I woke up in my room at the castle, luckily since my job is looking after the princesses, I sleep in the castle, rather than some barracks, what with me being a guard and all. Anyway, I wake up, and head to the main hall, where the two fillies arrive shortly after, but something’s different. They’re not smiling. Uh oh.
“Cloudy?”
“Uh, yes Luna?”
“We’re tired of being in the castle all the time, we wanna go outside.”
“And the gardens don’t count.” Celestia quickly added.
Well, it could be worse. Sighing, I decide giving them a bit of freedom would be a good thing. “Alright, but only under a few conditions.”
“Oh, fine, what are they?” Celestia asks rolling her eyes. Luna looks a little impatient.
“First, I must be with both of you at all times. Second, if you need something or want to go somewhere, ask me first. Third, under no circumstances should you go anywhere I can’t see you.” I take a breath. “I know it sounds stupid, but I just want you to be safe, no harm should ever come to either of you. Besides, if I can’t do that much, what kind of caretaker would I be?”
“A bad one, who’d get fired.”
“Right you are Celestia, and nopony wants that. Let’s go now.”
Luna jumped up on my back “Yay, we get to go outside!!”
And when we get outside, I notice that I overlooked something. Today was not a normal day. Today was a special day. Today was Hearts and Hooves Day. I don’t know how the fillies will react, seeing the holiday for themselves, but however they react, I can only hope I will live through it easily.
“Hey Cloudy?”
“Yes Luna?” I turn to the dark blue filly sitting on my back.
“Do you have a special somepony?”
Crap.
This was not something I expected, but I didn’t know that today was Hearts and Hooves Day. The problem is obvious, I’m a guard. While I am a caretaker, I’m still a guard and must be ready to move if I am called to arms. Love doesn’t help at all when you’re a guard, but that’s obvious. If you’re in love, you sometimes get distracted. If a guard is distracted, then he will not perform well in action, which means I could either get hurt by whomever I’m trying to stop, or get ejected by an official. Neither situation is good, so I just decided to avoid romance so I’d never have that problem.
Here’s the problem, that might not sound like a good reason to a filly, so what can I say to explain why I’ve never tried to get a marefriend? One idea popped into my head, but with all my time with the sisters, I’ve learned to avoid certain statements. I’m pretty sure that ‘I haven’t found the right mare’ isn’t the best answer, so now I have to think... Maybe the truth? Meh, worth a shot.
“I don’t have a marefriend because I’m a guard, and having a special somepony would make my job harder.”
Luna scrunched up her face. “That sounds like a dumb rule.”
“It’s not exactly a rule, it’s really more of a guideline.”
Celestia had a rather thoughtful look on her face, and it worried me. I need to say something fast.
“Besides, since I don’t have a marefriend, I get to spend more time with you two.” Well, at least it was honest, I really do like caring for Celestia and Luna a lot.
Celestia stopped thinking about my guideline statement, but she still had something to say. That filly is quite a planner. “Why couldn’t she look after us with you?”
Uh oh, I have to come up with a reason, and make it believable. Come on brain, what do I say?
“I don’t know.”
Thanks a lot brain, why did you have to reply out loud?
Needless to say, I was a bit unsettled, although I probably wasn’t in the best position at the moment. I’m chaperoning two fillies that will grow up to rule this entire land, introducing them to something created solely from the idea of loving companionship. I’ve never even kissed a mare, and as soon as I started my training as a guard, I pretty much threw away the possibility of ever having a marefriend.
“There are lots of rules that seem stupid, but they are intended to keep us safe even if it costs us a bit of happiness. I don’t like it either, but safety is important, right?”
Celestia sighed, replying with a mumble. “Yeah, I guess.”
Luna just had a little pout on her face, looking unhappy and adorable.
I decided it was time to move on to another subject. “So now that we’re in the main district, what do you want to do first?” I watched as the fillies began thinking of what fate would befall me, I silently hoped that I would be able to endure.
Celestia and Luna, still being young, hadn’t really planned much further than going outside. As they thought, I could almost see gears turning in their heads. These little ponies were very imaginative and though their cute faces and wings gave the impression of angels, I understood all too well that they were a chore at times, but they were still angels. Very small, energetic, excitable, and curious angels.
I wished that they’d start off easy. Considering I didn’t have a map of the town and was running on memory alone, I hoped they would choose a place I knew, I’d try and get a map there.
Luna tapped on my fore-hoof and looked up at me, and she asked the last question I would expect.
“Where do you live?”
Someplace I knew well, a place where I knew I could get a map. Oh how I hate irony.
“Well alright, but it’s not very impressive, don’t expect too much.”
The walk there was rather uneventful aside from the holiday reminders around town. Eventually we got to my house, in all its glory. Its wooden, ragged, somewhat slanted, poorly insulated, weather-worn glory. Possibly the worst place in this section of town, it was a very far cry from the castle. I awaited the fillies’ response; ready for whatever negative criticism came to their young royal minds.
Celestia was the first to respond. “That must be rather easy to live in.”
She was kind, it even sounded sincere. “The castle looks so much better though. Really, Celestia, how does my home compare to yours?”
This time, Luna spoke up. “Well, it’s small, the castle is huge. I sometimes worry if I’m going to get lost in all those rooms.”
That was unexpected. As was the rest of their comparisons. The princesses went back and forth, listing the benefits of my puny little home.
“You don’t have to get a ladder to reach the top shelf.”
“Walking from your room to anywhere else will take less than a minute.”
“Looking up at the ceiling won’t make you dizzy.”
The listing continued, and once they stopped, I felt better about my situation. “Thanks girls, I still don’t think it’s very impressive, but I’ll admit it does have it’s good points.”
We walked inside, the door making a squeaking noise on it’s worn hinges as I opened it. The noises didn’t stop there as the wooden floor made occasional creaks. It was definitely in need of fixing, that much couldn’t be argued. Another thing that couldn’t be argued was the excitement of a certain pair of fillies as they saw something they had never seen before. They moved through rooms quickly, amazed at how small a room could be and still serve its basic purpose. As they ‘inspected’ everything, seeing how the lower-class lived, I went to my room and found a map of Canterlot after a bit of searching. Putting the map in my saddlebag, I walked out of my room and began searching for the princesses. I don’t care how small an area is, when those two want to hide, they can disappear completely. I wasn’t terribly worried since I knew the worst thing that could happen is that they find a spider, but finding them was important nonetheless.