//------------------------------// // First day...late // Story: The New Guy // by SilverWind102 //------------------------------// *TAPTAPTAP* A cyan hoof knocked impatiently against the white tiles of Canterlot Castle. *Sigh* “He's late...” Rainbow Dash moaned, “I'm getting tired of just sitting here! When is he gonna show up?” “Well, he was supposed to be here at noon, but it's already past three. I suppose his train could be late,” Twilight said, trying to pacify the impatient pegasus. Rainbow Dash gave Twilight an unconvinced look, “No train is three hours late. Ugh! Princess Celestia, do we really need to meet this guy?” The towering white alicorn approached the hoof tapping mare and placed a hoof on her shoulder, “He will be important to the protection of Princess Twilight and to the rest of you later on, so I would much rather you all meet him together. I know this is taking a long time, but please, try to be patient. This isn't something that you can just skip over or rush through.” Princess Celestia had called the six mares, along with her sister, to Canterlot to meet a new guard who would look after and protect Twilight and her friends while she and Luna try to put together a military division for her. “Protection?” Applejack whinnied, “Princess, no offense, but we don't need no protectin'. We can manage all on our own.” “Yes, I know that, but I would feel much better if he was around. Even if he isn't needed, you can never be too safe. With Twilight's recent ascension, there may be new threats to the six of you as well,” Celestia warned. “So wait, you're gonna send a guy who none of us have ever met before and shows up late on his first day to protect us? Yeah, great plan Princess,” Rainbow Dash mocked. Rarity gasped at Rainbows comment, “Rainbow Dash! You apologize to the princess this instant!” the white unicorn demanded as she marched over to the pegasus, “Even if the new fellow is late, there is no reason to blame Princess Celestia.” “It's quite alright Rarity, I do understand how Rainbow Dash feels. Certainly, the new guard not showing up on time is a bad first impression, but I can assure when I say he is one of the finest,” Celestia said and gave a small nod of approval. “Fine, whatever. But I'm not gonna hang around any longer. If he shows up after I'm gone, then oh well!” Rainbow Dash flew out of the room and down the halls of Canterlot castle, shooting out of one of the open windows, not wanting to have to fly through the entire castle. “I think Rainbow may have a point,” Twilight said stepping forward, “It's been far too long for the new guard to simply be late, even if he was lost. I don't think there's much point in spending any more of our time here,” Twilight said looking over to the princesses and her friends. They all nodded in agreement and moved out of the room. It was clear that the new guard wasn't coming, so they all decided to move on with their day. Night fell rather quickly, and instead of going back to Ponyville, Princess Celestia offered to let them spend the night at the castle. Needless to say, they all quickly agreed for their own reasons. Twilight wanted to spend more time with Celestia, Rarity loved the decor, Fluttershy wanted another chance at the royal garden after the Gala muck up, and the others were simply too tired to make the trip home, save for Pinkie pie, but really, she doesn't need sleep. Night passed as quickly as it came. The six woke up feeling refreshed and revived. It was around ten when the girls began to stir and wake. One by one, the six made their way to the dining room of the castle, each of them waking up just a few minutes after the next, and greeted Celestia. (Her sister was asleep, having be the Princess of the night after all. It was only one in the few times yesterday that she was awake in the day.) They sat down and began to eat the scrumptious breakfast the chef was so kind to whip up, chatting about what they would do for the day. Their idle chatter was interrupted when they heard a commotion coming from the hall. “Halt, who goes there!?” barked on of the guards. His voice was slightly muffled from the door, but he was more than loud enough so that every one could still make out what he was saying. Curious as to what was happening, the girls got up from the table and poked their heads out the door, Celestia doing the same. At the end of the hall, they saw two of the guards with their wings crossed like blades, impeding the path of a strange cloaked figure, his clothes blocking both the entirety of his body and face. “I'm here by the request of The Princess of the Sun,” answer the stranger. By his voice, they could tell he was male. “The Princess has no meetings scheduled for this morning. I'll ask again, who are you?” The guard commanded with the intensity growing in his voice. The stranger let out a sigh, “Never mind,” he said before turning away and walked around the corner. “Well that was odd,” Celestia said, “I wonder who that might have been,” Celestia pondered for a moment, then stepped out of the door way and into the hall. “Guards!” she called out, “Bring back that stranger. I wish to see who it was.” The two soldiers trotted down the corridor and cut around the corner. The sound hoof beats could be heard slowly fading as they went down the hall of the castle, only to return a few minutes later. One of the guards turned back around the corner, “He's gone, your majesty. He must have left the castle grounds,” he informed. “Gone? But he was only gone a few seconds before I asked you to bring him back. How could he has possibly vanished so quickly?” Celestia questioned to herself. “Very well, no matter, return to your post. Thank you.” Celestia turned and walked back into the dining room. “Who was it?” Twilight asked, having returned to her seat along with her friends. “No pony important,” she responded. “Well that hurts,” a voice called from the far end of the table. Every one quickly turned and looked to the speaker and found that a cloaked figure sat in a seat at the table with an apple in his “hoof”. “I mean, you called me here and now you're saying I'm not important,” the intruder stopped and took a bite out of his apple, the loud crunching of his chewing was the only thing filling the room, “Although, in all fairness, I did show up a day late.” “Who are you!?” Rainbow Dash shouted as she jumped out of her chair and landed on the floor in a fighting stance, “How did you get in here!?” “Rainbow, wait--” Twilight called to her friend. “I hope yer ready to yer flank kicked boy, 'cause you done broke inta the wrong castle” Applejack said as she got out of her seat. “AJ, just hold on--” Twilight tried again. “Come on, lets get him!” Rainbow Dash hollered. The two dashed towards the stranger full speed. Twilight yelled, “Girls, wait!” but it was useless. The two had already begun their charge. Lucky though, mid dash down the room, the two were encased in a golden aura, and stopped dead in their tracks. “Hey! What the--” “Whoa nelly!” Rainbow Dash and Applejack began to float and were placed back into their seat by Celestias magic. “Now girls, is that any way to treat a guest?” Celestia asked in a sweet tone. “Guest!? He broke in!” Rainbow Dash protested. “I don't think so,” she looked over at the stranger at the end of the table, “Would you be so kind as to tell us who you are?” Celestia called. “Oh right! Sorry!” The stranger said as he hopped out of his seat, “I wasn't trying to alarm any pony, it's just the guards wouldn't let me pass, so I had to find a new way in,” The stranger walked over to the other end of the table, stopping in front of the group. He put the string around his cloak in his mouth and gave it a tug, releasing their hold and falling to the floor. The fallen drapes revealed a wolf, his body was only slightly taller than that of Luna, with silver fur that became a deep blue at his under belly and chest, stopping just below his chin. He also had a pair of large white wings tucked to his sides. Every pony sat astounded by the newly revealed wolf sitting in front of them, save Celestia who appeared to be expecting the unfamiliar creature. “My name is Silver Wind. It's nice to meet all of you,” he said with a bow of his head. Celestia returned the gesture, “It's nice to finally be able to see you,” The room was quite for a moment while they finished their greetings, the silence was interrupted by Twilight. “Um, Celestia, is this who I think it is?” she asked with an uneasy voice. “If by that, you mean your new personal guard, then yes.” Celestia replied. “But he's a....a...” “A wolf. Yes,” Silver said, ending the lavender alicorns sentence. She wasn't trying to sound rude, but she was most certainly caught off guard. After all, the only wolves she knew of were the Timber wolves in the Everfree forest, but they certainly weren't intelligent enough to speak, nor did they have wings. “I understand this comes as a shock to you all, but this is the one we were waiting on yesterday. Perhaps we should move this conversation to the conference hall where it's a bit more appropriate,” Celestia suggested. The ponies were hesitant, but agreed and moved out of the dinning room. Celestia lead the group through the castle, Twilight following closely behind with Silver on the opposite side walking next to her. The other five mares walked slowly behind the the trio, moving fast enough to keep up, but slow enough to keep a distance between the two groups, their eyes never leaving the wolf. The group arrived at the conference hall, which was just a long, white room with a red carpet running down the middle leading from the entrance to the opposite side, where a platform was raised three steps high. The room had large windows accompanied by beautiful deep red and violet drapes, and a pair of glass doors that lead out to a balcony. The ponies sat on the platform while Silver sat on the carpet in front of them. “Would you introduce yourself again, please?” Celestia asked pleasantly. “Of course. My name is Silver Wind, though most just call me Silver. I come from a country in the East called Houndland, and I've been assigned by my superiors to come to Equestria and guard the new alicorn princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends. It's a pleasure to meet all of you,” Silver said while his fluffy tail wagged back and forth and smile on his face. “Houndland? You mean like 'pot-o'-gold at the end of the rainbow' Houndland?” Rainbow Dash asked. Silver rolled his eyes, “Yes, that Houndland.” Applejack scratched her head with a hoof ,“Now this just don't make no sense to me. Why would another country send a soldier to protect the princesses?” she inquired. Celestia turned to the country mare and explained, “It's part of an old agreement between Equestria and Houndland. Although I can't tell you the specifics, I can say that this arrangement has been around since before Nightmare Moon. Well before.” “But if that's true, then why didn't any pony say anything? It's kinda hard to miss a wolf living in a county filled with ponies, and if this has been going on for as long as you say, then surely some pony must have noticed.” Twilight asked. “No pony noticed because we aren't supposed to let any pony know we're here,” Silver answered, “although I get the feeling that's not gonna last much longer, is it?” he asked looking toward Celestia. The white alicorn gave a coy grin and Silver groaned, “Oh boy.” The others could only look in more confusion at the two, “Celestia, what does he mean?” Twilight questioned. “I was hoping that maybe we could change the agreement a little. The wolves are supposed to remain out of sight from the public, but I was hoping that Silver could try and make some friends and get the every pony used to them. I'd really like for Equestria to have a friendlier relationship with Houndland ” “Why?” Silver demanded. The sudden change in his tone startled every pony, but Celestia simply picked up her head straightened herself before stating, “I wanted you to train some of our soldiers. Teach them a new form of combat. Our seem to be lacking somewhat, what with the whole Canterlot wedding fiasco. If the citizens get used to wolves being around, then I figured maybe the guards would be more trusting and willing to listen to your instructions.” Silver stared at the white alicorn, his expression reflecting something akin to irritation, and Celestia looked back with a unfaltering straight face. After a long moment, he dropped his head and let out a long sigh. He looked back up at Celestia, “You know, you didn't have to do all of this,” he said, gesturing a paw to the girls, “You could have asked and I would've done it.” Celestia looked away with a face hinting at a feeling of guilt, “I wasn't sure you would agree. I asked the other two and they got kind of upset.” Silver let out another sigh. Twilight and her friends just sat and looked at the two, and then at each other, puzzled by their conversation. Silver caught a shrug from Rainbow Dash out the corner of his eye and realized they had no idea what was going on. Silver looked past Celestia and the group of lost ponies around her, “I'm sorry for the confusion. Perhaps we should explain.” “That would be nice, thank you,” Twilight retorted. “In the agreement between Equestria and Houndland, high ranking military wolves are selected to come to Equestria and guard the princesses, but they must remain out of sight and cannot let any one know of their presence in this country, except for the princess. Unfortunately, Celestia broke that agreement when she told all of your friends about me. Luckily, however, you can send me back if you want. You're allowed to deny my service.” Twilight felt a relief wash over her. She really didn't want a some pony watching over her all the time especially if that some pony was actually a wolf. “But she didn't say anything about you. All that she said was that Twilight would be getting a new body guard. You told us about you, and you're the one who popped up during breakfast. It's not really her fault,” Rainbow said. “Well, you're right, but this morning I got a letter delivered to me by magic. It said 'Come join me for breakfast,' and guess who signed it,” Silver gave a Celestia a scolding look, to which she responded by giving an adorable sheepish smile. “The only ones who are supposed to know I'm here are princesses Celestia, Luna, Cadence and Twilight. Well, them and the other two wolf guards.” Twilight's eyes widened,“Wait. Other two? There are two other wolves living in Equestria right now?” “Yep. There's Black Wing guarding Princess Cadence and Star Shine guarding Luna and Celestia. Black Wing came here when Princess Cadence ascended and Star Shines been here for three years. ” Twilight sat there stunned, “I don't believe it. You've been here the entire time and no pony ever knew. Wait, does my brother know about that Black Wing guy? He's married to Princess Cadence now.” “Nope. Like I said, the only ones who are supposed to know of us are the princesses. That right doesn't extend to any pony else.” “But how can you possible keep the princesses safe while remaining completely hidden from literally every pony else in Equestria?” At the moment Twilight asked, the door to the conference hall flung open and her brother barged in. Every pony looked up to the stallion who had just walked in and quickly looked back at Sil--....he's gone! The wolf disappeared! Shining Armor approached the platform with a worried but serious look. “Hello Captain,” Celestia greeted, “do you have a reason for barging in?” “I'm sorry Princess, but I believe there may be an intruder on the castle grounds. The guards in the hall said they sent some one away, but the guards at the gates never saw any pony leave or even enter in the first place. I need to ask, have you seen any pony strange or out of place? They said he was wearing a cloak.” “I haven't, but if I should I will tell the guards immediately.” Shining looked over to the others, who were looking around at one another unsure of what to say. Twilight simply shook her head and the others followed. “Thank you. And, I'm sorry for so rudely interrupting. I was out of place," Shining Armor said lowered his head. Celestia raised a hove, “It's quite alright, you were just doing your job.” Shining picked his head back up with relieved smile on his face, “I'll take my leave now. Good bye, your majesty,” Shining lifted a hoof and waved it at Twilight, “Bye Twily,” Twilight waved back and smiled as her brother left. As soon as the door closed, she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. “I just lied to my BBBFF,” Twilight groaned, “Hey, where did--?” Just as she began to ask, wind began to spin around on the carpet. It wrapped up into a small vortex and twirled for a second before dissipating, unveiling Silver. He was looking back over his shoulder at the door. “We should probably lock that,” the wolf stated. Again, the girls sat in shock at what occurred. Honestly, at this point, their jaws should have fallen off from the number of times they've been dropped. Silver looked back at the stunned ponies and cocked his head in confusion as to what they were staring at. “What? Is there some thing on my face?” Silver asked as he wiped his cheeks with a paw. “What was that?!” the lavender alicorn asked, nearly shouting. “Huh?....Oh, you mean my Evaporating Spell. That just let me turn my body in to air.” Silver said nonchalantly. Twilight stepped down from the platform and walk up to Silver, looking over his body carefully as she circled him. After the second or third time around, Silver covered himself with his wings and paws and hid his face. “You know, it's kind of embarrassing when you look at me like that,” Silver said shyly. Twilight stopped her circles and shook her head before turning to Celestia. A smile quickly appeared on her face that said she just had a brilliant idea. “OK, I'll keep him. I'm fine with this whole, 'wolf body guard deal',” Twilight said placing a hoof on the wolf's head. Silvers ears perked up and he came out of hiding. “HUH?!” every pony was astounded by her sudden complacency, save for Celestia who was over joyed with her decision. Applejack walked over to Twilight and put an arm around her, pulling her in close and away from Silver ,“Now sugar-cube, are you sure you thought this through? He did say you can turn down the offer,” she whispered in to her friends ear. Twilight pulled away and spoke in a normal voice, “Yes, I did think this through and I'm sure. It's not like he's gonna hurt me. Hay, he supposed to do the exact opposite.” “But why?" Rainbow asked, "We have plenty of guards and sure, they might not be they absolute best but they can still do their jobs. Just look at your brother.” “It's not about the protection, it's about him,” Twilight said pointing a hoof over to Silver, “You saw his spell. We don't have anything like that here in Equestria, and it seems there are two others who might use magic similar to his. I want a chance to study him and his abilities, so I figure why not keep him around and see if I can talk to the others as well.” The mares gave up. Once Twilight was curious, there was no stopping her. “Great!" The wolf exclaimed, "Now that that's settled, I need to excuse myself. I know I'm cutting out early but there's something I need to attend to,” Silver said as he made his way for the balcony. “Wait!” Twilight called, trotting out to the balcony and lowering her voice to a whisper, “Can you stop by the library in Ponyville when you're finished. I'd like to talk with you some more, if you don't mind.” Silver gave a slightly puzzled look, but just shrugged and smiled, “Sure, but I'll be gone for the majority of the day and probably won't get there until late in the evening. Is that alright with you?” Twilight lit up with a smile, “That's fine. I look forward to see you later.” “As do I. If you need me for anything before then, just call my name and I'll come,” and with that he spread his wings and took off, disappearing into the clouds. Twilight walked back inside to find her cyan pegasus friend greatly annoyed. “He shows up late, breaks into a castle, and then leaves work the moment he starts. Yeah princess, he's the best guard any pony could ask for,” Rainbow criticized sarcastically. Celestia looked down at the pegasus with an amused smile, “I'm sure that whatever he's doing is important. If he is anything like the other two wolves, then he wouldn't do something like this without good reason. I know it may seem hard, but we must trust him. Like I said, he is one of the best.” “Yeah, okay,” Rainbow mumbled with a defeated sigh, “but is there any pony else who is just a little uncomfortable with this? I mean, I haven't heard a peep out of you Fluttershy, and you're afraid of you own shadow. What do you think about this guy?” “Oh, well, um...honestly, I was afraid at first, but then he didn't seem so bad when he started talking, except for when he got a little upset earlier. But he seems to be nice, and I don't think he would hurt us.” Rainbows jaw hit the floor. Fluttershy, the most timid and fearful pony she'd ever known, wasn't afraid of a wolf. A magic wolf. A magic wolf with wings and a credible military background. While stuck in her stunned state, Rarity came over and put a hoof on the ponys back. “Rainbow dear, I know he seems a bit strange...and slightly terrifying, but if princess Celestia trusts him then perhaps we should too. The other two wolf guards haven't done anything, so I think it's okay to say Silver won't either.” Rainbow Dash brushed off the pearly white hoof, “Whatever, I still don't trust him or his pals,” she turned to Twilight with a serious look, “Just make sure to keep an eye on him. We don't know what he's capable of.” Twilight gave her friend a nod, “I will. I know I said I was okay to let him guard me, but that doesn't change the fact that he is still a stranger. I'll be careful around him.” DING-DONG DING-DONG The Canterlot clock rang through the city. “It's noon,” Celestia said looking to the sky through one of the windows, “You girls should get back to Ponyville. You do have jobs to get back to.” “Oh shoot," Apple Jack swore, "Big Mac's gonna buck me across Equestria for skippin' out on ma' chores.” “Oh man, and the pegasi were supposed to be preparing for a heavy storm for the next few days. The boss is gonna grill me!” The rainbow pegasus moaned. The two bolted out the doors and down the hall. Twilight look to her old mentor with a grateful look, “Thank you for letting us stay Celestia. We really enjoyed it.” “Any time, Twilight,” Celestia wrapped a hoof around the smaller alicorn and brought her closer, “but please, try to be at least a little trusting of Silver. I know it's difficult, but I assure you he means no harm.” Twilight was hesitant but still replied, “I'll try.” With their farewells wrapped up, the rest of the six went to the train station, where they found the other two of their impatient friends waving them down. The train hadn't shown up yet, and the two looked like they were about to just hoof it back to Ponyville. The train came about ten minutes later and the group made the departure back home.