//------------------------------// // Revelations and Regulations // Story: The Story of a Royal Guard: A Change of Seasons [OUTDATED] // by Himntor //------------------------------// The train sped along the tracks smoothly on its way to Canterlot. Once again I sat in the back, staring out one of the windows as we passed out of the snow and into the green again. I was supposed to pick up my sword today, but I figured I wouldn't have enough time. On the train ride back I decided to use my magic to locate it and see if I could use a Sight Seeing spell on it from far away. I used my magic and pinpointed my sword all the way back in Ponyville and began to cast the spell. It took a lot of focus and strength, but I managed to get a peek what was going on. I could see Twilight using her own magic on the sword, but she quickly stopped at stared at it in confusion. "What the?" I heard her say. "What's the matter?" I heard Spike ask, though I couldn't see him. "It's like somepony else just used a spell on the sword, I couldn't identify what spell it was though." answered Twilight. She must have detected me using my magic on it. I focused my magic again and used another spell on it, a Throw Voice spell. "Hello? Can you hear me?" "Gah!" yelped Twilight. "It can talk?!" asked Spike. "Of course not, swords can't talk. Somepony must be using another spell on it," answered Twilight. She turned her attention back on the sword. "Hello, who is this?" I chuckled, I could have freaked Twilight out but I didn't feel in a very joking mood. "This is the Lieutenant and owner of the sword. How's the testing been going, Twilight?" "Oh, well it's been going fine, I'm just about finished. Are you on your way back to get it?" asked Twilight. "Yes and no, I'm on my way to Canterlot right now, it should be a few hours before I get there. Are you able to finish up by then? I plan on just teleporting the sword back to me." There was no point in going all the way back to Ponyville when I could easily enough teleport my sword back. "Of course, I'll even attach a letter to it and tell you what I've found," responded Twilight. "Great, I look forward to reading it." I cut off the spell and returned my attention to the window. Hopefully there was some good news waiting for me when I got to Canterlot. The rest of the train ride went smoothly, and I hoped it would be my last ride for a while, I was starting to get sick of them, preferring to fly from city to city. It was faster that way too. The train arrived in Canterlot on time, as I walked out of the car I caught a glimpse of a picture I never noticed before. I did a double take and looked to see what had caught my attention. It was a portrait of my grandfather, Captain Iron Shield. I never knew him as a foal, he was long gone by that time, but I'd seen the pictures, though never this one. It looks like it was taken just a few months before he passed away. His mane had grayed, his coat's white shine had weakened, but he still looked confident and stoic as ever. He was dressed up in a light yellow uniform, having multiple badges attached to a blue strap signifying his position as Captain and the great things he'd done. We didn't use badges like those anymore. I saluted the photo and walked off the train and began heading my way to the Royal Barracks. I reached the Captain's office and levitated some files off the desk. I wrote down new assignments for a few of our trainers and an officer to relocate to the Crystal Empire. One of the other Lieutenants came by to welcome me back and resign for his week off, I nodded him off and continued filing some paperwork that had been left for me. Now it was time to see what Twilight was able to learn from my sword. I focused my magic and located it at the Ponyville Library as usual, and teleported it back to my position. It looked the same as ever, but as Twilight said she left a note attached. I took it off and opened it up. Hello Lieutenant, I've studied and analyzed your sword and the results are a bit confusing, although somewhat stunning. Whenever you enchanted it, something seems to have slipped in at the time of enchantment, causing its magical properties to fluctuate randomly. The sword also seems to have some sort of resistance to magic, it's almost as if it doesn't like me using my magic on it. It has some sort of recognition pattern that I believe only recognizes you. I'm normally not one to believe something like this can happen, but I think your sword is alive somehow. I couldn't identify or even guess what sort of strange magic is causing this, I brought up the subject with Princess Celestia and she wants to see the sword herself. I hope it helps, and I'm glad you let me study it, it was quite fascinating. -Twilight Sparkle I read through it curiously, occasionally glancing at my sword in confusion. There was one word that seemed out of place. Alive. How in Equestria could my sword be alive? It sounded so wrong, but then again I had to remind myself that I still didn't know everything about magic. I wasn't sure anypony truly knew how magic worked. I levitated the sword and attached it to the back of my armor, shrinking it in size so it wouldn't be too clunky. I decided to see the Princess like Twilight suggested. I trotted out of the barracks at towards the castle, making my way through the halls and to the throne room, Celestia sat on her throne and by the looks of it had been expecting me. "Hello Swordulan, I take it you have read the note Twilight left for you?" asked Celestia. "Yes, I am not sure what to make of it though," I answered. Celestia nodded. "I understand your confusion, I have not heard of anything like this for hundreds of years. May I see your sword?" "Of course." I levitated my sword up to Celestia and she took it into her own magic, looking at the crystals in the hilt for a few seconds. "You used these to enchant with?" asked Celestia. "Yes, I had one of my old professors from Magic School help," I answered. Celestia continued to study the sword. "Where did you get these crystals?" "I bought them from the market, why?" I didn't see how where I got them would be relevant. Celestia shook her head. "This can't be. These crystals resemble the kind of crystal that the Crystal Heart is made out of, they are thousands of years old and near impossible to find. It's known that dragons sometimes horde these kind of crystals, that is how the Crystal Heart was found to begin with, but you'll be very lucky to get away with taking them." I paused in thought for a moment. "Whoever sold them to me must have found them somehow, or gotten them from somepony who did. I guess they didn't know how rare they were." "Do you remember where you bought them?" asked Celestia. "Yes, I will look for the place and see what I can find," I answered. "I will leave my sword here to study, if you wish." Celestia nodded once. "Of course, I will see if I can find any more answers in the crystals while you are away." I trotted towards the door. "I should only be a few minutes." I walked out through the courtyard and down into the streets of the markets, again the sights and smells of food made my stomach grumble, but I continued to ignore it. Food can wait. I found the shop I had bought the crystals from and went inside. It was dark and dusty, lots of old or new trinkets and antiques strewn across the place, not much how I remembered it but it was somewhat familiar. The Shopkeeper came out of the back room having heard me come in. "Can I help you, sir?" "Yeah, I bought a couple of crystals from here a few years ago. They were diamond shaped, about half the size of a hoof, cyan in color and were fairly light for crystals. I was wondering if you had any more of those?" I asked. The Shopkeeper put his hoof to his chin and thought. "Cyan colored, diamond shaped crystals? Hmm, can't say we've had any of those. Could you possibly be thinking of the Alicorn Amulet?" I looked at him confusedly. "Alicorn Amulet?" The Shopkeeper smiled. He walked over to a shelf and pulled out a glass container. Inside was a small amulet depicting a black alicorn with a bright red gem in the center, which looked a lot like one of the gems in my sword's hilt. "It's very dangerous, but very powerful. It enhances a unicorn's abilities to use magic, and cast spells that even the most powerful magician could not pull off," explained the Shopkeeper. "No, I don't think that's what I'm looking for, but it does resemble the kind of crystals I bought. Can you tell me where you got it?" I asked. "I'm afraid not, it is an ancient artifact. My grandfather happened by it during one of his travels and it's been passed down to me. He never did explain where it came from," answered the Shopkeeper. "I see. Thank you for your time." I began walking out of the shop. "Have a nice day!" said the Shopkeeper. I walked my way back to the castle, but decided to finally stop and get something to eat to ease my pestering stomach. After eating a couple of fresh carrots I continued back to the castle and made it back to the throne room. Celestia was still using spells on my sword when I came in. "Did you learn anything?" asked Celestia. I sighed. "No, nothing that would help. What about you?" Celestia continued studying the sword. "Nothing that Twilight hasn't told me about. Has anything else strange happened to your sword, besides the moment you enchanted it?" "Only when I was in the Crystal Empire. King Sombra broke it, using some sort of black crystals that infected it and made me unable to use any sort of powerful magic on it," I answered. "I see. I think I may know how to figure out what is causing the sword's strong magic, but I will have to think about it," Celestia levitated my sword back to me. "Is there anything else you needed?" "Yes, Cadance told me to come to your for help actually. My cutie mark, so I'm told, is disappearing," I levitated my armor off my back and revealed my cutie mark. "Cadance and Shining Armor said I used to have six stars in my cutie mark, but they've been disappearing. I never remember having six, I remember having four ever since I discovered my special talent." Celestia stood up and took a closer look. "Oh my, I believe I've seen this before." I tilted my head. "You have?" "It's not something most ponies remember. It's a self inflicted disorder. When a pony starts to lose focus on his or her true self the magic within them loses focus as well, causing their cutie mark to fade and disappear. It is rare, but can still happen to anypony if they lose who they are," explained Celestia. "But... I haven't lost focus, I know who I am," I said confusedly. Celestia walked back to her throne. "That is one of the effects of the disorder. Has anything happened to you recently that would have made you upset or feel lost and confused?" "I... I don't think so. There were some things that happened in Manehatten but... it's all so vague now," I answered hesitantly. Celestia nodded regrettably. "I wish I could do something to help, but this is something only you have the power to fix. I know that some ponies have managed to live with it and be okay, and I believe you're strong enough to figure this out on your own. Don't forget what's happening, and you will be able to restore yourself." "I will try. Thank you for your help, Princess. I need to get back to work." I took a bow and left the throne room once again, heading back to the barracks and filing a bit more paperwork before the day finished. It was about time I got back to my usual work, my favorite perk about being in the Royal Guard is that nothing much ever happened. The most I had to do was some paperwork and assigning new guards to their stations and patrols. Every now and then I'd get a letter from Shining Armor concerning any new recruits or relocating guards. Our new command structure was split into four sections of Canterlot, there was a Lieutenant for each section, each with their own small outpost to keep guards from having to walk all the way to the Royal Barracks when they turned in for the day or needed new orders. We rotated out which Lieutenant commands over where each week. In my spare time I did my own research and experiments on enchantment and my sword, testing resistances to my magic. I learned that a normal object creates a small resistance to being levitated from weight, density and size, but that resistance hardly existed for my sword. I was able to lift it without problem, unlike other unicorns which had a bit of trouble keeping it balanced in the air, holding it physically had no difference though. I learned that my cousin Katana had been put on community service. She was brought in a couple times with accusations of swiping some bits or some other kind of trinket. Each time she was caught I assigned her another week of sweeping streets or cleaning windows, much to my amusement. She was finally getting what was coming to her. The weeks went by with not much to tell, though one day I heard a voice off in the distance yelling something to me. "Don't forget to write!" is all I could hear. I could of sworn I saw mountains moving in the distance. On weekends I flew down to Ponyville for a bit of relaxation, and I finally managed to get Shining Armor to send me one of their beds. At least I knew I'd be getting one good sleep in each week. When I wasn't studying magic books I was on the outskirts of Ponyville training with my sword, testing flight speeds with different board shapes. I was also keeping track of how many stars were on my Cutie Mark, using a small document to mark how long I've had however many number of stars I had. A week after talking with Celestia it dropped down to two, leaving just the top two stars. It seemed to stay that way too, which was confusing as I thought in time the whole Cutie Mark would gradually disappear. One day I was called into the castle by Princess Celestia. Hadn't been told why. I walked into the throne room where she was waiting. "I believe I know how we can learn where your swords source of magic comes from," started Celestia. "It was a hard decision, but I believe it can work." I noted a box that sat next to Celestia. It was the container that protected Elements of Harmony. I looked at the Princess curiously. "Are you going to use the Elements of Harmony on it?" Celestia chuckled. "No, I am going to have them used on something else. Follow me." Celestia stood up and walked out of the throne room and outside to a garden of statues. She headed for one of the largest statues. I recognized it the moment I saw it, hardly believing that Celestia could really be thinking about this, but with each step closer I could feel my anger building. When we reached the base of the statue I turned my head up, staring the statue right in the eye. "Discord."