Another arrival
Celestia's rein resulted in a 1000 years of peace in equestria. Did you ever wonder how though? And for that matter, was she always really alone in solving the problems?
New Captain of the Royal Guard's POV
October 5th. Time to introduce the new troops. Equestria is a peaceful place, and as such has never needed an extremely strong standing military. Having the equivalent of a god in charge is usually enough reason for other nations not to attack. As a result, the amount of new recruits each year is small, less then a hundred usually. As such the princess has always been insistent on meeting them all herself. No reason not to, I suppose.
This is my first year introducing them, as Captain Shining Armor got "transferred" and I was put in charge in his stead. I've only been here 8 years myself so I was a bit surprised at the promotion, but then again age isn't usually what they are looking at here when they give us "this" position. Skill and loyalty are the key factors, or so I hear.
Anyway, this batch of recruits does look promising. Only 67 of them, but good ponies none the less. Most aren't the brightest, but they are all strong hearted and never quit no matter what form of Tartarus we put them through. And since we recently upped the difficulty in basic, that does say something. Hopefully she thinks as highly of them as I do.
As she approaches, I bow as usual and then follow her to the grounds. She looks over the batch of new recruits and smiles. One by one she approaches each, asks their name, new station, and reason for being here. All of them look suprised, overjoyed, or frightened by her presence. One of them in the third row is just staring in pure awe. Nothing new there I suppose, as Blazing Hope has always been easily impressed by the world around her. And the princess of all things is far more magnificent then the skies she's usually enamored with. She calms down though and smiles happily at her highness as she approaches. She does the usual bow we all must do, but unlike the rest she looked straight into the princess' face while speaking to her. Bold little one. The princess though...seems more shocked then I expected. I mean, there have been other recruits as bold. Doing so myself was one way I impressed her when I was new, as had Shining Armor when he was new himself. So why did she freeze up in front of this recruit?
"Escort her into the hall, now! Take her to the Royal study, I will meet her there shortly." The princess barked at me. This was...new. This had never happened before, as far as I knew. What had excited her so much by little Blazing Hope? The little Pegasi was strong and brave-a bit eccentric as well-but nothing usually stood out that much on her from first look. I did as I was told though, escorted the thoroughly confused recruit to her destination. What had gotten into the princess?
Celestia's POV
'Stay calm. Stay calm. It's all right, it just began. She's not dead yet, it will be alright. Just continue on like normal for now, I have to stay strong for the new troops.' I think on repeat as I finish the rest of the troops like normal. I still had a little over half the recruits left by the time I found her, so I had a while before I could return to my surprise reoccurrence. This makes six times now, doesn't it? Six times I found this one.
After finishing, I do a quick final speech before heading back. Honestly, my head wasn't in it. I was far more focused on her arrival. She was back! One of them was back!
When I found her in the study, she was distracted by the world around her, as expected. I chuckle lightly. She was always fond of new things. Books, creatures, art. Anything new always fascinated her; until she got distracted by something else that is. She had the attention span of a fly, but the mind of a scholar. Funny little pony she always was.
At my noise she jumped and spun around. She bowed as usual before standing at attention.
"Now none of that. I invited you here, stop looking so formal." I say with a small smile. She relaxes fairly quickly, smiling back.
"So what is it you wanted me for, your highness?" She asks happily, absorbing herself with my presence this time instead of the study.
"Come, sit. I have a new job for you. I'm sure you would do just fine as a post guard, but I had something else in mind. How are you with negotiations?"
"I'm not the best at holding my toung, but I did study sociology before coming here. Why though?" She asks, head cocked and looking quite confused. She had a good reason to be, too. No guards are usually reassigned on their first year, as they need to obtain experience on the force first. She wasn't just any guard though, whether she remembered it or not.
"I was thinking of reassigning you as an ambassador. You seem direct and dependable, I think you would do well as an agent to reaffirm ties with our allies." She would too, always has. And as long as I keep her off the front lines, away from the enemy, maybe I can keep history from repeating. "How does a post in Griffonstone sound?"
"I'm honored by your decision! I would gladly take the job!" I smile and send her off to pack. This will work. Send her somewhere with troubles but nothing violent, perfect. Maybe I can save HER this time, and not the other way around.
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When you live for a millennium, you get to see things others would miss. You get to see the land corrode and reform, the earth changing itself. You get to see new settlements start up, new species sprout up. You see generations live and die. And as a result...you see when some repeat.
So far I've found five. Five different people that I call Reincarnates. After all, that's what they do. In different times and different places, they reincarnate with the same name, the same cutie mark(in the ponies cases), and a similar body. Each one always pops up to fix a specific problem, but none of them ever remember it the next time around.
Earthen Star has popped up three times; always to protect an endangered, intelligent species from dying. The Diamond Dogs, Breazies, and Minotaurs have all nearly gone extinct before, and her intervention has always managed to preserve them.
Living Nightmare always pops up before a major natural disaster, and as such has popped up the most. Eight times he has appeared, stopping two floods, two major firestorms, and three different tornadoes.
Frozen Movement pops up when advancement stops. When the ponies aren't improving, aren't inventing or striving to grow, he appears to nudge them along or create the new path himself. He has only appeared twice. Once when I was young, and once a century ago.
Healing Wind pops up in times of plague. Four times has Equestria faced an illness that nearly decimated the population, and each time she reappeared to help find a cure.
Blazing Hope pops up before times of war. Her use is closer to Earthern Star and Living Nightmare. Unlike Frozen Movement and Healing Wind who pop up after the problem has started, the other three are preventative creatures that pop up to stop a problem from ever happening. No matter who it is though or what the problem is, they never manage to stop or fix it without DYING. I never get to thank them, they never get rewarded, and sometimes I never find them until it's too late. That has happened too much with Living Nightmare and Blazing Hope, and I refuse to let it happen again. I'm a millennium old now. I can prevent this war without her intervention. She can live a nice, long, peaceful life as a negotiator to prevent war, instead of dying in the first conflict. I can fix this.
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She died again. Before she joined my troops, she had apparently been in Canterlot for the royal wedding, and got involved in the Changeling attack. She was fine at the time, and had joined my guard after, so I never thought on that information after the captain told me of it. Three months later she's dead. She went to the forces to negotiate apparently as she was now one of my trusted ambassadors, and had managed to make friends with Queen Christalis. Then managed to get herself killed when trying to stop a Changeling attack on Griffonstone. The Queen is now willing to negotiate a peace treaty with both Griffonstone and Eqestria. Blazing Hope did her job again. She most likely only joined my army so she could legitimately make that treaty. And I still didn't get to thank her. Sigh. Maybe next time.