//------------------------------// // The Epilogue // Story: The Equestrian Honor Guard // by Honored Service //------------------------------// The Equestrian Honor Guard Epilogue By Honored Service *One year after the death of Honored Service* Celestia stood on a platform overlooking the Canterlot gardens. Hundreds of ponies from all over Equestria had gathered to listen to the speech prepared by their leader in honor of the fallen human. A few griffons also decided to attend the gathering as they too heard about the amazing feats of this warrior biped. The Princess of the Sun looked over the sea of pastel ponies. Her sister joined her and both royal alicorn sisters bowed their heads. All the ponies quieted and looked forward to their leaders in silence. “My little ponies, today we are gathered here to pay our respects to a creature that deserved more than we could have ever given him. I am speaking about the human Johnson, or by his Equestrian name, Honored Service. “This human came from a different world and put himself in the way of danger to protect us from many different threats. Whether it was Timber Wolves outside of Ponyville, or the creatures that roam the woods outside of Canterlot, he was always there to save us from something. One year ago on this very day, Honored gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect us once more. The changelings attacked this city with the intent to kill and destroy the pony population. They were led my Queen Chrysalis who was taken over by the Nightmare that had infected my sister. This Nightmare wanted nothing but to destroy our way of life, but Honored Service had different plans. This lone human stopped the changeling army dead in its tracks and killed the evil queen. He was killed by the queen but had succeeded in stopping her. So it is now that I declare this day to be a holiday celebrated with happiness in honor of the human that gave his life to stop the destruction of our species. Honor Day!” The cheers of the ponies echoed across the entire city of Canterlot as the two alicorns pulled a large white sheet of a statue that rested underneath. A large marble carving of a bipedal creature stood on a base of granite. The human figure wore a duster that was flowing behind him as if caught in a breeze. The iconic weapon that the human used was held in one hand, pointed down and the other hand hung freely at his side. The smaller weapon and knife could be seen in its holster and sheath on his belts that crisscrossed his chest. A helmet that resembled the ones worn by the royal Guard rested on his head. And on his face he wore a smile that made everypony feel safe and cared for. A smile that seemed to say, ‘protected’. A bronze plaque on the base of the statue read, This monument is of Johnson or Honored Service the last human to walk in Equestria. On the 23rd of Spring Rise 3,003 this human stopped the changeling invasion and gave his life to secure the safety of all ponies. May he forever be remembered as Equestrian Honor Guard Honored Service. Ponies milled around for a while paying their respects to the statue by laying flowers at the base of it. Although a few ponies left smaller tokens at the base. A trio of fillies laid a small red cape with a gold foal emblem on it, at the statues feet. An orange earth pony and a large red earth pony left a basket of apples near the cape. A pink pony left a cupcake on top of the apples. A purple unicorn and a baby dragon left a book, entitled, The Story of Honored Service; Equestria’s Last Human, near the cupcake. A blue pegasus simply nodded to the statue and placed a pair of sunglasses near the book and mumbled, “The coolest human there was.” A white unicorn placed a half-finished hat that resembled a beret of red and gold next to the sunglasses. A timid yellow pegasus crept up to the statue’s base and laid a simple bouquet of yellow and white flowers down. The final group of ponies bowed their heads and said silent thanks to the dead and gone human that had given its life to save and protect them, and all the other ponies of Equestria. Together the group moved out of the gardens casting final glances in the direction of the marble statue. Only one pony remained in the garden alone with the unmoving statue. “Hi Honored.” The mare spoke softly to the figure. A red coated mare with an orange mane trotted up to the base of the statue and looked up at the face of the human. “I wanted to come by and say good bye, since I didn’t get to when you were here.” A tear rolled of her cheek and landed nest to all the gifts laid at the statue’s feet. “I’m going to miss you Honored Service. I really did love you. There was so much more that I wanted to do but we never had the time.” More tears joined the first on the granite. The mare reached under her wing and pulled out two small metal disks attached to a thin metal chain. “I’ve kept good care of these so I could give these back to when I saw you again. But…but…” Another wave of tears cut the mare off as she feel to her stomach and wept openly on the statues feet. “But you aren’t coming back are you Honored?” She looked up at the frozen smile etched onto the marble’s surface. The red mare laid the dog tags silently next to the yellow and white flowers. “Good bye Johnson. I love you.” The mare closed her eyes and just thought about the short time she had had with her human. “Now why are you sad?” A calm voice with a hint of playfulness called out to the crying mare. “I would expect somepony to be happy in front of such a good looking statue; although I think the jaw line is a little to round. Don’t you?” The sobbing mare sniffled and wiped a hoof across her nose, turning to look at who was interrupting her mourning. Behind her stood a tall bipedal creature that stepped out from underneath an oak tree. The creature had a smile on its face as he stopped in front of the statue. He had on a worn old brown duster that had holes and tears all along it. One sleeve was torn completely off, while the other still had a small red and blue patch with a gold foal on it. A series of belts held multiple knives along his chest and legs while a holster rested under his left arm. An armored chest piece that was scratched and dented covered most of his torso and a faded gold helmet with a green Mohawk rested on his head. A canvas satchel was slung across one shoulder along with a long rectangular weapon. “Hello Sky” okay, so maybe i told the tiniest little lie. There is indeed a sequel to this wonderful story. Be on the look out for Honor Above All Else. It tells the tale of what occured to Honored Service in the one year he was gone, leading up to the present reunion with Fast Skies. The updates will be coming a lot slower with this new story as the military college will be....confiscating all incoming cadet's electronics for a couple of days/weeks. And i am also in the process of writing some other stories that are not connected to Johnson in any way. Other fanfics. Thanks for reading, and hope to see you again in another story. Stay strong, Stay loving Stay Tolerating, -Johnson