Comet stood in line at the mess hall with his head hanging low. His left eye was now swollen and he kept it only half open. The nurse had offered him an eye patch, but Comet was still resolutely angry with the morning's events when he said no. Now he wished more than ever he had said yes.
Corporal Feathermane and Angel had gotten along straight out the starting gate while he had sulked the whole morning. Their first lesson in being Royal Guards had been the correct way to dress injuries and was demonstrated at Comet's expense. The nurses had left his hoof alone, so he endured two hours on how to apply a proper splint to a broken hoof, even though his wasn't broken. Angel had been so giddy, she had forgotten the rule to not rub the piece of wood on the limb and left Comet with several splinters.
Now, at lunch time, Comet wanted nothing more than to just go home. So far, his whole ordeal with the Royal Guard had been nothing but pain and embarrassment. When he finally reached the point where he could grab a tray, he found out his favorite meal of roasted carrots and fresh oats was out and Comet dejectedly took a bowl of creamed spinach. He put the tray in his mouth and slowly trotted to an empty table in the far corner of the mess hall. Guard ponies all over talked to each other, forming some cliques. Comet, the social butterfly he was, sat alone at the table, visibly upset.
As he sat there and slowly chewed the repulsive slop, he heard the hoofbeats of other ponies behind him as well as their excited chatter.
"Hey, what's he doing at our table?" came an annoyed voice.
Comet sat there, using his incredible reserves of willpower to ignore the chatter of the guards.
"Hey, I'm talking to ya, stupid!" the same voice came.
Then, before Comet could react, he felt his face meet the creamed spinach and subsequent bottom of the bowl. His nose hurt, the spinach stung his black eye, causing him to cry out in pain. Laughter of all sorts burst out behind him and hoofbumps were made. Comet felt an unusual urge to cry perk up in his chest and he tried his best to suppress it.
"Just who do you think you are?!" came an unusually loud voice.
Comet automatically recognized that voice as Angel's and dread crept into his chest cavity. The fluttering of bat wings came from somewhere around him and then some hoof beats. Before she could say anything else, though, another voice rang out.
"Captain in the hall!" echoed around the building and all conversation ceased.
The room quickly filled with a tense silence as a set of hooves steadily approached where Comet was sitting. A couple nervous whispers echoed around Comet, but he couldn't understand them. The hoofbeats finally clicked to a stop and so did Comet's heart. There was only one captain in the entire Royal Guard.
"So, you think it's funny to mistreat a fellow guard?" came the commanding voice of none other than Shining Armor.
The ponies behind him didn't dare speak and Shining Armor continued.
"If you do, I will need to examine exactly what your training officer taught you. Who knows what will happen to him?"
One of the other ponies started to protest, but it faltered as soon as it started.
"Oh, so you also have no respect for rank as well? It seems there's a huge flaw in our training program. I will speak to him about that as well, but for now I want you four to go run eighty laps around the entire castle perimeter and then I want you all to remove those private rankings from your armor. You will restart Basic Training tomorrow. Understood, recruits?"
Shining Armor stressed the final word loudly and there was a shuffling of armor as the bullies ran off. Silence reigned for a few more seconds until Shining Armor said, "As you were."
The conversations slowly resumed and Comet felt a light hoof on his back.
"You okay, soldier?" came Shining Armor's voice again and Comet wiped some of the remaining creamed spinach from his face.
"I've been worse, sir," Comet replied shakily.
He was both nervous and mortified that the captain of the whole Royal Guard of Equestria was standing right behind him. Mustering all his confidence, he turned to face him. Shining Armor's eyes widened at Comet's face, but he didn't have his hoof on Comet. As it turned out, Angel did. He made a mental note to thank her later.
"Oh my," Shining Armor sputtered "Did those guards do that to you?"
Comet gave an embarrassed grin, but Angel spoke up.
"No, I gave that to him," she stated confidently, "He startled me and I accidentally slugged him." Shining Armor's gaze shifted to her and he nodded his head in understanding.
"So, a bat pony and a pegasus," he mused, "What are your names?"
"Recruit Comet Burst, sir."
"Recruit Angel Beats, sir."
Shining Armor smiled at them both and said, "Why don't you both come with me. There's two ponies who I think would like to meet you."
Not thinking of disregarding a request by their superior officer, Comet and Angel immediately left with Shining Armor. He led them through passageways throughout the castle, asking various questions to the recruits. Comet rarely answered, but Angel eagerly expounded on any subject he could think of. Before long, the trio found themselves outside an unfamiliar room on a spire. Two unicorn guards stood resolutely still and even crossed their spears in front of Shining Armor.
"State your business and passphrase," one of them said in a very gruff manner.
Shining Armor stared directly ahead and said, "I'm here to speak to the phoenix and nightingale. Passphrase is 'The only way up is down'."
The guards uncrossed their spears and Shining nodded to them. His horn glowed and the doors swung opened , revealing a spectacular room bathed in sunlight. Comet and Angel both had to shield their eyes, mostly due to Angel's sensitivity to bright lights and Comet's bad eye, but they followed Shining Armor inside anyway. The door swung shut behind them and the light adjusted to a normal level. Both Comet and Angel finally got a good look around the room and their jaws dropped simultaneously.
"Comet, Angel, I would like you to meet the Princesses Celestia and Luna," Shining Armor stated.
Two magnificent alicorns sat around an elegantly designed table, one pure white and the other a starry midnight blue. A set of magenta eyes, as well as a set of sapphire ones, turned to see their visitors and they both smiled.
"Dear me, this is quite a surprise, Shining," came the musical voice of Princess Celestia.
Comet immediately bowed his head in respect, but Angel's slack face tightened into a look of glee. The two alicorns stood up and trotted over to the trio.
"Welcome, young ones. I take it you are new recruits?" Celestia asked gently.
Comet gulped and before he could respond, Princess Luna spoke.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO THOU?" Luna shouted to them.
Comet recoiled in fear and Angel's grin faltered into a frown. Celestia's grin became an expression of horror.
She prodded Luna in the side and said, "Sister, there is no need for the Royal Canterlot voice here."
Luna gave an awkward grin and said, "My apologies. I'm not used to using a calm voice yet. If thou wouldest explain, though, why is your eye so dark?"
Angel gave the full explanation of events leading up to the black eye incident and both sisters couldn't help but laugh. Their laughs were in no way insulting and Comet even began to grin at Angel's animated explanation. Soon, the five of them were sitting around the table, eating lunch and exchanging stories. Luckily for Comet, the recruitment office fiasco stayed out.
An hour later, the bat pony Angel and pegasus Comet thanked the royal sisters and left their quarters. Shining Armor stood there with the two princesses and Celestia sipped her tea.
"I see why you introduced them to us," Celestia, spoke "They are quite a pair."
"That's exactly what the recruitment officer said," Shining Armor replied, "The pegasus possesses quite the solid temperament of an officer and the bat pony shows incredible social skills."
Luna sighed heavily before speaking.
"Tis a shame the training breaks those valuable skills. The guards used to be loved by everypony, not a symbol of iron."
Celestia smiled to her younger sister and said, "Well, Luna, if you like them so much, I do believe Shining Armor has a way to put their skills to use."
Luna turned to Shining Armor, giving him a quizzical look.
Shining cleared his throat and said, "I believe they are well suited as a pair to be trained as Corporals of your personal forces. Comet will bring a much needed stability to the Solar Guard while Angel will prove to soften the Lunar Guard's rigid standing. Your own Lunar Guard rather frightened the ponies of Ponyville during the last Nightmare Night."
Luna hung her head, rather not wanting to remember that night.
Celestia smiled to her and said "Dear sister, my own guard has been unorganized since Shining's promotion, which had allowed Queen Chrysalis to get close to Princess Cadance. Your guard is the example of sterness while mine is an uncoordinated mess. This will work out nicely."
She turned to Shining Armor and said, "How do you intend to get them to work together? The stories that delightful Angel told us often involved Comet being rather resentful of her."
Shining grinned to the princess and said, "Do you mind if I borrow Philomena for a bit?"
Later that day, Angel wouldn't stop talking about having lunch with the princesses, even though Comet was there as well.
"Can you believe it?! I never thought I'd actually meet them!" she shouted as she fluttered happily.
Comet rolled his eye and gave no response, feeling his usual annoyance of Angel returning. Until lights out, which was nine hours later, he put up with her nonstop talking as well as Corporal Feathermane's next lesson, hoof to hoof combat.