//------------------------------// // Prologue: A Brother's Love // Story: Protector // by JDPoni //------------------------------// Shining Armor stood in front of his guardscolts, giving each of them a stern look. Only a small handful of guards were there, those who had been hand-picked by their Captain for this meeting. “I know that you all signed up to be guards in Canterlot, but after the events that happened at the wedding and in the Crystal Kingdom, I think it’s in our best interests to patrol outside of the city’s borders and search out threats before they reach so close to our Princess.” The royal guards looked to each other warily, murmuring their begrudging agreement. “Therefore, I’ve decided that we will begin assignments to other lands around Equestria. Because of the potential danger and solitude of these missions, I’m not going to order any of you to any of these posts. I’ll ask, though, that you consider taking one. You all, out of the rest of the guard, I trust the most with these assignments.” With the compliment, every guard stood up taller, their chests pushed out with pride. “There are five areas that I want Canterlot guards in, five areas that seem to have the most activity and potential as hotspots. I’ll need a guard presence in Manehattan to watch the gang activity in that area.” He noticed one of the guards, a large, burly colt with a scar over where his left eye used to be. “Anxious to get back home, huh Gold Brick?” “That, and anxious to bring the ponies who did this…” he brought his hoof up to his eye, “to justice.” Shining Armor nodded. “Alright. Next, I want a presence in Apploosa, we need someone watching the progress between the settlers there and the buffalo. So far everything is going well, but I don’t want any changelings there causing all their hard work to come crashing down.” Another guard stepped forward, his coat dark and his legs well-muscled, showing a life of hard work. “I’ll take that assignment, sir. I wouldn’t mind getting out on the frontier and getting my legs back in the dirt.” Shining Armor nodded, smiling, happy that his guards were agreeing with him on the importance of these assignments. “Somepony also needs to head up to Phillydelphia. After that parasprite infestation, the city’s infrastructure’s in ruins. I need to have somepony up there to make sure that it’s impossible for anything to infiltrate the city. With the damage that’s been done, this could be a tough assignment.” A Pegasus guard with a bright orange coat stepped forward. “I’ll take care of Phillydelphia, sir. Should be easier to see everything that’s going on from the sky.” Shining Armor nodded, and the Pegasus stepped back. “I need someone to get over to the Crystal Kingdom. They’ve been asleep for a long time, so their guards need to be trained up on the current threats in Equestria.” “I’ll handle that assignment, sir”. Another guard stepped forward, a unicorn with a midnight black coat and mane. “I’ve always been fascinated by the Crystal Empire. And who knows, maybe there’ll be a mare there as beautiful as your wife…” The rest of the guards sniggered, and Shining Armor blushed a little, smiling and shaking his head. “Right, I wish you the best of luck on finding a mare that’ll put up with you, Storm Chaser.” With that, the rest of the guards burst into laughter. After a moment, Shining Armor put his hoof into the air. “Alright, alright, I only need one more volunteer. The last place I need somepony at is Ponyville.” The guards groaned. “Really, sir?” one guard asked, “Ponyville’s just some backwater village. It’s small enough to be overlooked by anything that is looking to threaten us, and it’s just a hop, skip, and jump away from Canterlot. Our entire force could be there inside five hours. Why do we need anyone there?” Shining Armor gave the guard a very stern look. “Because Ponyville is right next to the Everfree Forest, where we saw the entire changeling army leave to when they were expelled from Canterlot. It’s also close enough to Canterlot that if any threat did make a basecamp there, they would be right on our doorstep. And just because Ponyville isn’t as grand as Manehattan or as exciting as Apploosa, doesn’t mean that the ponies there don’t matter. It may not be a glorious duty, but it’s really important that I have somepony there.” The guards murmured to themselves. After a moment, from the very back, a voice rang out. “I’ll do it, sir.” The rest of the guards moved aside to see who had spoken up. The young unicorn colt was a new addition to the guard, standing a full head shorter than the other guards with a light gray coat and bright red mane, a cutie mark of a bow and arrow on his flank. “I’ll take the assignment.” Shining Armor smiled. “Why did I know it would be you, Silver Arrow?” He looked over the rest of his guards. “That’s it, that’s all I needed. Those of you who did not volunteer, you can return to your posts. If you’re off duty, the have fun until you’re on duty. Those of you who did volunteer, you’re dismissed to get to your destinations. I’ve already sent word of your arrival. That is, all of you are dismissed except you, Silver Arrow.” Slowly, the guards broke formation and walked out of the outdoor training area the meeting was held in. With the rest of the guards leaving, the young unicorn approached his commanding officer. He stood at attention while he waited for the captain to address him. “At ease. There’s a little more to your assignment to Ponyville than I wanted the others to know about.” His horn glowed and a scroll came out from behind him. “My sister and her friends are all in Ponyville, and I want you to watch out for them, too.” He levitated the scroll to Silver Arrow, who grabbed it with his own unicorn magic. “And if you wouldn’t mind, could you give this to my sister? Her name’s Twilight Sparkle, and she lives in the Ponyville library.” Silver Arrow stuck the scroll carefully into one of his armor saddlebags and nodded, a sad smile on his face. “You can count on me sir.” “Just one question, if you don’t mind. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.” “Yes sir?” “Why did you take this assignment? I know you volunteer for everything that no one else wants to do, but I’ve never had the chance to ask you why.” Silver Arrow looked directly into Shining Armor’s eyes, his smile gone. “I know I’m smaller than everypony else. I know the other guards look down on me. I want to prove that I deserve to be here, so I’ll do anything, everything that nopony else wants to do to prove it.” “Well, I never thought you had anything to prove to anyone. You passed all the entrance tests by yourself. I wouldn’t have given you a position in the Royal Canterlot Guard if I didn’t think you could handle it, and I wouldn’t have called you here for these special assignments if I didn’t think you were up for the challenge.” Silver Arrow nodded again, his wavy red mane getting into his eyes a bit. “Thank you sir. I’ll head to Ponyville immediately.” Shining Armor smiled down to the young unicorn. “Dismissed.”