Two royal guards knocked on a door. The house was dingy and almost rundown.
"What?" A voice responded moments later.
"We are here under the" -the door opened slightly- "orders to retrieve..." The guard pony was cut off by the inhabitant of the house.
"I already paid your damn taxes this month, now leave me alone." The stallion slammed the door shut.
"Sir, we are not here for your taxes." There was no response. "Sir, if you would simply allow us inside..."
"No! Now go the fuck away!"
Getting fed up, the other guard spoke up, "Sir, if you do not comply, then we will use force."
"I don't give a damn!" The stallion shouted back. The guards had had enough. They forced the door down and walked inside. The wooden floor had spots that were incredibly sticky and the entire building smelled of alcohol. One guard knocked a pile of empty hard-cider bottles to his side and squinted to see. All the blinds were closed and the only light source in the room was the broken down door. The inhabitant of the house stormed into the room. "I thought I told you two to fuck off!" Now the two guards got a good look at him. He was a pegasus with a dark blue coat, and a black mane and tail.
"Sir we are here to retrieve you. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna wish to speak to you. Now please come with us."
"I'm not going any-fucking-where. So you and you can just turn your two dumbasses around and leave my house, or I'll send the both of you back to Princess Sunbutt and Princess Moonbutt in a fucking bodyba..." Buzz! He felt electricity course through his body and he fell straight down. The guard that had cast the spell nodded over to the other guard.
"That should make him easier to take to the Princesses." The two guards picked up the unconscious pony and carried him out of the house.
Celestia and Luna were waiting patiently in the throne room. They were looking through a stack of papers, detailing the pony they'd sent two guards to collect. His name was Shadow Glider and he was notorious. He supposedly committed crimes, mostly assassinations, for the DelClare crime family for a few years but he'd stopped around a year or two ago. They didn't exactly know or understand why. He had been living in Canterlot for the past year, and that was about all they knew. They had kept an eye on him for some time now, mostly to see if he was planning another assassination.
"Are you sure we can trust him?" Luna asked her older sister, concerned of the decision she was about to make.
"Not a single bit. But he's the only one who could keep her safe while she's there," Celestia replied still looking through the papers.
"If she agrees to go."
"If she agrees to go." The doors to the throne room swung open and in walked the two guards the princesses sent; levitating the unconscious Shadow Glider. "Thank you. Now, please excuse us." The two guards set Shadow Glider down, awoke him, and left. Shadow rubbed his head and looked at the two princesses. His expression quickly became one of annoyed disdain at the sight of them.
"Next time either of you wants to speak to me, send an invitation. DON'T SEND SOME FUCKING GUARDS TO KNOCK ME OUT AND FOALNAP ME!" Shadow wobbly stood up.
"We told the guards to ask you to come quietly. If you wouldn't cooperate, they were to incapacitate you," Celestia told the unruly pegasus.
"Well, I didn't want to come. Now, fuck both of you. I'm leaving." Shadow turned around to leave. Shadow opened the doors to leave, only to be blocked by a group of royal guards and all the windows were closed. Seeing that he was trapped, Shadow closed the door and turned back to the princesses. "What do you want?"
"We want you to accompany somepony on a diplomatic trip to Griffington, an independent city-state populated by griffins."
"Now why the fuck, do you want me to do that?"
"Because the griffons will not allow any Equestrian Military personnel past their borders. And you're not military," Luna answered.
"It seems to me that I'm not getting anything in return for doing this. And it appears that neither of you has anything that interests me enough to do this. So, no." Shadow turned to leave again.
"It's either this, or you can serve your thirty-year sentence," Luna called out to him. Shadow stopped in his own tracks. He cocked his head back to Luna. "We have evidence of your involvement in multiple assassinations. It's your choice."
"We will also hear out any demands that you have as well," Celestia added. Luna's eyes widened. She turned to Celestia and spoke in a low tone.
"Sister. You didn't tell me about that last part."
"I just now decided on it." Luna and Celestia looked back at Shadow, who was thinking it over in his head.
"I want the thirty-year sentence dropped, payment of thirty-thousand bits, and all records on me completely gone," Shadow said. Celestia and Luna looked at each other. Those were serious demands. But, he was probably the one pony that could do it. "Alright."
"And I do this my way. Now, who is this pony that I'm to guard?"
"Princess Twilight Sparkle."
Shadow's eyes widened in surprise. That wasn't who he expected. He thought that it would be some rich high-class snob, not the Princess of Friendship. "Okay, when do I start?"
"Later today, if she agrees," Celestia answered.
"Wait, you're telling me that you did all that to get me to come here and agree to this, and neither of you has asked her yet!" Shadow asked in complete bewilderment.
"We wanted to ensure that she would have protection before-hoof."
Shadow rolled his eyes. "Alright, I need to get my things first."
"We will send a guard with you to ensure you don't try and escape." Luna eyed Shadow closely. Shadow gave a dismissive wave of a wing and walked off. Celestia nodded to a single guard at the doors. The guard turned and followed Shadow out of the castle.