"Know where to look?! Where can I look that isn't just snow? If there's something special out here like you said, shouldn't it be obvious?"
"Rarely will the special things in life be. But in time I know you will find it. I can feel it."
In the instant the door began to open my ear twitched and my attention was on it and whoever would be coming in. Likewise the thestral across from me sat up to attention the moment the click of the door occurred and I even heard slight shuffling coming from the unicorn all the way at the edge of the table. None of us were ready for who it was that came in.
The lightish pink of her foreleg was what I spotted first before I inadvertently let out a gasp when I saw the gleam of the beautiful filigree on her hooves and neck. There was no way...
Princess Cadance strode in while closing the door behind her with her magic, her posture both regal and graceful at the same time. She had a soft smile on her muzzle as she stood there for a moment taking us in before she spoke.
"Greetings good guardsponies! It is a pleasure to make all of your acquaintances today. I'm quite sure from recent events you already know who I am but it would be impolite to not introduce myself anyways." She gave a little bow to us despite the fact of who she was, putting me into more of a stupor than I already was from when I saw her. "I am Princess Cadance, though while we are in private I would prefer you simply call me Cadance. Might I ask you all to introduce yourselves to me in turn?"
There was a second of silence before there was the slight scraping of the chair behind me, drawing my attention away from Princess Cadance to the unicorn standing and saluting towards her now. "Specialist of the esteemed Solar Guard, reporting for duty Princess."
The thestral across from me seemed ready to do the same as him while I was still trying to gather my thoughts about what was happening when the Princess giggled before speaking again. "Hehe, I did not mean the normal formal greetings of the guard good specialist, though I suppose I am at fault for not making that part clear initially." She raised her hoof and swept it across the room at us. "I meant you all as ponies. It would not do for me and Shining Armor's personal guards to be nameless faces to us and everypony else."
Her words caused my eyes to widen and I unintentionally breathed out, "Your personal guards?"
Her soft gaze and smile turned to me now, nodding to me and causing my tail to snap straight when I realized I had spoken without having intended to. "Our personal guards indeed. And you need not worry about any wandering ears learning who you are. The privacy wards in the room are currently active at the moment so nopony outside this room will hear."
My thoughts raced and I could scarcely focus. We were to be the personal guards of the saviors of Canterlot. Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor whose love had been so strong that it had completely turned the tables on the changelings and banished just about all of them from the city, ending the invasion. They were heroes and royalty and we were to be their personal guards. I, a recruit from only just a month ago was going to be one of their personal guards.
While I was still trying to wrap my head around what was happening the thestral across from me was seemingly having far less trouble as she stood from her seat before taking off her helmet with a deft movement of her wing, bringing it to her side. The illusion spell within it fading from her, a deep dark purple quickly overtaking the rest of her coat and wings while long dark blue hair spilled out from her helmet and overtook her tail as well. She gave the princess a short salute before assuming a relaxed posture and smiling. "Adept Flowing Moon of the Lunar Guard. It is a pleasure to meet you Cadance."
Princess Cadance's smile seemed to widen a bit at Flowing Moon after she introduced herself. "And it is a pleasure to meet you as well Flowing Moon." She turned towards the specialist who was looking between the two of them. "And what might your name be specialist?"
He stared at her for a moment before responding with a very neutral look on his face. "Guardponies aren't supposed to reveal their identities, not even to their charges if assigned to one. It is done in order to make it far harder to target the private lives of whomever they might be."
The princess hummed in thought. "Hmm, you do have a point. The only ponies in the guard who are supposed to have their identities public are those in leadership positions such as my Shining Armor. But, I would much prefer to know who might our personal guards be. If you still do not wish to share your identity I will not push specialist. Though in the wake of the changelings who have proven they could very easily slip into the role of anypony, even simply knowing your identity would mean that it would be far harder for any that might still linger to impersonate any one of you and succeed."
The specialist sat silent for another moment with a frown on his face before his horn began to glow and race over his helmet before he levitated it off and into the crook of one of his forelegs. In an instant, the illusion spell over him began to fade just like it did with Flowing Moon. His gray fur shifted towards a lighter brown while short fiery orange hair took over his mane and tail. "Specialist Sunlance of the Solar Guard, Princess Cadance."
"A pleasure to meet you Sunlance." She gave him a nod in thanks before turning towards me and fixing me once again with her gentle gaze. "Now may I ask for your name recruit?"
I did my best to shove down my nerves before I spoke. The situation was still so surreal, but that was no excuse to freeze up. I took a deep breath before taking off my helmet with a forehoof, setting it on the table in front of me. The moment it came off my own fur shifted from the pearly white of the Day Guard illusion to my own snowy white color. My longer mane spilled forth from my helmet and outwards as it shifted from a royal blue to a nearly solid turquoise with the occasional emerald stripe cutting through it. "R-recruit Feather Hoof of the Day Guard, reporting for duty Princess."
It felt like an eternity while I waited for her response even though in reality it had only been a second. I was more aware now than ever of the discrepancy between my rank and the other guards. Not only were the Lunar Guard and Solar Guard considered elite compared to the Day Guard and Night Guard, but they were also both higher ranking members of their respective guards. Nearly at leadership positions themselves and with almost certainly more experience than my meager month of service. The only real thing I'd done was hold out with some civilians for the duration of the invasion. And yet here I was being chosen to guard Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor alongside them. There was no way there wasn't a discrepancy, no way that they had accidentally sent the papers to me instead of somepony else. And I was now just waiting for her to call it out.
Instead, her gentle smile stayed as she nodded her head as a bit of recognition flooded her eyes. "A pleasure to meet you Feather Hoof. I remember reading a bit about your heroics during the invasion. I can only hope you should show that same valor in your time with us as you did then." She looks away from me and towards the other two guardsponies while my eyes widen in shock at the fact she had read the story the newspapers had of me. "And I hope that the both of you will do the same."
Both of them were looking at me now. Sunlance still with a mostly neutral look, though the little twitch of his ear and the bit of extra attention he started paying after I introduced myself gave away that there was something else in that look. Flowing Moon on the other smiled even wider than she had before, giving a laugh. "Hahah! When you said you were here during the invasion and didn't want to talk about it I thought you were just one of the few Day Guards who had managed to survive the initial assault, hunkering down in one of the few guard strongholds in the city during the invasion that had survived. Not the mare who managed to keep around two dozen civies safe and sound during the entirety of the invasion despite being alone after losing her unit."
I felt my cheeks flush as she heaped the praise on me as I stared anywhere but at her slitted eyes which now focused on me with rapt attention. "I-i didn't do that much. We just hunkered down where we could and did our best to stay hidden while trying to figure out what to do while everypony else fixed it."
She barked out another laugh. "Hah! From the way that article was written, it sounded like you did quite a bit more than just hunker down. By the moon mare, you were stuck in the middle of all their forces and quite a ways away from the presence of any guard forces, and you still managed to find a way to lead all those ponies to safety until the end of it.
Sunlance chose that moment to speak, his tone neutral. "It might not have meant much in the grand scheme of things but for a single recruit? It was impressive work. Even if you did lose your helmet during the chaos somehow."
Just how many ponies had read that article? Stars, I really didn't do that much. It was just my duty, and it was after I initially failed to notice the changelings in our ranks until it was too late to warn everypony else with only time to save what civilians hadn't already entered the room the trap had been laid in. A mistake that had gotten my entire unit caught. And what I had managed afterward was more a fluke than anything else. Especially with how often changelings had nearly caught us and I had been forced to more drastic action to keep them safe.
Princess Cadance had at some point sat down at the front of the table and had pulled out a stack of papers from her saddlebags and plopped them in front of her. "It certainly was. Though since introductions are now over, I do believe it is time we start to discuss more in detail what being one of our personal guards would actually entail. And to confirm that you three would indeed actually wish to be a part of our new personal guard. Just because we've summoned you three here today does not mean you have to join or even decide today. Before I continue, do any of you have any questions?"
None of us did and so the briefing commenced.