> The Story of a Royal Guard [OUTDATED]
>  by Himntor
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Growing Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Story of Swordulan Thunder Shield


Swordulan Thunder Shield (though he prefers to simply be called Sword Shield) is a Canterlot born unicorn pony. He was raised by his father Steadfast Shield and mother Sacred Shield. He has a light orange-ish brown coat, bright orange and yellow mane and tail and light blue eyes. 

As a foal, Sword Shield was always on the look for learning new things. He was fairly bright for a young colt, if not a bit childish in his studies. He would question anything and everything in the books, and sometimes even complain if there were things he did not understand. The one subject that interested him most of all was the use of magic. He would constantly go to the Canterlot libraries and pick up new books about simple magic and historical magicians, studying them day and night and slowly learning how to use his own magic.

Sword Shield's father, Steadfast, had always talked to him about his father, who was a very high ranking Royal Guard, long since deceased. Steadfast looked down on Sword Shield to live up to his father and his greatness in the Royal Guard. He had wanted to join the Guard himself in his early years, but during his foal-hood he fell off a bridge and sustained an injury to his left leg, making him unable to go to training, and by the time it healed, Steadfast had already gotten his cutie mark and special talent in working well with numbers and money. 

Steadfast talked about his father like he was one of the most important ponies in all of Equestria, telling stories about his time serving Celestia as a Captain. He wanted Sword Shield to begin training for the Royal Guard instead of learning magic, and constantly shoved it at him.

"You will not be great like your grandfather by studying magic all day!" Steadfast would say to Sword Shield. 

Much to Sword Shield's dismay, his father had signed him up for Young Colt Training Academy to one day be a Royal Guard. He was working double time, training with a wooden sword and hard work outs by day, learning magic by night. Sword Shield was always exhausted, and it was starting to show in his training. He was slowly failing his classes, and even when he tried to learn magic he would simply fall asleep on the books. His father began to take away his books and scolded him for not training harder, but Sword Shield was too stubborn to let his father take away his love for magic.

"I want to learn magic! Dad won't let me, but will you let me Mom?" Sword Shield asked his mother. She sighed and agreed to talk to Steadfast about it. Soon his response came forward. 

"I will agree to letting you go to the School for Magically Gifted Unicorns IF you complete your training," said Steadfast.

Sword Shield agreed immediately, and was soon able to continue training without strain. Though he could continue training without being constantly exhausted, he was still struggling with it all the same. He wasn't able to hold a sword upright in his mouth or hooves, and was still failing his classes. 

One day in an arena match he was up against another unicorn that was much better than himself, and used magic to hold his sword instead of with his hooves or his mouth. Sword Shield finally saw that he didn't need to use his hooves to hold his sword as other earth and pegasus ponies did, but could use his magic instead, so he copied the other unicorn. Luckily at the time he had already learned how to use levitation magic on small objects.

Their match began, and his opponent took the first attack. Sword Shield barely managed to deflect the hit. Using magic to fight would take a bit of practice. He was in the small arena fighting for roughly five minutes, trying to deflect blow after blow that was thrown at him by his opponent. He attempted to attack himself but was always countered back. 

His father watched from the sidelines with a disapproving look on his face. Suddenly there was a loud noise and a bright flash of color in the distance. Everypony was distracted except Sword Shield who was too focused on trying to deflect the blows from his opponent, but once he noticed that his opponent was distracted he saw it as a moment of opportunity. He attacked quickly and was able to drive back his opponent out of the ring and be claimed the victor. Everypony watching was shocked at Sword Shield's sudden comeback, including his father. 

That's when Sword Shield's cutie mark appeared. It was a bright orange kite shield, with an iron sword crossing over it. There were also six cyan stars surrounding it, meaning that he had a special magic talent along with being good with a sword and a shield, at least that's what he expected. He was ecstatic about his victory and cutie mark's appearance. 

The crowd cheered at Sword Shield's victory in the arena and congratulated him on his cutie mark as well. He began to start wielding a sword using his magic, constantly practicing new attacks and defensive stances. He was soon able to outclass many of his opponents in training, and was winning more and more arena fights. 

When his training at the academy was finished his father kept to his deal and let him sign up at the School for Magically Gifted Unicorns. After how well he had been performing during training his father decided it was a good idea to learn more about magic as it would help him even more if he were to become a Royal Guard.

Sword Shield was required to do an entrance exam. A cart was brought in with three items on top; a large rock, a full glass of water and a ball. He was tasked to do different things with each item: Successfully levitate the glass of water for 30 seconds without spilling a drop, levitating the rock in the air for a whole minute without dropping it and finally spinning the ball around his head 20 times without losing focus.

He looked at the three objects curiously and began to use his magic on the glass of water. It was filled to the brim and nearly impossible to hold it with levitation magic without spilling. Sword Shield quickly put it back down and continued to think. An idea struck his mind and he quickly but carefully levitated the glass to his mouth and drank all the water, in addition to that he levitated the ball and placed it on top of the glass and spun the glass around his head 20 times in 30 seconds time.

Sword Shield put the two objects back down and looked over at the judges, who were staring at him in surprise. They nodded their heads and motioned towards the rock on the cart. He began to use his levitation magic on it. He tried to hold it up in the air for a minute, but was only able to reach 10 seconds before having to put it back down.

"I can't hold it, I'm not strong enough, I'm sorry," said Sword Shield with a frown. He started to walk out of the exam room when one of the judges called out.

"Wait one moment young colt, we have evaluated your performance and will gladly accept you as a student here at the School," said one of the judges.

Sword Shield looked at them wide eyed. "What? Really? But... I failed the last test!"

"Indeed you have, but you see, no students have been able to lift that rock. That test is to see if students are willing to accept a failure. The other tests however, you have done most exceptionally."

Sword Shield jumped with delight. "Yes! Thank you! I promise to be a good student." 

He began studying magic at the School at a much higher difficulty. The other students were tough, not by strength though, but by intellect. During class they were all knee deep in paperwork and books. One little lavender filly was absolutely surrounded by books.

"You the new student?" asked a burgundy colt sitting at the desk next to Sword Shield.

"Y-yes," answered Sword Shield, "And you are?"

"Arcane is my name, magic is my game," introduced Arcane confidently, "How about you?"

"Sword Shield."

"Ah, so you're more of a fighting kind of pony huh?" He poked Sword Shield's legs. "Those are some muscles on you, I hope you're ready to stretch those brain muscles for a change."

Sword Shield looked around nervously. "Me too."

"Well good, and if you ever need any help with learning magic you can always come to me for help."

Sword Shield slowly came through Magic School, learning about the art of magic and where it comes from, learning more about large historical magicians such as Starswirl the Bearded, Clover the Clever and even the Princess herself, even more information than books had ever covered, it was overwhelming.

But Sword Shield persevered, albeit slowly. He never came to any pony for help, confident that he could do it himself, though he was not always successful in his projects. He constantly tried new things with magic, many times failing, but every now and then a successful spell was cast and he was congratulated by the class.

Eventually the class began to learn the bigger spells, teleportation magic specifically. Sword Shield learned that there are few unicorns that have been able to use the teleport spell. The entire class was taken through the process of learning how teleportation works and what it can do, going through every little detail. After they had all been taught the teacher had each student attempt to teleport.

Student after student attempted to teleport. Arcane tried and failed, most of the other students failed, the lavender book worm filly tried, and surprisingly succeeded. The class clapped their hooves in congratulations to the young mare. It then came to Sword Shield's turn. He walked up in front of the class confidently and focused his magic, closing his eyes. He felt his magic flowing around himself and in the air, in a quick flash of magic he disappeared and quickly reappeared a few feet forward. It was a success, the class congratulated him and continued with studying.

After Sword Shield finished learning magic at the school he went back to regular school and afternoon sword duels. A few years passed slowly by with not much of interest other than a short visit to Sword Shield's cousin's home. His cousin was named Stone Shield. The both of them had a little bit of a rivalry going on. 

Stone Shield was a few years older than Sword Shield and was an earth pony. He was also training to be in the Royal Guard and was very close to coming into recruitment. The two of them would duel from time to time, most of the time Stone Shield coming on top or Sword Shield running away. The day would yet come when Sword Shield would best Stone Shield.

The school years ended, and now it was time for Sword Shield to be submitted for recruitment into the Royal Guard. He sent an application to the castle and waited for a response. The response letter came a day later granting Sword Shield access to the castle grounds for training. He said his quick goodbyes to his parents and left for the castles recruiting area.

The guards let him through the gates and he found a group of other stallions that were here for recruitment. He joined the group in waiting for the commanding officer to show up. A few minutes passed before a white stallion came over to look at the new recruits. Everypony stood in a line at attention. The stallion moved down the row looking at each recruit.

"Good morning new recruits!" roared the stallion

"GOOD MORNING, SIR!" yelled back the recruits.

"I am Captain Shining Armor, you may address me as Captain or Sir. As you are all new recruits you will be needing weapons. My first order for you is to go out and forge a weapon of your choice, you may choose either a spear, sword or bow. You will be expected to meet back here in two hours with your provided weapon, and will be judged on the quality of your weapon. Those who do not meet up to standards will be sleeping outside tonight." Shining Armor blew a whistle and sent everypony on their way to make a weapon.

Sword Shield left out the castle and decided to forge his own sword. He stopped by the library to pick up a book on metal crafting and read through it as he walked, using magic to hold it in place.  He decided to copy the sword on his cutie mark and went through the Canterlot markets purchasing the materials he would need. Using Steel, Equestrian Gold (which is much stronger than regular gold, and is often used in Royal Guard armor), and some leather to hold the sword, Sword Shield forged his own blade, using the book he borrowed as a guide. 

As an afterthought he also decided that he would enchant his sword using crystals and magic. During Magic School he read in a book that inanimate objects could be enchanted to be more powerful using crystals. 

"Why not enchant a sword?" he thought. 

He went out into the markets again to search for three crystals. He searched for over an hour, and at last he had found three diamond shaped, cyan colored crystals and purchased them with what bits he had left. 

Sword Shield had never heard of anyone using an enchanted sword before, but he thought it was such a good idea that he wanted to be the first to try. He quickly put slots into his swords hilt using magic and fit the crystals into the hilt. Now it was time to enchant the sword, but he hadn't learned that spell yet. 

With what time he had left he visited one of his professors that had taught him back in Magic School and asked him how he could enchant his sword using the crystals. After going over the spell, how it was cast and how it worked he laid the sword down and attempted the spell. With one bright shimmer the crystals came to life glowing brightly. It had worked. The sword pulsed once with magic and simmered down. The professor congratulated him quickly and insisted that he had to get back to work. 

As Sword Shield left the school the sword exploded in a flurry of energy, filling the room with light for a few seconds. He shielded his eyes for a moment then looked back at the sword curiously. It didn't seem to have changed at all. He shrugged and continued on his way thinking the explosion must have been normal in enchanting. 

While on his way back Sword Shield built a small kite shield with the remaining supplies he had left and painted it orange, similar to his cutie mark. Style had to count, right? Sword Shield was the last one to get back to the castle grounds. Shining Armor noticed and chided him for being the slowest out of everyone. He then began examining all the weapons that everypony had managed to make. 

Sword Shield thought all the other recruit's weapons were decent, but they seemed to make them rather plain. Normal wood and iron spears and swords, he felt proud that his seemed to stand out the most. The Captain's face was blank and unreadable however, he examined each weapon for well over five minutes, it seemed like it had been an eternity when he finished. 

Shining Armor stepped in front of everypony and made his judgement. "You've all done very well, no pony will be sleeping outside tonight, I merely said that to get your rumps moving. Those who did not make an adequate enough weapon will be given one more chance to perfect it. I'll leave you to the trainers from now on. Report to your designated trainer, and I will check on you all tomorrow morning."

Another guard came over and assigned each recruit to their trainers. Sword Shield was assigned to his own trainer along with a few other recruits and began to do straining workouts, arena duels and fighting dummy's. There were trainers for each type of pony, earth, pegasus and unicorn, that way it was easier to train them in their type of combat style. Pegasi being good archers and hit and run attackers, earth ponies are good at being unstoppable walls of meat, and unicorns made great weapon specialists. Sword Shield continued in practice with his sword, learning defensive and aggressive positions. Shining Armor checked the recruits on a daily basis for how much they were improving. 

During training Sword Shield had bested most of the other recruits in the duels, since his sword had been enchanted he seemed to have a better control over it and managed to be able to sneak up on his opponents. He wasn't doing too well in the exercises, his physical strength wasn't his most strong point and was constantly pushed around for being the 'weaker pony'. 

"You only won because you know more magic than we do, egghead," said some of the guards after Sword Shield had won a duel. 

He did his best to ignore them. Knowing that he was still the better fighter in the arena helped, but only time would tell when his combat skills would truly work in a real battle.
> Duty and Training
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	After a month of training, Sword Shield got his first shift on duty. He patrolled the walls for most of the day and found it much more relaxing than training, being able to enjoy the break from the workouts and duels and constant shouting of the trainers. It was boring, for the most part, but the boredom was a welcome change to all the stress and paperwork. There were hardly any large tasks for a Royal Guard to do in Equestria, considering it was a rather safe place, but it was still necessary to have the best training in case anything went horribly wrong, whatever the case may be.

Sword Shield had been patrolling the Canterlot walls for a week when Shining Armor assigned him a new position. He was to be a guard for another Princess named Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or simply Princess Cadance. He was surprised at the early new position, and even argued against it.

"Shouldn't somepony with higher rank and experience be a guard for a Princess?" he asked.

"It's not that big of a change, Princess Cadance just has a small shortage of guards and I want you to fill that empty slot," answered Shining Armor. "Your training scores are more than high enough, so don't sweat it."

Sword Shield saluted his Captain and trotted over to the castle and to Princess Cadance's chambers. He gave a knock on the door and it opened up to show Princess Cadance inside 

"Princess Cadance, Captain Shining Armor has assigned me a new position as one of your guards," said Sword Shield while saluting. "Reporting in for duty."

"Thank you, what is your name?" asked Cadance.

"Swordulan Thunder Shield, though I prefer Sword Shield. Why do you ask?" 

"I like to know all my guard's names, so I know you more specifically. So, you're one of the Shields?"

Sword Shield nodded. "Yes, my grandfather was one of the previous Captains in the Royal Guard. Is there anything you need me to do for you, Princess?"

Cadance smiled. "You can just call me Cadance. And no, I don't think there's anything I need as of right now. You may stand guard outside the door for now. If I need you I'll call."

"Alright then, Cadance."

Sword Shield stood guard outside of Cadance's quarters, occasionally seeing a servant come and go. By the end of the day he heard a call from inside the room.

"Sword Shield, come in here for a moment please," said Cadance, her voice being muffled from the door.

Sword Shield curiously approached the door and opened it. Cadance was standing in the middle of the room holding two different dresses with her magic.

"I need an honest opinion, I'm going to dinner with Shining Armor soon, which dress do you think I should wear?" she asked.

"Uhh," Sword Shield looked at either dress and blushed. "I don't know much about that sort of thing."

Cadance rolled her eyes and sighed. "Just tell me which one you think looks better."

Sword Shield eyed the two dresses carefully and pointed to the right. "I think the white and blue one would look best. Plus, Shining Armor likes white and blue."

"Thank you," Cadance put the one dress away and started putting on the other using magic. "There we go, does it look good enough?" 

"It looks great, but why are you going to dinner with the Captain? Is it some sort of political thing?" It didn't seem normal to him for a Princess to be going to dinner with a Captain of the Royal Guard.

"It's just a date."

"Oh? So you're dating Shining Armor?" Sword Shield gave a sly grin.

Cadance sighed and put on her own grin. "Get out."

Sword Shield stood up tall and gave a salute. "Yes Princess, right away Princess. It will be like I was never here Princess."

"Get out! I'm going to dinner and I can't be bothered by smart Royal Guards!"

Sword Shield lowered his salute and walked backwards out the door with an exaggerated frown. The door shut and he was left back in the hallway. A Royal Guard came running down the hall to him.

"I heard shouting, is there something wrong?" asked the guard.

"No, Cadance is just having a dinner dilemma, nothing to be concerned about," answered Sword Shield.

The guard nodded and trotted back off to his position in the castle.

A month later Sword Shield was still serving under Princess Cadance as one of her own personal guards. It wasn't much more different than patrolling the walls, but there was more walking involved, mainly when Cadance left the castle. It was less boring, as Sword Shield had a short conversation with Cadance every now and then, though they were orders for the most part.

Sword Shield received news that his cousin, Stone Shield, had been kicked out of the Royal Guard, for reasons that were rather unclear. He had a short laugh to himself. 

"Sounds like my cousin got stoned," he thought.

One day while he was guarding Princess Cadance's room, Shining Armor came up to him.

"Sword Shield, I need to speak with you," he said.

Sword Shield saluted. "What is it, Captain?"

"There's two extra recruits today, and I don't have enough trainers for them. I need you to reassign as their trainer for a few months."

Sword Shield's eyes widened. "Me? I mean, I'm hardly qualified as a trainer." 

"I know, but you've shown some impressive records during your training, and there's nopony else who can spare their posts. Just teach them what you've learned, I'm sure you can do it."

Sword Shield nodded. "Alright Captain. Point me in the right direction."

Shining Armor pointed the way out of the castle. "The recruits are waiting for you in the training grounds. Good luck."

Sword Shield walked out of the castle and to the training grounds and found two recruits waiting. They immediately saluted at his presence. 

Sword Shield waved his hoof down. "At ease, there's no need to salute me. The Captain has assigned me the task of training you two recruits."

The two recruits lowered their hooves. 

"Arden Arrow reporting for training, Sir," said the first recruit. He was a Pegasus, his coat was a light red with a golden mane and tail, with his cutie mark being a flaming arrow. "You can simply call me Arden. This is my friend, Swifty Wishes."

"And you can just call me Swifty," said the other recruit. He was an Earth Pony, his coat was white with a blue mane, the typical look of most of the Royal Guards around Canterlot.

The two recruits were both rather young, ambitious and excited ponies. Sword Shield thought it would be quite a chore to bring them up to Royal Guard standards.

Sword Shield nodded. "Right. You can address me as 'Sword Shield', I'll have it no other way. I don't like all that 'sir' business, I'm no more important than you are, and remember that! The Royal Guards are here to keep Equestria and the Princesses safe, that is our primary duty, so let's get to work. Arden, what can you do?"

"Well, I'm a whiz with a bow and arrow," said Arden. "Do you want me to demonstrate?" 

"By all means. Try hitting the target over by the wall."

There was a round hay target with a large red dot in the middle. Arden confidently pulled out his bow and arrow and aimed towards the target.

Fling!

The arrow was launched straight at the target, it hit right outside the edge of the red dot. Swifty clapped his hooves in congratulations while Arden gave a short bow.

"Not bad," said Sword Shield. "By the time I'm done training you I want you to be able to hit the exact middle of the dot. Got that?"

Arden nodded. "I will practice my best."

Sword Shield turned to Swifty. "What about you, Swifty? Show me what you can do."

"Well, I don't mean to brag, but watch this," Swifty took off towards the target at incredible running speeds. He jumped up onto the hay target, grabbed the arrow that was embedded in it with his mouth and launched up to the wall  and climbed up on top of it in a single bound. He spit out the arrow. "How was that?"

"Impressive! Now come down here before I have Arden use you as his next target!"

Swifty jumped off the wall and landed back on the grass with a roll. He walked back beside Arden and turned to Sword Shield. "So, what about you?"

Sword Shield tilted his head. "Me?"

"Yeah, what can our trainer do?"

"Oh, I'm good at dueling with a sword."

"That's it?" 

Sword Shield shrugged. "I haven't really tried anything else. I did enchant my sword when I forged it, but I'm not sure what I can do with it besides fight." He hadn't used it much at all in fact, having been collecting dust in his sheath for the past few weeks.

"Then try something new, see what you can do!"

"I'm supposed to be training you, not the other way around."

"Aw come on, show us a few tricks. You are a unicorn after all, show what you can do with your magic."

"Fine fine fine. Give me some room, I'll try something." Sword Shield took out his sword using magic and twirled it around for a second. He spun it up like a lawn-mower blade and flew it around the air with ease. After a few crafty swings with the sword he flung it at the target and hit the direct center. The two recruits applauded his accuracy.

"Wow, nice shot. How did you manage that fancy swinging so gracefully?" asked Arden.

"Lots of practice, to the point it all feels natural to me now," answered Sword Shield as he put away the sword. "I guess it's just because my skills with magic and the sword when put together are pretty good."

"You're lucky, we have to use our hooves or mouth to fight. It's still as effective, but more difficult."

"Me lucky? Nah, you can fly, I can't do that. I don't know the spell to grow wings. I'm good at magic, but not that good. I can only do some fancy magic using swords or a shield, or short range teleportation and small transfiguration spells, but those can be dangerous."

"Why not use your sword to fly?" asked Swifty.

"My sword? I don't think that's how it works."

"I mean make your sword grow bigger, stand on it and fly around! I'm sure you can do it. I've seen the unicorns in plays do it all the time when I was younger."

Sword Shield thought for a moment. Would standing on an object while levitating it even work? Unicorns in the past could never seem to do that. There was only one way to find out if such a thing were possible. He brought his sword back to him and used his magic to make the sword larger. He shaped it into a surfboard like shape and dulled the edges of the sword to not accidentally hurt anypony. 

"Here goes nothing,"  said Sword Shield as he stepped onto the sword carefully and levitated it upwards. He struggled to maintain his balance, but managed to get five feet into the air. 

"Would you look at that! You can fly, or at least float," said Arden excitedly. He flew up into the air himself to get a better view. "See if you can move around."

Sword Shield kept his focus on his hooves. "I don't know about this," He slowly lurched forward on his sword, moving at a snails pace. He wobbled too far to the right and lost balance, then accidentally sped up the sword so fast he fell off with the sword crashing into the wall. Arden and Swifty chuckled as he clumsily stood back up. "I think that's enough of that."

Sword Shield started to get to work on training the new recruits. The rest of the day consisted of teaching them what the Royal Guard was about and their roles as one of them. 

The weeks passed by, and Sword Shield continuously trained the two recruits up to standards, but one thing in the back of his mind kept bugging him. Could he really use his sword to fly? On a day off he decided to leave the busy city of Canterlot to go to a clear open field for testing his abilities. He brought out his sword and stared at it for a short while, then used magic to transform it into a surfboard again. He laid it on the ground and stood on top, and as slowly and carefully as he could he raised himself up into the air. 

He once again struggled to maintain his balance, so he used his magic to shape the sword for more balance and grip. He moved slowly through the air, keeping low to the ground in case he fell off. A bee flew by and landed on his nose, it frightened him and he accidentally sped forward, giving a short yell as he fell off the sword.

"Dirty rotten bees," he grumbled as he stomped back to where the sword had crashed and transformed it back to normal.

Instead of trying to fly he tried to figure out what else he might be able to do. He sat down and stared at it for a while, contemplating possible spells to use on the sword.

"That's it!" he exclaimed. In a hurry he levitated his sword a distance away from himself and focused his magic on its position.

Flash.

Sword Shield disappeared and reappeared right on the sword's position. 

"It can be used as a teleport beacon," he thought. 

He again levitated the sword, even further from his position and out of view. He used his magic to locate the sword once again.

Flash.

Another successful teleport. Teleport spells weren't meant to work unless you knew where you were teleporting to. All of this baffled Sword Shield, as normally he wasn't able to teleport so far without straining his horn. He also realized how easy it was to transfigure his sword, and picked up a rock with his magic and attempted to transfigure the rock into a flower. He struggled, using as much of his magic as possible, and finally managed to change the rock into a flower. He massaged his head a moment, and watched the flower as it quickly faded and turned back into a rock.

"But the sword's shape isn't temporary," he thought.

He transfigured his sword once again to the size of a surfboard, much easier this time than trying to change the rock. He stepped onto it carefully, and used a grounding spell on his hooves to glue him to the sword so he wouldn't fall off. He lifted himself up into the air and carefully moved forward. His sense of balance was off, and he wobbled back and forth, but he never fell thanks to the grounding spell. 

Over the next few hours he continued to practice flying on his sword, slowly getting better and increasing his balance. By the end of the day he could fly over tree tops at low speeds without needing his grounding spell to keep him on the sword.

"That's some fancy flying there, Sword Shield," said a mare's voice from out behind Sword Shield while he was practicing his flying. He stumbled and accidentally fell off his sword. He turned in the direction the voice had come from and saw Cadance.

"Cadance, what are you doing here?" he asked, massaging his sore flank. "You gave me a bit of a scare. Shouldn't you be at the castle?"

Cadance giggled. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. This is where I like to come when I'm feeling a bit... overworked. It's very peaceful, and it helps me think. What are you doing here?"

Sword Shield teleported his sword to him and prepared to fly again. "I'm practicing."

"What sort of practice?"

"I'm trying to see if I can fly using my sword. My knowledge of magic and spells is limited, but somehow I've managed to morph my sword larger and am able to fly on it. Watch this," He jumped back onto his sword and took to the sky. He flew around in a circle and zoomed back down to the ground, jumping off and landing safely on the ground. It was a quick and short trick.

Cadance applauded. "Wow, impressive. If you can fly that fast using magic just today, with practice you might be able to match against the Wonderbolts some day."

Sword Shield was flattered but shrugged it off. "I couldn't match the Wonderbolts, they're way too professional. Besides, I'm in the Royal Guard, I have other duties to attend to. But thanks for the compliment."

"You deserve it, not many unicorns are that creative."

"I guess. So if you come here when you're overworked, what's the matter?"

"Oh, it's nothing really. I've just been having to make a lot of hard decisions lately, I don't really want to talk about it if that's okay."

"I see. Well I'll be going, it's almost time for bed. See you later Cadance." Sword Shield started walking back to Canterlot. Half way there he glanced at his sword. 

"Maybe I can teleport back to the castle using my sword," he thought. He lifted the sword and used a Sight Seeing spell on it. 

A Sight Seeing spell is normally placed anywhere, on an object or in the air, and allows the unicorn casting it to see the area that the spell was looking at, kind of like a camera, but invisible. Not a very difficult spell, but most unicorns with only basic magic knowledge still wouldn't know how to cast it. The Royal Guard unicorns were required to know the spell to act as security camera's. 

After the spell was complete, Sword Shield was suddenly able to see through his sword. He levitated it towards Canterlot at high speed and found a clear spot to land it at the barracks. He shook his head from the vertigo of using the spell and attempted to locate the sword with his magic. Once he felt he had a lock on, he used his teleport spell.

Flash.

Sword Shield reappeared outside of the Royal Barracks and returned to his personal bunk for a good night's sleep.
> Hydra and Family Problems
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Sword Shield woke up with the sensation he was being shaken. There was shouting, relatively close by but it sounded like a mile away.

"Shmmph Shmph!" somepony said. Sword Shield regained his senses and a panicking Shining Armor came into focus. Shining Armor was apparently the one shaking his bunk and shouting. He wondered what all the fuss was about.

"Sword Shield! Wake up!" said Shining Armor.

Sword Shield slowly rolled out of his bunk and stood up, shaking his head. "What's going on?"

Shining Armor was all suited up, he started tossing Sword Shield his armor, which he put on quickly.

"I need your help," said Shining Armor as Sword Shield got suited up. "There have been some hydras spotted nearby, and Princess Celestia thinks they might threaten Canterlot. She's sent me to deal with them, and I want you to come with me."

Sword Shield's ears perked up to the sound of some action. "Hydras? Finally! I mean... yes Captain, right away. What about the rest of the Royal Guard? Are they going to help too?"

"The rest of the guard are to stay here and protect Canterlot, just in case. I might be able to take on one hydra alone, but in this case I think I'll need a bit of extra help, and right now you're my best candidate. Let's go." 

Right before they left the barracks Cadance came by and stopped them. "Be careful Shining Armor," she said, giving Shining Armor a quick hug. "And you too, Sword Shield."

"I'll try," said Sword Shield.

"Don't worry about us, we'll be fine and back before you know it," said Shining Armor. 

They ran out towards the gates of Canterlot and down into the forest. It was roughly daylight outside, and there was still morning fog hanging low to the ground. Most of the city hadn't even woken up yet. The two of them reached the forest below Canterlot in half an hour's time and stopped to catch their breath.

"So... where do you think... the hydras are?" said Sword Shield in between breaths.

Shining Armor looked around. "I'm not sure. I heard that you can fly on your sword, do you think you can fly above and see if you can spot them?" 

"How many hydras are there?"

"Just two, as far as I know."

"Okay... two hydras and two of us. No problem. I'll be right back." 

Sword Shield brought out his sword and morphed it into a surfboard shape. He hopped on and flew up into the air slowly, wobbling just a bit but he managed to find his grip. He looked out into the forest, and to the east he could see Foal Mountain and one of its large caves, which gave him an idea. Also to the east was a group of small moving heads, which he guessed to be one of the hydras.

He flew back down to Shining Armor and put his sword away. "Okay, one of the hydras seem to be to the east. Foal Mountain is also over in that direction. I think we should try to drive the hydras to Foal Mountain and into one of the caves there. We can seal the entrance off with magic or debris." 

Shining Armor nodded. "Good idea, thinking like a real Royal Guard Captain. The tricky part is getting its attention from a safe distance and then somehow getting it to the cave."

"I don't suppose magic will be able to factor in on our advantage?"

"No, hydras are too strong and aggressive. Levitation magic wouldn't work. But what might work is if I serve as a distraction," Shining Armor paused to think. "I can put a shield around myself to protect me from harm, while you get behind it and strike it from the backside. That will get enough of its attention to chase after you, and then you'll need to book it to the cave. Are you able to fly quickly enough?" 

"I think I can. Don't worry about me, just try to be careful yourself. I don't want to have to disappoint Cadance." 	

Shining Armor laughed. "I'm sure you don't. Let's go."

Shining Armor and Sword Shield continued eastward towards the hydra. Once they were in hearing distance of it they slowed down to a stop. Shining Armor motioned Sword Shield to veer right and get behind it. As for himself, he cast a shield bubble around him and walked over to the hydra.

Shining Armor waved at the hydra. "Hey, lobster boy, over here!"

The large four headed beast looked around in confusion then finally focused on Shining Armor. It roared at him with ferocity and began to pound on the shield Shining Armor had cast, but failed to penetrate.

On the other side, Sword Shield was sneaking around and getting ready to strike. He took out his sword and grew it larger to have a stronger hit on the hydra, and then jumped out. He took one large swipe at the hydra's backside and quickly turned around, transforming his sword to fly and jumping on. The hydra screeched in pain. It turned around and saw Sword Shield flying away, the hydra quickly gave pursuit after him as fast as its legs would carry it.

Sword Shield flew as fast as his magic and balance would let him. He reached Foal Mountain and the entrance to the cave. He flew inside with the hydra right behind him, and dodged left and right from being in a tighter space. Once he felt he had gone deep enough he whipped around and zoomed past the hydra back outside. He hopped off his sword and quickly changed its shape into a large wall to block the entrance of the cave. The hydra pounded on it furiously, but to no effect.

"Perfect. Now I just have to wait for Shining Armor to get here and put the real spell on the entrance," thought Sword Shield.

Half an hour passed, but there was still no sign of Shining Armor. Sword Shield continuously paced at the cave's entrance. "Had I really gotten so far ahead? Where the hay is the Captain? What if the other hydra found him? What if he's in trouble!?" he thought. 

He began to panic and paced around even faster, when there was a yell in the distance, which he recognized it as Shining Armor's voice, but he couldn't leave the cave entrance without risking the hydra escaping.

"Shining Armor! Over here!" he yelled as loud as he could, hoping that the sound might reach Shining Armor.

The ground started thumping. He could finally see Shining Armor in the distance, running for his life. Directly behind him was a giant hydra, much larger than the one Sword Shield had already trapped. Shining Armor finally was within hearing distance.

"It's too big for the cave!" he yelled.

He was forced to turn left, heading directly for a deep chasm. Sword Shield watched wide eyed as he led the giant hydra over to the chasm and jumped. The hydra followed right after, falling into the black pit. 

Sword Shield reacted as quickly as he could. He took down his sword from the cave entrance and shaped it into a surfboard with lightning speed. He jumped on and raced to the chasm. The hydra which was trapped was released and chased after him, but he ignored it and dived right into the chasm towards Shining Armor.

"Faster! Faster!" he thought. He accelerated and finally reached Shining Armor, swooping underneath and catching him right before he hit the rocky bottom. Flying back up Sword Shield could see the first hydra tumbling over the side. He quickly dodged to the right and avoided colliding with the beast. He reached the surface and landed, putting an unconscious Shining Armor on the ground, and caught his breath. He looked over the edge of the chasm, seeing both hydras were at the bottom, still alive. They stared up at Sword Shield and hissed, then stomped away.

Shining Armor stirred and sat up with a groan. "What happened?"

Sword Shield gaped at him. "You jumped off a cliff! Are you insane, Captain!?"

"How else was I supposed to get rid of the hydra on my back? Thanks for saving my rump though." Shining Armor stood back up and brushed off his armor.

"Don't mention it. Really, I'm sure Cadance would become upset. Let's get back to Canterlot and tell Celestia everything's been handled." 

Sword Shield used a Sight Seeing spell on his sword for a second time and started flying it back to Canterlot.

Shining Armor watched him curiously. "What are you doing?"

"Flying my sword to Canterlot, I hope. As far as I know I have almost unlimited range when using magic on my sword, I can simply fly it to where I want and teleport directly to the sword. I also want to see if I can teleport more than just myself to it."

"Let me guess, I'm going to be your test subject?"

Sword Shield laughed. "Yup." 

Shining Armor sighed but agreed. Sword Shield found a good spot to land the sword and cancelled his Sight Seeing spell. 

"You might want to put another shield around yourself, I'm not certain this will work, but it should."

Shining Armor skeptically put a bubble shield around himself again. Sword Shield focused his magic on both himself and Shining Armor and locked onto his sword.

Flash.

They reappeared in the air upside down and fell down to the ground. They'd teleported to the sword unscathed, but somehow managed to come out upside down. Shining Armor got up from the ground and shook his head from the sudden vertigo of teleporting into an upside down position.

"Nice job," said Shining Armor.

"I must have calibrated the pull of gravity wrong and made us teleport back upside down," said Sword Shield as he stood back up. "Sorry." 

Shining Armor began heading to the castle. "I'm going to go report to Celestia. I'm going to give you some time off today, so feel free to do whatever you want for an hour or two. You deserve it."

"Thanks, Captain. I'll report back in a few hours." 

Sword Shield decided to check on his parents, he hadn't payed them a visit for a few months now, mostly because of personal reasons. His father hadn't been particularly kind to him in the past, and what he might possibly say to him now frightened him slightly, but he couldn't just forget about his parents. His father was a very social and noble unicorn in Canterlot, and Sword Shield needed to show that he was too.

He swallowed his fears and walked down the road to his house, still wearing his full set of armor. He awkwardly approached his old home's door and knocked. The door opened and his mother, Sacred Shield, came into view. Her face lit up as she saw him standing in the door way and immediately gave him a hug. His mother was a white coated unicorn. Her mane and tail were short with light blue and purple colors, and she had forest green eyes. Sacred's cutie mark was a thermometer, and as such she worked at the Canterlot Hospital.

"My little Shield! How I've missed you," said Sacred, using the nickname she gave Sword Shield when he was young. She looked into his face. "What happened to you? You're all scratched up. Did something bad happen? Come here, let me fix you up."

"No Mom, I'm fine-"

Sacred grabbed Sword Shield by the ear and dragged him inside. "Nuh-uh! No excuses. You're a mess, come in, sit down."

Sword Shield sighed and sat down on the living room couch. "It's nothing mom, just a bit of hard work I had to do this morning."

Sacred began using a sponge to clean up Sword Shield's face. "I'm sure, but you need to be more careful, you could get an infection from one of those cuts. There, that should help." She walked back to the kitchen to put away her supplies. "Your father is still working at the bank, he should be back soon for a lunch break though." 

"Oh, that's okay, I was just coming for a quick visit."

"I see. So, how's work at the Royal Guard been?"

Sword Shield let out a long exhausted sigh. Going against two hydras was not a way to start a morning. "Relatively slow, but I'm getting to know Princess Cadance and the Captain more, and a few other interesting things are happening here and there."

Sacred came back with a cup of tea and sat on the couch. "Oh? Cadance seems very sweet. I wonder when she'll start actually ruling her own kingdom."

"Cadance doesn't rule anything?" It was surprising to him that Cadance hadn't any sort of part in ruling over Equestria. Even during his time as her guard he hadn't known.

"Not necessarily. She holds some political power as a Duchess, but she's mostly served the ponies around Canterlot. Well, some day I bet she'll stumble upon some area that she can rule over."

"Hmm... I'm sure she'd do a good job. I acted as her guard for a while so I know she's very good at making the citizens of Canterlot happy. Also, I seemed to have... gained some new spells, so to speak," Sword Shield glanced at his sword strung to his side.

"New spells? Like what?"

"It's my sword. When I first came into recruitment I was tasked to make my own weapon," Sword Shield brought out his sword. "I put crystals in the hilt and enchanted mine. No other Royal Guard ever used an enchanted weapon, at least not recently. Such a thing hadn't been heard of in over a thousand years. I wanted to be the first since then."

"How do you know it was that long ago?"

"One of my books I read when I was young. Anyway, because I enchanted it, it's much easier to use magic on. It's like I have unlimited connection to the sword. I was over at Foal Mountain earlier-" 

Sacred interrupted. "What were you doing all the way at Foal Mountain?"

"Nothing, I mean... just Royal Guard business. I was over at the mountain and I was able to use a Sight Seeing spell on the sword and levitate it all the way back to Canterlot without breaking a sweat, and then I teleported right back to it along with the Captain, who was with me at the time," he chuckled. "Of course, we teleported in backwards."

Sacred was now wide eyed. "You teleported that far?"

"Yeah, not only can I apparently teleport very long distances using my sword, I'm able to change its shape and size with ease. Watch this," he hopped up and changed his sword into the regular surfboard shape and jumped onto it and floated a few feet into the air. "I'm also able to fly on it."

Sacred gasped. "My goodness! Get down from there before you break something young stallion."

Sword Shield hopped off and put the sword away. "Sorry. I didn't even know that enchanting a weapon would be this useful, or why other Royal Guard's haven't thought of it before."

"I'm sure your father will want to see this as well." 

Sword Shield fidgeted in place. "Uh, I'll have to skip that. You can tell him yourself about how good I'm doing." He wanted to avoid any confrontation with his father.

"Don't you want to see him? It's been months now." Sacred wasn't aware that he didn't want to see his father, as she was always too busy working at the Canterlot hospital during Sword Shield's foalhood to notice he didn't like Steadfast.

"Yeah, of course I do, it's just I have duties to get back to at the castle." It was a lie. He could have easily stayed just a bit longer to see his father.

"Oh alright. I'll tell him myself, but you really must come by and show us both sometime."

Sword Shield nodded and headed for the door. "I will, I promise. I'll see you later mom."

"Alright, I love you, and stay safe!"

"I love you too, and I will."

Sword Shield left his parent's home and headed back to the castle, passing Arden and Swifty who both gave a quick salute and went back to their duties. He reported to Shining Armor and was sent to his regular post on the wall for the rest of the day.
> Nightmare Moon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A week later Sword Shield was assigned to help escort and guard Princess Celestia to the Summer Sun Celebration, where the Princess ceremonially raises the sun for everyone to see. He was honored to be a part of such a great event, looking forward to it so much he literally fell out of his bunk in excitement once he realized it was the day of the celebration.

After standing guard for the morning and afternoon he met up with Celestia and two other pegasi guards that were to pull her chariot. The celebration was to take place in Ponyville, which was strange to him as he had heard it was just a small farm town.

"Ready to go, Princess?" he asked while shaping his sword to fly next to the Princess.

"Yes, thank you," said Celestia. She watched curiously as he climbed onto his sword and hovered by her side. "I must say I'm impressed how quickly you have learned to fly like that. That must have been a powerful enchantment you put on the sword."

Sword Shield grinned. "Thanks, I'm still practicing though." He motioned the guards to start flying. They floated upwards and dashed forward into the late afternoon sky while he followed from behind.

By the time they arrived the sun was beginning to hide behind the faraway mountains, and a deep purple hue took over the blue sky. The chariot touched down at the town hall building and Sword Shield led Celestia to the second floor.

"I'm going to get ready in the dressing room," said Celestia. "The Summer Sun Celebration will start shortly after midnight, so that leaves us a few hours. You may stay and guard the door. I shouldn't be too long, but if somepony comes by you may tell them I am getting ready." 

He gave a nod and stood guard at the door. "So far, so good," he thought.

After an hour of waiting he was beginning to get anxious. This was a rather big event after all, and he would need to be at his best. The air grew thick around him and it became suffocating, unnaturally so. He shrugged it off for the time being, but as the next hour passed the feeling continued to mount, and he felt compelled to go outside for a moment. Surely the Princess wouldn't need anything if he was gone for a short break. He walked back outside to the chariot where the two pegasi guards were still waiting, conversing between each other. 

"You two," he said to them. "You can both head inside and warm up, I'll keep watch of the chariot."

The guards looked at each other and quickly unhooked themselves from the chariot and made their way into the town hall's main room, while Sword Shield remained next to the chariot to take a moment and breathe, though it did not help him much. There was some loud noise coming from a library down the block. Music. He figured there was a party going on before the celebration. Nothing unusual with that, although a library was the last of places he expected a party to take place. 

Right as he decided to go back inside something in the sky caught his eye. The moon had flashed once and depicted the face of what looked like a mare, and quickly disappeared. 

"What the hay?" he thought. There had never been a face on the moon before, and he was sure something out of the ordinary was going on.

---

Back in the town hall's dressing room, Celestia was still coming up with her speech for the Summer Sun Celebration. She remembered that her student Twilight had warned her about the return of Nightmare Moon this morning, but Celestia already knew that she was coming. She acted as though it was no big deal, as she knew Twilight was smart and strong enough to figure out how to defeat her.

She was finalizing her speech when the room started to fill with a purple mist. A bright flash lit up the room, and appearing out of nowhere was a black coated alicorn mare. 

Celestia's looked over to her with a gasp. She turned around and stood firm. "I see you've escaped, Princess Luna. Or would you prefer I call you Nightmare Moon?"

Nightmare Moon looked distraught. She shook her head and tried to focus on a single object, finally laying her eyes on Celestia. Her eyes narrowed.

"Hello, sister. Long time no see, hmm?" said Nightmare Moon, grinning evilly. 

Celestia frowned. "Yes, too long. How are you feeling?"

Nightmare Moon chuckled softly. "How am I feeling? HOW AM I FEELING? I've been stuck on the moon for a thousand years, and the first thing you can say to me is 'How are you feeling?'!?" Nightmare Moon stomped on the ground causing the wood to splinter, her mane blazing like a wildfire in the northern lights.

Celestia nodded politely. "Yes, I truly wish to know how are you feeling. Is there anything I can get for you?"

Nightmare Moon calmed down and looked at Celestia curiously. "What do you want, Celestia? I'm sure you already know why I'm here, why ask me this?"

"I understand the pain and loss you've had, and I'm sorry that I've had to punish you so harshly, but you were becoming a threat to Equestria and my subjects. You had to be stopped. I simply wanted to help you, and I still do."

Nightmare Moon's eyes narrowed again. "No, you don't understand me. You don't understand anything I've gone through, you never tried to. You cannot help me, Celestia, nor can you help anypony else! You've all been ignorant of my beautiful night sky, cherishing your beloved sun, but no more! The night will last FOREVER!!!"

Celestia nodded slowly with a frown. "If this is the way it has to be, then so be it. I could have helped you, but you've let hatred and fear take too strong of a hold on your heart."

"You'll not stand in my way this time, sister."

Flaring her wings and aiming her horn she fired a beam of dark magic towards Celestia, who in turn aimed and fired her own beam of magic. The two beams crossed each other and began a tug of war. Celestia's magic was quickly overtaking Nightmare Moon's.

"No!" said Nightmare Moon in a panic. She let off another powerful burst and sent Celestia's magic back further, and further, slowly gaining on her beam. 

Nightmare Moon let off one more burst of magic and this time it made it up to Celestia's horn, there was a flash and burst of energy in the room. Nightmare Moon shielded her eyes and when she opened them she found Celestia laying on the ground, her shining coat now scarred with burns. 

Nightmare Moon laughed evilly to herself, "Now, sister, you will know what it's like to suffer for a thousand years in banishment!" Her horn began to glow, and magic wrapped around Celestia. 

Celestia saw the magic surrounding her. She looked one last time at Nightmare Moon, and smiled. Nightmare Moon caught her smile and looked at Celestia in confusion, but she disappeared too quickly to find out what she had done. Nightmare Moon ignored the smile and continued on towards her victory.

"All too easy," she laughed once more. Suddenly the door burst open.

---

Sword Shield stood outside for several more minutes, still speculating what might have happened to the moon. He looked back at town hall and remembered that he was supposed to be guarding Celestia's door, and ponies were starting to go inside. He walked back to the dressing room's door and heard a faint laugh come from within.

"Now, sister, you will know what it's like to suffer for a thousand years in banishment!" said a muffled voice.

He hardly registered what was happening. One thing was for certain; that wasn't Celestia's voice. Panic overcame him, and then adrenaline. He rushed forward and kicked open the door. Standing in the room was a tall black coated mare, with what seemed to be a mane and tail made purely out of magical energy. To his surprise the mare was an alicorn, both wings and a horn. 

"Who are you?! Where's Celestia?!" he asked furiously.

Nightmare Moon looked over in his direction curiously and laughed. "Silly colt, don't you recognize me? Don't you know who I am? I AM NIGHTMARE MOON! QUEEN OF THE ETERNAL NIGHT!" 

Sword Shield stood his ground. "I don't care if you're the Queen of Coltland, let alone Queen of the 'Eternal Night.' What have you done with Celestia?!"

Nightmare Moon smirked. "What a foolish Royal Guard you are. Don't you see? She's gone, banished from Equestria for a thousand years! It doesn't matter, all you need to know is that you'll never see her again. There's no point trying to get her back."

Sword Shield pulled out his sword and took a defensive stance. "Doesn't mean I won't try."

"Don't be a foal, you don't honestly think you can defeat me?"

He ignored her and lashed out his sword. It sliced her magical mane and a small lock of it fell off and disappeared. Nightmare Moon gasped and took a step back. She used her mane to reach out and grab the sword away from him, but it slipped right through and was unable to get a hold of it.

She gaped at him in befuddlement. "How is this possible!? Why cannot I take your sword?"

He shrugged. "I've got a strong grip, and you know... using your mane is a very ineffective way to grab an object." He didn't truly know how she couldn't take the sword either, as he could feel her mane's magical aura just coming near him. She should have easily been able to take hold of the sword, but he decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

She used her magic and fired a beam at him instead. With a quick burst of magic he changed his sword's form into a shield, and the beam bounced right off, surprising Nightmare Moon once again. He took the opportunity to go on the offensive and began spinning his sword faster and faster like a helicopter blade, then moved in on Nightmare Moon.

"Well, it seems you know how to fight," she teased. "It's a shame I'll have to get rid of you though, you would make a fantastic night guard." She created her own dark sword using magic.

"Not in a thousand years," he said.

"Who knows, I'll still be around then. You have plenty of time to reconsider." 

He launched his sword at her head, to which she gracefully stepped aside and countered with her own. He launched it again, and again. They exchanged blows until Nightmare Moon fueled her weapon with a burst of magic and sent it hurling towards him. He raised his sword to parry, but the force of impact was too heavy and knocked him off his hooves. He quickly shook himself and stood back on the defense. A change of tactics was needed. Instead of continuing to defend himself he brought the sword back and transformed it to a board as fast as he could, jumped on and launched into the air. He began flying around Nightmare Moon in a circle, causing the wind to pick up.

"Oh, it has been a while since I've seen somepony do something like that before," said Nightmare Moon, only mildly impressed.

He grunted. "There is only one thing I may reconsider tonight, Nightmare Moon, and that is having to stop you. If you bring back Celestia, you have my word that I'll stand down."

"Hah! You're kidding me, right? You can't possibly win this battle."

"Doesn't mean I won't try."

He then began to spin faster and faster around Nightmare Moon, and never has he gone this fast. He adjusted his sword to be larger and used a spell to bind his hooves to the metal, and the wind began picking up. Outfits and costumes in the room were unhinged and thrown around, whisking by Nightmare Moon. 

Nightmare Moon stomped her hooves on the ground. "ENOUGH! I have grown tired of this nonsense!" She let out a burst of magic through the room, knocking Sword Shield off his sword and flinging him into the back wall. Clothes and makeup were scattered about the room from the terrible storm. He let out a groan and looked back at Nightmare Moon.

She towered over him and seethed. "I'll deal with you later, foal." And with that she turned into a purple mist and vanished.

He shook himself and stood up. Celestia was gone, Nightmare Moon had escaped and he had no idea where either of them were. He levitated his sword from the mess and brought it back to him, shrinking it to its normal size and putting it away. A moment later a white coated unicorn mare with a (fabulous) purple mane walked in. 

"Where is Princess Celestia? She is missing her cue!" she said.

Sword Shield shook his head in disbelief. "I... I don't know, she's gone."

She gasped and ran out as quickly as she came in. 

"She's gone!" He heard her exclaim to the audience.

He lifted a hoof to his head, feeling a bump that had not been there before. He'd hit that wall harder than he thought, and finally feeling the pain come to him he collapsed on the floor, unconscious. It wasn't long before he woke though, and he could still hear voices coming from the main room.

"Seize her! Only she knows where the Princess is!"

"Stand back you foals!" 

There was a terrible noise, thunder from what it sounded like. Sword Shield shook himself awake and pushed away the pain. He hobbled to a stand and walked into the main room to find ponies running around, screaming and panicking. There was no sign of Nightmare Moon however. 

"No!" he cursed to himself. "I've failed the Princess."

He looked around in confusion, wondering what he should be doing. Celestia was gone, Nightmare Moon had escaped, and he had no idea where to find either of them. There was no telling who she was or why she was here either. He did the only thing he knew was correct and painfully poured magic into his sword and transformed it to fly. He took a moment to look up at the midnight sky. It should already have been day by now, but it was still the blackest of nights. He took off towards Canterlot and figured that's where Nightmare Moon would be next, to attack Canterlot and take the throne for herself. 

He arrived about an hour later, flying as quickly as his magic would let him, and rushed down to the barracks. He found Shining Armor giving out orders to dozens of guards at a time.

He walked up to Shining Armor and gave a quick salute. "Captain, I need to speak with you."

Shining Armor looked at him urgently. "It'll have to wait, there's something wrong. It should be day by now, so something must have happened to the Princess. I'm alerting the Royal Guard to be on the lookout for anything suspicious and I need you to help with the search parties."

Sword Shield rubbed his still throbbing head. "There's no need, I know what happened. In Ponyville at the Summer Sun Celebration there was an attack. An Alicorn has apparently captured Princess Celestia, and I have no idea where either of them are."

Shining Armor gave him his full attention. "Another Alicorn? Who?"

"She called herself Nightmare Moon, and she's powerful enough to defeat Celestia it seems." He looked away with a pang of guilt. "It's... my fault this happened at all. I wasn't able to stop it from happening."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, if she is really that powerful there's nothing you could have done. What is this Nightmare Moon's plan?"

His guilt was replaced with worry. "She said something about 'Eternal Night'. It doesn't sound good for Equestria. Without the sun being raised by Celestia, we'll all begin to freeze to death in just a few days." National genocide was not his idea of a good time.

"Do you know where Nightmare Moon went? When she might attack?"

"No. I suspect if she hasn't attacked here already then she probably won't at all. It's not like she needs to, Celestia is already gone. She could probably just wait us out until we all freeze or starve."

"We have a large storage of food and supplies, it may be a while. I don't think I can risk leaving Canterlot to find her." A glimmer of hope appeared in his eye. "We still have Cadance though, I'm sure she could help fight Nightmare Moon."

One of the other Royal Guards came running up to Shining Armor with a worrisome expression. He gave a quick salute. "Captain Shining Armor, I have grave news. Cadance is missing. One of her guards has been attacked as well. Somepony has penetrated our defenses and left without a trace."

Shining Armor gaped at the guard in shock. "What?" He looked down and slammed his hoof into the ground. "No! How could this have happened so quickly under our noses!? Cadance might have been our only hope of defeating this Nightmare Moon."

Sword Shield brought out his sword and transformed it. "I'm going to go do some history research to see if I can find out who Nightmare Moon is and how she might possibly be defeated. If I find something that will allow us to defeat her I'll go after her myself." 

Shining Armor stared at him seriously. "Are you sure you can do it?"

He nodded. "I'll be fine. If I find something and do go after her but don't come back," He looked away. "Just tell my father I'm sorry."

Shining Armor shook his head unconvinced. "How do we know when tomorrow is? You don't need to do this, I can use your help here."

"No, you can't. I'm the best choice to look for a way to defeat Nightmare Moon. Besides, it is my duty as a Royal Guard to protect Equestria and the Princesses. If I can't even search for a way to save them, then what good am I? If you need me I'll be at the Canterlot Library searching for a way to stop Nightmare Moon."

With those last words Sword Shield jumped onto his sword again and flew over to the Canterlot Archives to see if he could find out where Nightmare Moon might have come from. It was silly to think that there would be a book about someone like her, but it was worth a shot.
 
> 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." 
> Promotion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The next morning came quickly. A little too quickly for Sword Shield's tastes, but he gratefully welcomed it as his dreams had been far more uncomfortable compared to what he was about to do. He put on his armor for the day and walked into the sunlight. 

Shining Armor was nearby assigning patrols for the day and noticed Sword Shield coming out of the barracks. "You'll be fine," he said. "Hurry up and report back to me within an hour."

Sword Shield gave a quick salute and trotted off towards his home. He walked through Canterlot's busy streets, zig-zagging to avoid the oncoming wave of ponies going to work. He slowly approached his old neighborhood, the anxiety building. He came to a stop at his old home's door. He slowly raised his hoof, but before he could knock the door opened up. Standing in the doorway was his father, seeming like a giant compared to him even though they shared the same height.

"Hi, dad," said Sword Shield nervously. He cleared his throat. "How have you been?"

Steadfast looked surprised. "I'm fine. I was about to see if today's paper had come yet."

Sword Shield looked down at the ground and saw the paper. He levitated it up to his father.

He took it with a nod. "Thank you. We were just about to have breakfast. Do you want to join us?"

"Yeah, there's also some things I want to talk about while we eat," said Sword Shield.

He came inside and greeted his mother with a hug and joined at the dining table, awkwardly taking off his helmet. "There's been something I've been meaning to tell you dad," he said.

Steadfast opened his paper and began reading at the table. "Oh? I should expect so, I haven't heard from you in months. A little disappointing. How goes it in the Royal Guard? I suspect you are at least living up to their standards?"

"Steadfast, leave him be and let him continue," said Sacred.

Sword Shield smiled. "Thanks mom. I'm progressing fine, and am actually working with the Captain fairly often. I actually came here by his orders. Anyway, let me get to the point. I'm sure you were both about what happened two days ago with Celestia and the sun, right?"

"Yes, we were told that Celestia had been attacked and couldn't raise the sun," said Sacred. "Terrible thing, but I'm glad everything's okay."

"Right. Well, regarding her attack, I was on guard for Celestia when it happened. Or rather, I was supposed to be."

"What do you mean supposed to be?" asked Steadfast.

"I was to guard the door to the dressing room where Celestia was, but I got distracted and left. It's my fault that she got attacked." He continued to explain how he searched for a way to defeat Nightmare Moon on his own and found out about the Elements of Harmony, and that he followed Twilight and her friends through the Everfree Forest to the ancient castle only to find out they had stopped Nightmare Moon themselves.

Steadfast and Sacred listened intently as Sword Shield explained everything. Sacred nodded in understanding of what he did and why, but Steadfast remained stern and unreadable. After Sword Shield finished, Steadfast stood up slowly and walked over to the door and opened it.

"I have to go to work, I'll be back sometime in the evening," he said as he walked out and slammed the door.

There was silence for several seconds.

"I'm sorry about your father, he's just been in a bad mood lately," said Sacred.

"What for?" asked Sword Shield. "Don't tell me it's my fault."

"It is and it isn't. There's a lot that's been weighing on him, especially work. Fancy Pants is giving him a bit of a rough time, and you haven't been visiting much. He's been wanting to hear from you for a while now, especially after hearing from me about your new skills."

"Oh... I didn't know. I've just been so nervous to face him. I'm afraid I might disappoint him, and I guess I already have." He sighed and put his helmet back on. "I suppose I have to report back to the Captain now."

She frowned. "Don't be so hard on yourself, I'm sure your father is proud, he just doesn't know how to show it and needs some time to cool off. Please come back soon to see your father, I'm sure he'd be glad."

"Alright. I'll come back within the week if I can." He gave her a quick hug. "I'll see you soon, mom."

He walked out the door and began making his way towards the Royal Barracks. On the way he accidentally bumped into another pony on the street. The victim, an azure coated unicorn mare, turned around and stared at him angrily.

"Who dares to bump into the Great and Powerful Trixie!?" she said.

"Sorry, I was distracted in my thoughts," said Sword Shield. "I'll just be on my way." He moved to get past the upset unicorn, but she continued blocking him.

Trixie stomped her hoof. "Trixie does not take kindly to being interrupted. Don't you know who you're dealing with? Trixie is the most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria!"

He narrowed his eyes. "I'm sure she is, but if you'll excuse me I must get back to the barracks." 

"Is that a hint of doubt in your voice? The Great and Powerful Trixie is sure that she can do anything a pathetic Royal Guard like you can do, and better!"

He grunted. "Yeah? Well I honestly doubt you can do anything like this!" He quickly brought out his sword, grew it to his surfboard shape and jumped on. The second his hoof touched the sword he shot straight upwards, leaving Trixie in the dust. He spotted the barracks from above and dived towards it, quickly touching down and jumping off his sword. 

"Sheesh. Some ponies just can't take a slice of humble pie, can they?" he thought, rolling his eyes.

Shining Armor had been waiting for him to come back with his report and walked up to him as he landed. "That was quite the entrance," he said. "Did something happen?"

"No, there was just some stuck up unicorn blocking my path," said Sword Shield. "I simply flew over her, probably making her head spin." He chuckled.

"I see. What of your report?"

"I spoke with my mom and dad. I told them everything that had happened, and it seemed they took it well. At least, my mom did. I'm not so sure about my dad, he seemed disappointed in me, but that's alright I guess. That's all I've to report, Captain."

"Good. I need you to get back to training those two recruits for a while again, is that okay with you?"

Sword Shield saluted. "Yes Sir. I'll get to it right away."

For the next few weeks he spent his time training Arden and Swifty. They weren't the fastest learners, but he eventually taught them both how to properly wield a sword and how to fight with it.

Arden struggled the most with using a sword and made a comment one day while training in a field outside of Canterlot. "I don't know why I need to learn how to use a sword. All I need is my bow and arrow," he huffed.

"It's important to know melee combat. What if your opponent rushes up to you, what are you gonna do?" asked Sword Shield.

Arden let out a short laugh, "I won't let them rush up to me, that's what." 

Sword Shield frowned at Arden's cockiness. "How in the world do you use a bow and arrow anyway? I mean.... all we have are these hooves," Sword Shield held up one of his hooves to make his point, "At least unicorns have magic to help them. So how do you pull out an arrow, aim it and fire?" It was a rather curious phenomenon how Arden was able to fire with a bow so easily.

"Well it is a cartoon, Sir," said Swifty.

Sword Shield looked dumbly over to Swifty. "What?"

"Uh... never mind. I don't know," answered Swifty stupidly. Arden snickered at his friend.

"What are you laughing at?" demanded Sword Shield.

"It's nothing. Continue with training," said Arden with a smile and wink towards Swifty.

Sword Shield was exhausted however and simply called off training for the rest of the day. He felt that he just wasn't getting enough sleep lately and commanded Arden and Swifty to head back to their stations. He wanted to be alone for a few moments before coming back to his own station. 

Sword Shield perched himself under the shadow of a boulder, put his sword down and dozed off into thoughtful rest.

A few minutes later, a voice called out, "Sleeping on the job?" asked the voice. Sword Shield yawned and opened his eyes to see who had bothered him. Standing over him was Princess Cadance.

"Cadance! What are you doing here?" asked Sword Shield with surprise. He immediately stood at attention and brushed himself off.

"I've been bored," answered Cadance with a short laugh.

"Seriously?" asked Sword Shield as he stood up.

"No. Are you okay? Is Shining Armor giving you a hard time or something?" asked Cadance.

"No, just been a bit tired from training a couple of louts... well, that's only part true. I think I'm just having an off day, I'm not feeling..." Sword Shield searched for the right word.

"Productive?" 

"Purpose! I haven't been able to feel my purpose lately. Everypony knows about their cutie marks and how it helps them find their place in life. Look at mine. It's a sword and a shield. What meaning does that give me? Being stuck as a Royal Guard for the rest of my life?" asked Sword Shield. He was confused about where to go with his life from here.

"Is that bad?" asked Cadance.

"Yes, I mean... well yes, it is bad. I don't want my life tied to my cutie mark. If I wanted to do something like... I don't know... play music. Could I do that? Would I even be good at it?" asked Sword Shield.

"Do you want to play music?" Cadance was becoming confused.

"No no no no. Forget the music. I'm just saying, I feel awfully contained," said Sword Shield plainly.

"I know what you mean, I used to feel that way too. But there are always hidden purposes in your cutie mark that you probably haven't found yet. When I first discovered my cutie mark I didn't know what to think either. 'A crystal heart? What am I supposed to do with that?' but I learned that you aren't bound to one job based on your talents. There are plenty of other things you could do for a living," said Cadance.

"Like what?" asked Sword Shield. All he could think of was Royal Guard.

"Uh... you could... hire out as a mercenary?" she suggested.

"A mercenary? That's it?" Sword Shield sighed in hopelessness. 

"I don't know. These are things you have to find out for yourself. You'll learn some day, I promise." Cadance reassured Sword Shield.

"I sure hope so Cadance."

"What about the six stars? On your cutie mark I mean. What do you think those could represent?" asked Cadance.

"I have no idea. That I'm... good with magic? I've been practicing it a lot with my sword, but when I try to use magic on other things I can't seem to do as well. My magic isn't like it was back in Magic School. I'm stuck with using magic on my sword." Sword Shield felt even more hopeless.

"Well I hope you figure it out. I think Shining Armor needs you back at the castle, so you better hurry back," said Cadance glancing back towards Canterlot.

"So is that why you came out here? To fetch me? Why not any other Royal Guard?" asked Sword Shield.

Cadance shrugged. "I said I was bored."

"Uh huh. I'll see you later then. And... thanks," said Sword Shield.

"Your welcome, now hurry up."

Sword Shield trotted off towards Canterlot and slowly made his way towards the castle. Shining Armor was at the barracks assembling guards and sending them off to their posts as usual.

Sword Shield came up to him and stood at salute, "You were looking for me, Captain?"

"Yes. I'm pulling you off of training those recruits, they're good to go. You've done a good job training them," said Shining Armor.

"Oh, thank you Captain. Is that all?" asked Sword Shield.

"Almost. I've been reviewing your service to the Royal Guard, you've been putting in a lot of hours, and then also helping train two recruits. You even had the best results out of everypony during your recruitment and training. So, with that in mind, I'm promoting you to Lieutenant," answered Shining Armor.

Sword Shield's face immediately filled with shock,"What? Lieutenant? You're kidding me right?"

"I'm at a loss for ponies up in command around here, and I need more to help keep everything in check. You've got all the qualifications and know how. I'm honestly surprised at how much paperwork you can get through. Do you feel you're not ready for it?" asked Shining Armor.

"No. I can do it, I'm just a bit shocked you would consider me for the position. Thanks, I won't let you don't," said Sword Shield with another salute.

"Good. Now normally we would have a better place for you to stay with your promotion, but we don't have room and any other bunk space has run out. We actually need to expand the barracks and sleeping areas for the guards," said Shining Armor.

"I can sleep in one of the tents, to be honest I prefer the sleeping mats for tents than my bunk," suggested Sword Shield.

"A tent? Are you sure? That seems more like a downgrade," said Shining Armor.

"It's fine, somepony else can have my bunk. Like you said, we're running out of space. My parents are moving out of town, and having a tent will help me keep better track of my stuff, more or less," said Sword Shield.

"If you say so, I'll get you one of the medium sized Royal Guard tents." Shining Armor sent one of the guards to get the tent set up.

"Before I get started, I'd like a bit of time to speak with my father." Sword Shield wanted to talk to his father about the position as a Lieutenant.

"Go right ahead. Be back here within the hour, there are some things I need to go through with you," said Shining Armor.

"Yes sir," said Sword Shield while giving a third salute and started on his way.

"Wait! Aren't you forgetting something?" Shining Armor called over as Sword Shield was leaving.

Sword Shield looked around confused, "Not that I know of."

"Where is your sword?" asked Shining Armor.

Sword Shield looked behind him at his empty sheath, "Oh. I must have left it back in the fields outside of Canterlot." He facehoofed at his stupidity.

"If you want I can get somepony to fetch it and leave it here," suggested Shining Armor.

"No, it's alright, I can get it."

Sword Shield began using his magic. He located the position of his sword in the field and whipped it back to his position in a quick flash of teleportation magic.

"That's... actually... huh. I didn't know unicorns could do that," said Shining Armor with awe.

"You know Captain, if you don't mind me saying, you can be a real doofus sometimes," joked Sword Shield as he put his sword back in it's sheath.

"I would be sending you to the dungeon right about now if my sister Twilight hadn't already made that deduction," said Shining Armor with a laugh.

"And I'm sure I'd willfully go to the dungeon for saying it. I'll be back in an hour," said Sword Shield with a chuckle and a quick fourth salute.

"Good luck!"

Sword Shield trotted off once more towards his parents home. The sights and smells ever the same, the tall beautiful Canterlot castle in the background, the smell of flowers and food from the assorted shops and stalls. Sword Shield didn't waste a minute to take it in and appreciate it however, this visit was too important for him. He approached his old home. Curiously, there was another pony already outside the front door. Sword Shield recognized her immediately.

"Cadance? What are you doing... at my parents house?" asked Sword Shield as he walked up to her.

The door burst open and Sacred Shield walked out, "Well she's helping us with moving!" she said with a smile while carrying multiple cardboard boxes.

"Moving?! What do you mean moving?" asked Sword Shield with surprise.

"Well you see, Fancy Pants bumped up Steadfast's position and he needs him over in the city of Manehatten. We have to be out of here by tomorrow morning. Dear Cadance here saw us packing our boxes into a storage chariot and volunteered to help us," explained Sacred.

"It's my pleasure to help. I'm sorry you guys are having to leave Canterlot," said Cadance as she took the packing boxes and teleported them to the storage chariot near the house.

"It's quite alright. We'll miss you all, but we're just as excited to be working in a new city. I hear there is quite a large hospital there, and I've been allowed to transfer to it," said Sacred excitedly.

"Whoa whoa, hold on. You're just going to leave me here in Canterlot?" asked Sword Shield a bit frightened of being left alone with no close by family.

"It's not like we have a choice. It hurts me to leave you here, but don't you have duties with the Royal Guard that need tending to?" asked Sacred.

"Yeah but..." Sword Shield sighed, "Yeah. I can stay here and be fine. Just be safe, okay?"

"Us be safe? We're more worried about you! It'll be hard enough for us, especially if you keep running into more bad ponies like you have been recently," said Sacred with a horrified expression.

"Mom... that was over a month ago," said Sword Shield.

"Yes but think about it! Just recently there was a dragon near Ponyville that could have suffocated us, and even more recently there has been reports of some sort of infestation in Fillydelphia and Ponyville. I just want you to be safe." said Sacred with worry.

"I can take care of myself mom, really. I wasn't assigned to deal with the dragon or infestation either. Celestia dealt with those herself if I recall," said Sword Shield. He felt his mother was overreacting. 

"I know..." said Sacred with a sigh, "I guess I'm just a little bit worried of my little Shield being hurt."

"Don't worry Mrs. Shield. We'll take good care of him. Are there any other boxes you need help with?" asked Cadance.

"Oh yes, one moment." Sacred walked back into the house and brought out some more packing boxes, "Put these in the chariot too. Thanks dear."

"You're very welcome."

"Is there anything else you needed Sword Shield?" asked Sacred.

"Well... I was hoping to talk to dad. I was promoted to Lieutenant and I wanted to know what he thought," explained Sword Shield.

"You're a Lieutenant now? That's amazing news! Congratulations. I'm sure your father will be very happy to hear that, but he's already in Manehatten arranging a place for us to stay, but I'll pass him the info," said Sacred.

"Thanks. I'm afraid that I can't stay to help out with the rest of the moving, I have to get back to my duties. I'll see you later Cadance. Bye mom," said Sword Shield with a quick bow of respect to either of them.

"Goodbye my little Shield. Don't forget to stay safe!" said Sacred with her own playful salute.

"I will, I will," said Sword Shield as he hopped onto his sword and flew back to the barracks.

Sword Shield quickly reported to Shining Armor and began his training as a new Lieutenant. The Captain ran him through every protocol, every position on the walls throughout Canterlot and in the castle, giving a complete run down on the entire city. It took weeks to memorize everything correctly, but Sword Shield quickly learned everything he needed to help run the Royal Guard.
> Grand Galloping Gala
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Sword Shield was at his station on one of the castle walls. He'd been a Lieutenant for a little over two months now, but since Shining Armor took care of the Royal Guard for the most part he continued in his patrols, and also took some time studying more about magic. 

Sword Shield was relieved of duty around the afternoon and began practicing his flying in the forest below Canterlot during some time off. He levitated his sword up into the sky until he was unable to see it, and once he felt ready, he locked onto the sword's position.

Flash.

He teleported straight into the air above his sword. Using his magic he changed the sword into its surfboard shape. With the air whipping past him he landed on it with a thud and immediately flew straight downwards. He evened out above the tree line, whisking by the branches at his maximum speed, which could have out-flown most pegasi. In the distance there was a large cardboard target standing tall. As Sword Shield approached it he released the spell holding him to his sword. 

Everything moved in slow motion from that point forward. He jumped off the sword, letting it fly through the air towards the cardboard target. He quickly used his magic to change the sword to it's normal form. The sword pierced the target and kept on going. Sword Shield on the other hand was mid air, flailing his hooves as he flew forward towards the target. Before he made impact he made a split second spell.

Flash.

Sword Shield reappeared on his sword, still flying through the air, but slipped as it was still in it's normal form. He held on with his fore-hooves, the sword cutting him slightly. He quickly used magic and dulled the edges and expanded the sword. He slowed it down to a stop and was able to pull himself back up.

"I guess practice will be cut short today," said Sword Shield as he checked his bleeding hooves with a slight chuckle, "Gah. Stupid Sword, stupid!"

He slowly flew back to the castle and to the Royal Medical Room to bandage his hooves. While he was patching up he received a letter from Princess Celestia. He opened it and read it's contents:



Dear Sword Shield, you are cordially invited by Princess Celestia to attend this year's Grand Galloping Gala at the Castle this weekend.



Sword Shield looked at the letter in surprise as he put it away. He had never been to the Grand Galloping Gala, at least as a guest, he was at it once as one of the guards, but not in the actual party. He didn't know what to do at the Gala, not to mention he didn't have an outfit. He decided to return to his patrolling duties not too worried about the Gala (or his injuries) for the next few days.

A day before the Gala, Sword Shield went out to Canterlot's markets and purchased a cheap black tuxedo, probably not as fancy as some of the other ponies were going to be wearing, but he thought it looked rather well combined with his coat and mane. He continued doing his duties and patrols for the rest of the day. The next morning he took up a patrol on the wall with Arden and Swifty.

"I hear you are going to the Gala tonight, Sword Shield," said Swifty, "Lucky. I've always wanted to go there myself."

"Maybe if you train hard enough and do a good job for the rest of the year, you'll be invited next year," suggested Sword Shield.

"Yeah, as a hallway guard," joked Arden.

Swifty snorted at his friend with distaste, "I'll make it there one day, just you wait." 

"Still waiting," said Arden with a grin.

Sword Shield continued his patrol, every once in a while a conversation striking up with Arden and Swifty.

"Hey Sword Shield, what exactly is the Royal Guard's purpose?" asked Arden, "I mean other than protecting the Princesses and Canterlot. I know we're a security force but Equestria seems to lack a solid military."

"Well I'll tell you that Shining Armor is starting to spread out the Royal Guard a little more. As we're getting more recruits we are able to station them in other cities. As for a 'solid military', the Wonderbolts are currently filling that role. Even though at first they seem like they're all for show and weather control, they have the more standard military training which is why the Royal Guard gets their job slightly easier. It's still just as important though." answered Sword Shield confidently.

"Interesting. You've shown that you're capable of flying using your sword, maybe you should try for the Wonderbolts." suggested Arden.

"I don't think so. They are strictly pegasus, they won't accept a unicorn like me even with my capabilities. I've seen the training procedures, and some of them even I wouldn't be able to do as they specifically require wings," replied Sword Shield.

"That's too bad, Wonderbolts get automatic access to almost everything I hear," said Arden.

"Yup, but being a Lieutenant in the Royal Guard isn't so bad either. Now cut the chatter and get back to your posts, it's almost time for me to go," said Sword Shield as he looked out at the lowering sun.

Half an hour later the sun had set and Sword Shield resigned from his station. He picked up his tuxedo and struggled to put it on correctly. Once he had gotten it on (after a bit of embarrassing help from Cadance) he left for the Gala, also deciding to keep his sword, but to keep it concealed he morphed it into a small dagger and hid it in his tuxedo.

A whole army of ponies were already lining up at the castle, Sword Shield barely came into sight of the gate as he saw Twilight and her friends enter the castle. 

"Twilight and her friends are here?" thought Sword Shield. He had been meaning to finally meet the mare who stopped Nightmare Moon, and tonight seemed to be a good opportunity. 

Sword Shield entered the line of ponies, he saw Twilight with Princess Celestia greeting the guests as they came in. He moved up slowly in line and finally got his turn to greet Celestia and Twilight.

"Hello, Sword Shield," greeted Princess Celestia, "It's so nice of you to come, this is my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. Twilight, this is the Lieutenant of the Royal Guard, Sword Shield." 

"Pleased to meet you!" Twilight greeted with a smile.

"The pleasure is mine, Twilight. It's good to see you again Celestia." Sword Shield bowed to both Celestia and Twilight and stepped aside for other ponies to come in.

"So if you're the Lieutenant does that mean you work with my brother Shining Armor?" asked Twilight.

"Yes, I work directly under Shining Armor's command quite often," answered Sword Shield.

"Oh really? Is he coming to the Gala tonight?" she continued.

"Sadly not, he is busy with the Royal Guard tonight, but he is doing well, if you wanted to know," answered Sword Shield, he scratched the back of his neck, "Considering the fact I've had to save his rump every once in a while." he added quietly.

"What was that?" asked Twilight in between greeting more guests as they came in.

"Nothing, never mind. Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks... for defeating Nightmare Moon. I was probably the first pony to encounter her. I tried to stop her myself but... failed. I came to the Everfree Forest searching for the Elements of Harmony as well, following you and your friends, but it seems I was a bit late," said Sword Shield. He was still a bit regretful of the past events.

"Really?" asked Twilight curiously, "Well, thank you. It was all thanks to my friends that we defeated Nightmare Moon. I'm sorry you couldn't catch up with us, we could have used the help." 

"I highly doubt that."

"It's no big deal, in the end it all turned out fine, I just wanted to get that off my chest. I'll see you later," said Sword Shield as he walked off.

"Have a good time!" said Twilight and went back to greeting the guests.

Sword Shield entered the ball room, filled with decorations and ponies in fancy dresses everywhere. There was a small orchestra playing music as well. 

"Well I'm here... Now what?" thought Sword Shield as he stood awkwardly in the corner. 

Everyone was already talking to somepony else and no one seemed interested in talking to Sword Shield. It occurred to him it was probably a good idea to bring along friends to such an event, but he was always busy that he never really had time to make friends that were able to attend the Gala with him.

"So much for being a noble Royal Guard if you have no friends!"

Sword Shield continued to walk around for a few minutes, not really paying attention to what anyone was saying, he simply strolled around and kept to himself. The only entertainment he was able to achieve was stopping for a moment to chat with one of the hallway guards, but even then he had to let them do their job.

Frustrated, Sword Shield decided to take a walk, maybe come back later to see if the party had livened up any bit. He took out his sword and flew it outside then teleported to it. He didn't want anyone noticing him leaving.

He walked down through Canterlot and stopped and a small shop called Joe's Donuts. There was only one other customer in the shop at the moment. Sword Shield walked in and recognized who the customer was; a little purple and green dragon, sitting on a chair slowly eating a donut. 

There was only one baby dragon in Equestria that Sword Shield knew. He came in the shop sat down in the chair next to him, "Hey, Spike," he called over.

"Huh?" Spike looked over to see who had called his name, "Oh, hey Sword Shield, what are you doing here?" asked Spike, somehow managing to remember Sword Shield, though the time spent with him was rather short.

"I was at the Gala," answered Sword Shield.

"What are you doing here then? Shouldn't you be at the Gala?" asked Spike with a puzzled expression.

Sword Shield let out a sigh, "Yeah, but I got bored. I decided to take a walk and came here."

The bartender Joe came out of the back area and saw the Lieutenant, "Oh, Lieutenant Shield, I wasn't expecting you here tonight. Is there anything I can get ya?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'll have a glazed donut please," replied Sword Shield. Joe gave Sword Shield a donut and went into the back of the shop again.

"Boring?" asked Spike, "How is the Gala boring?"

Sword Shield shrugged and took a bite out of his donut, "I don't know, it just was. I don't really have anypony else to talk to or spend time with at the Gala, so I decided to take a walk and maybe when I go back it will be a little more lively." He talked in between bites.

"Oh, well I hope Twilight and her friends are at least having a good time. I was going to spend time with them, but they all separated to do their own things instead of staying together like I suggested we do," said Spike. He sighed and took another bite out of his donut.

"I see. I don't mean to pry, but how is it like living with Twilight?" asked Sword Shield, "As a baby dragon that is." 

"It's been just great, Twilight takes good care of me and I assist her with the library," answered Spike, "Why do you ask?"

"No reason, just curious," said Sword Shield, sighing at himself. "You're pretty lucky to have good friends like Twilight." 

"Don't you have friends in the Royal Guard?" asked Spike, continuing to eat the rest of his donut.

"Not exactly, we're all too busy to make friends. The Captain is the closest pony I've come to consider as a friend," answered Sword Shield.

"Then why don't you just, I don't know, quit?" asked Spike with a mouth full of donut.

Sword Shield chuckled at Spike's question, "One does not simply quit the Royal Guard," he answered, taking another bite of his donut.

"Why not?" Spike continued to ask.

Sword Shield looked down at the little dragon curiously as to why he was so insistent on asking.

"I... you just... don't. I don't know, it's complicated," answered Sword Shield, a little puzzled on the questions himself.

"Why not just quit? It's not like it's a forced position." 

He was afraid that his father would look down on him for quitting something he had put so much effort into. It wasn't a matter of just leaving the Royal Guard, it was a matter of abandoning the Princesses, his Captain and duties and Equestria itself. The weight of it slammed down on Sword Shield. He shook it off, tried to forget about the whole thing and finished his donut.

"Well it was nice talking to you Spike, I'm gonna head back to the Gala and see if it's gotten any better," said Sword Shield. He left a few bits of payment for his donut on the counter and left out the door, hearing Spike say one last thing.

"Another donut." 

Sword Shield walked back to the castle to see if the Gala had livened up any bit. He walked into the ball room and it seemed like there was a song about to be performed, and decided to stay and listen. 

A bright pink earth pony stepped up to the microphone and tapped it a few times.

"Come on, everypony! I know what will make you shake those groove thangs!" The mare motioned for the band to start playing. 

"You reach your right hoof in
You reach your right hoof out
You reach your right hoof in
And you shake it all about
You do the Pony Pokey meeting lots of folks with clout
That's what I'm talking about
You step your left hoof in
You pull it right back out
You step your left hoof in
But you better help him out
You do the Pony Pokey but you'd find a different route
That's what it's all about
You kick your back leg in
You pull your back leg out
You reach your back leg in
Just be brave and have no doubt
You do the Pony Pokey feeling like you're gonna pout
That's what I'm singing about
You tilt your head in
You tilt your head out
You tilt your head in
Then you shake it all about
You do the Pony Pokey even though your date's a lout
You're better off without
You stomp your whole self in
You stomp your whole self out
You stomp your whole self in
And you stomp yourself about
You do the Pony Pokey and you give a little shout
That's what I'm talking about
You do the Pony Pokey
You do the Pony Pokey
You do the Pony Pokey
And that's what it's all about
YEAH!"

All the ponies in the room stared strangely at the singing pink pony. 

One mare spoke up after the song had ended, "Young lady, this is not that kind of party."

"Oooohhh. These ponies don't wanna party, they wanna paaarTAY!" said the pink pony.

Sword Shield was slightly bewildered by the performance, not expecting something so silly at the Gala. The pink pony then turned on some music from a DJ stand.

"Come on everypony! You wanted to partay?! Now let's paartayy! Yeah!"

The mare started running around throwing other ponies into the air. "Come on, dance!" 

Suddenly the door swung open and an orange coated mare earth pony with a large cake entered the room. "Okay all you high class ponies, here's a high-balloon apple cake for all yer... hoity-toity taste buds," she said while rolling the cake down the room.

"Apple cake? Why does no pony ever make carrot cake?" thought Sword Shield. Carrots were his favorite afternoon snack.

There was a sudden yell from the stage. "STAGE DIVE!" screamed the pink pony. She jumped off the stage, and landed on the cart the apple cake was on, sending the cake flying overhead. 

A pair of unicorns entered the room with the cake heading right towards them. Sword Shield just stood and watched as the chaos ensued.

The stallion quickly moved his partner in front of him and the cake landed, covering her in frosting. 

The mare turned around and faced her partner, her face turning bright red, "You sir, are the most uncharming prince I have EVER MET! If there is anything Royal about you it is that you are a ROYAL PAIN!" she yelled angrily at the prince.

Sword Shield had to agree with that. He had ended up doing Prince Blueblood a few 'favors' from time to time, but thankfully never spent the majority of his time working for him.

The prince recoiled, "Ew, stay back! I just had myself groomed!"

"Afraid to get DIRTY?!" the mare continued to shout. She shook her head and body, making the frosting fly everywhere and covering Prince Blueblood in it. He stumbled backwards and crashed beneath the statue of Celestia. The statue started to tip over and fall. 

"Uh Oh," thought Sword Shield. Before he could react to stop the statue himself he heard a shout from the crowd.

"This is my chance!"

A light blue blur suddenly flew past everyone at ridiculous speed, and then reappeared under the falling statue. A mare pegasus caught the statue and held it up.

"Yes!" yelled the pegasus, but she quickly began to lose control and wobbled around the room, "Whoooaa!"

The pegasus knocked one of the stone columns in the room with the statue, it fell over and hit another of the columns, creating a domino effect. Column after column collapsed around the pegasus. After everything had crumbled even the statue itself gave up all hope and split into four pieces. 

Sword Shield stood dumbfounded at how quickly everything went to chaos. The Princess and Twilight walked into the room and looked at the chaotic scene, eyes wide.

"Well, it can't get any worse," whispered Twilight. The room suddenly started shaking again.

"Never be too sure about things getting worse. Hope for the best, expect the worst," thought Sword Shield, frantically looking around the room to find the source of the shaking.

The door going outside to the gardens burst open and a bunch of animals rushed into the room, birds flying everywhere and critters running amok. An exhausted looking light yellow pegasus was standing behind the door, she stared coldly at the animals running around the room.

"Yer... going to LOVE MEEE!" yelled the pegasus.

All the ponies in the room broke into a panic, running back and forth screaming. Someone whistled and everyone started to evacuate the ball room. 

Sword Shield brought out his sword which he had shrunken before the Gala, used a Sight Seeing spell on it and flew it out the room overhead of all the evacuating ponies. He landed it on the ground outside and teleported to it. 

"Well, that was certainly much more exciting," thought Sword Shield, chuckling to himself as he picked up his sword. He saw Princess Celestia exit the castle and decided to approach. "Hello, Princess Celestia. It seems tonight did not go as planned," he said with a smile.

"No, it seems not," responded Celestia with a laugh of her own, "I don't think the Gala has ever ended so abruptly before. I'm surprised, honestly."

"Yes, well... I'm sorry I wasn't quick enough to stop the chaos inside. If you would like some help with the repairs, I'm all yours," offered Sword Shield.

"It's quite alright, Sword Shield," replied Celestia with a smile, "I'm sure I'll be able to clean up the mess. Thank you for coming, I hope you had at least some enjoyment."

"Well I won't say I didn't. Thank you for inviting me, though next year if I'm invited I might be a little more reluctant," said Sword Shield while preparing his sword for take off.

Celestia laughed, "Indeed. Goodnight." She left heading down into Canterlot, presumably to find Twilight and her friends.

Sword Shield took off on his sword towards the barracks, landed nearby and put away his tuxedo in his locker at the barracks. He went to his personal tent and caught a good night's sleep.
> Discord
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	CHAOS! 

Sword Shield awoke with a jolt. He looked out the tent's window to see it was just after sunrise.

"Strange dreams," thought Sword Shield. 

He had dreamed he was in the middle of Canterlot flying on his sword, but everything was wrong, nothing was correctly in place. Sword Shield massaged his eyes and shook himself awake, forgetting about the dream. 

It had been a week since that chaotic night at the Gala. Sword Shield had since been spending his time with the Captain, helping organize the Royal Guard and filing paperwork for more recruits. He left his tent, heading towards the barracks for his equipment.

"Morning, Lieutenant," said Arden as he left the barracks.

"Good morning, Sergeant." responded Sword Shield.

"Aha! So you heard about my promotion?" asked Arden.

"Who hasn't? Swifty won't shut up about you," answered Sword Shield with a short chuckle, "Congratulation, you deserved it, but I'm keeping an eye on you."

"As always," Arden gave a salute, "Lieutenant."

Sword Shield saluted back. "Arden."

Arden continued towards his post and Sword Shield walked inside the barracks and to his locker. He put on his armor and helmet for the day and teleported his sword to him, which had been left in his tent.

Shining Armor walked in, "You heading to your usual post?"

Sword Shield looked at Shining Armor confused, "I was about to, why?"

"I need you to go to Ponyville today, I'm planning to set up a small outpost there, and I need you to map out the town and find a good spot for the outpost. You've got your sword to fly on, so you'll have a good view of the town," explained Shining Armor.

"Yes Captain. A quick question though, why Ponyville?" asked Sword Shield.

"It's right next to the Everfree Forest. If something were to escape the forest, Ponyville would know it first," answered Shining Armor.

"Alright, I'll head there immediately," Sword Shield gave a salute, brought out his sword while changing it, hopped on and took off towards Ponyville.

He arrived at the town after an hour of flying. It was much faster than taking the train, as it had to chug through tons of mountains, while for pegasi or Sword Shield they could easily just fly straight down towards Ponyville. 

It was as usual as any other day in Ponyville, the townfolk had began setting up their shops in the marketplace or turning their 'Closed' signs to 'Open'.

Sword Shield stayed up in the air circling around on his sword for a while then came down and landed in the middle of town, drawing a few looks from the local ponies. It was one thing for a pegasus to come flying down, but for a Royal Guard with a flying sword to come in and land was something quite different for the citizens of Ponyville, but they continued on their day without paying too much attention to him. 

Sword Shield walked into the town hall building to meet with the Mayor about acquiring a piece of land for a new outpost to go. She gave him a stack of paperwork. He took it with an exasperated sigh and began filling out everything that was needed.

"I'm not getting payed enough to do this," said Sword Shield half way through the paperwork. He stopped and stared blankly into space, "I don't even remember if I'm getting payed at all." He shook his head and got back to the paperwork.

Once everything was finished up he handed in the paperwork and walked back outside, but something seemed amiss. There was a small change in the breeze, and Sword Shield's guard instincts told him something was wrong. He continued outside when he felt a raindrop hit him on the head, and another on his nose. He looked upwards at the sky and was greeted with a small pink ominous cloud.

"What th-" The cloud immediately started to pour down brown liquid onto Sword Shield. He quickly raised his sword over his head and morphed it larger to shield him from the brown rain, then stuck out his tongue and tasted a drop. 

"Chocolate milk?"

It was raining chocolate milk. 

Sword Shield looked around to see if it was going on anywhere else, and sure enough he could see in the distance near Sweet Apple Acres it was raining chocolate, and there was popcorn everywhere with gigantic apples growing on the trees. He recognized some of Twilight's friends, confused and trying to stop the chocolate rain.

This was bad, something was definitely wrong and Sword Shield knew he needed to get word to Celestia, but how was he going to report this without going all the way back to Canterlot? He felt that he should stay in case anything else bad happens. An idea came to him, and went back inside the Town Hall building.

"Mayor! Where are you?" called out Sword Shield rather loudly

Mayor Mare walked out of her office with a small frown on her face, "Right here, what is it?"

"Do you have a magic mail system to send a letter to the Princess? I need to report to her, right now." said Sword Shield urgently as possible.

"Oh, yes, in my office. Follow me." The Mayor led Sword Shield to her office and pointed to a set of blank scrolls and a simple stamping device. He quickly took one of the scrolls in his magic and began to write a message.



Celestia, Ponyville in trouble. Raining chocolate milk, strange pink clouds, popcorn everywhere. Help? -Lieutenant Shield



Sword Shield rolled up the letter and used the magical stamping device to send it off instantly. He wasn't sure how long it would take to get a response, or if something could even be done. He thanked the Mayor and walked back outside, using his sword as an umbrella.

As he got back into the chocolate rain a bright flash encompassed the entire city, forcing him to shield his eyes. The light faded and Sword Shield got another look around. Nothing had changed, the town was still swimming in chaos and chocolate.

Sword Shield saw Twilight and her friend's trying to tidy everything up, they gathered up the pink clouds together and let the animals eat them away, but even the animals were strange, their legs had grown ridiculously long, and their bodies disfigured, it was nothing like anyone had ever seen.

Twilight and her friends soon left Ponyville to Canterlot to see the Princess, at least that's what Sword Shield assumed. After they had left, Ponyville quickly became a chaotic mess once more. The buildings burst out of the ground and started floating upwards, some turned upside down in the air or began spinning.

Sword Shield was clueless how to stop it, he took to the skies on his sword careful to avoid any of the cotton candy clouds. He watched as the town was thrown into chaos, the ground changed into a colorful checker board, pigs were flying through the air and buffalo were dancing around in tutu's. The townsfolk had begun going insane, even the Mayor was dancing around like a ballerina.

There a dragon shaped figure skating around on the ground, but it was not a dragon. Sword Shield recognized the creature from books he had studied in Magic School, they were called Draconequus.

"Halt!" yelled Sword Shield and flew down in front of the Draconequus.

"Oh what now!? Another pony to try and stop me? Hurry up, I'm missing some excellent chaos," said the Draconequus, skating circles around Sword Shield.

"Who are you? Are you behind all this chaos?" asked Sword Shield.

"Chaos you say? What ever would make you think that? And I'm Discord, Spirit of Chaos," the Draconequus introduced, now known as Discord. 

"Pleased to meet you, care for some chocolate milk?" asked Discord, pulling a glass cup out of nowhere and filling it with the chocolate milk raining down. 

Sword Shield wasn't amused, "Uh-huh, 'Spirit of Chaos'. Well, I'm-"

"Swordulan Thunder Shield, or more commonly known as Sword Shield, Lieutenant Royal Guard of Canterlot, son of Steadfast Shield and Sacred Shield, known for his obedience. Quite BORING if you ask me." Discord finished his sentence.

"Wha- how did you...?" Sword Shield stood dumbfounded.

"Don't act so surprised, I know who you are. I know everypony around here, and I know that there's nothing I can say that will make you let me go, so go on, arrest me. I deserve it!" said Discord dramatically as possible.

"Like I have a choice, you're coming with me to see Celestia," said Sword Shield lowering himself to the ground, turning his sword into a giant police box and opened the door to it. Sword Shield motioned for Discord to step inside.

"Alright, you got me! I surrender," said Discord as he walked into the gold and grey colored police box, "You really should know though, I have Claustrophobia, so this is insanely cruel and unusual punishment!" Before stepping inside, Discord spilled his glass of chocolate milk on Sword Shield, drenching him completely.

"Nice..." replied Sword Shield frowning. He shook off the chocolate milk and shut the door tight to keep Discord trapped. After a moment there was no sound of movement inside the transformed sword. Sword Shield approached the door cautiously and reached for the handle when the door burst open.

"SURPRISE!" shouted Discord, but the shout did not come from inside the sword, it was from behind. Sword Shield jumped and dashed forward straight into his police box, shutting the door behind him. A mini-Discord appeared back inside next to him.

"Ohohoh! The look on your face! Sheer terror!" laughed Discord.

"Enough of this!" yelled Sword Shield. He walked out of the box and changed his sword back to normal.

"Aw, but it was just getting fun. Don't you like to have fun?" asked Discord, still miniaturized.

Sword Shield growled and lashed out his sword, morphing the end of it into a giant fist and having it grab and hold Discord in place.

"Not like this. We're going to Canterlot, I'm sure the Princess would like to speak with you," said Sword Shield, beginning to trot towards the train station.

"Celestia will see me soon enough," said Discord. He teleported out of the grip of the sword and reappeared in front of Sword Shield at his normal size again.

Discord brought Sword Shield in close and stared into his eyes, "Listen here Mister Lieutenant, Equestria is now mine to rule in Eternal Chaos, along with you," he said with an evil smile.

"You've got to be joking," responded Sword Shield, staring back coldly. Discord reeled backwards and laughed.

"Hahaha! Joking! It's what I do!" exclaimed Discord, he popped into a volatile explosion of confetti and reappeared behind Sword Shield. 

"Now try to listen again, my little pony, all of Equestria is mine now, all you've ever known will be thrown into an Eternal Chaos. This is just the beginning, just wait until you see what I have planned! Ponyville will become the Capital city of Chaos!" 

"You'll have to go through me first," said Sword Shield, standing in defensive position with his sword ready.

Discord looked curiously over at the Lieutenant, "Oh please, there is no need to get violent. Fine, I'll leave, but you'll have to suffer the consequences." Discord then disappeared into a cloud of smoke, leaving no trace behind.

"Well that was easier than expected... I guess I can go tell Princess Cele-"

"SWORDULAN THUNDER SHIELD!" a familiar voice called out, startling Sword Shield out of his armor. He turned around to be greeted with his father, Steadfast.

"Dad? What the hay are you doing here?" asked Sword Shield.

"What am I doing here? What are YOU doing here?!" asked Steadfast.

Sword Shield took a step back, "I don't understand... I'm here under orders. Shouldn't you be back in-"

"Manehatten? Yes! I should be back there, but instead I'm stuck here with a FAILURE!" yelled Steadfast. Sword Shield cringed as his father spoke.

"But... Discord left, I won."

"You only think you won! Why didn't you strike him when you had the chance? Bring him down like a real stallion would! Shining Armor would be absolutely ashamed at how you handled the situation! And don't even get me started on Princess Cadance!"

Sword Shield winced at every word his father spoke to him, "I... I was only following Shining Armor's orders."

"And you failed them! I can't even bother to look at you, nor even call you my son. You're on your own, I have to get back to Manehatten and comfort Sacred, she's very upset at you for not visiting us or even sending letters. You should have come with us to Manehatten, then I wouldn't have to deal with how much of a failure you've become," said Steadfast, he walked away and disappeared into Ponyville.

"I'm... a failure? Even after following orders correctly?" asked Sword Shield. He sat down and looked at the ground, staring at his reflection in the chocolate milk puddles. What he did not see is Discord hovering above him.

Sword Shield's mane, tail and coat all turned a much grayer shade of color. He looked back towards Canterlot and slowly rose to his hooves. He pulled out his sword, which had also grayed significantly, and transformed it to fly. He hopped on and slowly drifted towards Canterlot.

The flight took two hours, mainly because Sword Shield was flying so slowly. He landed back at the Royal Barracks and slowly walked inside. 

Shining Armor was waiting inside his office, "There you are, Sword Shield! Celestia made me put the guard on full alert, apparently something is wrong. Have you anything to report?"

"Report? Why in Equestria should I report anything to you?" replied Sword Shield disrespectfully.

"Huh?" Shining Armor was notably confused.

"I just wanted to come in and say, I quit!" yelled Sword Shield. He stomped his hoof and walked right back out of the Barracks, not even bothering to return his armor.

"What!? Sword Shield you get back in here right now! That's an order!" said Shining Armor with a tone of authority.

Sword Shield gave a cold stare to his former Captain, "I don't take orders from you anymore." He proceeded out the door.

Shining Armor watched Sword Shield leave, stunned that his top Lieutenant had actually quit in a matter of seconds without even discussing the matter. 

Sword Shield just kept on walking, passing multiple guards, all of which saluted him but he gave no salute back. He passed his old home and neighbors, not paying any attention to anyone or anything. The head of his father kept spinning around in his mind, whispering, "Failure! Failure! Failure!" over and over in his thoughts.

An angelic voice brought him out of his trance, "Sword Shield? Are you okay?" It was Cadance.

"Why should I answer you?" asked Sword Shield. He continued to walk right past Cadance. She followed right next to him.

"Because I'm your friend, and I know when something is wrong with another one of my friends," answered Cadance sternly.

"Pfft... I don't have any friends," said Sword Shield casually, as if not having friends didn't mean anything to him.

"Yes you do! You've got Shining Armor, me and almost the entire Royal Guard!" argued Cadance, she moved in front of Sword Shield to block his path. He tossed his head and looked away.

"Like I said, I don't have friends. Not you, not Shining Armor and definitely not the Royal Guard. If you'll excuse me, I've got things to do, places to go," said Sword Shield, he walked around Cadance and again turned his head away from her.

"Go where? You don't even have a home." 

That made Sword Shield stop. He slumped down into a sitting position and looked at the ground, a few tears falling from his eyes. "You're right, I don't have a home. I'm a failure just like my father said, and my failures have gotten me no where."

Cadance came next to him and put a comforting hoof on his shoulder, "That's not true. You are a Lieutenant of the Royal Guard, and you should be proud. You aren't a failure, and you shouldn't look for your father's or your friend's approval in what you do, only you should look for your own approval for what you do."

"But what if it turns out they are right? What if I am a failure? So far I have not been able to stop a single catastrophe as a guard. The Nightmare Moon incident is all my fault, and now all of Ponyville is in chaos and I wasn't able to stop it," argued Sword Shield.

"You saved Shining Armor, that has to count for something."

Sword Shield looked at Cadance for the first time with a confused look, "How did you know about that?"

"I have my ways. Shining Armor is bad at keeping secrets from me," answered Cadance, "But that's not the point. You aren't a failure, and you aren't useless."

"But what if I-" Sword Shield tried to argue but was cut off from a whack to his head.

"NO! You aren't! Get it out of your head!" yelled Cadance, smacking Sword Shield on the head a few times, "You. Are. Not. A Failure. Now give me the real Lieutenant of the Royal Guard I know." 

She began to use her magic on him. His coat and mane's color started to fade back in.

"Ugh, what happened?" asked Sword Shield as he massaged his head, he looked up at Cadance, "Oh no. Cadance, I'm so sorry... Discord messed with me, I thought I saw my father but I must have been...I don't know."

"It's alright, but you may want to go talk to Shining Armor." Cadance suggested while pointing towards the Royal Barracks.

Sword Shield facehoofed, "Right, I need to go get reinstated. Thank you, Cadance." He saluted her and trotted back to the Barracks.

Shining Armor was sending out squads of guards around the city to prepare for any chaos that might come. He had the pegasus clearing the sky of any pink clouds and unicorns keeping chaos to a minimum. 

Sword Shield walked over to him and shamefully spoke up, "Captain... I would like to request reinstatement. I was not myself and did not mean to quit, and I apologize for everything I said to you and the way I disrespected you."

Shining Armor gave him a smile, "All is forgiven, I knew you weren't yourself. You have your rank as Lieutenant back, and to be honest I could use your help. I need eyes in Ponyville, my sister Twilight is down there."

"Right away, Captain," said Sword Shield with a salute and bringing out his sword.

He used his Sight Seeing spell on the sword and flew it over top of Ponyville and 'zoomed in'. He could see Twilight and her friends facing Discord with the Elements of Harmony, but something was off; they were all gray except for Twilight. He watched as they tried to use the Elements against Discord, but they failed. One by one Twilight's friends tossed aside their Element and walked off, and afterwards even Twilight turned gray. Sword Shield cut the spell and let out a small gasp.

"What is it?" asked Shining Armor.

Sword Shield teleported his sword back and shaped it into a surfboard, "I have to see Celesta, no time to explain." He quickly flew off towards the castle. He found Celestia pacing around in the throne room.

"Princess Celestia! I need to speak with you," said Sword Shield as he hopped off his sword.

"What is it?" asked Celestia.

"Ponyville is in chaos. I saw Twilight and her friends, they failed to use the Elements to stop Discord. They're all gray, and I don't know what to do!" explained Sword Shield.

"I see... I know what to do, follow me." Celestia motioned for him to follow. Sword Shield followed Celestia to her reading room. It was filled with scrolls and books, old and new.

Celestia looked around. "I can send Twilight's old reports on the Magic of Friendship back to her, maybe it will help her remember to keep fighting. I don't know what else I can do. Sword Shield, I need you to help me find me all the reports from Twilight and give them to me," she instructed.

Sword Shield nodded and began searching for Twilight's reports, giving any to Celestia to send back. They searched until there were none left to find.

"That's the last of them, Princess," said Sword Shield as he handed Celestia the last scroll, "Will it be enough?"

"I hope so. It's up to Twilight to bring back her friends and stop Discord." she answered while sending the last scroll off.

"Is there anything else I can do?" asked Sword Shield.

"I'm afraid not. We can only hope that Twilight and her friends manage to stop Discord," answered Celestia, "For now you should report back to Shining Armor, I'm sure he'll have something for you to do."

"Yes your Highness." Sword Shield made his way back to the Barracks and Shining Armor.

Shining Armor had nothing for Sword Shield to do but stand guard on the wall overlooking Ponyville. He looked down at the once peaceful town, buildings still floating, animals running rampant all over. He looked away and began to simply wait.

Half an hour passed, Sword Shield continued to pace around the walls becoming more and more anxious each minute.
Suddenly there was a bright flash that came from Ponyville. He ran back up to the wall and looked at the town. A huge rainbow soared over it and collapsed on either side, forming a bubble. The bubble expanded and flashed as bright as the sun.

Sword Shield closed his eyes and waited a moment before opening them, and when he did Ponyville was no longer chaotic, but back to normal. The buildings were back on the ground instead of floating in the air, the animals were returned to normal and there were no more pink clouds raining chocolate milk. It was as if nothing ever happened. Sword Shield let out a cheer and got onto his sword flying throughout the town.

"Discord is defeated! Twilight and her friends have done it!" He shouted their victory to everyone, they quickly spread the word.

Soon afterwards there was a ceremony and celebration for Twilight and her friends for defeating Discord, but Sword Shield decided to sit it out, instead he went to see Shining Armor at the barracks, "Captain, if I might ask, I'd like a day off to move."

Shining Armor looked at him curiously, "Move?"

"I have decided to, er, move to Ponyville. While I was... Discorded, Cadance said something to me, and it made me realize that I don't really have a true home. I would like to change that," explained Sword Shield.

Shining Armor smiled in understanding, "I'll allow it, and even support it. We still need that outpost in Ponyville, and having you move in might make things a bit more easy."

"Thanks Cap'. I'll see you tomorrow."

"I count on it. I expect you to find a good spot by then as well," said Shining Armor.

Sword Shield gave a salute. "Yes sir!"
> Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	First thing was packing. Sword Shield didn't have much, since he had been staying in a tent at the barracks. His parents had put his old things in one of Canterlot's storage facilities in case he ever needed anything, so that's where he headed, first gathering a few belongings from his tent. He found the correct storage garage holding his stuff. Inside were cardboard boxes with childhood toys, pictures and memories, and also his old bed and dresser. Sword Shield gave a nostalgic sigh and put the rest of his things inside the boxes, also putting his sword on the ground in a clear area.

Sword Shield then left the storage garage and trotted his way to the train station with nothing but the armor on his backside, and took the train to Ponyville. The train ride took a few hours, giving him time to plan out the day. When the train arrived at Ponyville he stepped off in search of a cheap house for sale. After searching for another half hour he found a perfect two bedroom, one bathroom house with an office and main room to work with.

"Golden Eye to HQ, we have found a new home-base, over," thought Sword Shield as he looked around the empty house.

He bought it on the Royal Guard's tab, and as soon as he felt ready, he teleported himself all the way back to Canterlot, reappearing next to his sword at the storage center, which he left behind to act as a teleport beacon.

"Nifty, I'll have to do that more." thought Sword Shield. 

He took his sword and transformed it into a large flat mat and slid it underneath all of his old stuff, then transformed the sword into a box to hold everything.

"This better work," thought Sword Shield as he carefully levitated his stuff out with his sword. He carefully climbed on top of the large 'box sword' and slowly levitated himself up high above Canterlot, then made his way towards Ponyville.

It was a slow flight, all the extra weight made flying all the more dangerous. Sword Shield managed to make it to Ponyville after sundown, landing his giant box of stuff next to his new home. He shaped his sword back to normal and looked at the big pile of junk on the ground with a sigh, "This is gonna take a while." 

Sword Shield walked over to his door and opened it, the inside was completely dark, he walked in and searched for the light switch, when suddenly the light automatically switched on itself.

"SURPRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISE!!!"

"WHAT IN CELESTIA'S NAME!?" exclaimed Sword Shield, flying back out the door from sheer vocal force.

He quickly walked back in his house and found almost the entire town's population inside. There were party decorations hung up all over the wall, with party tables and balloons and streamers. Sword Shield looked at the entire scene agape.

A pink coated earth mare suddenly popped out of no where, "Hi there! My name's Pinkie Pie, and I threw this party just for YOU! Were you surprised!? Were you, were you, were you!?" 

Sword Shield stared at her, his eyes and ears twitching.

"Oh, were we too loud? Lemme try again," Pinkie Pie cleared her throat, "Surpriiiise!"

Sword Shield continued to be paralysed at the scene. He recognized a few of the ponies that were at the party, one of them was Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight walked up beside Pinkie and addressed the stunned Lieutenant, "You'll have to forgive Pinkie Pie, she always throws these parties for new ponies in town. I hope it's okay?"

Sword Shield remained frozen. Twilight waved her hoof in front of his face, "Helloooo, is anypony there?" No luck.

"Pinkie!!! You broke him!" another mare spoke up. It was the Rainbow maned pegasus from the Gala, Rainbow Dash.

"Well it's not my fault! I thought parties made ponies happy, not break them!" argued Pinkie.

"Well if you weren't so crazy in putting together these parties for new ponies, we wouldn't have that problem now would we? You invite us to these all the time," said Rainbow.

"Of course I do! How would any of us meet new ponies if I didn't? We have to be WELCOMING you know, otherwise new ponies won't like it here, and then they'll move away into the Everfree Forest and live as a hermit all alone with no friends and they'll be so sad for the rest of their lives!" Pinkie's logic was unbeatable.

"Um, girls... where'd he go?" asked Twilight.

The three of them looked where Sword Shield had previously been, but he had vanished into thin air.

Sword Shield was outside pacing around, thinking.

"Okay, trying to process what just happened. Came to Ponyville, bought a house, brought stuff from Canterlot to house, wanted to get started on moving it all in, suddenly huge gigantic party with the entire town inside my house."

The silence was broken by a familiar white coated unicorn mare, "Excuse me, are you alright?"

Sword Shield stopped in his tracks and looked at the mare, "Uh... I'm not sure. There is a giant party going on in my house, and I had no idea I invited anypony!"

"I see. You'll have to excuse my friend Pinkie Pie, she can be a little... overexcited at the sight of a new pony in town. I'm sure if you come inside and meet everypony it will be alright. I'm Rarity, by the way," introduced Rarity.

"Nice to meet you, Rarity. I'm Sword Shield," introduced Sword Shield.

"By the look of your armor, I assume you are a Royal Guard?" asked Rarity.

"Yes I am. How about I go inside and meet all your friends, I suppose I can tell you all about myself, since you seem interested," suggested Sword Shield.

"Wonderful idea! Come, I must introduce you to my friends!" Rarity practically dragged him back inside. 

Rarity brought Sword Shield into the middle of the room and whispered some advice to him, "Now go on, introduce yourself. Pinkie Pie will take care of the rest."

Sword Shield looked awkwardly around the room, he wasn't used to social gatherings unless it was business. He cleared his throat and called for everyone's attention, the party settled down, the music stopped and even Pinkie Pie sat down to listen.

"Thank you for this great welcoming party you have all made for me, it was... unexpected to say the least, but I guess it's alright. I'm not normally used to parties like this, but I guess I can make an exception, and I suppose an introduction is required since I am new to Ponyville. My name is Sword Shield, and I am a Lieutenant of the Royal Guard from Canterlot. It is nice to meet you all."

"Woohoo! Welcome to Ponyville! These are all my friends," said Pinkie Pie, she pulled Sword Shield to meet each of her friends, "This is Twilight, she lives in the Ponyville Library and loves books."

"Nice to see you again, Sword Shield," said Twilight.

"Likewise, Ms. Sparkle," said Sword Shield.

Pinkie pulled him off again, "This is Applejack, she lives at Sweet Apple Acres and loves apples."

Sword Shield recognized Applejack from the Gala, "Howdy Mr. Shield, care fer some apples?" she asked, holding out a few.

"No thanks. I prefer carrots to be honest, they also help us guards with seeing better," answered Sword Shield.

"Suit yourself." Applejack tossed the apples in the air and ate them herself.

Pinkie pulled him off again, "This is Rainbow Dash, she's the best flier in all of Equestria!"

"That's right! What's up?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"The best flier in all of Equestria huh?" Sword Shield asked back.

"Thee one and only!" answered Rainbow, pulling a pose in mid air.

Sword Shield pulled out his sword and changed it to its surfboard shape and hopped on and pulled his own flying pose, "Are you sure?" 

Rainbow stared at him with a hint of shock and awe, "You can fly on that thing?!"

"By 'fly' I suppose you mean use my magically enchanted sword to use as a flying surfboard? Beats me," answered Sword Shield while flying circles around Rainbow.

"Hmph, maybe some day we should have a competition, I've never faced a Royal Guard before, but you seem cool enough," suggested Rainbow.

"Thanks, but that'll have to wait, I'm very busy," Sword Shield flew back down to the floor and hopped off. Pinkie Pie immediately swept him off again.

"This is Fluttershy, she uh... hey, where did Fluttershy go!?" asked Pinkie. Fluttershy was no where in sight.

"She never came, remember? She had to stay at her cottage to tend to one of her animals that were injured," answered Twilight.

"Oh, right. You can meet her later," Pinkie brought Sword Shield to the last pony, "This is Rarity, she lives and works at the Carousel Boutique. She makes amazing dresses!"

"How do you do, Sword Shield?" asked Rarity with a slight bow.

"Just fabulous, thank you very much Miss Rarity," said Sword Shield in his most fancy voice and a bow of his own.

"Finally somepony else in this town who also speaks fabulosity!" exclaimed Rarity.

"My fabulosity is a bit rusty, so you'll have to excuse me. Even though I'm from Canterlot I was never big on the whole nobility thing." Sword Shield gave a faint chuckle.

"And we can't forget little Spike here either!" said Pinkie, pulling out Spike from the crowd.

Spike gave a small grunt, "Hey Sword Shield."

"Hey Spike. Gotten many donuts lately?" asked Sword Shield.

"Not many, thanks to somepony thinking I need to let up on my eating habits," answered Spike while glancing towards Twilight.

Pinkie Pie continued on for the rest of the night introducing every pony at the party to Sword Shield. He managed to play a few games as well, but soon after midnight everyone left and the party ended.

"Man, these Ponyville ponies sure know how to throw a party... Guess I have to get everything inside now," said Sword Shield exhausted.

He walked outside to the pile of stuff he left on the ground. He stared at it a few moments and looked up at the moon, realizing how late it was.

"Gah... I'll do it tomorrow." Sword Shield pulled out one of the sleeping mats he used in Canterlot and laid it on the floor in the front room. He shaped his sword into a protective box and put it over his stuff to keep safe for the night. As he walked back inside he realized what a mess the house was.

"Nice, more work for tomorrow," thought Sword Shield. He let out a sigh and laid down on his mat and went to sleep.

Morning came and the light shining through the windows woke Sword Shield immediately. He began to clean up the mess left by the party using his magic, sweeping the confetti out and taking down the streamers. Strangely enough the party tables that were set up the night before disappeared. Disappointing, as Sword Shield wanted to hopefully keep a few of those.

Once the house was back to it's normal empty self, Sword Shield walked outside to find his stuff, his sword was still keeping it all safe. He took the sword off and brought it back to its normal form and began to move everything inside, starting with the bed and dresser.

It took Sword Shield a short ten minutes to move everything inside using his magic, there wasn't much he had to begin with.

He put everything in an organized fashion, putting up his foalhood toys and trinkets around the house like decorations. Once everything was set up the house was still rather empty, only his room having furniture. The rest of the house would have to wait till later for furnishings, work needed to be done.

Sword Shield left home on his sword and searched the town of Ponyville for the best spot to put a Royal Guard outpost. He found an empty spot on the edge of town between the Everfree Forest and the Train Station. Perfect. He quickly headed over to the Town Hall to file the paperwork for the land rights and building materials.

He left on his sword for Canterlot, bringing the filed paperwork to Shining Armor and having him look over it. He makes a few minor adjustments and sends it to Celestia.

"Now it's only a matter of time to get the outpost built and guards set up down there. I want you to overlook its construction and make sure everything goes smoothly. I'll send guards in a week to run shifts at the new outpost," said Shining Armor.

"Yes sir." Sword Shield saluted and immediately flew back to Ponyville.

Construction of the new outpost only took a week, as Shining Armor had expected. Some of the locals had even volunteered to help. The new guards arrived and they were able to settle down at the outpost. Everything was taken care of.

Shining Armor had Sword Shield remain in Ponyville for the next few months, reporting in progress of the outpost and keeping the guards in check. It was a welcome change, as Sword Shield was allowed some time living more casually, only having to go back to Canterlot twice a week.

Ponyville was a fairly peaceful town, nothing much ever happened, besides Pinkie's crazy parties. One day while studying in his home office, Sword Shield's roof was ripped off by a dragon. He grabbed his sword and tried to fly to a safe distance, but the dragon managed to snatch him and his sword out of the air. The dragon dropped him and took his sword, knocking out Sword Shield from the impact of his fall.

When he woke up the dragon was gone and Ponyville was partially destroyed, along with one of his legs. He'd managed to break one of his front legs, after hesitating for a moment he pushed the bone back into the correct position, teeth grinding with pain the whole time. He teleported his sword back from who-knows-where and transformed it to use as a makeshift cast.

Sword Shield learned that Spike was the dragon which destroyed his roof, and that the whole thing was an accident. He let it fly for the time being, but warned Spike that he should be more careful next time. 

He got a new cast on his left leg and used his sword to create a temporary roof for his house. He didn't bother hiring anyone to fix it, rather waiting to be able to do it himself. The weeks passed, Sword Shield's leg healed quickly with the help of doctor's medical magic and he was able to fix his roof.

During his time in Ponyville, Sword Shield had been pulled into a whole bunch of parties hosted by Pinkie Pie.

"So, do you like parties?" asked Pinkie Pie during one of her parties at Sugarcube Corner, "I mean, for a Royal Guard. You guys never seem to come to parties."

Sword Shield took a sip of fruit juice, "Well it depends. I'm not much of a party pony, normally I'm very busy working with the Captain and the Royal Guard. Only lately have I been able to come to any as I've been assigned watch over the guard outpost here in Ponyville, which isn't all too demanding."

Pinkie Pie thought for a moment, "So... is that a yes?"

Sword Shield chuckled, "Sure, that's a yes."

"Goody! Because I've got a whole lot more party where that came from!" said Pinkie excitedly.

"Glad to hear."

Suddenly the door burst open. A Pegasus Royal Guard walked in and over to Sword Shield and stood at salute. Sword Shield put down his drink and faced the guard with his own salute.

"Is something wrong?" asked Sword Shield, breaking his salute.

The guard lowered his hoof, "Your presence in Canterlot has been requested by Captain Shining Armor."

"Did he give a reason?"

"No reason was given, but he says it's urgent."

"Alright, I'll leave immediately. Return to your usual post," said Sword Shield. He teleported his sword to him and walked out the door.

"Wait wait wait!" a voice called from back inside. Pinkie Pie came rushing out.

"You're not leaving already are you? There's still more partying left to do!" said Pinkie.

"Sorry Pinkie, official business. I'll make it up to you later," promised Sword Shield as he transformed his sword to fly. He launched into the late afternoon sky towards Canterlot, wondering why the Captain needed to see him so urgently.
> The Proposal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The flight only took twenty minutes, the scenery below whizzed by as Sword Shield was flying full speed to make sure his Captain wouldn't be waiting too long.

"I hope nothing is wrong. No message as to why he needs me... Maybe it's top secret? I sure hope this isn't worse than I think it is," thought Sword Shield.

He arrived at the Canterlot Barracks and touched down, hastily putting away his sword and running inside. Shining Armor was inside his office with his back turned on the door, he was wearing a tuxedo.

"Captain..." Sword Shield took a long inhale, his flight exhausted him more than he thought. "You needed me?"

Shining Armor froze for half a second as if being caught with his hoof in the cookie jar, then turned around "Oh, it's you. Scared me there."

Sword Shield tilt his head in confusion, "Scared you? Shining Armor, what are you doing? Why are you dressed like that?"

"I need your help with something," answered Shining Armor. He took a small red box out of his tuxedo's pocket and levitated it towards Sword Shield.

"What's this?" asked Sword Shield. Shining Armor opened up the case and revealed a golden ring with three small diamonds mounted onto it.

"A... ring?" Sword Shield looked at the ring with curiosity, it was a beautiful piece of pony craftsmanship, built to fit the horn of a unicorn perfectly. He wondered how Shining Armor even managed to afford it.

"What do you think?" asked Shining Armor.

"Well it's a beautiful ring, that's for sure, but why are you showing it to me?"

"Uh," Shining Armor hesitated a few seconds, "I'm going to propose to Cadance."

"Cadance? Thee Cadance? Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Cadance?" asked Sword Shield.

"Do you disapprove?" asked Shining Armor with a serious tone.

"No, no, I just... didn't know you can marry a Princess, or even Royalty. Are you sure about this Shining Armor? It's a huge deal, if she accepts that is." Sword Shield was worried if Cadance rejected his offer that his Captain might go into a terrible depression and the Royal Guard would soon afterwards crumble.

"I've known Cadance for a long time, she's my best friend, there wouldn't be any other mare, I'm sure," said Shining Armor confidently.

"Alright, but what do you need me for?" asked Sword Shield, still confused why Shining Armor needed him so urgently.

"I'm going to ask Cadance to dinner, and I want you to be the one serving us. This is my plan: Before we come into the restaurant I want you to take the case with the ring inside and set it in the middle of our table and hide it, make it look normal as possible, use flowers or something. After you deliver our drinks I'll do my part," explained Shining Armor.

"Sounds like a plan. Although it's a little cheesy for my tastes, I'll help. I shall dub it 'Operation PTC' for 'Propose to Cadance,'" joked Sword Shield.

"And you call me cheesy," Shining Armor chuckled. 

He gave the ring case to Sword Shield, "Keep it hidden until we get there. Oh, and you'll need this." Shining Armor gave Sword Shield his tuxedo.

Sword Shield let out a groan as he took the tuxedo along with the ring case. He took off his armor and put on the tuxedo, hiding the ring case in his own pocket.

"Dinner will be in two hours, it'll be at Hay Garden," said Shining Armor.

"Roger that Captain. I will prepare for Operation PTC," said Sword Shield with a salute.

Shining Armor saluted back and sent him off.

Sword Shield ran towards the restaurant Hay Garden to get everything set-

"Oof!" Sword Shield tripped on a small rock, knocking him forwards and falling flat on the ground. He massaged his head and checked for any other injuries.

"Are you okay?" a voice asked from behind.

Sword Shield looked behind him, "Cadance! Uh... I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"I was just wandering the city when I saw you dropped something," Cadance brought forward something, it was the ring case, "Is this yours?"

Sword Shield panicked for a moment, "Uh, yeah. It must have fell out of my pocket while I was running, sorry about that." He took back the ring case and put it away.

"So, who's the lucky mare?" asked Cadance.

"Huh?"

"Don't be coy, I know a ring case when I see one. You're obviously going to propose to somepony! That's so special, who is it?"

Another moment of panic overwhelmed Sword Shield, "Nopony of... consequence... you probably don't know her."

"Please, I know almost everyone in Canterlot. I guess it comes with being a Princess. Come on now, you don't have to be shy with me, who is it?"

"Come on Sword, a name! A name! Just think of one simple name!"

"Bellamare! Yes, her name is Bellamare."

"Hmm, I suppose you were right, I've never met somepony named Bellamare. Well I hope you two are very happy together!" said Cadance with a smile.

"Y-yeah... thanks. Uh, I think Shining Armor wanted to talk to you about something, he's around the barracks," said Sword Shield wiping the sweat off his forehead.

"Thanks, I'll see you later!" said Cadance, she began to walk off, "And I better be invited to the wedding!"

Sword Shield cringed at the last word. He made his way to the restaurant again.

"Not yet... not yet." He wasn't ready to make any commitment to a mare any time soon, his duties in the Royal Guard played far too big a role in his life for him to chase after something else.

Sword Shield arrived at Hay Garden. The inside of the restaurant was very formal, lots of wooden designs on the walls with pictures, the tables in one big room, all made with strong oak, there was a warm fireplace and the smell of Lavender was present. There were a few other pony couples in the restaurant, but it was relatively quiet at this time. 

Finding the table that was reserved for Cadance at all times, Sword Shield took out the ring case, setting it down in the middle of the table and surrounded it with the candles and flowers provided to make it look plain and hidden. He continued to prepare the table until the manager of the restaurant came over to him with an angry expression on his face.

"What are you doing to Princess Cadance's table? You are not allow-" the manager stopped mid sentence as Sword Shield turned his head slightly and stared at him. "Oh, excuse me, I did not recognize you. My apologies, Lieutenant Shield. Might I ask what you are doing here?"

Sword Shield smiled. "It's alright, you are just doing your job, like I am. Shining Armor and Cadance are on their way over here for dinner, it is going to be a special occasion," he explained, levitating the ring case out into view.

The managers eyes widened as he saw the ring case. "Ahhh, I see! This is wonderful!"

"The Captain has appointed me to be his waiter for tonight, is that alright with you?" asked Sword Shield.

"Of course, of course. You are going to need a platter to hold food and drink though."

Sword Shield took out his sword which he had kept hidden as a dagger and morphed it into a round silver platter with golden rims. "How is this?" 

"Perfect! Now don't let me get in the way, though if you need anything just give a holler. I'll let the staff know what you're doing." The manager trotted off and explained everything to the cooks and waiters.

Sword Shield continued to perfect everything, and a few minutes after, Cadance and Shining Armor entered the restaurant and came over to their table. 

Cadance noticed Sword Shield standing next to the table. "What are you doing here? I thought you were proposing to somepony today?"

Sword Shield glanced at Shining Armor for a moment then back to Cadance, "No, I decided to wait until tomorrow. I think I need to sleep on it. So instead, I'm going to be your waiter for tonight actually, have a seat." Sword Shield pulled the chairs out for Cadance and Shining Armor. They took their seats and began looking at the menu. "So, what'll it be for tonight?"

Cadance and Shining Armor ordered their food and drinks, Sword Shield told their orders to the cooks and brought their drinks and set them on the table. 

Shining Armor winked towards Sword Shield. He cleared his throat and smiled innocently. "Cadance, I almost forgot, I brought a gift for you."

"Really? Where is it?" asked Cadance.

"Well, it's right here." Shining Armor levitated the ring case out of the flowers from the table. 

"But... isn't that Sword Shield's ring?" asked Cadance confused, she looked over at Sword Shield, only to see him wearing a tight grin.

Shining Armor brought back Cadance's attention, "Before you say anything else, let me say something first."

Shining Armor cleared his throat again and took a deep inhale, "Cadance, it has been a long time since we first met each other. On the first day I saw you I couldn't describe how beautiful you were. I still can't manage to describe it today. There came a point in time in our relationship where I knew I wanted to see you every day, not only your wonderful face, but also your amazing personality, the way you treat everypony with kindness, the way you spread love everywhere you go and your amazing smile." 

Cadance gave a sheepish smile.

Shining Armor had gotten off his chair and knelt down in front of Cadance, "After all the time we have spent together, I believe I have truly found the one mare for me. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, will you marry me?" As Shining Armor asked the question he opened up the case and revealed the gold ring inside. 

Cadance looked up and down at Shining Armor and the ring with tears of joy streaming down her face, "Sh-Shining Armor... I don't know what to say," she stammered out.

Sword Shield came over beside her and gave her a nudge, "I think you should say 'Yes.'"

"You won't only be gaining a husband, you'll be getting a pretty great sister too," said Shining Armor, also giving Cadance his own nudge.

Cadance smacked him on the head, but then jumped off her chair and gave him a hug, "Y-yes... Yes! Yes! Shining Armor I will marry you!" Cadance squealed joyfully, "But promise to never say something that cheesy ever again!"

"I promise," said Shining Armor, giving Cadance a short kiss.

The whole restaurant applauded at the scene, even the cooks joined in. The scene was able to calm down and dinner proceeded as usual. Sword Shield happily served his Captain and Princess their food while they chatted about future plans and the wedding.

"So you never did have somepony to propose to, did you?" Cadance asked Sword Shield while he cleared their table.

"No, you nearly gave me a heart attack," answered Sword Shield.

"Well that's too bad, I'm sure you could make a mare very happy," said Cadance sincerely.

Sword Shield shrugged it off. "I don't think I'm ready for something like that."

"It's alright, Sword Shield. Not every stallion can be as confident in courting mares like your Captain can," commented Shining Armor slyly.

"No, it seems not. I'll just watch you carefully to see how you handle it, and then do the exact opposite," joked Sword Shield.

Suddenly the front door burst open and three Royal Guards rushed into the building, everyone stopped eating and stared at them.

"Shining Armor!" the guard up front called out. 

Shining Armor looked at the guards and back to Cadance with a worried look, "I'm over here."

The three guards ran up to Shining Armor. "Captain, we are sorry to have disturbed you, but the situation is urgent. A dire threat has been made against Canterlot, Princess Celestia demands your immediate presence," the guard in the front said. 

Shining Armor was standing at full attention now. "What happened?"

The three guards looked at each other, "We're not entirely sure, sir. Celestia can explain more. You must come with us." 

"We're right behind you. Sword Shield, fly to the barracks, put all guards on duty and increase their patrols. Cadance and I are going to see what the trouble is," ordered Shining Armor.

"Yes, Captain." Sword Shield gave a salute and ran out of the restaurant, quickly taking out his sword, transforming it and taking off towards the barracks.
> Lies and Deceit
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was after dark when Sword Shield left the restaurant. He quickly flew to the barracks and alerted the entire Royal Guard using the callback horn.

"Listen up, we've received a threat against Canterlot. Shining Armor wants all guards at their stations and patrols. I want you pegasus guards to be doing fly by's around the castle and over every neighborhood, keep a keen eye out for anything suspicious. Report anything out of the ordinary. Shining Armor will call you back tomorrow morning for extra assignments. Move!" ordered Sword Shield.

All the Royal Guards came to life as they dispersed throughout Canterlot, securing every inch of the city. Sword Shield let out a sigh as he watched them go. This was gonna be a long night.

He went over to the barracks and changed out of the tuxedo he was still wearing and put on his armor. He headed for the castle where he expected Shining Armor and Cadance to be. He walked into the throne room, and sure enough the two of them were talking with Celestia.

"-sure you can handle it?" asked Celestia.

"It's no problem, Celestia. The Royal Guard should be more than enough to counter whatever is threatening Canterlot," answered Shining Armor.

"I hope so. To be safe, I want you to cast your shield spell around Canterlot, I don't want anypony getting in or out without my say," ordered Celestia.

"Understood." Shining Armor then began to use his magic, he gasped as he used it but managed to create a large shield surrounding the entire city. 

"That should do it," said Shining Armor as he finished the spell. He looked back at Celestia, "If you haven't heard already, I proposed to Cadance and..." Shining Armor looked over at Cadance with a smile.

"I accepted!" said Cadance gleefully.

"We would like to have the wedding here at the castle," said Shining Armor. 

Celestia gave a smile, "That's wonderful news! I'm so happy for you both. And of course we can have the wedding here. It may be on such short notice, but it should be safe enough at the moment, we need time to prepare however. After tomorrow I will invite Twilight and her friends to help with the wedding, but I think we should get some rest now, it's very late, and we have much to do tomorrow. Good night everypony." 

Cadance, Shining Armor and Sword Shield all left to get some rest. Each of them were offered a room at the castle, Cadance and Shining Armor accepted, but Sword Shield declined and slept in his tent outside the barracks, wanting to be ready the moment anything happened if Canterlot was attacked.

The night passed quickly with no disturbances, Sword Shield woke up at the crack of dawn and was grateful nothing had attacked Canterlot during the night, yet his nerves remained on edge. Waiting for an impending attack was the worst part of an attack, the longer the enemy waited the worst it would get. He left his tent and took his own station on the wall overlooking Ponyville.

His old recruits, Arden and Swifty, were also at their posts on the wall nearby.

"Hey, Sword Shield! Long time no see huh?" Arden called over.

"Yup, it's been a while. You guys have been staying out of trouble I hope?" asked Sword Shield.

"Well, no thanks to your training, yes," answered Swifty.

"Well let's hope you can hold up to what I've taught you, cause we might be in a bit of trouble soon enough," said Sword Shield in a serious tone.

There was a few moments of silence until Shining Armor came over by the wall looking for Sword Shield, "Hey, have any of you seen Cadance anywhere?" Shining Armor flinched for a moment and rubbed his head as if he was having a headache.

"Why? Did you lose her?" asked Arden. Swifty and him both cracked up into a laugh while Sword Shield simply rolled his eyes.

"No, I haven't seen her anywhere this morning. Did you check back at the castle?" asked Sword Shield.

"Yes, but I think I'll check again. If you see her though, notify me," said Shining Armor he began to walk off when Cadance appeared in front of him.

"I'm right here, Shining Armor. Is there something you needed?" asked Cadance.

Her appearance surprised Shining Armor, "Uh, yeah. I need your help with something back at the castle. Sword Shield, I want you to come along too, I'd rather you be patrolling inside the castle than the walls."

"Alright," replied Sword Shield. He hopped onto his sword and flew ahead of them to the castle and continued on his patrols inside.

The day passed by quickly, ponies were scrambling around setting up decorations all day long, Sword Shield stayed in the castle patrolling. No attacks ever came, but something was bothering Sword Shield about Cadance, she didn't seem to be acting like her normal self. Every once in a while Sword Shield saw her out the corner of his eye, and she was frowning, she seemed generally unhappy.

When he watched her talk with other's she always seemed to smile, but it looked fake to him. He knew Cadance never smiled that way, and she rarely ever frowned, she was always a very happy pony. Sword Shield mostly brushed it off as wedding anxiety, planning a wedding was never meant to be easy, was it?

The next day Twilight and her friends showed up and started to help put the wedding together. Sword Shield always tried to stay near Cadance, guarding the doors to the rooms whichever she was in, sometimes listening in on the conversation. 

Over time he became more and more confused with the way Cadance was behaving, she never acted rude or self-centered when he was her personal guard, or the occasion they ran into each other, but today she was acting abnormally so.

He decided to take a walk after night had fallen and his shift ended, he wandered around outside thinking to himself and started overhearing a conversation at a table nearby. It was Twilight and her friends. Twilight sounded upset and was arguing with her friends, she seemed to be obsessed with the way Cadance was acting today.

"-I'm sure it's the result of being an awful pony who doesn't deserve to even know Shining Armor let alone marry him!" yelled Twilight,  "Maybe there shouldn't even be a wedding!" 

"Think maybe you're being just a tiny bit possessive of your brother?" asked Applejack.

"I am not being possessive, and I am not taking it out on Cadance! You're all just too caught up in your wedding planning to notice that maybe there shouldn't even be a wedding!" argued Twilight.

Sword Shield was surprised hearing Twilight say that, he knew something was wrong but not to the extent of cancelling the wedding, but it seemed he wasn't the only one who had noticed Cadance's sudden change in behavior. He wasn't sure what to do about it and decided to simply retire to his tent for the night.

The next day Sword Shield came up to Cadance while she was alone in her room. It was about time somepony confronted her.

"Cadance, are you feeling okay today? You haven't been acting like yourself lately," said Sword Shield after knocking on the door.

"I'm fine! You don't need to be checking up on me," answered Cadance. She didn't even bother opening the door.

"Are you sure? Cadance, if there is something wrong you can tell me," insisted Sword Shield.

"I said I'm fine! I promise. Now go, I need to get ready for the rehearsal!" said Cadance. 

Despite her saying otherwise, Sword Shield was still convinced something was wrong with Cadance. He took out his sword and shrunk it down into a marble and used a Sight Seeing spell on it and rolled it under the door to spy on her.

Like she said, she was getting ready for the wedding rehearsal, nothing unusual, but Sword Shield noticed something; when she used her magic to levitate something, the magic aura of Cadance's horn wasn't her normal color, it was green, not the light blue it was supposed to be. 

Sword Shield brought back his sword and returned it to normal. He was convinced that Cadance was not the actual Cadance, at least the Cadance he knew. He suspected her to be under a spell of some sort. He made his way to the room where everyone was rehearsing to warn them, but was stopped by one of the guards in the hallway.

"You'll have to wait Lieutenant, Princess Celestia doesn't want any interruptions with the rehearsal," explained the guard.

Sword Shield sighed and began to wait impatiently for rehearsal to finish. He saw Cadance come through the hall and enter the room, Twilight came through a moment later as well, entering the room rather aggressively. 

"I'm here!" Sword Shield overheard Twilight yell, "I'm not gonna stand next to her! And neither should you!" 

The door closed and there was silence. Sword Shield was suddenly interested and took out his sword, morphing it into a marble again and used a Sight Seeing spell on it. He rolled it secretly under the door without the guards noticing and watched what was going on in the room.

"You have to listen to me!" Twilight continued yelling.

"Oh goodness, are you okay?" asked Fluttershy.

"I'm fine," responded Twilight.

"Ya sure about that?" asked Applejack. Twilight pushed her away.

"I've got something to say!" Twilight walked forward a few steps and pointed at Cadance, "She's evil!" Sword Shield was surprised at how straight forward Twilight was. Everyone in the room looked at her confused.

"She's been horrible to my friends," Twilight teleported behind Cadance, "She's obviously done something to her bridesmaids, and if that wasn't enough, I saw her put a spell on my brother that made her eyes go all," Twilight motioned with her face what she had seen, motioning her eyes spinning in circles. She cornered Cadance into the wall and stared at her. 

Cadance let out a gasp and started crying, "Why are you doing this to me?!" She ran out of the room, nearly running over Sword Shield.

"Because you're evil!" Twilight teleported next to the door, "Evil! And if I don't stop you you're going to ruin my brothers life!" Sword Shield was again taken by surprise this time from Cadance's reaction, but he didn't go after her, he still wasn't convinced. 

Twilight stepped back into the room and ran into Shining Armor. He stared down at her angrily.

"You want to know why my eyes went all," Shining Armor copied the motion Twilight had done, "Because ever since I started having to perform my protection spell I've been getting terrible migraines. Cadance hasn't been casting spells on me, she's been using her magic to heal me. And she decided to replace her bridesmaids because that she found out that the only reason they wanted to be in the wedding was so that they could meet Canterlot Royalty. And if she hasn't been on her best behavior with your friends, it's because with me being so busy, she's had to make all the decisions about the wedding!" Shining Armor paced around furiously while talking.

"I... I was just trying to-" Twilight tried to argue but Shining Armor cut her off.

"She's completely stressed out because it's really important that our big day be perfect! Something that was obviously not important to you." Shining Armor let out a gasp and reached towards his head as if another migraine was coming on. 

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go, and comfort my bride." Shining Armor started to walk out of the room but paused one last time, "And you can forget about being my best mare. In fact, if I were you, I wouldn't show up to the wedding at all." 

Sword Shield was at a loss for words. He hadn't expected Shining Armor to say that, but if Twilight was right, it's possible that if Cadance was casting spells on Shining Armor she could possibly be controlling him to make up excuses.

Sword Shield was almost tempted to smack Shining Armor and agree with Twilight as he walked by, but held back out of fear of being talked down as well, or even being demoted.

"Come on y'all, let's go check on the Princess," suggested Applejack. They all followed Shining Armor out the room.

Celestia began to follow them as well. "You have a lot to think about," she said to Twilight as she passed and slammed the door shut leaving Twilight inside. 

Sword Shield had had enough, he teleported his sword back, put it away and approached Celestia, "Celestia." he said as sternly as possible.

"Not now, Sword Shield," responded Celestia, attempting to walk past him. He raised his hoof and stopped her though.

"This is important your Highness, and I must request that you stay and listen," said Sword Shield in a slightly demanding tone.

Celestia sighed. "Very well, Make it quick." 

"I have to side with Twilight. I believe she is correct, but before you cut me off on how stupid I possibly sound, hear me out: I was a personal guard for Cadance for quite a while, and over time we became good friends. I know Cadance, and the real Cadance I know would not have acted like the way she did today," explained Sword Shield.

"Unless you have valid proof to back your claim, I'm afraid I can't help," said Celestia impatiently.

"Have you noticed her magic's aura? It is not light blue like it's supposed to be, her magic aura is green. Why would she suddenly have a green aura?" asked Sword Shield.

Celestia paused to think, "I... I don't know."

"Princess, with all due respect, you need to do something about this, before all of Canterlot is in grave danger if it isn't already," said Sword Shield very seriously worried.

"I can't, I need further evidence to make me absolutely positive I can take action. I'm sorry," answered Celestia, she walked off and disappeared into the castle's many halls.

Sword Shield let out a sigh, he wasn't sure what to do now. He walked back to the door and looked into the wedding rehearsal room, Twilight was nowhere to be seen though. He thought she must have teleported off. Not very convenient for him, she was the only other pony who thought Cadance was not herself. He gave up hope and went back to his patrols around the castle.

A few hours later the wedding began. Sword Shield decided to stay and see what happens. He stood at the back of the crowd near the doors, just to be safe. Cadance came in and the wedding music began to play. She walked up the red carpet to Shining Armor and Princess Celestia.

The music was silenced and Celestia began to speak, "Mares and Gentlecolts, we are gathered here today to witness the union of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor."

Sword Shield didn't listen to the rest of the sermon, he was too busy keeping an eye on Cadance and her every move. Near the end of the ceremony Sword Shield's attention was broken, Celestia was about to pronounce the two mare and colt when suddenly a voice shouted out.

"Stooop!" 

Sword Shield looked over and saw Twilight standing in the doorway.

"Ugh, why does she have to be so possessive of her brother!?" asked Cadance angrily. Sword Shield smirked as everyone stared in confusion at Cadance's outburst. She immediately began to tear up, "Why does she have to ruin my special day?"

"You're pushing your luck, whoever you are," thought Sword Shield.

"Because, it's not your special day, it's mine!" another voice called out. Now standing in the doorway was the real Cadance, the entire crowd looked at her and gasped. 

"WHAT? But how did you escape my bridesmaids?!" asked the 'fake' Cadance.

Cadance explained how she and Twilight had escaped from the bridesmaids by distracting them with a bouquet.

"Hmph, clever, but you're still too late," continued the fake Cadance.

"I don't understand, how can there be two of 'em?" asked Applejack.

"She's a changeling, she takes the form of somepony you love and gains power by feeding off your love for them," explained Cadance.

Suddenly a pillar of green magical energy surrounded the fake Cadance. While everyone was distracted by it, Sword Shield quickly snuck out the door. 

He ran down the hall and headed for the Elements of Harmony. While he was running he took out his sword and quickly transformed it and jumped on to go faster, he needed to reach the Elements quickly, it was the only way he felt he could stop whoever this fake Cadance was.

He reached the building containing the Elements of Harmony, but before he went inside he looked up into the sky. Outside of Shining Armor's magical barrier were thousands of changelings, pounding away at the barrier. After multiple attempts to break the shield, every single changeling charged one last time and shattered the magical shield. They began to swarm into Canterlot by the hundreds. Sword Shield quickly flew inside and shut the door. 

He flew over to the sealed door that kept the Elements safe, inserted his horn and tried to open it, "Come on, open! Open!" 

It wouldn't unlock, his horn was too short, only the Princess could unlock the door. Sword Shield tried something else, he got off his sword and changed its shape to look like a long unicorn horn long enough to fit, and inserted it into the lock.

Just as he inserted his sword, changelings burst open the door and started pouring into the room. Sword Shield wasn't able to unlock the door fast enough, changelings began to jump onto his back and strangle him to the ground. 

He flew his sword up into the air as he was pinned to the ground and morphed it again to fly on. He teleported himself on top of it away from the changelings, but that didn't stop them, they flew towards Sword Shield and struggled to get him off.

Sword Shield began flying around the room and kicking any changelings that came near, but they started to become too numerous for him to deal with, and was eventually hit on the head by a random flying changeling. He fell off his sword and gravity pulled him to the ground, knocking him unconscious.

When Sword Shield awoke, the changelings were gone, in fact there were no signs of them ever being here. He quickly stood up and took his sword, transforming it to a unicorn horn again and putting it into the keyhole for the door containing the Elements of Harmony. It unlocked, and he levitated the box out and made his way back to the castle as fast as he could, running into the wedding room at full speed.

"I've got the Elements! We can stop the changelings!" he shouted as he burst through the door. He looked around the room with no sign of the changeling queen. Everyone in the room stared at him for a moment and started laughing cheerfully. 

Cadance walked up to Sword Shield with a smile, "It's okay, she's gone."

"The power of true love prevailed against her," remarked Celestia.

Sword Shield looked at Cadance for a moment and back to everyone else, "Oh. Good." Everyone laughed once more. 

Celestia walked up to Sword Shield and took back the Elements, "I'm sorry that I doubted you before, Sword Shield, and Twilight. My ignorance lead to all this destruction, I will take full responsibility for all that has happened today."

"That will not be necessary, Celestia. There's nopony who can truly be to blame that it might as well be all of our faults. I'm just happy that everything turned out okay." said Sword Shield trying to find the bright side of things.

"Hey! Aren't we supposed to be planning a wedding!?" shouted Pinkie Pie suddenly.

Everyone nodded in agreement and started scrambling around to prepare the wedding once again. It only took half an hour until everything was finally ready. The wedding began and Sword Shield watched from the crowd as Cadance walked up the aisle to Shining Armor and Celestia.

"Mares and Gentlecolts, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of the real Princess Mi Amore Cadenza-" began Celestia.

"'Princess Cadance' is fine," said Cadance.

"-the union of Princess Cadance, and Shining Armor. The strength of their commitment is clear, the power of their love; undeniable. May we have the rings please?" Spike brought forth the rings and Celestia placed them on Shining Armor's and Cadance's horn. "I now pronounce you, Mare and Colt."

Cadance and Shining Armor walked out onto the balcony and viewed all the subjects who had come to see them and shared a kiss. 

"That's your cue, Rainbow Dash." Celestia whispered to the rainbow maned pegasus. Rainbow Dash flew into the air and performed a sonic rainboom, creating a rainbow over all of Canterlot.

The wedding was over. Sword Shield attended the wedding after party, dancing with everyone else, even performing a few tricks on his sword for entertainment, but when it was time for Cadance and Shining Armor to head off on their honeymoon he had to stop. 

He'd been tasked by Shining Armor to be their driver. He waited until they were finally ready to leave and hopped on the driver seat. He used his sword to pull the carriage and headed off into the moonlight, onward to a completely new adventure.


The End