stare into those empty slits. "What's with the sudden change of heart? You almost killed one of them while we were fighting and now you're done?"

"Thou hast bested me, proving that thy fierdscerop is worn well. As for the fight, t'was a training exercise. Were it more, none would be live."

Even though I would need to make the shield inside the unicorn just a bit bigger to make them explode, their response sends a chill down my spine. With how Achelion had sent all my ponies flying without a problem or made them all suffer without lifting a hoof, not to mention ripping stone straight out of the ground and even the palace, it'd be foalish to think we were even close to the same level of skill or strength. "To anypony today, it'd be seen as an assault on not only the Royal Guard but on royalty as well. You can't just attack us or anypony just because you don't like or agree with what they're doing."

"Thy metal needed to be tested, and so it has.  Thou arst niwe, I can tell, but possess potency. With time and effort, thy abilities may rival our own, thy healds as well."

I blink. "You're offering to train us?"

"Aye."

I stare at the unicorn for a few moments longer before dispersing the shield inside Aphelion, though the plates looked funky now as many of them remained bulged out. I cringe when a hoof is raised, the metal grating together as my ears splay back. "I'll... fix that. Before I agree to anything though, I need to talk to Luna and Celestia about this."

"Their council would be wise. It will be a honor to see our lady once more."

"Yeah, well, I doubt she'll be happy to see you once she hears what you did." I glance at the ponies still strewn about the courtyard, though most were on their hooves now or at least upright one way or another. "Help me get them to the infirmary first and then we'll go see the princesses."

"Very well." 

Before my eyes, I see my subordinates rise up off the ground, hooves dangling just above it as they're all pulled towards where me and Achelion were standing. Saros tugs on one of them with their own magic, resuming their examination while the other four metal ponies join us as well. It was pretty bizarre, a group of ancient, metal ponies with more then a dozen regular ponies floating around them with the one who I was just fighting now an apparent ally. Still, it was hardly the weirdest or most dangerous thing I've dealt with before.

Letting out a sigh, shake my head before I heading towards the palace. "Alright, let's go."