The Story of a Royal Guard [OUTDATED]

by Himntor

Luna

The Canterlot Library was closed due to the Summer Sun Celebration. Sword Shield stood in front of the door in frustration, but he wasn't about to kick the door in. He searched around the library until he noticed a small opening in a window. A teleportation spell would do here. He quickly levitated his sword inside.

"I'm sure no one will mind if I break in," he thought. He was part of the Royal Guard after all. After the sword was set down he teleported inside with a flash of magic and began scanning through all the books available.

He rambled as he flipped through the pages of each book. "No, no... no... no, no, no. Hmm... what's this?" He opened one of the books named 'Predictions and Prophecies' and began searching through its contents. It had all sorts of strange prophecies, some made long ago, some more recent. He paid them no mind and finally stopped on one of the pages that drew his interest. "The Elements of Harmony," it read.

"What in Equestria are the Elements of Harmony?" he said out loud. "See Mare in the Moon... ?" He began flipping through the book again. He had seen what happened to the moon before Nightmare Moon appeared, and the thought that it may have been connected to her gave him a grave chill.

He reached the correct page and read aloud to keep himself focused. "The Mare in the Moon, myth from olden pony times. A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria, defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned on the moon. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year the stars will aid in her escape and she will bring about night time eternal." He stopped reading. "Hmm, this still doesn't tell me enough. Defeated by the Elements of Harmony? But what are they?"

He began looking through more books. He found one that talked about two Princesses that were the rulers of Equestria long ago and used the Elements of Harmony.

"Once upon a time, in the magical lands of Equestria--" He stopped for a moment in confusion. "Suddenly I live in a fairy tale."

"There were two regal sisters who ruled together, and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn, the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies. But, as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her night. One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young ones heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness. Nightmare Moon! She vowed that she would shroud the land in Eternal Night. Reluctantly, the eldest sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponykind: The Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister, and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon, and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since."

He put the book away with his face contorted in confusion. "Nightmare Moon is Celestia's sister? What the hay? Wait... back at the town hall. I did hear Nightmare Moon say sister. That can't be right. And where are the Elements?" He put away the book and began to look for more information on the Elements of Harmony. If they really were the most powerful magic known to ponies, he needed to find them.

He began pouring through the rest of the books looking for more information about the Elements of Harmony. He dumped through every section of the library, into the deepest depths of literature and fiction until he reached a book named "Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide." He opened it up and again began to read.

"There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery. It is said that the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. It is located in what is now the Everfree Forest."

The Everfree Forest, the place where nopony dared to go. He had no idea where the ancient castle would be in the Everfree forest, and there was no way to fly over the forest to search for it. It was too thick, and far too dark. Without a clue what to do next he quickly put away the books that were scattered about, no time to make sure they were in alphabetical order, and levitated his sword out the window and teleported back outside.

He began to fly to the castle to ask Celestia for help, but then stopped mid air as he realized Celestia was gone. There wasn't anyone to go to for help or to learn more about the Elements of Harmony. Shining Armor was too busy directing soldiers around in preparation if Canterlot was to be attacked. Cadance was also gone. There was one mare that came to mind however, Twilight Sparkle. The Princess's star student. She could possibly know something about the Elements of Harmony and might be able to help find Celestia, if she wasn't looking already. That's who he'd go to.

He mounted his sword and flew to Ponyville as quick as his magic would let him. Most of the townsfolk were still running around in panic from Nightmare Moon's appearance as he arrived. He tried to ask some of them questions about Twilight's whereabouts, but no one seemed to be able to tell anything useful. He asked some of the ponies that weren't panicking where she might be. Most of them didn't know her but one mare pointed towards the town's library.

He headed over to the library and knocked on the door. No answer, she was gone. He looked into the window to find books all over the floor as if somepony was doing the same thing he was earlier. He tried the front door and to his surprise it was unlocked. He walked in and searched around for any clue as to where Twilight might have gone, finding nothing but books and scrolls everywhere. He walked upstairs and continued searching, finding the main bedroom empty, but there was another small bed in the room with something moving in it. Something snoring too. Looking into the small bed he saw a small purple and green sleeping baby dragon.

"What is Twilight doing with a baby dragon?" he thought. It wasn't really his business to question what Twilight was doing with a baby dragon though, so he dismissed the thought. A moment later the dragon started to stir.

"T-Twilight?" said the baby dragon with a yawn. He looked up and saw Sword Shield standing over top of him. "AHH!" He fell backwards out of the bed onto his head. "Who are you? Where's Twilight?!"

"Whoa, calm down there little guy," said Sword Shield. "I'm with the Royal Guard, and I'm looking for Twilight myself."

"Oh." The dragon sat upright and dusted himself off. "My name's Spike. Is there something you need from the number one assistant of the Princess's student?"

"Yeah, I was hoping you might know where Twilight went."

Spike scratched his chin. "Uh, I don't know. The last thing I remember..." He thought for a moment and then widened his eyes in realization. "Oh no! Nightmare Moon! We have to stop Nightmare Moon! Oh no! Twilight must have gone to stop her all by herself! There were some other ponies we met today, I mean uh, yesterday, that might know where to find her. There was Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and... Rarity." He said the last pony's name with a slight glimmer his eye.

Sword Shield grunted. "Do you think you could take me to them? I need to find Twilight, it's the only way I might figure out how to stop Nightmare Moon. It's my fault this all happened to begin with."

Spike nodded and went for the door. "Yeah, I think I can help you find them. Let's... wait, it's still dark out?"

"Nightmare Moon, remember?"

"Oh, right. Follow me!"

Spike and Sword Shield searched throughout Ponyville for Twilight's friends, but they were nowhere to be found. They searched Rarity's Boutique, Sugarcube Corner, Fluttershy's Cottage, and Sword Shield searched up in the clouds on his sword for Rainbow Dash, but none of them were home. The last place they looked was at Sweet Apple Acres. They asked a large red stallion if he knew where Applejack might be. "Nope," was all he could answer.

"Wait!" called the voice of a filly before they left. "I'm Applebloom, and I know where Applejack went, as well as Twilight! I saw both of 'em, an' four others enterin' the Everfree forest! Do you think they're gonna be okay?"

"Don't worry, Applebloom, I'm sure they will be fine," said Sword Shield, though he was not too optimistic on the inside. "I'm going to go look for them. Spike, go back to the library and wait for me and possibly the others to come back. I'm going to see if I can find them and possibly the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon."

"Okay," said Spike. "I would rather go with you to search for them, but..." He let out a lengthy yawn. "I'm just so tired. I'm going back to bed."

As Spike left, Sword Shield transformed his sword and hopped on, heading for the Everfree Forest. Once he found the main road he continued cautiously on hoof. The path quickly turned into a seemingly narrow alley with trees on either side, then opened up into a chasm.

He slowly approached the cliff and looked down. He found signs that Twilight and her friends had been through here, almost like they fell down the cliff. He carefully climbed down, then realized how silly that was. He drew out his sword and dropped it down onto the floor below and simply teleported next to it.

At the bottom he found hoof prints on the ground, making out what seemed like six ponies walking through here. There was also another larger print in the ground, and from his training he knew that it was the paw-print of a Manticore. His face broke into worry and searched for clues. It seemed like there was a short struggle, but then it stopped and everyone simply walked off, including the Manticore. He didn't know what to think of it so he simply kept following the hoof-prints.

The forest path suddenly became too dark to see, so he used a light spell to continue. Nothing out of the ordinary, at least for the Everfree Forest. He came upon a moonlit riverbank and cut his light spell. There was no way to cross other than swimming, or obviously, magic. He wasn't about to get wet so he levitated his sword across the river, planted it down and teleported across. Unfortunately his aim was a bit off and got splashed on.

"Stupid river," he thought. If there was one thing he never liked it was getting inconveniently wet.

Another problem arose, as he wasn't able to find the hoof prints left by Twilight and her friends. They had crossed at a different location. It took a few precious minutes of searching the shore until he finally found the right tracks and got back on the trail. A few minutes later an ancient castle came into view.

"Twilight and her friends must be in there."

He noticed something going on inside the castle. There was a small light coming out of it, growing brighter and brighter. Colors of the rainbow seemed to be swirling around in it, and suddenly there was a flash that caused him to look away. When the light faded he looked to the mountains, where the sun came up, rising high into the sky in all its glory. It was the most magnificent sight he had ever seen. He quickly pulled out his sword, transformed it to fly and soared into the air above the ancient castle to feel the sun's warmth.

He guessed that Twilight and her friends had just defeated Nightmare Moon all on their own, figuring they must have found the Elements of Harmony themselves and used them against Nightmare Moon, bringing back Celestia and raising the sun.

"I guess this was all for nothing," he thought regretfully. There was no need to come all this way, Twilight and her friends proved to be smart and courageous enough to defeat Nightmare Moon. More than he was able to do. While he was happy that Celestia was back and Nightmare Moon defeated he couldn't help but feel slightly envious of Twilight.

He continued to soar through the air on his sword, watching Twilight and her friends emerge from the ancient castle. Celestia was right behind them, and so was another pony curiously enough. He looked closely and could see there was a small Alicorn next to Celestia, with a dark blue coat and lighter blue mane and tail. He thought back on the tale of where Nightmare Moon had come from, and remembered it saying that it was Celestia's younger sister who turned into Nightmare Moon. The Elements of Harmony must have transformed her back into her old self. He was even happier now due to this outcome. However there was still no sign of Princess Cadance.

Instead of meeting up with Celestia and Twilight he flew back to Canterlot and gave word to Shining Armor that the Princess was back and he could call off most of the guard to have some rest.

"You did a good job Sword Shield, even if you weren't the one to stop Nightmare Moon," said Shining Armor after he finished putting the Royal Guard back in order.

Sword Shield sighed. "I wish I could have done better. I should have been guarding Celestia instead of wandering off like a moron, but I guess it doesn't matter now. Has Cadance made an appearance yet?"

Shining Armor shook his head and began pacing. "Not yet. I'm getting worried something worse has happened to her. I've had some of the guards searching around and they've found no sign of her."

"I can cover more ground flying on my sword. Do you want me to look around?"

"There's no need for that," a voice said from behind them.

They turned around and saw Cadance standing right in front of them, smiling.

Shining Armor rushed up to her frantically. "Cadance! Are you okay? What happened to you? Where have you been? Are you hurt anyway?"

Cadance brushed him off. "I'm fine. Some mare calling herself Nightmare Moon ambushed me in my room last night. After that I blacked out. I don't know what happened, but when I woke up I was back in my room without a scratch and the sun shining. I'm guessing that Nightmare Moon is gone?"

Sword Shield nodded. "Yes, she is gone. It turns out Celestia's student, Twilight Sparkle, defeated her along with her friend's help."

Cadance looked at him in surprise and delight. "Twilight and her friends? Really? That's amazing!"

He was equally surprised. "You know Twilight?"

"Cadance used to be her foalsitter," said Shining Armor.

Cadance nodded. "I always knew Twilight was an amazingly gifted unicorn. I don't think there could be anypony better to defeat Nightmare Moon."

Sword Shield shuffled his hooves awkwardly along the ground. "That's neat, I guess. I need to speak with Princess Celestia, and also my family, if that's alright?"

"Go ahead," said Shining Armor.

"Thanks. I'll report back within the hour, Captain." He saluted and quickly trotted off towards the castle.

By now Celestia had returned along with her reunited sister. Sword Shield decided to take the time to apologize to Celestia and meet the new Princess. He came into the throne room where Celestia was sitting and bowed.

"Princess Celestia," he started, looking down at the ground with guilt as he continued. "I am... sorry, Princess... I have failed in my duty to protect you, and I wasn't able to stop Nightmare Moon."

Celestia stood up and walked over to him, making him look her in the eye. "It's all right, Swordulan. There was nothing you could have done. Nightmare Moon was too powerful to be defeated by conventional means. You are very brave to have faced her alone."

He smiled briefly. "Thank you, Princess... but I still regret what happened. However I'm glad you are safe now. Do you know if I may be able to meet your sister? There are a few things I would like to say to her as well."

She smiled widely. "Of course, I'm sure she will be glad to meet you. Would you like to see her right now?"

"That would be great, Your Highness."

The two walked out of the throne room, down a hallway, through some corridors and into one of the castle bedrooms. Celestia walked in first.

"Luna, there's somepony here that would like to meet you," she said. Sword Shield walked in behind Celestia and saw her sister lying on the bed looking out the window. Celestia began the introductions. "Luna, this is Swordulan Thunder Shield. Swordulan, this is my younger sister, Luna."

Luna glanced over to him shyly. "Oh, greetings. It is good to meet you."

Sword Shield bowed respectively. "It's nice to finally meet you too, Princess Luna. I'm afraid I don't know much about you other than what happened a thousand years ago. I would like to change that however."

Luna cringed. "Yes, I... I don't really want to be reminded what happened. It was a terrible thing I did, to you, to everypony in Equestria. I hope that you are well after our brief encounter?"

"I am fine, thanks. It's kind of strange meeting you, hours ago I was set on trying to defeat you, or well, Nightmare Moon. Err," he facehoofed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up again, it's rather hard not to and I apologize."

"Luna is making up for her mistakes," said Celestia. "Don't worry about it Swordulan. I will be helping her learn to fix what she has done. I'm going to need more help ruling Equestria as it is."

"Thank you, Sister," said Luna with a smile. She looked back towards the window. "You must forgive me, but I would rather be alone with my thoughts right now. Thank you for coming by, and you needn't apologize."

Sword Shield nodded. "Alright, but if it means anything, I really am sorry. If you ever need anything, I would be honored to help."

They left the room and he turned to Celestia with a bow. "Thank you Princess Celestia, but I need to get back to my post. Is there anything you need from me though?"

Celestia smiled and shook her head. "No, that's alright. Thank you for what you said to Luna, I'm sure it made her very happy to hear. She's going to need a lot of help the next few weeks. It's hard being away for a thousand years and suddenly coming back, and I've been so busy I don't have much time to help her fit in."

"If it makes you feel any better, I think she would do fine. Farewell, Princess."

He walked away and zig-zagged around the castle until he found the exit and made it to his post on the wall. He saw Arden and Swifty on their regular patrol and took his own place nearby.

"Hey, Sword Shield, isn't it great?!" said Swifty excitedly. "The Princess is back, and the so called Nightmare Moon is defeated! Not to mention we have a new Princess with us too!"

"Yup, everything's back to normal, more or less," said Sword Shield a little less enthusiastically. "Let's just hope it stays that way for a while."

"Agreed," said Arden. "I didn't think so early in my recruitment would there be so much excitement. I'm glad it's over. Now I can worry about my training and patrolling shifts instead of being stuck in an Eternal Night." He shivered at the thought. Sword Shield let out a huff and continued on his watch of the wall for the rest of the day.

Later after sunset, Shining Armor stopped by as Sword Shield was about to leave his shift.

"You never reported in," said Shining Armor a little worried. "Is everything okay?"

"Oh. I guess I forgot," said Sword Shield a little clumsily. "Everything's fine."

"Did you talk to your family?"

"No... I didn't feel like facing my dad, especially after what happened with Celestia."

"You did your best, there's nothing else you could have done. I would send you over to your father right now and command you to tell him what happened if it weren't for how late it is."

Sword Shield sighed. "I couldn't. Captain, permission to ask you a question?"

"Go ahead."

"Are you afraid of anything?"

Shining Armor looked at him with a hint of surprise. "Of course I am. I'm afraid that if I don't do my job correctly my friends and family might be in danger, and I'm afraid that if I make a mistake somepony else will pay the price for it. There are a lot of things I'm afraid of, and I'm sure each and every Royal Guard has something they're scared of too. But part of our training is to help us swallow our fears and face them. You can't let fear take over your actions, because it's just a lie."

Sword Shield looked away shamefully. "I'm not sure if I'm able to face my fears just yet."

Shining Armor laughed. "Are you kidding? Sword Shield, when I saw you engage that hydra those weeks back I saw a Royal Guard who's confidence and bravery knows no bounds. You swooped down and caught me before I hit the ground in the chasm, thinking nothing of the danger. If you can do something like that, I'm sure you can face one small fear."

"I'm simply afraid that I'll disappoint my father." He remembered the painful years of his foalhood like they only happened days ago. "He was always pushing me to be the best, to be like my grandfather, and for the longest time I hardly was. I don't want to live in the shadow of my grandfather."

"I understand. But in the morning I want you to go over to your father's home and tell him exactly what happened, and that's an order. It will be a training assignment to know if you are able to face your fears. I'll expect a report in the afternoon. Goodnight."

"Yes Sir. Goodnight."

Author's Note:

I'd like to impart a bit of wisdom on what Shining Armor means when he said fear is just a lie. There's a phrase I've heard that says "Avoid fear, although fear is simply the consequence of every lie." Fear happens when we believe a lie. To overcome fear we must trace our fear backwards until we find the lie that we believe, and seek truth so that we will no longer be afraid.

Comments

[The Tyrannical]

The name Sword Shield isn't really a good one, in my opinion. It's like calling a pony "Fire Water".

Here's a bunch of different names:
Shimmering Shield
Sturdy Shield
Valorous Shield
Iron Shield
Steel Shield
Bronze Shield
Whatever Shield
Butt Shield

Okay, maybe not those last two.

[Himntor]

1998696

The way I see it is that everypony has a silly name. Is it any worse than 'Shining Armor'? Probably, but I think I feel too connected to the name to change it now. Unless I change it to something like Bodacious Shield...