It had been five years since I had arrived in equestria. Those first days were of Course the hardest. Physical training for the guard was a breeze. I could contain more energy in my body, meaning i could stay awake longer, and I was stronger than most. The only thing the rest of the guard was better at was running, but only over short spans. The only problem was that both Celestia and Luna wanted me in their personal guards. It was decided I would rotate, one month Luna’s, the next Celestia’s. These jobs came with their own set of unique perks. The potions I had to buy from zecora were covered, which was nice. No threat I was going to go crashing through the floor. Her potions worked perfectly for a week, and then they failed horridly. I learned this when I was showing off to the rest of Luna’s guard, moonwalking, and I suddenly fell over backwards, with my legs buried a few feet underground. The other one was that I could read the princesses almost perfectly. Most people believed that they showed no emotion whatsoever. That wasn't true; they switched it up and minimized how they showed emotions as much as possible. If Celestia got mad, she slightly drooped her ears like she was sad. It was really hard for a pony to tell, because they knew how to read other ponies, me? I had no idea how to read others, and being around the princesses a lot made me learn how to read them, not normal ponies. it also turns out that the personal guard is really small, for the sole reason that to be in it, you have to be the princesses friend. Also it turns out that alicorn can warp space and time. I found that out when Luna introduced me to her gaming setup, she wanted someone to play with. The only other ponies she got to play her games with were an innocent gray mare, and her sister. She wanted someone to play against who actually knew how to play. She had tried twilight but she was more fascinated that something like a TV could exist.
"Jeez, how did you get all of this stuff?" I asked, for once showing some amazement.
"I’m an alicorn, we can do these things. Now less talking, more playing. My favorite is Mortal Kombat X, have you ever played it?"
"I’ve played a few of the Mortal Kombat games, but never X." I responded. She looked at me in disbelief. She then proceeded to beat me into submission, in the game of course. That took a few hours. She always made me play her, and I slowly got better. I played frequently with scorpion, and was able to challenge Luna by the second month of playing the game.
My favorite part of being a royal guard though, was the combat training. It was intense, and I usually won. I used a Warhammer for training, and it was enchanted to leave blotches of red paint instead of hit my opponents with a large amount of force. The hammer was made out of what I called pony iron, it was just as strong as normal iron, but it was much lighter. There was also something strange that happened with my skin. Even when I had been drinking my potions, my skin was just as hard as iron armor. When I wasn't using my potion, you had just as much luck trying to cut it as you would have if you tried to dig through solid bedrock with a cheap plastic spoon. Zecora had invented a potion specifically to counteract her other potion, turning me back into my 10 ton counterpart. As a byproduct of my skin being armor in itself, and in the interest of freaking the enemy out, I only wore iron pants below the legs. I didn't really want to test if my privates were just as indestructible. I also always wore a belt stocked with a few of each potion. This was my standard outfit, as I had an impressive set of abs now through my intense training. That was when Celestia and Luna called me into the castle to talk to me.
"Hey girls, what's the matter," I said, holding the massive Warhammer over my shoulder, "Usually both of you aren't up at the same time."
"James, this is of great importance. Follow us." said Celestia. She was dead serious, which was strange. Equestria was really peaceful right now, and the nobles hadn't seemed to be causing any more trouble than normal. We walked until we reached a blank wall, nothing special behind with it. That was until Celestia opened a door to a secret armory. I followed them in and looked around, wondering why it was so well hidden.
"This room holds a special kind of weapon James; they are all made of meteoric iron. Meteoric iron is very heavy, and almost indestructible. Almost no pony can lift any of these weapons for long periods of time. The only ponies that can lift these are alicorn," she smiled, "but you aren't a pony are you." her face dropped grimly. "The Minotaur nation wants to invade equestria, and we need a strong leader. You have the relationship with the rest of the guards that neither Luna nor I can have with anyone. You also have strategies that the whole planet of Equis hasn't seen. We were hoping that would help us lead our armies if it comes to war. We hope that it won't come to that, but it never hurts to be prepared." she seemed to perk up a little bit. "Feel free to pick any of the weapons here, there are many styles of the same item, the Warhammers are over there. She pointed to the end of the armory. i walked down to the hammers, occasionally stopping to check out another weapon. After looking at the hammers, i picked up a large one that was unusually plain. Most of the other ones had colors on them, but this one was pure grey. The handle was made out of a silvery wood, and was wrapped in dark leather. The second my hand wrapped around it, I whispered, "Star Crusher." There was a flash of light as it was started dissolving. I panicked for a second before Celestia put her hoof on my shoulder. I let it dissolve, and then felt a burning pain in my left hand. A red circle with a hexagon and lines crossing over it appeared in my hand. I collapsed grabbing my hand. It took me a few minutes but I eventually stood up.
"What was that?!" I nearly screamed at Celestia, "Why do I have an alchemist's circle burned into my hand now."
"That was the weapon bonding to you James. It happens when a worthy wielder takes the weapon and recognizes its true name." She pulled off her right hoof guard. She had a similar mark, except that it had two triangles overlapping on it. Luna repeated the action and showed me hers. It was different in the fact that hers had a spiral that seemed to flow into oblivion. They summoned their weapons, Luna had a recurve bow, and Celestia had a cleaver. I was more expecting the other way around. They both looked a little strained holding them, so they let them dissipate. I tried, and after a minute, I managed to call upon my weapon. I grabbed it in my left hand and let in fall into my right hand. It wasn't as heavy as a Warhammer of its size would have been on earth, but it was way heavier than a regular iron one was in this world. I let it dissolve, and we left the room. The first hint that something was wrong was that the guards were rushing around, trying to find the princesses.
One of the guards ran up to the princesses and said in an urgent tone of voice, "The Minotaurs have declared war, your majesty. What should we do?" the princesses looked at me.
"Bring out all of the reserves that we have, and get them prepared for war. Assume that we have at maximum a month before they attack. Setup guards and patrols around the edge of canterlot. See if we can get more ponies to join the army. Get the Wonder bolts here pronto." I started out, turning to the princesses I said, "I need more information before I can do anything else. What allies do we have? I know that we have about 10,000 troops with the reserves right now, but I need to know many Minotaurs that there are before I can see what chance we have at winning." the princesses smiled at me.
Celestia started, "Good job James," she turned to the guard, "He passed, end the simulation." The guard nodded and pulled out a whistle. He blew it and it produced a loud wailing noise, and everyone stopped rushing around, and started back to their stations.
"That was a test wasn't it, for the commander position?" I asked, almost dreading the answer.
Luna answered to my surprise, "Yes James that was a test for the position of commander. The threat of the Minotaur nation attacking is real though. We have chosen you to be the commander of our armies, for the reason that Tia stated earlier. Also, it's terrifying that you can withstand most bladed weapon hits with almost no damage." She shuddered.
"Well, this is interesting. What does being commander mean?"
"We will refer to you for strategic advice, and you will directly lead the troops into battle. Also, you are only second to us on the command chain. Also, you can appoint your second in commands. They will lead the other sections of the army. We have seven of them, as you know: medical, scouting, ambushers, the pure army, the navy, and the resource management for them all. Do you have any ideas of who you want to appoint for the positions?"
I smiled, realizing i knew the perfect six ponies. “I may have an idea."