Equestrian Revelations

by DuskApproaches

Chapter 10: Guard

I stood outside the door of the bedroom looking into the window beside it from time to time. Chrysalis and Chao were talking to each other with Chrysalis’s wing over the smaller changeling. Chrysalis stayed with her until sleep finally overtook Chao. Chrysalis then made her way out of the room but not before giving Chao a peck on her forehead. The door soon opened and I stood up straight to walk beside the queen.

“Chrysalis, there is a question I wish for you to answer.”

“Hmm?”

“Why is she your personal guard?”

From what I saw, it looked more like Chrysalis was protecting Chao than Chao was protecting her. Chao didn’t act like a guard to her queen with Chrysalis. The relationship was more symbolic in that of a child and her older sister.

“She’s- she’s a good guard,” Chrysalis stammered trying to find an excuse.

“Chrysalis, we are both aware of the fact that that’s not true.”

“Are you insulting her?”

“And now you are trying to change the subject to avoid the question. What answer requires so much secrecy?”

“There’s something you need to know.”

“And what would that be?”

‘I fucking hate you.”

“I get that a lot.”

Chrysalis reluctantly revealed the story to me.

Chao never had a lot of self-esteem from the day she was born to today. In school, she was the one everyone picked on. Chrysalis never had a bodyguard or ever needed one. She saw Chao in the crowd and realised what this young changeling needed. She needed respect from the other changelings. What would get more respect than being in the second highest ranking position next to the queen? As for her mission into the Griffon Kingdom, changelings started to think that Chao was useless due to the fact that she rarely had things to do in general. Several changelings walked into her castle with suggestions and nominations for who should really be her guard. There was a small rumour that the Griffons were planning to become hostile to the changelings. Since it did not seem like a threat at the time, Chrysalis sent Chao in to prove her abilities assured she would return with word of success. However, the rumours were small only because of the large amount of effort the griffons put into hiding the hostility.

I never had a chance to inform Chrysalis of the reason for my visit. But Chrysalis needs to spend some time with Chao right now so I’m going to wait a while longer. Chrysalis had prepared one of the vacant bedrooms for me. I walked into the room and looked out the windows. The sun was setting. I usually slept at the break of dawn. The night was a great time to do some of my… activities. However, I have not slept in two days and was feeling tired to say the least. I took off my shirt and lay onto the bed. The sounds around me became muffled as sleep overtook.

My eyes opened to see a bush in front of me. I looked down at my hands. A black silk glove with the knuckles cut off was on my left hand. In addition, the ring finger was removed since my real ring finger has also been ‘removed’ a while back. Rumours were I lost it in close combat, when in reality, one of my comrades forgot to turn on the safety. I instantly realised where I was: Florida, USA, 15, November, 2035, World war three. World war three...this concept still makes me laugh. Ever since humans discovered killing, wars were fought for different reasons; for religion, freedom, or peace. People say that the good guys always win. They do not because they are the good guys. They are the good guys because they win. Every war results in the same way: deaths, destruction, chaos, but never peace. And war, war never changes.

This was the day I traveled across half of the world from Asia to North America for an assassination mission. I am to go into… someplace and kill someone. I don’t remember. I didn’t read the briefing. I used my knife to take a look at my reflection. I had long hair. Not as long as the one I had currently in equestria but still quite long. Soldiers are required to get a crew cut but I was told to let my hair grow out so I could easily stay hidden in public.

I had two scars on my face. One vertical one on the left side of my lip and a crescent-shaped one right above my right eye. I liked these scars. Not because they looked cool or some stupid excuse all the kids getting hit by cars are using, but because they reminded me of whom I am. A knight in shining armour is a knight who has never had his metal tested; a warrior with undamaged skin is a warrior who has never had his mettle tested.

I patted my clothing to check if I have my equipment. Silenced semi-automatic pistol in my shirt, small multipurpose buck knife, short two-sided dagger strapped to my thigh, and last but not least, a plaster wood bow and 14 thinned arrows on my back. My comrades used to mock my constant usage of old weapons. But they were silenced when they realised that my accuracy with a bent bow was higher than theirs with a bolt action sniper rifle. It’s a little overkill, but it’s always a smart idea to be prepared for the worst.

I made my way into the building quite easily. After all, this was a memory and I know what to do. I made my way to the third floor without triggering any alarms. There was a person guarding the door to the staircase. Since there was no way to sneak past him, I did the next best thing. I pulled out my dagger and pointed it at his face but not touching.

“Hey, faggot!”

“Wha-,“ A sqidge was heard as he turned his head into the tip of my dagger. It was extremely simple but effective. The funniest part is that I learnt to do this from the kids in primary school who would hold up a finger and tap a friend on his shoulder. Now I need to find a way to hide the body so that no one will find out until I finish my job.

I lift up his legs as I dumped him into a nearby trash bin.

Close enough, I thought.

I found my way to my target’s office. I carefully pushed down the handle and opened the door. My target was facing the opposite direction and organising some files on his desk. I stood up and, with my dagger in hand, I broke into a sprint. I didn’t care if he heard me now. Even if he heard me it would be too late. At the last second, I jumped. Time slowed as my target turned around and removed his headgear. I realised that it was in fact a woman. Not any woman - it was princess Celestia. I was still in mid-air when she raised her hand and a small ball of fire was forming.

Well, that’s not good. That is most certainly not good. A wave of fire and heat pushed me into the air.

When I opened my eyes, I saw the sky. The bright blue sky of noon time. I leapt to my feet and looked around me. I was at the top of the Canterlot castle. I turned to where princess Celestia was facing me. She stood there wearing plated armour with a slight tint of purple and golden rims. She held a broadsword in her right hand. Despite its weight, she was handling it with ease. As for me, I was wearing the training outfit Rarity made for me a few years back with some modifications such as the thickened left shoulder pad and removed right sleeve. The dagger in my hand had become a fencing sword.

Oh wow, this feels like an old spice commercial. Look at your man. Now look at me. Look at your man. Now back to me. Look down at your hand. Your knife has become a sword. Now look back up. You are now on the rooftops of the Canterlot castle.

That was a bad time to get distracted. I barely dodged as Celestia swung her sword at me. Each one of her swings followed up with the next getting faster and faster as she went. My body was unable to keep up with her movements and I had to resort to blocking with my blade. She took one step forward each time she slashed at me to make her attacks stronger. When she slashed downwards, I put one foot onto her blade and pushed it into the ground. I tried to release her grip by butting her head with the grip of my sword. She quickly moved up her left hand and grabbed my sword. Unsurprisingly, she was much stronger than me and pulled my sword out of my grasp and tossed it off the castle. Well, that sucks.

With the same hand she grabbed my neck and pushed me to the edge. The only thing keeping me from falling two kilometres downwards was a stone wall only up to my waist. Some bricks shifted slightly. Something tells me the wall won’t hold for much longer. The wall broke and I fell with it. Sometimes I hate being right.

“Only mortal,” Celestia said as she let go.

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I sat up on my bed and rubbed my eyes. Dafuq was that? I need to stop going to bed on an empty stomach.