Private Shining Armor, suspended from his duties of a Royal Guard by punching royal family two times too many.
Prince Blueblood, a spoiled noble university dropout freeloader.
Both of them were silent. Both were dreading the day they met. Both had to work together for at least one day. Both sat on the same train, from Canterlot to Ponyville, on the opposite seats, but refusing to look at each other. Prince avoided his newly appointed bodyguard with contempt, reasonably so, considering that their last (and first) meeting ended up with his nose being broken pretty badly. Luckily it healed through the night. He instead concentrated on the view outside the window, cursing the mountain they rode on and adding it to an already big list of “hate”. His bodyguard on the other hand, had trouble sitting in one place from nerves and awkwardness. Ever since their fateful reunion and departure from station, they had yet to exchange a single word. Under normal circumstances, that would be all fine and good for a bodyguard-employer relationship, but it didn’t feel right this time. The least he could do is apologize for his actions, maybe then the feeling would go away and this job would become a tiny bit more bearable. He looked at Blue Blood, opened his mouth... and then quickly closed it, lacking the courage to speak. He tried again, but he had nothing. How do you talk to somepony you assaulted with cold blood just yesterday?
He gulped and tried once more.
"Prince Blueblood?" asked in a hushed tone, barely heard out of the noise made from the train.
Prince didn’t react.
"Prince Blueblood?" asked again, this time a bit bolder and louder, but still there was no reaction. He coughed a few times and tried once again.
"Excuse me, Prince Blue..."
"I heard you the first time," answered the prince bitterly, not even facing away from window. "Which part of my ignorant silence didn’t you get?"
Shining Armor tried to continue, but his throat got so sore he almost choked on air alone. He coughed again and bravely continued.
"Sir, about yesterday..."
"Yesterday?" interrupted the prince. He turned his gaze towards his bodyguard. "What about it? Did something happen the day before today? Any crazy adventures did you partake in?"
Shining Armor felt really small. And he thought talking to Twilight or Blitz Shield was awkward.
"Umm, I… about that, I-I was gonna say... umm..."
"Huh? What’s that?" Blueblood put a hoof to his ear. "Can’t hear you."
"I’m... I’m..." tried Shining Armor, but instead of producing words, arguments and excuses, he could only produce sweat, which he was already soaking in.
"What, you punched some handsome noble stallion in the middle of the Canterlot streets in broad daylight?" laughed Prince Blueblood. "Don’t be silly, who would be stupid enough to do that?"
Shining said nothing, only whimpered and lowered his head.
"What kind of idiot would just do this sort of atrocity? I mean, really..."
Shining Armor finally gave up and fell onto his hooves, screaming.
"OKAY, FINE! I’M SORRY!"
For a moment, everypony in the train cast their gaze at the shouting unicorn, standing right before another one, who finally turned toward him and paid full attention. He resisted the urge to cover his face in fear of another strike.
"I’m sorry about hitting you, it was wrong and I... I feel horrible! I never wanted to become this... this brute who punches ponies for no reason, but that day, that week. All week long, only screw ups and... and Captain Blitz Shield kept warning me and warning and all I wanted to do is my job, but, but... and then the filly scout was crying and I just couldn’t take it anymore and... and Twily said I'm a stalker and, OH, HOW IS THIS MY LIFE!?"
And then, with no regard to dignity of himself or his employer, he broke down and started sobbing. Prince Blueblood didn’t see that one coming, as he looked shocked at the bawling ex-guard. He glanced around and noticed ponies gossiping, talking under their noses and quickly averting their eyes once he looked at them.
"Oh brother..." said the prince, scratching the back of his head and wondering how to deal with this.
He rolled his eyes and slowly moved away from his chair and examined at the broken mess of a unicorn. He raised his hoof for a second, and then put it down again. Ponies around were still looking in his direction, judging his every move. He took a deep breath and raised his hoof again, this time slowly moving it toward Shining Armor and, carefully, put it on his shoulder. Shining twitched a little in response, stopped bawling and looked into the prince’s eyes. The prince sighed once again and slowly began.
"Fine, I forgive you."
Shining Armor blinked and sniffed.
"W-what?"
"I forgive you for punching me," said a bitter Prince Blueblood, avoiding eye contact. "You CLEARLY regret it, so stop crying already. You’re making a scene."
Despite the cynical tone and bitterness of his words, all Shining Armor registered was enough to stop his tears and put on a weak smile on his face. He wiped the tears away and stood firmly on the floor.
"R-really?"
"Yes. Now calm down before I take it back."
Smile grown wider and wider and Shining Armor made a complete psychological 180.
"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" announced Shining Armor happily, as he stood on his rear hooves and spread his front hooves. Blueblood automatically panicked as he realized what was happening.
"Touch me again and I’ll make sure you spend your remaining days guarding royal toilets. Got it?"
Shining Armor stopped and lowered his hooves on the ground, took a step back and saluted.
"No touching. Got it, sir."
That didn’t sound quite right. Prince Blueblood sighed deeply. But whatever, at least his incompetent bodyguard was calm again. Last thing he needed was a depressed stallion on a verge of tears during his first true work as a royal inspector.
Back in his youth, Shining Armor always taught his little sister that honest apologies were the best way to fix most problems in the world. He never thought he was going to use it as an adult and make it work, to boot. His spirits were already pretty high and while he was still suspended, at least the future looked a bit brighter now. His employer seemed like a nice enough pony, even if he did appear as a cynical bastard at first. His job was just going to be guarding one pony from danger, which weren’t even there to begin with. Summer Sun Celebration is a huge event; nopony was stupid enough to cause trouble there especially since other royal guards, led by Captain of the Royal Guard himself, would be there. It is near the Everfree Forest, which was rumored to house many dangerous creatures, but they rarely if ever came out of it, content with living inside the spooky forest. In fact, if there hadn’t been an incident yesterday, he doubted Prince Blue Blood would even have a bodyguard to begin with and the princess only appointed him on Twilight’s pleas. Best sister ever.
And then it dawned to him. If stories he heard about Princess Celestia were true, then it was a test. If he can make Prince Blue Blood to send a good word about him, then surely Captain would realize that he’s learned his lesson and is ready to resume his post. Yes, that was the plan: become the best assistant ever. Nothing could possibly go wrong.
Prince Blueblood shuddered. He had a bad feeling about today.
Once out of the train, two white unicorns finally got a better look at the majestic, if small, town of Ponyville.
"Majestic my plot," commented Blueblood, as he looked over the description the princess left along with his checklist. He threw it to Shining Armor, who caught it with his telekinetic aura. "Here, make yourself useful, for a change."
"Yes, sir." He saluted, not that the prince cared as he walked out of the station and took a better look at the surroundings.
Small two story houses, a little marketplace which smelled of fruits and vegetables even out here, dirt roads unfit for any fancy carriage, barely anypony walking around the streets, nopony with clothes like some sort of animals. He felt out of place in his new suit (even newer than the one that died recently). Not a chance in the slightest he was ever going to mistake it for Canterlot.
"I hate this place already." he muttered through his teeth, as he started slowly walking forward. Shining Armor quickly caught up to him, but remained two steps behind, like a real servant should.
"It doesn’t look that bad," admitted Shining Armor, as he looked concerned at the surroundings. "It has this, umm..."
"Rustic charm to it?" recalled Prince, as Shining Armor looked at the princess’s description which used the exact same words. "Yes, it sure is lovely... if you’re a cow!" declared the prince, slightly hurting feelings of a lone Cow that they passed by, who Shining Armor could only apologize to in a hurry before catching up to his boss. He coughed and looked over the list of things to do.
"It says here that the first thing we should check is food," said Shining Armor as he read the descriptions left by the princess. "It’s provided by a place called ‘Sweet Apple Acres’ and the pony in charge is named Applejack."
Applejack, thought Blueblood. Nothing good can come out of a pony named after a strong, primitive alcoholic beverage. He imagined a big, burly, smelly stallion with blackened teeth and jug as a cutie mark. Just the type of pony he could live by and never seeing.
"Fine then, ‘Sweet Apple Acres’ it is. Which way?"
There was a pause as Shining Armor looked over the list.
"Umm, no idea," he finally announced.
"What? Give me that." Prince Blueblood grabbed the list with strong telekinetic grasp, scanned it thoroughly and concluded with irritation. "No directions... of course." He sighed deeply and returned the list.
Shining Armor didn’t lose any enthusiasm though.
"That’s not a big deal, sir. Just ask somepony local for directions."
"Yeah," started Blueblood, nervously looking at the local ponies. "I was afraid it was going to happen eventually."
The less interaction he had to make with country ponies, the better. He wondered if anypony even spoke Equestrian here. Shining Armor made the first effort by walking toward the first pony he encountered.
"Excuse me miss, could you please tell us where we could find..."
"GAAASSSP!!!" gasped the mare.
"AAAHH!" screamed two unicorns, as the pink, frizzy haired mare jumped up and ran away with at the speed of sound, only leaving behind a trail of dust. They stood there spooked for a few more seconds, before the prince recovered.
"W-what was that?" asked Prince Blueblood, as he looked at the dust settling down.
"I don’t know," shrugged Shining Armor. "Maybe she saw a spider?"
"WHAT?! WHERE?!"
A moment passed before Blueblood realized that he was not on the ground anymore. He had somehow just climbed up on Shining Armor’s back, like he was some kind of a stool and nervously scanned the area for any arachnids. Shining didn't react act first, only turned his head around to look at frightened noble. Their eyes met and locked into each other for awhile.
Once Prince Blueblood regained himself, he coughed and jumped back down, acting as if nothing happened. Shining Armor opened his mouth and tried to say something, but was met with a threatening glance.
"Not. A. Word."
Shining Armor closed his mouth.