14 years later
Beep beep beep
When their shared alarm woke them up to the sunny morning, the Wind twins greeted each other as they shuffled out of their beds, remaking them for the next night. Upon arriving downstairs to the morning action, they were welcomed by their dad having made breakfast while he was waiting for them. He was reading the morning paper, but wasn’t so distracted as to not tell them “good morning”. He went back to reading while the twins sat down to eat their eggs and waffles.
…
“Well, the day has come, bro.” Puzzle Piece said to Blue Storm. Today was it; their first day of guard training. Ever since early childhood, both twins knew they wanted to be Canterlot guards when they grew up. That was what they always told their parents, teachers, and friends when they asked the question. And today, finally had it come. They would start learning the ropes.
Before they got outside their house, though, a knock on the door came along as they were walking there. It turned out that the twins’ longtime best friend, Shining Armor, had paid a visit to ask if the twins wanted to walk with him to their destination. The twins, however, said that their dad was going to walk with them, since he is one of the Captains of the Guard and will be helping train everyone, including his sons.
When their dad finished reading the paper, he went to the door to find Shining Armor there.
“Good morning; are you ready for training?” he said to Shining.
“I am!” Shining replied, smiling. I will work hard, too!”
“Good! Now on to the training facility!” Mr. Wind said, pointing outside.
As they made their way towards their destination, the twins skipping forward in excitement, the twins’ father had a moment of realization. “Oh shoot, there’s actually one other task I need to do before I start the training. So, uh, bye for now. Be good for Shining Armor!” he said, waving as he changed directions.
Shining and the twins stood there in silence for a moment. “Okay, well, that was unexpected.” Puzzle commented. They did continue, however, reaching the front desk of the facility, where they were greeted by the receptionist. “Ah, the Wind Twins! Happy to have you here.” she said.
The twins’ dad and the other instructors knew who was all there; they had everything good to go. The twins went on their way forward to the door in front of them, which led to the room full of the other recruits gathering. They noticed their dad had arrived at the same time as them after all despite his detour, and that two other instructors were looking at them, ready to bring things on.
They spent a bit of time asking questions to the instructors about what was in store for them, when after about 10 minutes, a horn sounded and the recruits looked forward.
“Alright.” the twins' dad said, standing in view of the crowd. “My name is Comet Flash Wind, but you can call me Captain. Okay, so the first thing I must let you know is that becoming a guard is a tough task. Me and the other instructors are going to whip you guys in shape so that you can become proper guards.”
“If you are good enough, you will pass. So here’s your first assignment: we are going to see what each of you are currently capable of, so we can know how to train you. We want to make sure the training is suited for each of you individually.”
“Now, when I call your names, you shall come and grab a weapon on the rack next to me.” You will stand next to the pony that I call after you; there will be two weapons for each side.”
“First up, Blue Storm Wind and Puzzle Piece Wind.”
The entire class seemed to gasp when they heard that last name. “They’re related?” one of the trainees said.
“Yes, these are my sons.” the captain said. “They said they want to be guards, so they’re here.”
The twins went up and picked a sword and shield each. As for who would battle them, the captain chose two random pegasi from the group, who also chose a sword and shield. The twins’ dad explained that they were going to fight. A friendly battle, to test how they use the weapons they chose. “Whoever wins will stay and fight until they get defeated or there are no recruits left”, he said.
“All four of you look ready, so… fight!” he called out. While the twins stood their ground, the two pegasi went after Blue Storm together, attempting to take him out early. But before they could strike, Puzzle blocked their attack. The two pegasi were stunned at how quickly and easily he showed up. Blue Storm charged at them with a fast strike, and the two pegasi were knocked out.
“Fight over!” the captain called out. He then brought in two other recruits to fight the twins. How much longer would they last? This time, the opponents went after Puzzle first… but the same thing happened. Blue blocked their attack, then Puzzle swiftly knocked them out. Then the next opponents tried to do something different and charged at Blue first, but the same thing kept happening. It kept going until there were only two recruits left; Shining Armor and one other pegasus. Would this be the fight the twins would lose?
This time, the opponents did something truly different. They both grabbed spears, staying out of the twins’ reach. They later charged, but this time, the twins didn’t block. A four-way charge was happening, and as they all got closer to each other, Blue Storm moved his wings fast to pick up dust. The opponents’ view was obstructed, and the twins took advantage of that, knocking them out while they couldn’t see.
When the dust cleared, the twins were still standing. Shining Armor and the pegasus, on the other hand, were struggling to get up. “Fight over,” Comet said. The twins then snapped into a salute, and when Comet asked what they were doing, Blue responded with “The princess. Because she’s right over there.”
“What do you mean?” Comet asked, looking over and seeing nothing but normalcy.
“She’s using an invisibility spell.” Puzzle said. “But anyway, is it time for everyone to go back to the line?”
“Yes,” their dad responded, deciding not to think about all that Princess Celestia stuff. The princess left after he answered the Puzzle’s question, too. The recruits were told that they did well, but could use work. All recruits were told to follow the other two instructors, except for the twins. They were told to follow that guard over there. After following the guard to a new room, they were told to wait. They sat on chairs and 10 minutes passed by before their father came in with the princess, whom the twins promptly saluted.
“How can you see me?” Celestia asked.
“We just can. We don’t know.” Blue Storm responded.
“And we thought that everyone else could at first.” Puzzle added.
“I am wondering; how did you guys know when to block and attack?” Celestia asked. The twins looked nervous when she asked that.
“We should tell her.” Blue Storm said.
“If that is what you want to do, then I will abide by it even though we agreed not to tell anyone.” Puzzle said. well she is the princess and our dad should know
“Dad, do not be mad that we did not tell you,” Blue Storm asked.
“Sure, son. I promise I will not be mad.”
“Now what do you want to tell us?” Celestia asked.
“We have a link. We’ve had it since we were young. My little brother was getting bullied because of him being really shy, and I just happened to hear his voice in my head. At first, I thought I was going crazy, but I still looked to see if something was happening. And then I saw that my brother was crying.”
“So I went over to him and the bully and told the bully to stop. I said ‘Think of what would happen if my dad hears that one of his sons is being bullied. He is in the royal guard; what do you think will happen?’ Once the bully heard that, he ran off.”
“I then said something in my head. I was thinking ‘Is he okay?’ Then he said ‘Did you say something?’ And I said ‘Yes. So are you?’”
He said “I am now, thanks.” But then, he asked why my question sounded like it came from my head. That is when I told him that I said it in my mind to test to see if what I thought was happening was real. And it is, so why don’t we call it a mind link?
“I wonder if we can strengthen it, because I barely heard you when you called out to me.” I said. “But let’s not tell anyone, because they might think we are crazy.” So, yeah. That’s how we found out we had a mind link.
“We might have had it since birth,'' Blue Storm said. “Because I always felt like I knew what he wanted, but I couldn’t tell why until that moment. What do you think of it?”
“I think it is wonderful you have that ability, and I think it will work well with what I have been wanting to do for a while now. I just needed the right pony for the job. What would you do if I asked you to do a dangerous job?” Celestia asked.
“I would do it if you asked,” Blue Storm said.
“And I would also,” Puzzle said.
“Well then, I know the perfect ponies for the job! But first, your dad has to agree since he will be one of the ones training you. A father would know how best to train his sons. So, do you think they should do it?” Celestia asked.
“I think they can do it, after what I have seen and heard. I will gladly do it, but your mother best not hear about this or we are doomed.”
Celestia laughed at that. “Well, I need to get to day court. I will see you tomorrow!”