Twilight's Hooves
The magnificent halls of Canterlot flooded with sunlight dancing through glass windows, colors waltzing along the walls to a serenade of love as a brilliant glow filled the entire castle with the gentleness of morning dew. The castle brimmed with this energy as maids couldn’t help but prance to their duties and the royal guard all smiled as they took their posts from Luna’s regiment. In all the wondrous magic that the morning brought, Kibitz grumbled about the Celestia damned morning hours and turned over in his covers, leaving Raven to do the morning paperwork on her own.
As the castle danced alive, Raven had already been sorting paperwork, preparing the needed assignments to make things run as smoothly as possible. As the sun rose, she made a note to have Kibitz deal with press for the next month for leaving the paperwork all to her.
The unicorn’s eyes looked through the next document on the list, a request for new department form concerning one Eventide Watch with Rainbow Dash labeled as the captain of the watch. Raven sighed and placed the form in the much too large pile labeled PPPPONY.
That is Possible Pranks the Princess Play’s ON You.
At least, Raven had to admit, Kibitz and the two princesses kept her entertained.
Meanwhile, in a different part of the castle, as the light continued its tango through the halls, two ponies enjoyed some time alone. Twilight was following Princess Celestia back from the dining hall, the sun god dressed in her yellow robe and carrying her ‘I <3 Mornings’ mug full of a hot steaming lemon tea.
It was a sight Twilight had first giggled at before Celestia reminded her about the nights she walked across the castle with Smarty Pants and her blankie dragging behind to the chef’s private room for late night cookies. Cookies that Celestia had specifically said would ruin her appetite.
With the small talk out of the way, Twilight turned to the issue bothering her. “I was talking to Shining yesterday,” she admitted “and he wants me to assign me a guard detachment.”
“Oh?” Celestia said warmly, her all-knowing smile plastered across her face. “You are of a different opinion?”
“I rather hotly told him that he could mind his own business and I could take care of it myself,” Twilight said.
“Does having a bunch of finely dressed stallions who could lift you with a single hoof intimidate you?” Celestia teased.
Twilight instinctively flew into the air, using her hooves to emphasize her point. “Yes! I don’t know what’s worse! The fact that he thinks I need protection, or that he’s using it as an excuse to try and get me a coltfriend,” Twilight waved her hooves downwards repeatedly. “I know he’s just trying to watch over me, but I feel awkward enough being a princess without having a detachment of guards watching everything I do.”
Celestia gave light laugh, before shoving Twilight to the side. “Oh, don’t be such a ball of stress Twilight. Your brother is just looking after you, and I think it would an excellent idea for you to have your own guard.”
“But what would they do? I don’t have anything for them to do. My castle doesn’t need sentries, the only things worth stealing are the books! It’s less work to just check them out! I don’t need the guard to double as staff either. Spike takes care of everything that staff would do. I don’t go out fighting monsters like Luna and her Night Guard. They’d just stand around being bored all the time!”
Celestia smiled and took a satisfying drink from her tea. “All are issues that could easily be solved.” She took a moment to look at a stained glass window of herself and a yellow student with wavy red and yellow hair. Another pain, another loss, another reminder of just how imperfect she really was. “Twilight, I would feel much better if you had someone to watch over you, to be your eyes when you can not see. To be your voice when you can not speak. The royal guard aren’t just eye candy, you know. They are in many ways an extension of my hoof, a branch that lets me shade those who I can’t attend to myself.”
Twilight opened her mouth, only to have Celestia’s hoof placed up against it. Opening a nearby set of doors, Celestia walked out onto a balcony that overlooked all of western Equestria. A puzzled Twilight followed her mentor out the door.
The sight was incredible, the rising eastern sun’s rays reflected off Smokey Mountain, the shimmering rivers, the ever-present rainbow beauty of Cloudsdale. It was a sight that eased the overly worried mare’s senses.
“For almost a thousand years, I felt a loneliness, a hole in my chest that could not be filled. I had many friends, unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies alike. Even a dragon or two that I owe my life and sanity to. I would often look out over all of Equestria and understand that I was the last of my kind,” Celestia took a sip of her tea.
“There’s a certain kind of loneliness that I hope you never feel, Twilight. It’s the kind of loneliness that makes you wish you never existed. I had no desire to kill myself…. That would have never been enough. I wished that I had never existed. Annihilation from all time and space. By my own machinations, I had destroyed everyone and everything I had ever cared about. The loneliness was merely my punishment.”
Twilight felt small tears in her eyes as her mind diagnosed the source. Mirror neurons, a strange little aspect that allowed sentient beings to feel pain and sorrow of others as if they had experienced it themselves, the things that made empathy a reality. Neurons that seemed to be having a rave party in Twilights brain as she listened to the princess.
“Cadence was so beautiful when I first saw her as an alicorn and hope somehow snuck into this old heart of mine.” Celestia turned to Twilight, her face sorrowful, but to Twilight’s surprise, no tears traced down her face. “To have Luna back was a joy I never thought I could experience again. It would do this old mare some good to know that you have somepony watching over you. Even if it was just a squad of pegasi.”
Twilight wiped the tears forming on her eyes. “I think I can accept that, Princess.” Twilight wrapped her forelegs around her mentor’s torso.
“Oh, gag me!” a familiar voice pelted the alicorns’ ears as nearby pillar had strangely morphed into a statue. “I never knew it was so eazy to get the great and powerful Twilight Sparkle to just agree to something.” The draconequus snaked up the pillar that looked like himself, a bouquet of flowers in his hand. “Oh, Twilight!” he mocked, “I’m the last of my kind. Make hot, passionate love to me so you can continue on my race.”
Twilight laughed. “What do you think, Princess? Should I take the poor animal up on his offer?” she asked innocently.
“Well, surely we can not leave this world with such a travesty of only one Discord,” Celestia remarked. “Are you current on your biology spells? Shall we test how mitosis works on a multi-celled organism?”
Discord put his paw to his heart. “Oh, you wound me. Is one of me not worthy of your love? Very well. Hit me with your best shot. If you require two of me to love you in full, it is a sacrifice I am willing to make. Fire away!” Discord threw his head back, hand covering his eyes as he prepared for cloning, thoroughly enjoying this little banter.
He was unprepared when he felt two hooves grab him around his waist. Standing straight, he looked down at the purple princess with her bright eyes looking up at him. “Thank you, Discord.”
The draconequus was perplexed, completely unsure where this token of affection was coming from. “For what?”
“Making this decision easier.” Twilight said, letting go of her friend. “I need to get home. I’ve been away from Ponyville for a few days and if I wait any longer, Pinkie’s gonna throw me a ‘You’re finally home from your hero’s journey party’. Remind me never to teach her about literary cliches again.”
Discord waved goodbye as Twilight teleported. He turned his face towards Celestia and stuck out his tongue. “This is all your fault.”
Celestia took a sip of tea. “It always is.” she replied, steam wafting over her serene face.
“How the hell do you expect me to keep you on lead squad if you can’t even perform better than a foal out of its mother’s womb!?” Spitfire yelled over her desk, hooves on the table and making herself as imposing as she possibly could. “Your endurance test results are worse than Surprise’s and she’s our bucking SPRINTER!”
Soarin rubbed the back of his neck worriedly. “Uh… sorry?”
“SORRY! YOU THINK SORRY IS GONNA SOLVE THIS ISSUE!?” Spitfire’s eyes lit with fire. “You place twenty-fifth in speed, thirty-third in the agility tests and your weather management was forty-fourth in the BUCKING ENTIRE SQUAD! YOU’RE OUR SUN DAMNED ARCHMAGE, YOU PISSHEAD! HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO KEEP YOU IN THE LEAD SQUAD IF YOU CAN’T PERFORM ON QUALIFYING DAY!”
Soarin’s rigid body sagged under Spitfire’s shouting. “If I can’t perform, then maybe I shouldn’t be on the lead squad.”
Spitfire pushed her hooves into her eyeballs in an attempt to gouge out her own brain. “Soarin. YOU ARE OUR BUCKIN ARCHMAGE, I CAN’T just drop someone who can make a class four storm on his own! You’re skills and capabilities are phenomenal. There’s no one else who should be on the lead squad. It used to take six wonderbolts to do the kind of weatherwork you do in AN HOUR! BUT IF YOU DON’T PROVE YOU’RE SORRY FLANK TO EVERYPONY ELSE, WHAT THE BUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO!?” Spitfire let out a heavy breath before sagging in her chair. “If the press gets ahold of these results, you’ll be kicked out of lead squad,” Spitfire spoke as she massaged her head with her hooves.
Despite Soarin’s phenomenal flying and magic skills, he had such a hard time dealing with stress. It usually didn’t affect his flying performance, he wasn’t normally stressed out by things that could drive others into flying the coop. Most of his anxiety came from insecurities, but he had nothing to be insecure about. Work had been going well, he didn’t have bullies other than herself breathing down his neck. That pretty much left mares as the final option for things Soarin could be a complete and total mess about. Normally she knew when this happened, but he hadn’t been acting weird around any of the other Wonderbolts.
Spitfire let out a groan as the ‘ah ha’ hit her. “Exactly how long have you been going out?”
“Ummm… ten weeks, four days and three hours?”
Fleetfoot’s eyes flicked up dangerously from her magazine as the conversation finally became interesting. “Oh?” she asked coyly, “And exactly who is the lucky mare who gets to bed the most boring pegasus in Equestria?”
Fleetfoot’s mischievous look and Spitfire’s unamused expression did nothing for his anxiety levels. “Well… you see… she umm…” he audibly gulped. “She doesn’t want anypony to know we’re dating. It’s…. uhh…. umm… personal? Yeah… personal reasons.”
Fleetfoot was in the air, clenching her gut and her mocking laughter rippled throughout the room. “Wowwwww! Our little Soarin has fallen in love with some mare he found at a strip club!” She began to gasp and choke from laughing.
Soarin’s eyes found a very interesting spot on the ground. “She’s not a whore.”
Fleetfoot gasped and wheezed for air, falling flat on her stomach with a lopsided grin. “Awww, don’t be a Mr. Grumpy. It’s so romantic that you’re saving her from a life of waving her cutie mark around at all the pervs. Now she gets to do it only for you!”
Soarin rubbed his hoof awkwardly, desperately hoping for Spitfire to save him.
Spitfire rolled her eyes at Soarin, but helped him out anyways. “Enough Fleetfoot!” she barked.
Fleetfoot snapped to attention, still wearing that mocking smile. “Yes, not a whore ma’am!”
Soarin was practically a ball on the floor now.
Spitfire had never been so relieved for Fleetfoot to snap to attention, considering Princess Celestia stood in the door frame.
“Good afternoon captain. I’m not interrupting anything important am I?” The princess asked with just a hint of mischievousness in her eye.
“Just a little stress relief, your highness.” Spitfire said. “Is there anything we can do for you?”
“I’d appreciate a good thunderstorm at the next upcoming garden party for the rich and wealthy. I do believe a rogue cloud after the Wonderbolt Derby wouldn’t be too much to find roaming Canterlot?”
Soarin immediately perked up, being the weather master that he was. “Hmmm, there has been a couple of spells I’ve needed to run diagnostic tests on.”
“Not a problem princess!” Fleetfoot chirped. “One rained on garden party coming up!”
Spitfire swore that Fleetfoot was a little too happy to be pranking most of their sponsors. So much for those budget expansions she hoped for.
“Thank you, Fleetfoot, Soarin. I have a request of you all. Princess Twilight has decided to put into power a small regiment of guards known as the Eventide Watch. Rainbow Dash will be the new captain and I would appreciate if you three would train her.” the princess said, with her loving motherly overtone that Spitfire had come to learn as a command.
“Oh yeah!” Fleetfoot did a flip in the air. “I’ll be able to show her the ropes of what it means to be a real pegasus!”
“Ummm…. Princess?” Soarin asked, tapping his hooves together nervously.
“I do not mind that you two are dating.” the princess said. “She needs drastic help with understanding of pegasus magic. I feel that your current situation will help her understand her emotions and how they affect her flying.”
Soarin smiled, a small weight off his chest. Spitfire had an eyebrow raised in surprise.
Fleetfoot’s jaw fell off and crashed on the ground. “You’re bucking RAINBOW DASH!?”
Soarin nodded cautiously, hoof up in case she hit him.
“As your commanding officer, Fleetfoot, for insulting another pony and besmirching their name, especially one of your now commanding officers, I want sixteen thousand laps. You will start immediately. You will be in charge of Rainbow Dash’s conditioning while she’s here training,” the princess said calmly.
“But... What? I didn’t know he was dating Rainbow Dash!” Fleetfoot whined, “I totally take back my whore comment! How the buck did he get a date? Much less with her?
“Make that eighteen thousand.”
Fleetfoot groaned before flying out the door.
Spitfire silently thanked the sun that its avatar had dealt with Fleetfoot for her. “Thank you, princess. What would you have me teach to Rainbow?”
“No. Do not teach her. Rainbow is to be your legacy. Mold her, ingrain into her your fighting style. Make her a warrior to be remembered for eternity,” the princess said. “She is to be your gift to equinity.”
Twilight paced back and forth in her library. She had already sent Spike to fetch Rainbow Dash and was attempting to gather her thoughts. “Uggh. I don’t think there’s a proper way to say ‘I completely disregard all your hopes and dreams so that I don’t have to deal with my older brother over worrying about me and installing his own guard full of hot, sexy stallions in armor that most definitely will include Flash Sentry’.”
Twilight flopped to the ground. “Am I really that pathetic that I would destroy her chance at being a Wonderbolt so I’ll have guard captain that I know?” Her eyes gazed upon the red rug that decorated the floor, her eyes so close she could see the dust particles swirling around her head, roller coasting through the air, unable to settle themselves. A feeling that Twilight was well acquainted with at the moment.
A chibi filly Celestia showed up stuffing itself with cake over one of Twilight’s shoulders. It gulped down the last piece before turning to Twilight. “Is that really why you want Dash to be your guard?” the adorable mentor asked. “For your brother not have influence in your love life?”
“Maybe not?” Twilight admitted. She set chibi Celestia on the desk so that she could be eye level with her. “I just don’t want to force her into something she doesn’t want to do.”
The chibi walked to the other side of the table, grabbing a paper and quill. “There’s only one way to solve this.” She sat down firmly. “Time to make a list! We need to write down all the pros and cons of why Rainbow Dash would make a good captain of the Eventide.”
Twilight perked up with her thinking face on. “Pros: Dash is a good friend and I can trust her. She’s dependable and loyal when she has to be. She’ll be able to fill a prestigious position that could possibly become more famous than the Wonderbolts. She’s well acquainted with leadership as the Ponyville Weather Captain.” The little Celestia’s magic flickered as the quill flew across the paper, writing down each thing.
“Good. Now for the reasons she wouldn’t be a good captain.”
“Well… cons: She’s reckless, obnoxious and just as likely to offend some foreign dignitary as save my life.” Twilight chuckled. “Check that, more likely. That might actually be a pro now that I think about it.”
“Con: Dash doesn’t have any experience as a guard other than her black belt training. Oh, and let’s not forget that I’m abusing the nature of one of my best friends in order to make my life easier. Making our friendship null and void. I might as well decree that she banish herself from Equestria. She might actually forgive me for that.” Twilight hissed.
Chibi gave her a look of pity, trying to hide itself behind its checklist.
“Or maybe I’m so stubborn that you don’t have to worry about that.”
Twilight jumped into the air, wings and limbs flailing, swatting the chibi across the room, poofing into magic dust. She landed with a manic grin and several hairs out of place, not hearing Dash’s words, merely registering Dash’s presence. “Rainbow. How are you? Isn’t the weather nice? I mean it’s just so wonderful that you take care of it so quickly!”
Dash blinked and Twilight’s ear twitched. “You okay, Twi?” Dash asked, plopping herself down beside her friend, throwing a wing over her. “Need a friend to bail you out of some trouble?”
The athlete’s wing felt warm to Twilight and she could feel tension slowly ease out of her body. “I… uhhh… thanks, Dash.” She muttered.
Dash socked her on the shoulder. “Like I’d leave you hanging. So, captain of the Eventide Guard, huh? I like the sound of that. That’d put me on the same rank as your brother.”
“But what about the Wonderbolts? Your hopes and dreams? Everything you’ve worked for so long!” Twilight yelped, “You can’t just throw that all away for me!”
“Why not? It’s not like any of its going away. I’m going to be trained by the Wonderbolt elite, get to bring my own team for the position and get away with any prank I want. I could probably order Spitfire to make me a Wonderbolt if she’s right about how high in the chain of command I’ll be.”
Twilight let a smile slip onto her face as her mane began to smooth itself down. “I uh… wha… Ummm….Thank you, Rainbow. It means a lot.”
“No sweat,” Dash said, hovering next to Twilight. “Check that, actually there will lots of sweat. Especially yours.”
“Huh?”
“As captain of the Eventide Guard, I will also be her highness Princess Twilight Sparkle’s royal fitness trainer.”
“Buck me,” Twilight muttered, as Dash burst out laughing.
“I was saving myself for Soarin, but as your highness commands!”
Stats
Page generated in 0.019 seconds
Total duration
1,036 users online
199,506 hits today, 2,205,040 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
I like how this starts, now lets see where it goes.
5576969
Yeah, I had thought about waiting 3 chapters to post it, but said screw it. I have chapter 2 written up, just need to edit it myself and send it to the Kestrel. Glad you liked the start.
Liking it so far, I'm going to see how far it goes and matures.
Loving this so far! Keep going!
loving it so far!!!!!
5577638 That seems to be the general impression. Chapter 2 is off to the editor, and I have plans up to chapter 10, so hopefully, they'll come out quick.
5577831 5577794
Thanks You Two! You're love feeds me well. You will adore me and my writing!
5577924 better than me, I haven't even started chapter 3 of my story yet because of school and drawing is too much fun.
A story about a group formed to protect Twilight, but without Twilight in the character tags?
5577924 Take more of it!
Hmm... you have my attention... let's see where this goes,
s6.postimg.org/5ul2jmext/continue_Monkey.jpg
This has me enthralled, please...continue.
5578657 Considering I never meant for it be about Twi-Twi, I didn't think her to be pertinent. Then again, she'll be a character that will interact with everyone a lot, so thanks for making me rethink that decision.
5579535 Yes! My life goal is complete! I have the attention of a monkey smoking a cigar! Thanks for all the love and hope to live up to your expectations.
5579568 Take that black magic! I have attained myself a thrall just by writing a story about Happy little Colorful Ponies! Necromancy gots nothing on me!
5580752 I shall follow you for eternity!
5580752
Hey man, that's offensive...
I'm clearly a chimpanzee,
saving myself for Soarin, but as your highness commands
Wonder how Fleetfoot reaction would be.