//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Preparations // Story: Starry Night // by Detsella Morningdew //------------------------------// I studied that book, as well as many others on the way the Royal guard operated. That made me realise how qualified I really was for the job. Between Rainbow Dash's training and my own personal studies in magic, I could train any guard, whether they be unicorn, earth pony, or pegasus. But still, I was unsure. Nothing beat experience, and I had little to none of that militarily. But I had a starting point. Twilight wasn't asking me to lead thousands or even hundreds of ponies. She was asking me to organize a small group of ponies and train them. I could do that. Above all, I was grateful that there was an already established Guard. It was a lot easier to get armor made that way. We didn't have to hire any blacksmiths. Or for that matter, artificers to place the necessary enchantments. Celestia was happy to give Twilight twenty-four sets of extra Royal Guard armor. Twilight merely had to modify the enchantments a bit. According to Twilight, she changed them to be the same color as my own armor: white gold. But they still looked purple to me. The "uniform" enchantment was also changed. It changed the coat color of the pony to a shade of purple or dark blue. I chose to hire twenty-four guards, because including me, that reached Twilight's recommended maximum. It was also easily divisible by 3. Eight guards of each kind of pony was sufficient. I put advertisements in the places that advertised for the Solar and Lunar guards. I also made it quite clear that it was a lot more selective, as there were only a few slots. And so the waiting began. And Twilight, for the first time, started to put that humongous castle to good use. She actually started hiring kitchen staff. Mostly for ihe incoming guards, of course. Spike would still cook for her. Spike was promoted from, well, himself, to royal advisor/personal assistant/head cook. Which he kind of was before, but this made it official. The "barracks" for the guards weren't exactly barracks. They were more like personal living spaces. Like bedrooms. This was great news to me. I didn't want to live any different than the rest of the guard. I didn't really want this to be like the other Royal Guard, and neither did Twilight. Each soldier would live just like any other pony. The only difference would be in their training. I would, of course, train them in basic Royal Guard practices. But it would go a lot farther than that. You see, Twilight could protect herself easily. Ponyville, however, could not. I wanted them to be trained to my standards, and while not everypony could do a Sonic Rainboom, I would not let them train to the lowest standard. They would learn my techniques. Techniques that, since they were not published yet, had not been seen before. They would learn not to need armor. I'm getting into this far too much, aren't I? By the time I had started drawing up my lesson plans (and finally found out how to deactivate my armor), the first applicants had arrived. There were actually quite a lot of them. Thank goodness I made sure that ponies could only apply either today or tomorrow. We would be getting applications every day for months. But large numbers were not a problem. In my planning, I had come up with an initial weeding process. With absolutely no disrespect to the ponies in question, I politely dismissed the ones with an average or below magical ability. To the applicants in line, it looked like it was random. I didn't explain myself. In response to the complaints, I explained that I had every right to discriminate based on coat color if I wanted to. Pointing out that I was blind definitely did not improve their chance of being reconsidered. I wanted to explain to them about my decisions, but I knew that was out of the question. I wanted to keep my abilities secret to the public. But even if I could explain myself, how could I tell a pony that he or she wasn't magical enough? Based on one look? I knew for a fact that such ponies were just as good as the ones I accepted, but they had different areas of expertise, ones that would be better suited to their special talent that they were so obviously ignoring. The ones that passed my first test handed in their applications, and I set them aside to look them over later. I told them that within the month, they would get their letter of acceptance if they made it. I of course had come up with this time frame, thinking that it was plenty of time, and I wouldn't have to rush with anything. I was quite wrong. There would only be twenty-four letters of acceptance, so Spike could easily handle that. But I didn't tell the applicants that. Receiving dragon-mail for the first time was a special event, and I didn't want to spoil it. The next day, it was the same. There were, if possible, more ponies in line. They filled the front hall, the end of the line outdoors. At least nopony could complain about the line moving slowly. But ponies did complain about having to be there in person. Usually, applications could be mailed to the Royal Guard. But I pointed out to them that the Royal Guard was a lot less selective, which seemed to satisfy most of them. I expected that. I didn't expect my old friends to show up: the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Well, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Dinky showed up. Sweetie Belle was there, but not for the job. Her talents were elsewhere. She had merely come to see how I was doing. They passed my initial test. By the look of their applications, they actually were rather good for the job. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. But I put it in the back of my mind for now. There were more ponies in line. I got more complaints about the immediate rejection, especially one particular earth pony that was flabbergasted that his muscles would not guarantee him a position in the guard. He was rather loud about it. And he got up into my face. And then he dared to mention my blindness. He got a lightning bolt on his flank. Not enough to actually harm him, of course. Just hurt a lot. I didn't really have much trouble after that. As the applicants left, I sighed. I didn't really like refusing any of them. Any of them could have been trained a Guards, and done quite well. But I had to get the best. But I didn't just want the best, physically. I also wanted the best to be around. The ones with personality. So I made the effort. Sure, I dismissed many immediately. But the few I considered, I talked with, as we discussed their application. And I made notes. I wasn't just going to recruit those with the best statistics. Those notes held just as much weight, if not more, than those numbers. If Twilight taught me anything, it was that relationships matter. The new Guards wouldn't just be coworkers. They would be friends as well. Which reminded me of the Crusaders that applied. Well, it wasn't exactly a dangerous job per se. And the more I looked at it, their particular talents were rather useful to have in the guard. I just needed to be is unbiased as possible. Which brought my mind back to the gigantic pile of paperwork. I had quite a lot of work ahead of me.