> The Story of a Royal Guard: A Change of Seasons [OUTDATED]
>  by Himntor
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Crystal Empire - Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Where do I begin? I suppose I should begin with introducing myself. I'm Swordulan Thunder Shield, but prefer to be called Sword Shield as I always thought 'Swordulan' sounded ridiculous. I am a unicorn pony born of Canterlot and a Lieutenant in the Royal Guard under the command of Captain Shining Armor. I have a light brown coat, orange and yellow mane and tail and light blue eyes. My cutie mark is a sword crossing down a shield with six stars surrounding it. 

If you haven't yet, I highly suggest reading my first story, as you might be confused for where we are at this point, but I'll give you some details.

The story began with me as a young colt, I had always wanted to become a powerful magician and studied day and night learning about magic and trying new spells. My father had other plans, however. His father before him, or my grandfather, was a grand hero in the Royal Guard, and the previous Captain. Because of a leg injury my father had gotten in his younger days he was not able to join the Royal Guard himself, and so he looked down to me to live up to my grandfather, as he could not, and signed me up for training.

Eventually I finished training, while it was a struggle I still made it through. Afterwards I was signed up for the School for Magically Gifted Unicorns and began training in the use of magic in a more professional manner. The years went by, and I eventually wound up in the Royal Guard. 

First order of business; create my own weapon. I managed to build a sword, as sword fighting using magic techniques was my special talent. What I did not know about my newly created weapon, was that it was more powerful than I had anticipated. I had enchanted my sword using three crystals, and because of that I quickly learned that I could manipulate the sword with magic very easily, almost easier than it is for a normal unicorn to use levitation magic. I was able to transform it into many shapes and sizes, and could fly on top of it like a surfboard, along with many other tricks.

During my time in the Royal Guard I had many duties. For the most part, I guarded a wall, but I also had acted as a personal guard for Princess Cadance for a while, and became a good friend of hers. I was taken off from being her personal guard by Captain Shining Armor to train two new recruits, and every now and then working with the Captain in some small matters. 

After reviewing my progress with the Royal Guard Shining Armor promoted me to Lieutenant, mostly to help him coordinate the Royal Guard better. I also encountered many enemies in my service, including Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis's changelings and also a pair of Hydras.

That should be all you need to know up to this point. Now let's go to where we left off from the previous story. 

We had just left Canterlot, myself, Shining Armor and Cadance, the two of them being newly weds. I was sitting in the driver seat of the carriage, using my sword to pull it with magic. It was quite an eventful wedding, all of Canterlot had shown up to see Cadance and Shining Armor. There had also been earlier trouble with the changeling queen, Chrysalis, but she was long gone by now, at least that's what I had been told. I wasn't present when she was defeated.

It was shortly after dark, the crickets had just begun chirping.

"Quite the day it's been, hasn't it?" I said and looked back through the window towards Shining Armor and Cadance.

"It sure was. The best wedding ever," replied Cadance and gave Shining Armor a small kiss.

"Well, I don't know about that, it stressed me out almost more than I can handle, but I'm glad it turned out okay," I said, trying my best not to dampen the mood. I looked up at the stars and gave a sigh.

The night time sky always gave me a sense of security, and yet also a sense of vulnerability. I could be hidden and safe under it, or I could be susceptible to being ambushed. My training as a Royal Guard has improved my eyesight (Not to mention the amount of carrots I ate), and so I highly doubt I would miss seeing an ambush. Even if I did, what foolish monsters or ponies would attack a wedding carriage holding two of the most powerful ponies in Equestria? Let alone a Princess. And then there's also me, of course.

Agh, what am I thinking. No ambushes. No problems. I cleared the thoughts out of my head and continued to focus on pulling the carriage with my magic. My mind kept being sidetracked to earlier events however.

"I'm sorry I couldn't have prevented your imprisonment, Cadance, I wish I could have done something more to help," I called back to Cadance while thinking about what happened just a few short hours ago. I knew I could do better then this, I knew I could have saved somepony, done something to help, but in the end I always came too late.

"It's alright Sword Shield. Everything turned out perfectly fine," said Cadance.

"She's right, you have no reason to blame what happened on yourself," Shining Armor added.

I thought for a moment about Shining Armor's statement. "No, your wrong. I have plenty reason to blame it on myself, I even denied Celestia to blame in on herself. Like I've said before, it's my duty as a Royal Guard to protect Equestria and the Princesses. If I can't even do that, then what good am I? I'm glad everything in the end turned out alright, but the fact that I let it happen still upsets me," I replied sternly. There was enough guilt in me, and I didn't want Cadance and Shining Armor trying to put it somewhere where it didn't belong. But I still did not want Shining Armor and Cadance feeling like I was insulting them.

"I'm sorry... I don't want to cause any further grief for you two. I'm just having a bit of a rough time lately, I hope you understand," I said apologetically.

"What's the matter, Sword Shield?" asked Cadance. It was expected, she was always one to try and make things better.

"Nothing, I just don't like being unable to do my job. There really isn't much more than that," I responded, trying to stray away from the subject. 

"Alright, we understand," said Cadance. I went back to focusing on driving and tried to set my mind on other things.

"So what do you two think you will do for your honeymoon?" I asked trying to lighten the air.

"I don't know, we haven't really had time to think about that," answered Shining Armor.

"Well for your sake and mine, don't do hang-gliding. I really don't want to have to save you if you fall again," I joked.

"Don't worry, hang-gliding isn't on the list. I wasn't meant to fly through the air, like you do," reassured Shining Armor. I wasn't sure what Shining Armor had against flying, but he definitely had no problem falling.

"Well good, and for your information, if I tried to fly my sword like a hang-glider I would plummet to the ground. The only thing that keeps it in the air is my magic. It's still metal, so trying to 'glide' doesn't necessarily work out," I remarked. Shining Armor and Cadance chuckled at my statement.

"Even if we did go hang-gliding, I can still fly and if Shining Armor fell I would catch him," added Cadance.

"Thanks dear, that's exactly what I wanted to hear," replied Shining Armor sarcastically.

The carriage ride from then on was rather quiet. Shining Armor and Cadance continued to converse about future plans while I continued to pull the carriage with my sword.

---

The next few weeks were uneventful. Shining Armor and Cadance had finished their honeymoon, though I hadn't heard much about it. I was at my new post in the Canterlot castle's throne room. Celestia was doing some paperwork when suddenly the door burst open and Swifty, one of the recruits I trained a few years back, rushed in.

"News from northern Equestria! Uh, Your Highness," said Swifty to Celestia. 

Northern Equestria? I hadn't ever been there before. I wondered what sort of news it was. 

"Yes?" asked Celestia.

"I am simply to tell you that... IT, has returned," said Swifty gravely.

Celestia gasped and suddenly seemed very worried. "Find Princess Cadance and Shining Armor!" she demanded to one of the guards next to her.

"Yes Your Highness," Swifty and two other guards ran off to find Cadance and Shining Armor. Celestia pulled out a scroll and started writing, "My dearest Twilight, you must come to Canterlot at once..." 

I wondered what all the fuss was about. It wasn't like the Princess to be so worried about something, but if she was worried, everyone was worried. A few moments later, Cadance and Shining Armor arrived in the room.

"Celestia, what's going on?" asked Shining Armor.

"I need both of your help. The Crystal Empire has returned."

"The Crystal Empire?" asked Cadance. 

"Yes. My knowledge of the Empire is limited, but a thousand years ago King Sombra, an evil unicorn, took over the Empire. He was ultimately overthrown by me and my sister, banished to shadow in the Arctic north, but I believe he has returned. The Crystal Empire contains a powerful magic, if King Sombra has returned he will seek out to take this power, and Equestria will be in grave danger. I need you both to go immediately and protect the Crystal Empire. Cadance, you will need to cast a shield of love around the Empire to protect it. Do whatever you need to," explained Celestia.

This task seemed blown far out of proportion for just sending two ponies. I stepped up next to Shining Armor, "I wish to go as well, I'm sure I can help in some way your highness," I volunteered.

"I can vouch for him, Celestia," said Shining Armor in support.

"Me too," said Cadance.

"Very well, you can go as well. Twilight and her friends will also come later, but I need you three to go ahead and get everything settled in," said Celestia.

"No problem, Celestia. We're on our way," said Shining Armor.

Cadance, Shining Armor and I immediately headed for the train station. A train had been saved just for us alone.

"Sword Shield, would you be able to fly ahead of us to scout out the area around the Crystal Empire?" asked Shining Armor before getting on train.

"With how far away it is? No, my magic can't get me long distances when flying. Canterlot to Manehatten is near my maximum distance before my magic gives out and I fall," I answered.

"Alright. When we get there Cadance will use her spell, I'll need your help to scout the outside of the Empire for any sign of King Sombra," said Shining Armor.

"Roger that Cap',"

We boarded the train and were sent off alone. Almost felt like a suicide mission to me, but at least Twilight and her friends were coming later.

I entertained myself messing with my sword on the train, playing with its shape changing abilities. I changed the sword's shape to cover my entire body except my eyes and a few air holes to breath, and 'hovered' (Being encased in a metal sword was very immobilizing, so I had to levitate myself) into the car Cadance and Shining Armor were in.

"Look, I'm Iron Pony!" I said with a huge grin, although they couldn't see it.

The both of them stared at me for a moment and shook their heads.

"That doesn't look very safe," said Cadance.

"You just gotta ruin the fun," I sighed and took the 'armor' off. I must've looked ridiculous having already been wearing my Royal Guard armor.

After a six hour train ride (messed with magic for three hours, bored to death the other three) we finally arrived at the Crystal Empire.

We stepped off the train and into the snowy wasteland. Shining Armor had packed some snow gear for himself and Cadance, but I hadn't even thought of that.

"Anypony know a heat spell?" I asked, my legs began to shiver.

"Don't you know one? You did go to the same Magic School Twilight did, right?" asked Shining Armor.

I rolled my eyes, "Yes, I did, but my heat spell wasn't all that great."

"Can't you use your sword? You always said that using magic on your sword was a lot easier," suggested Cadance.

An interesting theory. I nodded and brought out my sword to test her suggestion. I touched my horn onto the blade and cast the spell, making the sword hotter and hotter until it was able to singe my hoof to the touch. It produced enough heat around us all to keep warm, so I shaped it into a flat wall and held it above our heads.

"That should keep us warm and the snow out of our face," I said.

"Good, let's go before the blizzard gets worse," said Shining Armor. He led the way into the Crystal Empire. It seemed very grey and brown as we entered, none of the 'crystals' seemed to shine or sparkle, and the most strange of all is that there was no snow in the Empire, it was all on the outside as if there was some sort of magic keeping the entire city warm.

"The place seems deserted," I said.

There were no ponies to be seen for miles, just houses. I wondered if the place really was deserted, it has been gone for over a thousand years after all, did the populace die off?

Just as I thought that, a pair of eyes peeked out of a window then immediately hid again. So this place isn't empty after all. What kind of powerful magic can make an entire Empire disappear for a thousand years?

"This place gives me the creeps," I remarked.

"I agree, I don't like it here. Cadance, can you do your spell yet?" asked Shining Armor.

"We need to get in the middle of the city for me to get the whole Empire, otherwise some of it might get cut off. The castle is right in the center, let's hurry up," answered Cadance.

The three of us picked up the pace and headed straight for the Crystal Castle, it looked like one big tall pointy tower with a large courtyard at the bottom. Not as fancy as anything Canterlot had, but it was definitely convenient. We made it to the base of the castle and headed inside and up the spiraling staircase. We got to a balcony overlooking the entire Empire, and Cadance cast her spell.

A bright light blue shield encompassed the city, and once it finished spreading the entire town seemed to come to life. The crystals began to sparkle in a beautiful blue hue, all the grey and brown seemed to vanish, and green, purple, yellow and blue soon became the dominant colors.

"Wow," said Shining Armor.

I nodded in agreement, "I can see why they call it the Crystal Empire now."

The sun was going down quickly, and so we spent the evening exploring the castle and Shining Armor had me scout out the town on my sword for any Crystal Ponies, but I found none.

After the sun had gone down we found a pair of empty rooms in the castle to stay in.

"I can't go to bed," said Cadance.

Shining Armor and I looked at her curiously.

"Why not?" asked Shining Armor.

"I have to stay up to keep the spell going, if I go to sleep I might end up turning it off, we can't let that happen." explained Cadance.

Shining Armor nodded in understanding, "I'll stay up with you."

"Me too," I added. 

"No, you both need your rest, I'll be fine," insisted Cadance.

"You'll be lonely. Me and Sword Shield can take shifts staying up, I'll take the first," said Shining Armor. He walked over to Cadance and put a comforting hoof around her neck, then looked back at me, "You get some rest. I'll wake you when I'm ready."

I gave a salute, "Goodnight Captain, Cadance."

"Goodnight," they both replied.

I walked into one of the castle's bedrooms and sat down on the large princess sized bed. How amazingly soft this is! I felt around the blankets and pillows wondering whatever I had been missing out on. I needed to get me one of these beds for my house back in Ponyville.

I tucked myself under the blankets and turned off the lights using my magic and quickly fell into dream land, but just as quickly fell out, waking up with a jolt. I sat up in bed, my whole body was sweating.

Nightmares. Horrible nightmares. But I don't remember them, I don't remember one single fact about them, but I remember having them. 

Shining Armor opened the door and the light from beyond it lit up the room.

"You're awake? I wasn't expecting that. Anyway, I'm done staying up, you can come talk to Cadance until morning," said Shining Armor holding his hoof towards the door.

I looked at him for a moment and got out of bed, "Shining Armor... there's something wrong."

Shining Armor looked at me strangely, "What is it?"

"Nightmares... horrible nightmares. I don't remember them, but they were there. I went to sleep so fast, it feels like I've only been asleep for a minute, but judging from you being here it's been much longer," I explained.

"It's probably just you, come on out, you'll be fine after a drink of water," suggested Shining Armor.

I shook my head, "There's something wrong with this place Shining Armor. Feel free to go to bed, but I'm just gonna say you won't like it. I don't think I can sleep here until this whole problem is solved."

Shining Armor sighed, "If you say so. I'm going to try and get some rest anyway, Cadance is waiting for you in the throne room." He left into his own bedroom and went to sleep.

I walked into the castle's kitchen for a quick glass of water and then to the throne room where Cadance was waiting. She was sitting on the throne, still keeping her magic going. She looked tired.

I tried to put a smile on my face, "Hey Cadance, you doing okay?"

Cadance put on her own smile,"Yeah, but I've been better. You?"

"There's something wrong with this place, this castle. I can't put my hoof on it, but it's there, even with your magic going," I answered.

"I know what you mean, I can feel something wrong too, but I can't find the source. Hopefully when Twilight gets here tomorrow... I mean, today, she can find and fix it," said Cadance.

"Agreed, having Twilight would be helpful," I said, trying best to hide the envy in my voice. 

It was always Twilight and her friends to come and save the day, the first time being the Nightmare Moon incident. I had tried to stop Nightmare Moon myself, but came in only just to see Twilight and her friends use the Elements of Harmony on her and bringing back Celestia.

A second time was when Discord attacked. Discord manipulated me and made me quit the Royal Guard on a whim, thankfully Cadance got me back to normal and I was able to get reinstated. Shining Armor had me scout out Ponyville to check on Twilight's progress, only to see her and her friends give up and toss aside the Elements. I told Celestia what happened and she sent her student's reports on the Magic of Friendship back to hopefully jar her memory and finally stop Discord, which she did. I at least played a small part.

The third time was the changeling invasion just a few weeks before now, Cadance was somehow impersonated by the Queen of the changelings, Chrysalis. It was Twilight who saw through Chrysalis's impersonation and tried to warn everyone, but no one believed her, except me. I was suspicious the whole time, but never made any accusations. In the end, Twilight rescued Cadance and allowed her and Shining Armor to stop the changeling invasion.

Sure it wasn't Twilight who saved everyone that time, but she still played a large role while I stood at the sidelines, unable to do my job as a Royal Guard. I can't but help feel slightly envious of Twilight and her friends.

I shuffled my hooves around unable to think of what to say next. Thankfully Cadance broke the silence for me.

"Have you been able to learn any new spells with your sword lately?" 

My ears perked up, I always loved showing off some new tricks, "Well there's a few things. A few days ago I learned a buoyancy spell that works with my sword that lets it float in water. It only last's for a few hours, but I'm able to transform my sword into a boat and use it like that if needed. I'm not sure I'll ever need something like that, but it's good to know I can do that."

"Fascinating, are you able to transform your sword into anything you want?" asked Cadance.

"Anything I can think of, yeah. If needed I can even turn it into a mini-shelter." I took out my sword and transformed it into a small hut with a door to demonstrate.

"That's very useful, I'm sure a lot of unicorns would love to have something like that," said Cadance.

I thought for a moment, "Yeah... I'm sure they would, but I'm not sure how they would recreate something like this. I used the crystals in the hilt to enchant it and I learned that it let me do all these crazy things, but some reason I don't think it's supposed to be that simple."

"What do you mean?" asked Cadance.

"I mean there must have been some outside force of magic at work. Magical items don't just increase your power, not without corrupting the unicorn using said items. I'm not corrupt though, at least as far as I know. I know enchanting an item can decrease the amount of effort it takes to cast spells on, but not in the amount it did with my sword, there would need to be an outside source," I explained.

"I've heard that crystals are able to contain lots of power, but not in the way you explain it. You say there's an outside force, can you think of what it might be?" 

So many wonderful questions.

"I can hardly begin to speculate what it might be, except for one detail about when I enchanted the sword, in which a few seconds after I had enchanted it the thing practically burst with energy in a non-volatile explosion. I thought that was natural in the process of enchanting an item, but after doing some research on it I found nothing about bursts of magic or energy. I think something happened to the sword in that moment that's unable to be explained entirely. There aren't many possible explanations, but I'm not smart enough to figure those out. I'd need somepony like Starswirl the Bearded to help me with that."

"Maybe Twilight can help you with that, she knows her magic, and is a lot smarter than you'd think," suggested Cadance.

"Uh, yeah... Twilight might be able to help," I looked around the room and tried to locate a window, "I wonder what time it is. Be right back, Cadance."

I walked out of the throne room and to the castle balcony. It was still dark, but I could see a hint of light in the sky. The sun was rising. I let out a sigh and walked back into the throne room.

"The sun's rising. I'm going to wake up Shining Armor, we've got some work to do until Twilight gets here," I said.

"Alright, be careful out there," said Cadance.

"Hey, you know me, I'm always careful, it's the Captain I'm worried about." I let out a short laugh and walked out of the throne room and towards the room Shining Armor was sleeping in, hoping he wasn't having the same nightmare problems I had.

I opened the door to his room and peeked in, "Shining Armor? You awake?" There was no answer.

I walked into the room and switched on the light to see Shining Armor tossing and turning in bed, as if he was having a nightmare.

"Shining Armor! Wake up!" I rushed to the bedside and tried to shake him awake.

"Gah!" Shining Armor sat up and looked at me, but his eyes were wrong, they were all green with a purple smoke coming out of them.

"Captain! Snap out of it!" I yelled.

Shining Armor shook his head and blinked a few times, his eyes returned back to normal, but he was sweating and shaking.

"You... you were right. There is something wrong with this place, but I can't remember," said Shining Armor. He slowly got out of bed.

"Are you alright?"

Shining Armor rubbed his neck, "I'll be okay. Assuming since you came to wake me up the sun's come up?" 

I shook my head, "Not yet, it's coming but it's still very dark. I thought we might want to get an early start, and see if there's anything out there."

"Then we better get moving. I want to know what exactly we're up against. Fly ahead of me and meet me at the train station," ordered Shining Armor.

I gave a salute. "Yes Sir."
> The Crystal Empire - Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I flew out of the Crystal Empire on my sword, leaving Cadance's magic barrier and into the snow. My legs immediately began to freeze, so I knelt down on my sword and cast another heat spell on it, making sure that it would only heat up the bottom so it wouldn't burn off my hooves.

It was still chilly, but at least I could fly. I circled around in the dark until I managed to find the train station and landed on the platform. Shining Armor hadn't gotten here yet, so I sat down and encased my body in my sword to keep warm.

A few minutes passed, when I heard a loud roar in the distance. It didn't exactly sound like a roar though, more like a low pitched screeching sound, but it sure scared me out of my wits. I jumped out of my sword, transformed it to normal and held it in defensive position, frantically looking around for the source of the screeching noise.

"Anypony out there?!" I yelled into the snow storm.

I heard a faint response, "Over here!" It was Shining Armor.

I looked in the direction where his voice had come from and took off on my sword in search for him. I found him slowly walking towards the train station in the snow and landed next to him.

"Did you hear that roar, Captain?" I asked.

"Yeah, I didn't see anything though," answered Shining Armor.

A gust of ice cold wind blew in our face and the snowfall began to pick up.

"The blizzard is getting worse! We need to get out of here!" said Shining Armor, his voice hardly audible over the sound of the wind.

"But we haven't found anything yet! We need information!" I argued.

"Not while this storm is going on! We need to go back, we can get information from the Crystal Ponies!" suggested Shining Armor.

I looked around the area, not able to see much through the snow, "You go back, I'll stay out here and scout around on my sword! If I find anything I'll report back to you!"

"You'll freeze out here! We can come back later for when Twilight arrives!"

"No Captain, I'll be fine! I've got my sword to use a heat spell, I'll be able to stay out here for as long as it takes. You go back into the Empire and see if you can learn anything from the Crystal Ponies, if you can't, at least keep Cadance company. I can handle myself out here!" I took my sword and changed it into a surfboard again, this time with an umbrella, and heated it up again.

"Now get outta here, don't worry about me, I'll make sure to check back within two hours even if I don't find anything." I took off into the blizzard and began my search for anything suspicious.

I began circling around the Crystal Empire, and thankfully my 'umbrella sword' kept the snow out of my face. The sun had come up by now, but I still couldn't make out anything but snow and glaciers. Maybe there wasn't really anything out here? The sound I heard earlier could have been my imagination, or even possibly connected to the nightmares I had. Shining Armor was having them too, so it would explain him hearing it as well.

I heard the low pitch screech once again, I looked around but still couldn't see anything. I sped my way back to the train station and touched down on the platform. Again I heard the screeching sound. It was following me. Not good.

I walked off the platform of the train station and looked beyond it. In the distance there was a great big blob of black fog. This thing was huge, standing (well, floating) nearly as high as the Castle in the Crystal Empire. I'm not even sure 'fog' was an accurate description. 'Shadow' sounded more correct.

The shadow started making its way towards me aggressively. I stepped back a few steps frightfully and ended up tripping onto my backside. The shadow stopped just a few meters away from me. It began to grow giant green eyes, similar to what Shining Armor looked like when I woke him up. I scrambled to stand back up and pull out my sword, transforming it into a surfboard and taking off on it. I didn't even bother giving it an umbrella.

I flew back towards the Crystal Empire, but the shadow gave chase and was catching up way too fast. My adrenaline kicked in and I jumped off the sword. From then on everything seemed to move in slow motion. I looked back at the shadow and transformed my sword again, this time to its normal form but enlarged, and used my magic to slash at it. The sword went right through the shadow, to no effect. 

Mother of Celestia, how do you stop this thing?

I was still falling backwards, so I reacted quickly and turned myself to face the ground then teleported my sword back underneath, landing squarely in the middle. I made it back inside Cadance's protective barrier and headed for the castle. I landed at the base of one of the stairwells and took a few moments to catch my breath.

What in Equestria just happened? I looked at my sword which was still in its enlarged form, and tried to change it back to normal, but my magic wouldn't work on it. I couldn't change it back. I tried again, and again, straining my horn to shape the sword back to normal, but no matter how hard I tried it didn't work. I turned the sword around and looked at its hilt, noticing little black crystals that were attached to the blue crystals I used to enchant the sword.

An enchantment block, or such as I guessed. That shadow thing literally blocked my sword's enchanted abilities. Just great. I left my sword at the bottom of the castle and walked inside to find Shining Armor. Cadance and him were in the throne room, as I expected.

Shining Armor saw me walk in and ran forward. "Sword Shield! Did you find anything?"

I slowly nodded my head. "Yeah... I found something alright."

"Well, what did you find?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. There was a big shadow thing, it had giant green eyes. It might have been the unicorn king that cursed this place, or whatever is left of him."

"That can't be good. I haven't been able to get any information from the Crystal Ponies, they don't seem to want to talk. I need you to go back to the train station and travel back to Canterlot for Twilight and her friends. I'll need you to stay in Canterlot too, should this mission fail I need you to be ready with the Royal Guard." 

I let out a sigh. "Are you sure?"

He looked at me seriously. "Is something wrong with that?"

"My sword is broken. When I encountered the shadow it... did something to it. It cut off the enchantment, I can't change its shape anymore. With it in its current state, I might not even make it back to the train station."

Shining Armor sighed. "You gotta take that chance. We need Twilight's help, and I need you back in Canterlot."

"We'll be fine, thank you for coming to help, but right now we need Twilight and her friends," said Cadance.

Something clicked inside of me. I looked at them both angrily and stomped back towards the doors. "Fine then! I'll go! It appears I am unable to stop a dire threat against Equestria ONCE AGAIN!" I stormed out of the throne room and down the stairs to my sword.

I levitated the sword next to me with my magic as I walked out of the Crystal Empire towards the train station. Before I left the magical barrier into the snow, Shining Armor came running up behind me.

"Sword Shield! What's the matter with you?"

I looked back at him, still slightly angry. "It's not a matter with me, it's a matter with this place. If you don't need me, fine, I hope your sister and her friends know what they're doing and that they can solve this problem for you." I looked back at the barrier and prepared to leave. "But I'm just following orders."

Shining Armor nodded and saluted. "I'm sorry. Good luck out there."

I nodded. "You're the one who's gonna need all the luck." I walked out into the snow headed for the train station, levitating my sword above my head to shield myself from the snow.

I bit the inside of my cheek, this is not how I wanted to leave, but I suppose I didn't have a choice. I just hoped that my sword could be fixed, but it would probably have to wait until this problem is solved. The storm seemed to be letting up somewhat, and I was able to see the train station in the distance. Thankfully there was no sign of the giant shadow.

I kept a trotting pace and made it to the train within a minute's time. I put my sword in the back caboose and started the train back to Canterlot at full speed.

The ride took about four hours this time, I kept busy by continuously shoveling more coal into the train's furnace to keep it going. I arrived in Canterlot at about noon. I put my sword away at the barracks, hoping it would fix itself once the Crystal Empire problem is solved, and began to check in on all the Royal Guard's and their posts, receiving reports and sending guards back and forth from duty. 

Once everyone had a shift I took my own position on the wall overlooking Ponyville, my home. I hadn't been home for a week now, the Captain had been very busy and needed me on post almost every day. I'm slightly worried that after this Crystal Empire problem is solved he'll need me away from home even more, but I guess I'll have no choice, I am a Royal Guard after all.

Swifty was at the wall with me. He noticed me and decided to strike up some conversation, "Hey, Lieutenant, I thought you went with the Captain?"

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, but he sent me back here so Twilight and her friends could use the train to the Crystal Empire and so I could keep check on you guys."

"Huh, I see. I don't get why Celestia doesn't send more of us Royal Guards out to do those kind of missions." commented Swifty.

"Well I'll tell you that they wouldn't have made a difference for this mission. There is something wrong with that place, and more guard-power wasn't going to solve it, especially not from me," I said.

"Are you serious? You're one of the best fighters we have, what could possibly have been so terrible there?" asked Swifty.

Ugh, I always thought Swifty talked too much.

"There was a giant... shadow thing. Bigger than the Canterlot Castle itself. It seems to be immune to any sort of unicorn magic, cause my sword sure didn't do a thing to it. In fact it broke my sword, it's nearly useless now," I explained, probably exaggerating a bit on how big it was. 

Swifty looked surprised, "Are you sure you weren't seeing things, Lieutenant?"

I stared at him and grunted, he quickly backed off, "Sorry, Sir. It was not my place to question you that way."

I nodded and focused back down at the landscape below Canterlot. Nothing but endless fields and forests. Quite peaceful, that is when you don't have hydras running around threatening cities, but for me there was always something missing, like a single puzzle piece not yet put into the picture, but I couldn't figure out what that piece was. Maybe the scenery looked wrong, I do admit it could have used a stream or two.

I sighed, "Again with the waiting part."

"Pardon?" asked Swifty.

For a moment I had completely forgotten he was even here, "Nothing, never mind."

Well, almost nothing. It was pretty close to that actually. 'Waiting'. That counts as nothing, right? While waiting nothing ever happens, you just stand there, thinking about what you're waiting for. I had that problem, first having to wait for Twilight and her friends to defeat Discord, and now today, having to wait for her to fix the problem with the Crystal Empire.

I stood on my post for the next few hours, thinking about the possible outcomes happening in the Crystal Empire. Come to think of it, was Twilight bringing the Elements of Harmony? I saw them shortly after I got off the train, but they didn't have the Elements with them. Curious, I would have thought Celestia to give them to her in order to defeat Sombra. Maybe they didn't have an affect on shadows? My sword certainly didn't, but then again, it didn't have an affect on Discord either.

I continued to wait, heading back to the barracks a few times to gather reports from the rest of the Royal Guard and giving new orders. Night fell and the day guards retired for the night, and I had the night guards put in their place.

I still hadn't heard anything about the Crystal Empire yet, so I decided to retire for the night myself and let one of the Night Guard Lieutenants take command. I walked into my temporary tent and laid down, letting out an exhausted sigh.

I should be back in the Crystal Empire. I should be helping somepony. But instead I am stuck here in Canterlot worrying about what I should be doing like I am now.

I pounded my head against my sleeping mat and decided to just go to sleep and see if there was any news of the Crystal Empire in the morning.

---

Waking up was a pain in the flank this morning. Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion, and my eyes refused to open for me.

"Seeergeaaaaant!" I called out while still in my tent.

I heard hoof steps coming nearer and the flap of my tent open. "Yes, Lieutenant?" 

"Get me a bucket of water, stat," I ordered.

"Yes Sir," I heard hoof steps walking away, and within a minute they came back. "Here is your water, Sir."

I felt a heavy object placed on my sleeping mat. "Thank you, Sergeant," I stumbled around and picked up the bucket of water and made my way outside the tent, my eyes still refusing to open. "Has the Captain returned yet?"

"Yes Sir, he is waiting for you in his office."

"Good," I took the bucket of water and dumped it on my head, instantly drenching half my body and waking me up. I shook most of the water off and managed to open my eyes. "Ugh, I hate having to do that. Tell the Captain I'll be right there."

The Sergeant saluted, "Right away sir!"

I found a towel I always kept handy in my tent and quickly dried off, then equipped my armor and helmet and walked inside the barracks and into Shining Armor's office. 

"Captain, you needed me?" I asked.

Shining Armor was sitting at his desk over viewing some paperwork. He looked up at me with a smile, "Yeah, I wanted you to know that the Crystal Empire is safe now, and that I'm going to be leaving Canterlot."

"WHAT? Leaving Canterlot? Why? What happened?" Either I heard wrong, or my brain just loves to make me overreact.

"Whoa, calm down. Cadance and I have been tasked by Princess Celestia to rule over the Crystal Ponies. I need you to stay here and help command the Royal Guard. I will give instructions to the other Lieutenants and inform everyone else what is going on. I'll still be in contact, but I won't be around to help organize as I need to set up a new command structure in the Crystal Empire," explained Shining Armor.

I took a deep breath to calm myself and nodded. "Understood, Captain. I wish you best of luck over there. It'll be tough working without somepony to put all the blame on around here, but I'm sure me and the other guards can handle ourselves. So, let me guess, Twilight saved the day?"

Shining Armor shook his head. "Actually, it was Spike who saved everyone. They already finish the celebration, you actually slept through everything." 

My face scrunched up. "Really? Spike? Well that's a surprise. Good on him I guess."

"Your sword should be back to normal now, you should probably check it," suggested Shining Armor.

"Oh, right, I nearly forgot," I used my magic and attempted to teleport my sword back to me. In a quick flash it appeared in it's normal shape. "Perfect, it seems to be fixed."

I tested out changing its shape and size a little bit and it seemed to be back to normal.

Shining Armor levitated the paperwork off his table and into a saddle-pouch, "I have to get going. You be sure to stay out of trouble."

"Hey, you know me, I always stay out of trouble," I said with a wink.

"I've talked with the other Lieutenants and rearranged the command schedule, you'll want to talk to Lieutenant Arrow about that. I've also given you all a week off, you get the first week off, and then the others will each get a turn. You've all been working hard and deserve it," said Shining Armor before he walked out the door.

I saluted, "Yes sir, thank you Shining Armor. And I apologize for the negative outburst I had the other day."

"It's alright, I knew how you felt but I needed you to follow orders. I expect a report in two weeks." Shining Armor trotted off in the direction of the train station.

I heaved a sigh and searched around for Lieutenant Arrow, or previously known as Arden, the other of the recruits I helped train a few years back. I met up with him at his station and he explained the new command schedule to me. I memorized it all in my head and left Arden to his post.

Now... what should I do first with my week off? I took out my sword and launched into the sky, hovering above Canterlot. Flying above Canterlot always helped me think clearer. I looked down below Canterlot and spotted Ponyville. I hadn't been home in a while, and now seemed a good time to return for a bit.

I began speeding down towards Ponyville.
> The Cutie Mark Crusaders
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I touched down at my house in Ponyville after about a twenty minute flight, and opened the door. I took a death breath as I let in the scene of home. Everything looked normal, although the kitchen was nearly empty. It never really had anything in it, I always ate on the move, too busy to sit down and actually have breakfast or dinner. I never liked the idea of eating alone like that anyway.

The living room had been set up like an extra Royal Guard barracks, a map of the town had been laid out on a table and I kept a small stash of swords and spears nearby, and there was only one couch to sit on. I walked into my room, my old bed still sat there. I needed to get a new one, but that could wait for later. I walked back into the living room and took off my armor, but kept my sword close at hoof by changing it into a belt and wearing it. Not the most stylish thing in the world, but it would have to do.

If I was going to be home for a week I needed to stock up on supplies a little bit. I walked back towards the front door when I heard a knock. Strange, I wasn't expecting company so soon. I opened the door to be greeted by three familiar little fillies.

"Whoa. You sure you got the right house, Applebloom?" the orange pegasus whispered to her friend.

"Of course I'm sure!" assured Applebloom. The earth filly cleared her throat, "Howdy, um... Sir! I'm Applebloom, you remember me right? I'm Applejack's little sister."

I looked at the three of them curiously, "Yes, I remember." 

"Oh good. These are my two friend's, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle," Applebloom pointed at either of her friends which both gave a smile. "We wanted to come and ask you a question... uh... go ahead Scootaloo." Applebloom nudged her friend.

"Me? But it was your idea!" argued Scootaloo.

"You were the one who wanted to do it the most, you should ask the question!" said Applebloom.

I cut in, "Whoa, hey there, no need to argue, just ask your question."

"Well you see, we saw you fly down to Ponyville on your awesome sword!" started Scootaloo.

"I had the idea to try and get our cutie marks by being Royal Guards!" said Applebloom.

"We wanted to see if you could teach us," Sweetie Belle finished.

I thought for a moment. "Are you sure? It takes a lot of work to become a Royal Guard."

The three of them sighed. "It's okay, you don't have to teach us if you don't want to," said Scootaloo glumly. The fillies started walking away.

"Hold on a second, I didn't say no. If you want to be taught, I suppose I can help with that."

All three of them rushed back up to me excitedly. "Really?! You'll teach us?" asked Scootaloo.

"Why not? I've got the week off, and I suppose I can try to help you," I answered. I walked back inside and gathered a few wooden training swords I always kept. A few months back I had the idea of starting my own small training academy for unicorns who wanted to learn how to sword fight, but I never got around to it. I walked back outside and levitated a sword to each of the fillies.

"Here are your weapons. Now be careful, even though they are just wooden training swords they can still hurt quite a bit."

---

"But I don't want to be a Royal Guard, Dad! I want to learn magic!" protested Sword Shield as he was given a training sword.

"It is important that you remember where your heritage lies, and that you honor it! Now get in the ring!" ordered Steadfast.

Sword Shield slowly walked into the arena ring, holding his sword in his mouth with a terrified expression. His opponent walked out from the crowd and entered the ring. A whistle sounded, and Sword Shield's opponent rushed up to him, raising the sword and slashing out.

Clack! Clack! Clack!

Sword Shield frantically deflected each swipe, flinching each time their weapons collided.

Clack, clack, thud!

"Agh!" Sword Shield dropped his sword and fell on his backside. He had lost the match. He looked over at his father in the crowd, who could only manage to shake his head in disappointment.

Sword Shield was picked up by one of the trainers and brought back into the crowd to his father.

"I'm taking away your books, you will not be allowed to practice magic until you learn how to wield a sword in combat." said Steadfast.

"What?! But-"

"My decision is final. We're going home."

---

I shook my head. Flashbacks. Since when did I get flashbacks?

"Are you okay, Mr. Lieutenant?" asked Sweetie Belle.

I came back to my senses and focused on the three fillies, "Yes, I'm fine, sorry."

"I can't wait to start hacking and slashing down monsters in the Everfree Forest!" said Scootaloo while jumping up and down excitedly.

"Yeah! We can be Cutie Mark Crusaders Monster Slayers!" suggested Applebloom.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS MONSTER SLAYERS! YAY!" All three shouted at once.

"Hold on a minute girls, it's not a good idea to simply stroll into the Everfree Forest and attack everything that moves. When you have as much combat knowledge as I do, you do not go seeking battle just for the sake of battle. With such abilities you need to be responsible, protecting, trustworthy and loyal. These are all traits taught to the Royal Guard, and I will teach them to you." I hadn't much experience with teaching fillies, but I thought I could handle it.

"Aww, but we wanna FIGHT things!" said Applebloom. 

"Yeah! We wanna be tough!" added Scootaloo.

"There's more to fighting than just being tough," I dashed to the side and swerved my way behind the fillies, "You have to be quick," I teleported myself onto the roof of my house, "You have to be observant and precise," I leaped off the roof and landed with a tumble and recovery, "And most important, you have to have control over your emotions and actions."

"Whoa!" said all three fillies in awe.

"Can you teach us how to do all that?" asked Scootaloo.

"It takes a lot of practice, but if you're willing to learn I'll be glad to teach you. Follow me and we can get started." I lead the three excited fillies to the training grounds of a Royal Guard outpost that I had helped set up when I first moved to Ponyville. It had a couple of training dummies, targets for firing practice and a nice open arena for dueling.

I brought out my sword and transformed it into a large statue of a dummy and placed it in the center of the dueling arena. "Okay, first test: Each of you are to try and knock over the dummy made with my sword. Applebloom, you're first."

Applebloom made her own little salute, "Yes Sir, Mr. Lieutenant!"

Applebloom walked over to the sword dummy and give it a small nudge with her hoof. It didn't budge, so she began to push it with all her strength, only managing to move it over an inch or two. She walked back over to her friends, panting, "It's too heavy, I'll never be able to push it!"

"Scootaloo, you're next," I called.

"You're going down, dummy!" said Scootaloo as she walked up to the sword.

She reached the sword and gave a large push on it, using her wings to help, but still couldn't manage to knock it over. She walked back a few steps and charged at it, "Hiiiii-YAH!" She jumped into the air and made contact with the sword, but instead of knocking it over she smacked into it and fell on her backside.

Scootaloo rubbed her head for a moment, "You're right, it is heavy." She joined her friends again.

"Sweetie Belle, you're up," I called.

"Um, I don't know, if Applebloom and Scootaloo couldn't do it, than how could I?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"You can do it Sweetie Belle. The Royal Guards are taught that even if the strongest are beaten, you should never give up or surrender to defeat prematurely. You have to believe in yourself. This test is not a test of strength, but a test of willpower, now I want you to get over there and push that dummy over!" I ordered.

Sweetie Belle took a deep breath and gave a salute, "You can count on me!"

She walked over to the dummy confidently and looked at it for a few moments, then looked back at her friends uncertainly.

"You can do it, Sweetie Belle!" cheered Applebloom.

"Show that dummy what you're made of!" added Scootaloo.

Sweetie Belle looked back at the dummy and took hold of one of the legs, and instead of pushing she pulled back on it as hard as she could. The dummy began to lean over, Sweetie Belle looked up and quickly jumped out of the way as the dummy crashed down where she had been standing just seconds before.

"I did it! I knocked the dummy over!" exclaimed Sweetie Belle excitedly. She ran back to her friends who couldn't believe what had just happened.

"How did you do that Sweetie Belle? We could hardly move that thing an inch!" said Scootaloo.

"Easy! After looking at the dummy I saw that there was more gold on one side than the other, and gold is a lot heavier than steel. You were pushing against the gold side, so it wouldn't fall over. I pulled it instead, so it fell over from its own weight!" explained Sweetie Belle.

"How could you know something like that?" asked Applebloom.

"Rarity uses gold from time to time in her dresses and I picked up that little bit of info while watching her work," answered Sweetie Belle plainly.

"Nicely done, Sweetie Belle, putting that unicorn thinking to good use," I said while transforming my sword back into a belt. "That is how you defeat your enemy by being observant, you watch your opponent and search for a weakness, then use their weakness against them. Unicorns are the best at this."

Scootaloo looked up to me curiously, "So what are Pegasus the best at?"

"Pegasus are quick, agile and precise. They have wings to help them get into the air and have an advantage over grounded opponents," I explained.

"Hmph, I can't fly with my wings yet," remarked Scootaloo.

"With practice you'll be able to get flying in no time. I've seen you scootering around Ponyville from time to time, and that is some excellent skill in being quick."

"What about Earth ponies? What are they good at?" asked Applebloom.

"They are physically stronger and can take more hits before going down, like your sister Applejack for example, she bucks apples off of trees with ease, how many other ponies do you know that can do that? Not many I'd bet. Even I can't do it, I have to use magic. Unicorns are the best at thinking fast and making split second decisions, and being observant like I said before." I searched the ground and picked up a few sizable stones then handed them to the three fillies.

"What're these for?" asked Applebloom.

I walked into the center of the arena and drew my sword, changing it to its normal form. "I want you three to throw the rocks at me. Give it your best shot. I'll give you three throws for each of you to hit me, you can throw from any distance outside of the arena and from any position." 

"Are you sure about this? We don't want to hurt you," said Sweetie Belle.

I laughed, "Don't worry, you won't, but don't ever throw rocks at anypony else, this is for a test."

Sweetie Belle hesitated, "Okay, if you're sure." She walked a bit closer and pulled back her hoof, then with all her strength threw the rock at me. It was an overthrow, I ducked my head slightly and the rock flew right over top of me.

"That was a close one, but try to control your strength. You don't want to attack with all your strength, otherwise you might tire yourself out faster and miss, giving your opponent the advantage. Control your attacks and strength." This wasn't the first time I had trained others, of course the last couple were only slightly younger than I was, these were fillies, so I wasn't sure how fast they could learn and understand.

"Alright, my turn!" said Applebloom. She stepped up and pulled back her hoof holding the stone, keeping her eyes on me. She took a moment and then threw the rock forward, but it didn't fly towards me. Applebloom had slipped and the rock went straight up, falling down right under my nose.

"Aww! I did everything you said! Why didn't it work?" asked Applebloom.

"While you were able to control your strength, you need to learn to direct it at the right moment and in the right place. Control your breathing, know when to release the rock to hit your target. Precision is one of the hardest skills to learn for Earth ponies," I answered.

"My turn!" said Scootaloo.

I chuckled, "You know you don't have to be taking turns. The goal is to simply hit me, doesn't matter how you do it. But this is good, you're learning. Go ahead Scootaloo." 

Scootaloo walked up and took aim, she concentrated on the rock and then me, in a second launching her hoof forward, sending the rock straight towards me. I used my magic and adjusted the position of my sword slightly.

Clink!

I lowered my sword, "Good throw Scootaloo! Your posture could use a little work, if you separate your legs a bit more you'll have better freedom of movement, but otherwise it was almost a perfect throw."

"Awesome! Thanks Lieutenant! I'll try and practice my posture, I'm just so used to keeping my legs close together while on my scooter." said Scootaloo.

"Retrieve your rocks and try again, and again. Let's see if you've learned anything yet," I ordered.

The three fillies picked up their rocks and continued to toss them at me, sometimes missing horribly or making me use my sword to block the shot. I let them continue to practice throwing even after their three tries had been used.

Sweetie Belle spoke up after another miss, "I just can't do it! I'll never get my cutie mark at this rate. In fact I might just end up getting a cutie mark at being good at being bad at throwing rocks!"

I tried to encourage her, at the same time adjusting my sword to block the constant bombardment of rocks from Applebloom and Scootaloo, "This is just one practice out of many. Some you may be good at, others you might not be good at. That's why you keep practicing and learning what you can and what you can't do."

Sweetie Belle let out a sad sigh, "But what if I'm not good at anything? What if I have no special talent?"

"Who's to say you don't? The only pony stopping you is yourself. You have to have some self confidence, and show yourself that you do have a special talent. You may not know what it is yet, but that is why you keep doing new things and learn from those new experiences. I'll say that what you three fillies are doing is going to be very helpful to you in the long run. I never had adventures or searched for my cutie mark, I always wanted to be a magician, but my father forced me into something else I didn't want to do, but then I learned I am good in either of those things."

"Really? So how did you get your cutie mark?" asked Applebloom.

Oops, I should have known this was coming, "Well... It took me a while. I was actually older than you are now when I did finally get it. It was during an arena match. I was against another unicorn who fought by holding his sword with his magic, while I still fought with a sword in my mouth. I didn't know I could fight with my sword using magic, so I tried to copy my opponent. It worked a little bit, but I was still losing, when suddenly there was a blast of noise that came from the sky and a flash of color. Everypony was distracted, including my opponent, so I took advantage of that, managing to strike him and win the arena match, and that's when my cutie mark appeared."

"Whoa, do you know what the loud noise was?" asked Applebloom.

"Don't remember, but I know it was some sort of rainbow," I answered.

"A Sonic Rainboom! That was Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom!" exclaimed Scootaloo.

I thought for a moment, "Yeah, that does sound about right. I remember Rainbow Dash performing it at the wedding of Shining Armor and Cadance and it seems similar. How do you know about the Sonic Rainboom?"

"Oh my gosh! We have to tell Rainbow Dash and the others about this!" said Scootaloo.

Confusion beginning now. "Why?"

"We learned how they got their cutie marks a while ago, and each time it was because of Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom! They learned that they were all connected before they even met, and if you got your cutie mark because of the Rainboom, then maybe you're also somehow connected!" explained Sweetie Belle.

"Oh, well that's certainly interesting. I don't know, it's possible, but it's also possible that I was just lucky." Suddenly I wanted to find a book to see if there was anything on Sonic Rainbooms and cutie marks.

"Come on! Let's go tell Rainbow Dash!" said Scootaloo, she and her friends began walking back into Ponyville.

"Uh, not right now girls," I looked over at the setting sun and realized how long I've been doing this, "In fact I think it's time to head home. Tomorrow we can tell Rainbow, and if you want we can do a new training exercise."

"Awww." All three fillies moaned at the same time.

"We'll come back tomorrow afternoon! I'm sure we can still earn our cutie marks," said Applebloom.

I waved the fillies off and put away some of the extra equipment I had gotten out of the outpost. As I walked back outside I was greeted by a gust of wind and a familiar rainbow maned pegasus dropped in.

"Did I hear somepony call my name?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Hey Rainbow. Yeah, you heard it alright, but you're a bit late," I answered pointing in the distance to the retreating fillies.

Rainbow Dash turned her head,"What? Late? Darn it, I've been practicing my flying a whole bunch lately to get accepted into Wonderbolt Academy that's coming up in a few weeks but it seems I need to work harder."

"Wonderbolt Academy huh? Well good luck, I'm sure you'll get in."

"Thanks. Say, I remember challenging you to a race a while back. We never got to that. You still got that sword to fly on right?" asked Rainbow Dash.

I pulled out my sword and transformed it into a surfboard, "Yup, got it right here."

Rainbow Dash took to the sky with a loop and began to hover, "Awesome! When are you free to race? I want to make the day memorable when I beat a Royal Guard, but I'll go easy on ya just to give you a small chance."

"I've got the week off, so anytime you're able. Don't go easy on me either. If you're getting into the Wonderbolt Academy you want to be tough, cause they'll try to break you. Give them a hard time with that, but don't push it too hard or you might mess up." Today was just full of advice blabbering out of my mouth.

Rainbow Dash landed back on the ground, "Thanks, but are you sure you don't want me to go easy on ya? I'm a pretty fast flier, I don't know many ponies that can beat me."

"I can handle myself in a flying competition, you'll see. I may even surprise you." I did have a magical flying sword and magic on my side after all.

"Suit yourself! Meet me at Sugarcube Corner on Thursday at three in the afternoon, I'll be waiting," said Rainbow Dash.

"I'll be there."

"Great! See you then." Rainbow Dash took to the sky and flew off to her home in the clouds, while I hopped on my sword and flew back to my house in Ponyville to catch a good night's sleep.
> Speed, Momentum and a Dash of Magic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	You know how Pegasus wings are all aerodynamic? How they can make ridiculous turns without being affected by the G-force, reach sonic speeds without being ripped apart, and can generally just fly anywhere they want? Well... sometimes I wish I was a pegasus, cause today was a bad day to be a unicorn.

"SLOW DOWN! SLOW DOWN!" I yelled. I was riding on top of my sword over Ponyville for practice, and had accidentally sped up too much and lost control. I was still standing on my sword, thanks to a spell I used to keep connected, but I was spinning out of control. I laid down on the spinning sword and transformed it to encase my entire body, then cut my magic.

I couldn't see, but I felt that I was falling. After a few eternal seconds I impacted the ground. I seemed to bounce a few times before the sword came to a halt. I used my magic and transformed the sword back to normal, standing back onto my hooves to assess the damage.

Luckily I had been flying outside of town and didn't cause any structural damage, but I definitely left some skid marks on the ground. I transformed my sword into a large plow and repaired the damage to the grass.

I had been practicing for a few hours now, the race was tomorrow and I still had to take some time to train Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle later in the afternoon. I'm beginning to think that my surfboard shape for flying was beginning to slow me down. I could lay down on the board to be more aerodynamic, but I could still feel a lot of drag. 

So now it's time to get out of the old and in with the new. I dusted myself off and began transforming my sword again, this time into a small hollow capsule, just large enough for a pony to fit in. I made it so that the front of the capsule were the gems, using magic to stretch them out wider until you could see through them. I transformed it to have a handle and then hoof-stools on the inside, and left the back wide open.

"Alright, test flight time," I said to myself.

I walked into the capsule and grabbed hold of the handle with my front hooves, and then put my back hooves on the stools. A perfect grip. I used my magic and tightened the backside so there was only a hoof sized hole left so I wouldn't run out of air. From the outside I'm sure this thing looked like a giant metal slim raindrop.

I got comfortable, and once I felt ready I began to use my magic and lifted my sword into the air. It felt really weird, I'm not sure how I would describe lifting off. It felt very... artificial? It almost made me a bit dizzy. I lurched the sword forward, watching the world move through the clear crystal. I didn't have as much room to look around, I could only view forward, that might be a problem.

Ah, who cares! I want to fly! I let a burst of magic out of my horn and boosted forward in my sword, heading straight up into the clouds. I felt much less drag than before, I continued to pump my magic into the sword accelerated more and more. I cut my magic, letting the sword fly up a bit, and then began to fall back down to earth. Once I gained enough speed I used my magic again and altered my course to level out then pitch up slightly, then again cut my magic.

The momentum from falling gave me a huge speed boost, to the point I couldn't even use my magic to go faster. I zoomed over top of Ponyville, barely missing the Town Hall building. I let myself fall lower to the ground, and once close enough used my magic to slow down and stop just above the ground. I landed the sword, transformed the back to have an opening again and walked out.

It seems I had found the fastest way to fly with my sword. Probably wouldn't work well with long distances as it nearly drained half my strength, I'd have to experiment with it more later, right now I had some fillies to train.

I walked over to the training grounds at the Royal Guard outpost and began setting up a small obstacle course for the speed test. It was simple, a long line of barrels down a dirt track and then short wall with a platform at the end, easy enough for me to simply jump onto, but would prove difficult for fillies to get up.

Shortly after everything had been set up, Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle showed up.

"Afternoon, girls. Are you ready for today's test?" I asked.

"Sure are!" answered Scootaloo, flaring her wings.

"What are we learning today?" asked Sweetie Belle.

I have no idea, sweet Celestia I'm bad at this. "Today we're doing some speed tests. I've set up a small obstacle course here and I'm going to time each of you."

"Oh! It's just like some of the obstacle courses we have back at Sweet Apple Acres!" shouted Applebloom excitedly.

"Yes, yes it is. First I want you all to come over to the wall here and see if you can climb up onto the platform, just so I know you can," I ordered.

The three fillies each walked up to the wall and jumped up, grabbing the edge with their hoof and pulling themselves up. Applebloom and Scootaloo made it up but Sweetie Belle fell off with an 'Ouch!'

"Let me show you," I pulled out my sword and transformed it into a similar wall, but much higher. "When you jump up to grab the wall, use the momentum of your back legs to help pull up with your front," I demonstrated by jumping up and grabbing the top of the wall and quickly pulling myself up in one quick move. "Now you try."

Sweetie Belle nodded and tried again, jumping and quickly grabbing onto the edge and pulling herself up. "I did it! That was actually pretty easy."

"Yes, it is easy, you just need to know how to do it," I jumped off my sword and transformed it even higher. "This is when it's hard. When the wall is very high, you want a running start. Take a few steps back, run at the wall and quickly jump and climb up," I demonstrated and managed to get up the wall, but only to the edge. "If you get stuck hanging on the ledge like this, try swinging your body back and forth and then bringing one of your back legs up over the edge and pull yourself all the way up." I swung my body and managed to get a grip on the platform, then pulled the rest of my body up.

"Cool!" All three fillies said at once.

I hopped down and landed with a quick tumble, then transformed my sword back to normal. "You won't be climbing high walls today though. But all of this is good to know if you ever need to climb something really high. If it's just for trying to get something out of reach, try just asking somepony bigger, you don't want to get yourself pointlessly hurt. Now hop on down from there and we can begin."

The Crusaders jumped down from the wall and I lead them to the end of the line of barrels.

"Hey, um, Mr. Lieutenant?" said Sweetie Belle.

"You can call me Mr. Shield." I can't believe I haven't told them that yet.

"Mr. Shield, I have a question: When you land and tumble from somewhere high, how do you make it so your horn doesn't get stuck in the ground?"

I gave her an awkward stare. "Uh... that's a good question. Perhaps whenever I figure it out myself I'll tell you."

I spent the rest of the afternoon having the fillies run through the courses and timing them, they made some progress but were starting to wear out only after an hour.

"You know what girls..." said Applebloom in between breaths. "Maybe we aren't supposed to get our cutie marks fighting, it seems like a whole lot of work anyway, and we show no signs of improvin'. We should just call it quits."

Scootaloo nodded. "Yeah, my hooves are starting to hurt, and I could go for a nice cool bath." 

"You're really willing to give up this early?" I asked.

"Yeah, we have a whole lot of other plans to find our cutie marks anyway." Applebloom and Scootaloo started walking back into town. 

Sweetie Belle glanced in my direction and gave a quick salute. "Thanks for trying to help us, Mr. Shield, it was really kind of you, but we're done. See you later!" She ran off and joined up with her friends.

"Good luck, and don't give up with your crusading!" I called to them as they walked back into Ponyville.

Well, so much for that. I suppose I couldn't ask much from a group of fillies, and I had to admire how curious they were about everything and willing to try anything to get what they want.

"A childhood I never got to have," I sighed. 

I just hope they knew how lucky they have it. Or maybe I just don't realize how unlucky I had it. 'I didn't choose this life, it chose me.' Haha. For how silly that phrase is, it sure fits me. 

I began to put away all the equipment I had gotten out, shortly after putting the last few barrels away I heard a number of hoof-steps getting closer. I turned around to be greeted by Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle coming over to me.

"Ask him! Ask him! Ask him!" The three fillies were at Twilight's legs prodding her.

Twilight shook off the fillies and looked over to me. 

"Are what these fillies telling me true? That you got your cutie mark when Rainbow Dash performed her first sonic rainboom?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, from what these fillies tell me anyway," I answered. I'm not sure why they were interested at all.

"That's awesome! I never knew my sonic rainboom did so much when I first performed it," said Rainbow Dash.

"Do you think you could recount the tale again? I'm interested in hearing myself," asked Twilight.

I sighed, I didn't like reliving old memories, but at least this one was a good one. "Well it happened during an arena match at Young Colt Training Academy. I was facing a superior opponent who used magic in his sword fighting style, I copied the style but was still losing fast, when suddenly I heard a blast from the sky. Everypony was distracted including my opponent, so I took advantage of it and beat him, winning the match and earning my cutie mark. That's all."

"Wow! That's actually very impressive," said Twilight. "Judging by your cutie mark, you're also talented with magic?"

"Somewhat. If you don't remember we actually went to the same Magic School, I was another one of the unicorns that could successfully teleport, but it's only short distance unless I use my sword here-" I levitated my sword out into view to show.

"Your sword? What's that got to do with teleportation?" asked Twilight.

"Well I'll show you," I teleported as far as my magic would let me without using the sword. I only managed about 15 feet. "This is as far as I can go without using my sword. And this-" I levitated my sword onto the ground next to Twilight and the others then ran off until I was out of hearing range. I focused my magic and located the position of the sword, and wish a quick flash I teleported back in front of Twilight. "-Is only a short distance compared to how far the sword has gotten me before."

"That can't be right. How far have you teleported only using your sword?" asked Twilight.

"Ponyville to Canterlot," I answered plainly. At this point the Cutie Mark Crusaders seemed to have lost interest in the conversation and had left back into town.

"Hold on a second, you're telling me this hunk of metal can get you all the way from Ponyville to Canterlot in the blink of an eye?" asked Rainbow Dash while pointing at the sword.

Twilight thought for a moment. "How is that possible? I can see your sword has some crystals in the hilt, so I'm guessing enchantment, but even enchantment shouldn't let you do something like teleporting the distance between Ponyville and Canterlot."

I shrugged. "I don't know. My best bet is that something happened during enchantment that made it more powerful than it was supposed to be."

"And what happened during enchantment?" asked Twilight curiously.

"A few seconds after the spell had finished the thing burst swirling energy everywhere, and then disappeared. I don't know what might have happened to it," I explained.

Twilight examined my sword. "Hmm. I've heard some things about enchantment using crystals... but I'd need to do some more studying to know for sure," she looked back up at me. "Do you mind if I borrow your sword to study?"

"Well, Rainbow Dash and I were planning to do a race tomorrow, I'd need it for that," I replied.

"Yeah Twi, I need the practice, even though the race will be clearly one sided," said Rainbow Dash.

"Don't be to sure of yourself, Rainbow, I learned a new flight style this morning that might leave you in the dust," I chuckled.

"I'd like to see that, I don't know anypony that ca-" Rainbow Dash was cut off by the sound of me flying off.

While she was talking I jumped into the air, instantly transforming my sword into it's capsule form around my body and immediately taking off into the sky. I flew straight up, back down, leveled out and sped off towards home, quickly landed right at my doorstep. I looked back at the sky with a sly smile on my face, Rainbow Dash followed me.

"Hey, what are you tryin' to pull!?" asked Rainbow Dash while still flying high in the air.

"Consider that a lesson!" I yelled back at her, then abruptly went inside my house.

I hadn't necessarily answered Twilight about studying my sword, I actually just wanted to get out of that situation as quickly as possible, I didn't want Twilight with my sword, I didn't trust her. What if she disabled the enchantment somehow? It would mess up my sword again, and it would be useless. I didn't want that to happen, nothing was going to take away my sword.

It was still only in the afternoon, so I spent the rest of the day buying some supplies and studying some magic books. I ended the day with a half hour work out to help get ready for the race tomorrow, and then promptly went to bed.
> Cousin Katana and the Crystal Heart
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Well, that was an interesting race. I'm just going to skip the details of what happened, but I'll say it involved a whole lot of ridiculous flying maneuvers. Rainbow Dash won, by a mere second and a half. Right before the finish line I had used a special speed boost spell I learned on my sword, the problem is that it took off without me. The sword flew past Rainbow Dash and crash landed, burying itself in the ground, while I flew through the air and finished second, barely managing to catch myself with magic before ending up like my sword. I still don't know how I was sucked right out of my sword with that spell.

It was past dark now, I had already gone to bed. Getting to sleep was tough this night, I hadn't planned what to do for tomorrow and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I seriously needed a hobby, all I seemed to want to do is get back to my job.

I managed a few hours of sleep, until a little past midnight when I heard some creaking. I knew my house made noises from time to time, but this noise caught my ear and woke me up, it was not a natural sound. I sat up in bed and looked around, my eyes scanning the darkness for any signs of movement. I heard a few more creaking noises. Somepony was definitely in my house. 

I slowly got to my hooves and walked to the door into the living room, I opened it a crack and peeked into the room. Sure enough, I could make out the silhouette of a mare. Who the hay does this pony think she is? I opened my door slowly and silently walked into the living room, I flipped on the light switch and immediately spoke up.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my house?" I demanded.

The mare froze for half a second as if being caught with her hoof in the cookie jar, but quickly turned around to face me. "Cousin Swordy! It's me, Katana!" She spoke with a bright smile.

That caught me off guard. "What in Equestria are you doing here?!" Cousin Katana, or fully known as Katana Lightning Shield, my father's brother's daughter. 

This mare was the bane of my existence as a young colt. Her older brother Stone Shield only made it worse. In fact, Stoney (My nickname for him) got his cutie mark because of me and her. Katana had gotten on my last nerve, and before I managed to get her for good, Stoney came in and beat me up before I could, earning his cutie mark in defending others.

Katana was a lavender coated pegasus, which was funny considering her brother was an earth pony and I was a unicorn. I come from the more noble side of the family, the rest of my family descends from a mix of weather ponies and settlers. Anyway, she had a very short purple mane but a longer tail, both had a stripe of orange running down them, which was curious as I remember her mane and tail being purple only. And lastly she had turquoise eyes, which to be honest would make most other colts go crazy over. Her cutie mark was a turquoise wing with a yellow lightning bolt going down its side.

"Aww, is that any way to greet your favorite cousin? I was in the neighborhood and decided to drop by," said Katana.

"In the middle of the night?" I asked, my teeth clenching.

"It's a surprise visit. Obviously you wouldn't be surprised enough if I came by during the day."

I sighed. "I'm sure I would be. Seriously Katana, what are you doing here? You don't just go sneaking into pony's houses like this."

Katana rolled her eyes playfully. "And you would? I've heard a few stories, like that one time you broke into the Canterlot library, or even the library here in Ponyville. And if I recall, that was all during the middle of the night too."

"That was different, it was an emergency and all of Equestria was in danger because of Nightmare Moon, and I was trying to find a way to stop her. And, in fact, I am a Royal Guard, so I can do that."

"Yes, yes, and then you failed that to six random mares and now they are out and about saving Equestria every other year." She poked my side. "You really need to step it up a notch, Cous', I'm beginning to think you've gone soft."

"Yeah? Well how about I prove you wrong and shove you out the door, okay?" I began to push my cousin towards the door.

She started fighting back. "Wait! There's still something I have to tell you, something important, please don't throw me out!"

I stopped pushing. "I'm listening."

Katana hesitated a moment. "I... need your help. I made a mistake. If you throw me out, the guards might find me and I can't risk that."

"The guards? Katana, I am a guard. If you made a mistake you need to tell me, otherwise I can't help you."

"Not now, I can't explain. I just need a favor, I need transport to the Crystal Empire and I can't fly there myself because I might get caught, you're the only one who can get me there safely with your sword."

I couldn't take her seriously anymore. "The Crystal Empire!? You want me to get you all the way to the Crystal Empire with absolutely no explanation why? No, there is no way I'm taking you all the way over there. In fact I think I might escort you back to Cloudsdale, where you belong." 

"NO! Please don't take me back, I hate that stupid city!" Katana was on her legs practically begging me. "Look, I'll do anything if you would just get me to the Crystal Empire."

"Tell me why you need to get there and I will think about it."

Katana sighed. "Fine. I stole... something. I need to return it but if I'm caught the guards will arrest me, they don't know that it was an accident! That's why I came to you, I need your help because of your position in the Royal Guard."

Theft from the Crystal Empire? This should be good. "What is this 'something' that you stole?"

"Oh, it's nothing, just some invaluable little crystal."

"Katana... what is it?"

"Ugh, you're impossible. Fine, I stole the..." Katana finished with unintelligible mumbling.

"The what?"

More mumbling.

"I can't hear you, speak up."

She stomped her hoof on the ground. "THE CRYSTAL HEART! OKAY? I stole thee Crystal Heart, okay?"

I stared at her blankly. "What's the Crystal Heart?"

"You don't know what the Crystal Heart is? I thought you were one of the first ponies that got to go to the Empire?"

"I wasn't there for that long, I was mostly on the outside scouting the area. What is the Crystal Heart?"

"It's a big crystal in the shape of a heart that sits in the center of the Empire. The Crystal Ponies power it somehow and it protects them, like a defense mechanism."

"What? So you're telling me you stole their entire defense mechanism?!"

"Relax, I swapped it with a replica so no pony would notice. King Sombra was defeated anyway, so there's no threat. I just need to get back so I can return the crystal and no pony would be the wiser."

"How come you know all about the Crystal Empire? This all happened just a few days ago."

Katana rolled her eyes. "Let's just say I've been keeping a close eye on the Royal Guard and been doing a lot of research on the new Empire many of them are being transferred to. Are you going to help me or do I have to drag you kicking and screaming?"

I sighed and moved towards the door. "I guess I don't have a choice. Let's just get this over with so I can put it behind me, come on."

"Wait, I don't have the Crystal with me right now, I need to get to Canterlot first and get it. I left it behind just in case."

"Whatever, at least it's on the way." I walked out the front door and made sure the coast was clear. I brought out my sword and transformed it into a surfboard with a compartment on the bottom large enough for a pony to fit inside. "Get inside, I'll fly you to Canterlot."

Katana eyed the sword cautiously but stepped into the compartment. "A bit uncomfortable, but it's better than noth-"

I cut her off by transforming the compartment slightly and giving her a bit more space to move.

"Oh, well that's much better. Thank you." Katana snuggled right into the sword as comfortably as she could.

"Don't mention it. Alright, so where in Canterlot did you hide the Crystal exactly?"

"Buried it in one of the field's outside of Canterlot, under a large rock."

"Perfect, I think I know exactly which rock you're talking about. Hold on tight." I hopped on my sword and slowly levitated into the sky. "Are you good down there?"

"I'm not a baby, step on it you idiot! Even I can fly faster than this." 

I let out a grunt. "Right, I keep forgetting." I fueled my sword with magic and flew us off in the direction of Canterlot.

The flight was slow, it took us about an hour and a half to reach Canterlot as I was still tired and couldn't get enough magic flowing into my sword to make us go faster. That, and my cousin's added weight made it a lot harder.

"Alright, we're here." I flew down and landed in the clearing outside of Canterlot. 

It was still dark, and the sun shown no sign of rising. The light of the moon illuminated the area around us, making it slightly easier to see. I transformed my sword and let Katana loose, who had fallen asleep. She fell with an 'Oomph'. 

"You could have woken me up instead," said Katana, rubbing her forehead.

I snorted. "I thought I just did."

"Very funny. Let's get the Crystal and then we can get out of here."

She led the way over towards a large boulder where she said to have buried the Crystal Heart. She searched the ground and found the right spot of dirt.

"This is it." Katana began digging up the ground with her hooves. I shook my head and pushed her aside, bringing my sword over and transforming it into a shovel, and began digging.

"Right, I forgot you had a magical shape changing weapon." Katana let out a short chuckle.

"Yes, it's quite useful if you hadn't noticed." I kept on digging until I had already gotten about two feet deep. "Are you sure this is the spot? How far down did you dig?"

Katana glanced around nervously. "Uhh, just dig a bit more, I'm sure it's down there somewhere."

I looked at her curiously and continued using my magic to dig. Another foot deeper and still no sign of the Crystal Heart.

"I don't get it! It's supposed to be down there. Somepony must have found it and took it!" said Katana.

I let out an exasperated sigh. "You've got to be kidding me! Do you know how dead I am if I can't find the Crystal and bring it back to the Crystal Empire? Very, very dead. I could get fired, and you could be sent to prison!"

"Am I interrupting something?" A voice called from behind.

Both Katana and I nearly jumped out of our hooves. We turned around to search for the pony who had spoken, to find Princess Luna standing over us.

"Oh uh... Princess Luna, good to see you!" I answered, taking a short bow. I nudged Katana and whispered: "Don't say a word."

"What are you doing up this late at night?" asked Luna. "And who is this, a friend of yours? Perhaps a special somepony?"

I looked at Katana embarrassed. "No, she's my cousin. We were stargazing, your Highness."

"And digging," said Luna, pointing towards the large hole we had dug. 

"You're a terrible liar, Cous'" whispered Katana.

Luna stepped closer. "Lieutenant, is there something you are not telling me?"

"No, of course not Princess. Why would I ever?" I tried to remain strong in my speech, but it was difficult keeping secrets from a Princess.

Regrettably, Luna called my bluff. "I do not appreciate being lied to, Lieutenant Sheld. Your behavior should reflect your ranking. I can tell something is wrong, and I would wish that you tell me right away."

"Yes, Princess... I'm sorry." I motioned to the hole. "My cousin and I are searching for a specific crystal that she lost, it was supposed to be buried out here but it seems that somepony has found and taken it."

"Do you mean this crystal?" asked Luna, pulling out a large heart shaped crystal.

Katana and I stared at the Crystal and Luna for a moment. "Uh... yeah. That's the one," said Katana.

Luna chuckled. "Would you mind explaining to me what the Crystal Heart was doing buried here instead of being in the Crystal Empire where it belongs?"

I was surprised she did not seem upset. I was about to explain what happened when my cousin cut in.

"It was me, Princess," started Katana with a bow of respect. "I stole the Crystal Heart. I didn't know it was so important when I did, and thought nopony would miss it, but soon I learned I was wrong, so I buried it here to keep it safe while I got help from my cousin so I could get it back safely. I'm sorry about all this trouble, if I'm to be punished then I will accept my fate."

Wow, my jaw nearly dropped at her answer. I didn't expect Katana to fess up like that, but I was proud, so I gave her a smile and comforting pat on the back. She weakly smiled back.

"I see," said Luna. "I will return the Crystal Heart myself and explain what happened, but I want you both to tell Celestia what has happened."

I nodded and bowed. "Yes, Princess Luna, we will go immediately. Thank you." 

We both waved as Princess Luna flew off into the night sky.

Katana sighed. "Well, that didn't go as expected but at least the Crystal Heart will be returned. Come on, let's go see what punishment Princess Celestia will have for me."

"You did good, Katana, I'm proud of you. Even though you did mess up pretty badly. Celestia is very understanding, I'm sure she'll show you some mercy."

"Mercy is probably the last thing I need."

We both walked into Canterlot and towards the castle. The streets were nearly empty, except for the Night Guards who patrolled the streets. We entered the castle throne room and requested to see Celestia on an urgent matter. It took a few minutes for her to arrive.

"Yes, Lieutenant? What is it?" asked Celestia.

"My cousin, Katana, can explain." I pointed towards Katana and she stepped forward to the Princess.

"Your Highness, I've made a grave mistake," said Katana. "I stole the Crystal Heart from the Crystal Empire, not knowing it was so important. Once I found out about it, I immediately regretted it and tried to get it back where it belonged, but there were too many guards in my way, so..."

I continued for her. "She came to me for help on getting the Crystal back, but when we went to dig it up it had been already been found by your sister, Princess Luna. She had just left to take it back herself."

Katana bowed low. "I am very sorry for what happened, I will accept any punishment I deserve."

Celestia looked at my cousin and back at me. "Lieutenant Shield, thank you for trying to help, you are free to leave. As for you, young mare, I have something you can do to make up for your mistake. Meet with me in the morning, I will arrange a place for you to stay the night, the guard will escort you."

"Thank you, Princess," Katana looked back at me. "Thank you too, Cous'. I'll see ya around." 

Katana waved goodbye as she was escorted out of the throne room, I returned with a salute. I left the castle and found my tent around the barracks and slept there for the rest of the night.

The next morning I immediately flew back down to Ponyville. Everything was back to normal. I touched down at my house and was about to open the door when I heard a crowd of shouting in the distance, getting slowly closer. I looked around and was able to see a large swarm of pink heading my way, which seemed to be the source of the shouting.

"Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun!"

"You've got to be joking," I said.

"Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun!"

The swarm of pink continued heading my way.

"Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun!"

It was a swarm of Pinkie Pie's.
> Old Family, New Friends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The herd of Pinkies swarmed right over top of me, knocking me to the ground. I covered my head for protection as they bounced their way towards the center of town, shouting 'Fun!' the entire way. I stood back up and dusted myself off after they were gone.

"Pinkie Pie, what sort of trouble have you gotten yourself into now?" I asked out loud.

"What do you mean?" asked a voice from behind me.

I turned around to see Pinkie Pie, or at least another Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie... if you are the real one... what's going on?"

"What do you mean? The only thing I see going on is FUN!" said Pinkie while tumbling around.

"There are dozens of you stampeding through town. In my eyes that almost warrants the Royal Guard's interference. How did you... duplicate yourself?"

"The mirror pool, of course! What else could it be? Hehehe, fun!" Pinkie continued to pounce around, even over my rooftop.

"Um... okay. I hope you know what you are doing. I'll just be inside my house if you need me." I opened my door and slowly walked inside, making sure to keep an eye on Pinkie until the door was closed.

I let out a sigh, maybe today I would get some peace and quiet, the last few days had been filled with nothing but noise and action. I needed a break from my break, and I knew just what to do. I levitated my armor off the couch and fit it over my body, finishing with the helmet. I walked out the door and transformed my sword to fly on and took off into the sky.

I flew over the Town Hall building and overlooked Ponyville. In the distance I could see the mob of Pinkie's running about, but that wasn't what I was after. Instead, I set my eyes on the Ponyville Library. I flew down to it and knocked on the door. It was answered by Spike.

"Hey Spike, I came to drop off my sword for Twilight to study." I levitated my sword into Spike's claws. 

He looked down at its shiny plating and back at me. "Great! Twilight's been a bit busy lately with some new spells, but I'll let her know."

"Thanks, take care of it. I'll come to pick it up in two days." After Spike closed the door I walked off in the direction of the train station. There were some ponies I wanted to see today.

I arrived at the train station and walked up to the ticket booth.

"Ticket for the train to Manehatten," I requested.

The mare behind the glass pulled out a ticket. "Official Royal Guard business?"

"No," I pulled out a few bits to pay for the ticket. "Personal business."

The mare nodded and took the money. "Alright then. Here's your ticket, have a safe trip."

I levitated the ticket beside me. "Thank you."

I walked over to the rail-side platform and waited until my train arrived, which was only a few minutes luckily enough. I could begin to hear angry shouting from the middle of Ponyville and had no desire to be anywhere near it, so I quickly stepped onto the train and took a seat in the very back so I wouldn't attract too much attention.

The only other ponies that were in the back of the train with me was a young mare earth pony and her son who was a pegasus colt which sat across the aisle from me. I watched as the mother tried to get her son to calmly sit down, but the colt kept bouncing around the car excitedly.

I looked over at them both and smiled. "First train ride?"

The mother smiled sheepishly. "Yes, my son is very excited."

I nodded. "That's understandable, the train can be very exhilarating first time around, although I prefer air travel."

"Air travel? I've never been on one of those pegasus chariots or air balloons before. I take it you fly on them all the time?" asked the mother.

"No, I fly myself," I responded with a sly smile.

My answer garnered the attention of the pegasus colt still exploring the train. "You can fly? Are you an Alicorn?"

I chuckled. "No, I fly using my unicorn magic by using a special sword like a hover-board. I don't have it with me right now, but I can still do this," I took off my helmet and used my magic on it, flattening the plating until the helmet was just a flat piece of metal. I levitated it in the center of the car. "Would you like to try flying on it?"

The pegasus looked to his mother. "Can I Mommy?"

His mother looked at the flattened helmet nervously and back to me for confirmation.

"Don't worry, it's perfectly safe and I guarantee that you won't fall," I assured.

The mother nodded her head and her son immediately raced forward and climbed onto the helmet and I slowly levitated it up and down. "Wow! Mom look, I'm flying!"

His mother giggled. "I can see that, be careful!" She looked back at me. "My name's Iris by the way, this is my son Aster."

Iris had a peach coat with a light blue mane and tail, while her son had a light yellow coat with a bright blue mane and tail.

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

After I introduced myself I felt the jolt of the train starting to move out of the station. Aster stopped playing on my helmet and took his seat while I used my magic to restore the helmet to its original shape and fit it back on my head.

"Shield? Are you Lieutenant Shield?" asked Aster.

I looked at the young pegasus curiously. "Yes, I am, how did you know that?"

"Aster loves the Royal Guard, he likes to read about them in the newspaper, although they don't show up too often," answered Iris.

"They're really cool! They fight bad guys and keep everypony safe. I want to be just like a Royal Guard when I grow up," said Aster.

"I'm sure you'd make a fine Pegasus guard," I complimented. "They're great at flying over top of cities on patrol and are usually the first to catch the bad guys." 

"Oh..." Aster became fairly sad looking. "I can't fly. My wings don't work right."

"Aster has a rare disability with his wings which doesn't allow his wings enough strength or speed to fly properly. We've tried what we could but there's no treatment," explained Iris.

"I'm sorry. I've met another pegasus with a similar problem but not a disability, at least as far as I know. I'll say the same to you as I said to her; practice using your wings daily, work out to strengthen them and never give up. It may not let you fly perfectly, but I'm sure it will help." I gave them both a warm smile.

"Thanks! I promise I won't give up, Mr. Shield!" said Aster.

"Thank you for encouraging him, it means a lot coming from somepony in the Royal Guard," said Iris sincirely. "Are you being relocated to Manehatten? Oh, I probably shouldn't be asking you questions like that, sorry."

"It's alright. I'm off duty right now actually, the trip is for personal reasons. My parents moved here a couple years ago and I haven't seen them since." I explained.

"Oh, I see. You must be very excited to see them again! Why did you decide to wear your armor though?" asked Iris.

I shifted in my seat for a moment. "Its got... sentimental value." That wasn't the entire reason. I wanted to show up in my armor because I wanted to look strong, I wanted to try and make my father proud. "Yeah, I'm pretty excited. Well, anxious is probably a better word. Why are you going to Manehatten?"

"My husband found a better home for us there, we're very excited to see the new place, but we're also sad to leave Ponyville behind. It was such a nice town," answered Iris.

I nodded in agreement. I was finished talking so I turned around, watching the scenery pass by through the window. The rest of the train ride was relatively quiet from that point on, save for a few questions from Aster every once in a while. After about two hours of travel the train began slowing down and pulled into the station. We had finally arrived at Manehatten. 

I said my goodbyes to Iris and Aster and trotted on my way. Once I reached the outdoors I picked up a map of the city and began searching the streets of the right street my parents lived on.

I found the right apartment and walked in the main room. The place was above average, although not amazing, just as my parents seemed to like. I walked down the colorfully carpeted hallways until I found my parent's door. I knocked on the door and straightened my helmet and armor before anyone answered.

The door opened up and my mother's face came into view, looking no different than when she had left. Her face brightened up as she saw me, I tried to withhold a smile, but when my mother reached out to give me a hug I couldn't help myself.

"My boy, it's been a long time!" said Sacred as she hugged me, tears in her eyes.

"It's great to see you mom," I said returning the hug. "How have you been doing?"

My mother let me go and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I'm doing great, how about you? You haven't written or visited in years, we almost thought something had happened to you."

"I'm sorry I haven't visited, the Royal Guard has kept me very busy. I'm doing fine, I'm on a short break before I have to get back to work so I came to visit," I explained.

"Well that's wonderful, come inside." My mom walked back into her apartment and to the kitchen. I followed and sat down at the table.

It was a rather large apartment for just two ponies, there was plenty of space to walk around as there wasn't much furniture, even the table was just a small round table for two. There were a couple of bookshelves around the place with comfy chairs nearby for reading. The colors light green, yellow and white had the largest presence.

"It's a nice place you got," I commented.

"We've had to switch up apartments every once in a while, we've been in this one for five months now, we're hoping to stay this time." My mother walked over to the table and gave me a glass of carrot juice, which I heartily drank up.

"Your father will be home in just a few minutes, I'll bet he'd be glad to see you again. While we wait, how about you tell me what you've been doing lately?" suggested Sacred, sitting down at the table herself.

"Well, have you heard about the Crystal Empire?" I asked.

"Yes, it's quite exciting! A whole new empire and culture brought back in a day's time. I can't believe what the crystal ponies must have had been through, it must have been so terrible," answered Sacred.

"I'll say, I was one of the first ponies there, along with Shining Armor and Princess Cadance. There was something very wrong with that place when I was there. I can't really explain it. Tomorrow I plan on going back to see what's changed, and then I get back to work." As I finished talking the door opened and my father (Steadfast) walked in. I immediately stood at attention.

My father walked up to me surprised. "What are you doing here?"

Ouch, you hurt my feelings dad. "I'm on break, I came to visit, is that alright?"

"You should have sent a message. Actually, you should have sent anything! I haven't heard from you for over a year, and now you just decide to show up?" asked Steadfast slightly angry.

Sacred looked around awkwardly. "I'll... leave you two alone for a bit." She walked off and disappeared into another room.

I hardly notice her leave. "I thought you would like an update on how things were going from me personally, but maybe now I'm having second thoughts." I spoke trying to sound confident, but on the inside I could feel my stomach trembling.

"Well, what do you expect from me? For all I knew you could have been dead!" said Steadfast.

Something inside of me broke, something that was clogged had been loosed and the floodgates unleashed. The trembling in my stomach ceased. "And what if I was?" I asked calmly at first. "Would you care then? As far as I know, Dad, you haven't cared at all. Ever since I was young you've always said; 'Train hard! Learn to respect your superiors! Honor your parents and ancestors!'. I never wanted that, but I never asked you to stop. What do I expect from you? What anypony should expect from their father, someone to encourage and guide them through their life. But you never did encourage, did you? You sat there and weaved my path for me. I may still be a Royal Guard, and I may still enjoy it, but don't ever think I'm proud that you forced me into it."

"And don't you think I never helped you," said Steadfast.

I walked towards the door. "Oh no, you did. You helped me just perfectly, helped me to become the son you've always wanted... You should have had more children, because I refuse to be what you want." I opened the door and began to walk out when I paused and looked half back. "Tell Mom I love her, and goodbye." I shut the door behind me with my magic.

For a moment I stared at the wall in front of me. Nothing was coursing through my mind except for what I had just done. I had just given up on my family, on my father. I realized I hadn't been breathing, I quickly took a deep stuttered breath and exhaled slowly. I turned down the hall and began walking.

I kept on walking until I was back at the train station. I approached the ticket booth when I saw a couple of ponies sitting on a bench. It was Iris and her son, I had expected them to be a ways into the city already but they looked as though they were going back on another train ride. I walked closer and noticed that Iris was silently crying and her son was trying to comfort her. 

I walked up to them both and looked down at Aster. "What's wrong? Shouldn't you be getting to your new home?"

Iris sniffled and wiped some of her tears away. "Excuse me. My husband... we learned he wasn't able to pay for all of us to stay at the new place, not until he finished paying off his debts here in Manehatten. We have to go back to Ponyville and that's going to cost us too much. I don't know what to do."

Aster looked up to me pleadingly. "Can you help my mommy?"

I looked at the young pegasus and took off my helmet. "Yes," With my answer I use my magic to levitated out a sack of bits from my saddle-pack. I placed the sack of bits in my helmet and levitated it to Iris. "This is yours."

Iris took the helmet and looked into the bag to see how many bits were in there. She looked back at me sorrowfully. "I can't accept this, it's too much." 

Iris handed me back the helmet, but I refused, and instead pushed it back towards her. "You need it and you deserve it. Use the money to pay off the debt and pay for your home. The helmet is for Aster."

Aster looked at me with a bright and excited face. "Really? You're giving me your helmet?"

I nodded towards him. "You'll grow into it someday, and you can say it was a Lieutenant who gave it to you."

Iris smiled and more tears fell from her eyes. "Thank you so much, I wish I could repay you somehow."

I gave them both a smile. "The only repayment worth getting back is seeing you happy and at home. I have to go now, but I might come back someday to visit." I saluted them both and walked back to the ticket booth, ordering a ticket to the Crystal Empire on official business.

I walked into the back of the train once again and sat down, letting out a prolonged sigh. I felt the kick of the train as it started moving out the station. I watched out the window as Iris and Aster got up and left to see their new home. I hoped it would be worth it.

The train pulled into the countryside shortly and I let my thoughts slip from me. Everything seemed to have messed up so quickly, all I could focus on was seeing Shining Armor and Cadance again. It had only been a week since I last saw them, but I sorely needed a feeling of the old days. I felt as though my life was slipping away in just this short time.

But it wasn't in just a short time. This had been coming at me for a long time now, ever since the incident with Nightmare Moon. The guilt and regret was still gnawing at me even after three years, and every new problem seemed to increase the feeling.

As the train ride continued I drifted off to sleep. What I didn't notice, was one of the stars on my cutie mark disappearing.
> Return to Sender
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I woke up as I felt the train coming to a slow. The rate of deceleration caused me to grab onto my seat so I wouldn't fall off. Curious, trains don't normally slow down that fast. I sat up and looked out one of the windows. Sure enough, there was snow everywhere, but the Crystal Empire was no where in sight, yet the train had come to a full stop. 

I hopped off my seat and walked towards the front of the train, passing multiple confused passengers on the way. The conductor was assuring everyone that everything was fine and that they were just experiencing a short delay, but I wanted to find out what was going on myself. I entered the engine room and found the engineer working with some levers. 

"Is everything alright?" I asked.

The engineer noticed me and stopped working, dusting his hooves off he let out a sigh. "Some of the levers and pipes have frozen over, I can't get them to work. We're stuck out here for the moment, but there's no cause for concern, after a few hours the next station will realize something has gone wrong and will send a rescue party."

I scratched the back of my head. "A few hours? How far away is the Crystal Empire from here?" I didn't want to come all this way to be hours late, that would cut off my time to talk with Shining Armor by nearly half a day.

"By train, probably another ten minutes. On hoof? In this storm, an hour, if you don't freeze to death first," answered the engineer.

I sighed. "Is there no way to fix it? I'm willing to help however I can."

"'Fraid not, unless you're willing to get out and push." The engineer let out a short chuckle. 

"Push? Not a problem," I flared my horn. "I'll get the train moving, you unlock any brakes and see what you can do to make it easier. We'll make it to the Crystal Empire in no time."

I walked out of the engine room and into the passenger cars. The conductor was still trying to keep everyone calm, although some were complaining that they wouldn't make it in time for one event or the other.

"Eyes front, everypony!" I yelled. All eyes were turned towards me. "Parts of the train have frozen, and we won't be able to get moving any time soon unless we get out and start pushing. If there are any of you strong enough to come outside with me and start pushing, we can make it to the Crystal Empire in half an hour. Unicorns can help push with their magic or clear the snow ahead, I'll need some earth pony strength to pull, and if any Pegasi can help clear the skies above us to keep us from freezing, we'll be getting out of here in no time. Those who are able to help, stand up and get ready. The rest of you sit tight."

About a dozen ponies stood up ready to help push or pull. I gave them all a nod and pulled the conductor aside. "Go from car to car and tell them the same, the more we have pulling the faster this will be," I turned back to the rest of the passengers. "Alright, let's get a move on!"

I opened the side door and led the volunteers to the front of the train. Three pegasi began to circle above and clear away the falling snow. The unicorns cleared away the snow and ice from the ground to let the rest of the earth ponies get to the front of the train. After we cleared most of the area about two dozen more passengers joined us.

We had twelve pegasi clearing the skies, fifteen earth ponies able to pull and nine unicorns to clear the snow and or help push the train. I was at the back of the train with two other unicorns to help push. I signaled the conductor, and within seconds the train whistle blew and the earth ponies began pulling. With a mighty heave the train budged and slowly got back on track.

We kept at a trotting pace to keep safe, after about ten minutes most of the unicorns tired out and hopped back onto the train, but the earth ponies kept going. I always loved how much stamina earth ponies had. I signaled for the earth ponies to start running, they picked up speed and I began to have trouble keeping up with the train. The rest of the unicorns boarded before the train became too fast for them. 

I ran up front of the earth ponies to keep the tracks clear of any ice using my heat spell (although it still wasn't that strong). Within another twenty minutes the Crystal Empire was in sight. The train whistle blew twice and the earth ponies began to slow down. Another five minutes and we pulled into the Crystal Empire station, which had now been moved inside the Empire instead of out in the snow. 

As we stopped I collapsed on the ground in front of the train and began taking large breaths. I forgot how hard it was to breathe out in the cold. I looked over at the earth ponies who pulled the train, they all seemed to be a little exhausted, but fine.

A crowd had gathered around the train and some asked what had happened. The conductor and engineer explained everything. A couple of guards at the station noticed me and helped me back onto my feet. 

"Thanks. I need to see Shining Armor, can you tell him I've arrived?" I asked. "I don't feel like I can walk for a little while."

The guards nodded and ran towards the castle, while I hobbled over to a nearby bench to catch my breath. I know I used a lot of my magic to melt the ice and push the train, but I never remember being this exhausted from something as simple as running with a heat spell on. Maybe it was just the cold, I had never been used to snowy weather. 

After a few minutes I saw Shining Armor trotting over to me. I stood up and gave him a salute as he approached.

"Hey now, no need to be all formal on me, Sword Shield, you're on break," said Shining Armor.

I lowered my salute. "All due respect, Captain, it simply wouldn't feel right."

Shining Armor chuckled. "So, what brings you here only after a week? Did you miss me that much?"

"How about we get back to the castle first, then I'll explain," I answered. I felt a grumble in my stomach. "I could use a bite to eat as well." 

Shining Armor nodded. "Of course. Follow me." He led me through the city, much of which had been improved since I last visited. Many Crystal Ponies were out working or playing in the streets, the market district looked very busy. The whole place seemed to be loaded with tourists.

"Business must be booming around here lately," I commented.

"You can imagine. Trainload after trainload, we've been getting more tourists by the day," replied Shining Armor. As we approached the castle he nudged me. "Hey, you need to see this." Shining Armor led me under the castle to the center where a giant crystal heart was being held. 

I walked around it curiously. "So this is the Crystal Heart?" I asked trying to sound as if I hadn't seen it before.

"Yup. This is what helps keep the Empire protected, both from the snow and from any hostiles," answered Shining Armor. "Strangely enough, Princess Luna came by a few days ago looking at it, but she left before I could say anything." 

"I wonder why. Anything strange happen while I was gone?" I asked casually.

"No, not that I know of." answered Shining Armor. He led me over to the stairs. "Come on, let's go inside and get you some food, it's almost time for supper."

I was glad no one had noticed the Crystal Heart being swapped. I let out a grateful sigh and followed Shining Armor up the shimmering stairway. "Food sounds good." 

Shining Armor led me to the dining hall, while I sat down and waited he had the cooks prepare dinner for three. I had already guessed that the third guest would be Cadance. The dining hall was a long rectangular room with carpets of red and royal purple, the table was also rectangular and made of a golden wood with some sort of glaze that made it shimmer in the light. It was large enough for about twenty ponies. Shining Armor sat across from me.

After a few minutes of waiting Cadance walked in the room. "Sword Shield, when you come to visit I expect you to at least say 'Hello!' before you rush straight to the dinner table!" She sounded relatively upset, although I'm sure she was joking.

"Sorry, but I was just so hungry. I just had to help push a train the rest of the way here, so you'll excuse me if I'm too weak to walk up an extra flight of stairs to the Throne Room," I explained sarcastically. "And uh... I'd prefer if you just called me 'Swordulan' now."

Cadance came and sat down at the table next to Shining Armor. "What happened?"

"Parts of the train froze over, seemed unlikely to me but you never know when you're this far north. I put together a small group to get the train moving again." After I explained a couple of servants entered the room and gave us our dinner. I got a nice bowl of veggie salad with plenty of carrots mixed in.

"No, I mean why do you want to be called Swordulan instead?" clarified Cadance.

"Oh," I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. "I just feel like it fits me better now." I levitated some carrot pieces into my mouth and hoped that Cadance wouldn't require further explanation.

Cadance seemed to understand. "Alright, if you feel that way I'll call you 'Swordulan'." She and Shining Armor continued to eat their dinner.

After a few minutes Shining Armor pointed towards my side. "Hey, where's your sword?"

I glanced at where I normally attached my sword and looked back at Shining Armor. "I left it with Twilight back in Ponyville, she wanted to study it to see if she could learn anything from it." Would have been nice to have the sword for pushing the train.

"I see. Well it's in capable hooves. You been getting along with Twilight? How is she doing?" asked Shining Armor.

I pulled a 'are you serious?' face. "Captain, you aren't secretly using me to keep tabs on your little sister, are you?"

"What? No, of course not... Okay, maybe just a little," answered Shining Armor with a chuckle.

I sighed hopelessly. "She's doing fine as far as I know." 

"That's good. So, you said you'd explain why you decided to drop by. Is there any reason?" asked Shining Armor.

"I just needed to get away from everything for a little bit, being on break is almost as hard as being on duty," I answered. "I suppose I'm just not used to it as much."

"Well you're always welcome here," said Cadance.

"Except when you've got a job to do," added Shining Armor.

We continued eating in silence until each of us were finished. "Now, it's time for me to start asking some questions. How's progress here in the Crystal Empire?"

"It's going very well. We've expanded the borders and some ponies from other cities are even starting to move in, and there's definitely no shortage of new tourists," answered Cadance. "Luckily there hasn't been any problems with the Crystal Ponies, they're very excited to meet everypony that comes here."

The servants came back and cleared the table for us. Shining Armor thanked them and returned his focus to me. "I've got a new barracks up, and we're starting to get some recruits from the crystal ponies. Which reminds me, when you go back to Canterlot do you think you could reassign some trainers and another officer here? I could use the extra hooves."

"Not a problem." I let out a yawn and realized how tired I was. "Excuse me. I think I must have drained the rest of my energy pushing the train. I hope you don't mind if I retire early tonight?"

"Not at all, you look like you've had a rough time," answered Cadance. She patted Shining Armor on the back. "Shining Armor will take you to the guest room where you can stay for the night."

"Sounds good. Sleepover at the Princess's castle," I said groggily as I sat up from the table.

Shining Armor led me through a series of crystal hallways and stairs until we reached a medium sized bedroom, complete with a bed, some luxury furniture and a cozy fireplace. 

"I hope this do for tonight," said Shining Armor.

I looked at the room with a weak smile. "It's better than my place," I trotted into the room and collapsed on one of the sofas. "So soft... where do you make these wonderful beds? I want one."

"That's the sofa."

I lifted my head and stared at my Captain. "You mean there's something BETTER?"

Shining Armor looked at me confusedly. "Are you okay?"

"Ah'm fine, just need sleep. Goodnight Sugarcube," I answered faking a southern accent.

"Uh, goodnight Lieutenant." Shining Armor closed the door and left me in the dim light of the fireplace.

I waddled over to what looked like the bed and collapsed, using what was left of my magic to take off all my armor. I quickly forgot anything that happened next and fell into a deep sleep.

I woke up in the late morning feeling more drowsy than usual. I sat up in bed and rubbed my forehead. "Ugh." At least I know I slept well, I don't think I've slept so comfortably in a bed before. I'd have to thank Cadance later.

I hopped out of bed, ignoring putting on my armor, and walked over to the mirror and sink. "Heh, I guess sleeping comfortably comes at a price." I looked like a mess, my mane was all over the place. I washed my face and brushed my mane back to my good looking self.

I left my room and headed for the throne room, dodging multiple servants or cleaning ponies along the way. I entered the throne room and was surprised to see it was just Cadance inside, sitting on her throne as usual. I looked around curiously. "Where is everypony?"

"It's not usually busy around here this time of morning," answered Cadance casually. "You missed breakfast. Did you sleep well?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, they don't have beds like that in Ponyville. Thanks for letting me stay the night." The world still seemed to be moving a bit slow for me. 

"It's the least I could do for a friend. Have you been enjoying your break?" asked Cadance.

"I... don't know. Some of it has been... stressful." I answered reluctantly. I walked further into the room and stood to the left of Cadance. 

"Stressful? Well what was-" Cadance cut herself off and gasped, she was staring in confusion at something behind me. 

I looked behind me and saw nothing. "Is something wrong, Cadance?"

Cadance pointed towards me, her hoof was aiming at my Cutie Mark. "What happened to your cutie mark? It's changed!"

I looked at my flank to see what she meant. Nothing looked wrong with it, same old sword, same old shield and same old five stars. "Cadance, my cutie mark has been like this ever since I got it, what are you talking about?"

"Swordulan, your cutie mark used to have six stars, not five," answered Cadance.

"I'm pretty sure I've always had five, are you sure you aren't just seeing things?" I asked, half thinking Cadance was just trying to mess with me.

Shining Armor walked into the room. "Cadance, you have an appointment at the spa later this afternoon, you wanted me to remind you. Oh, good morning Lieutenant."

"Shining Armor, look at his cutie mark. Tell me it used to have six stars, not five," responded Cadance, again pointing at my cutie mark.

Shining Armor walked over to me and saw for himself. "What the... you're right, he's missing the bottom left star. Swordulan, do you have any idea how this could have happened?"

I was beginning to think they had lost it. "I'm telling you, I never had six stars on my cutie mark! I've had five for as long as I can remember."

Cadance and Shining Armor looked at each other worriedly. Shining Armor walked off somewhere and came back with a picture. He levitated the picture towards me. "This was a picture of you, myself and Cadance from the wedding. Look at your cutie mark in the picture."

I took the picture into my magic and looked at it closely. It was the three of us dressed up after the wedding and before we left in the carriage, and in the picture my cutie mark had six stars on it. "This can't be right. I remember having five stars during the wedding. Did you change the picture and you both are just playing some joke on me? Because it isn't funny."

"Why would we joke about something like this? Something must have happened to you, a miscast spell or strange illness. Do you have any idea what might cause a cutie mark to start disappearing?" asked Shining Armor seriously.

I kept looking at the picture and shaking my head. "No. This shouldn't even be possible, so either you're pulling some kind of prank or somepony else is."

"Well I assure you that it's not us," said Cadance. "I suggest you go back to Canterlot and talk to Celestia, I'm sure she can help you." 

I sighed. "Alright, I'm not sure I fully believe you, but if you're telling the truth then there is something very wrong."

"Better to be safe than sorry," said Shining Armor.

"Yeah, I'm just sorry I wasn't able to stay longer. So long Captain, Princess." I bowed to either of them.

"You know that I'm a Prince now, right?" asked Shining Armor.

"Yeah, that's just weird," I began walking out of the throne room and called back one last time. "And don't worry, I won't forget to send you those extra trainers."

I left the throne room and made my way back to the guest room, finding and equipping my armor. I walked down the many staircases and trotted back to the train station, a few times being distracted by the grumbling in my stomach and many stalls selling fresh carrots. Oh how I wish I had just a few bits, but eating would have to wait for Canterlot.
> Revelations and Regulations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The train sped along the tracks smoothly on its way to Canterlot. Once again I sat in the back, staring out one of the windows as we passed out of the snow and into the green again. I was supposed to pick up my sword today, but I figured I wouldn't have enough time. On the train ride back I decided to use my magic to locate it and see if I could use a Sight Seeing spell on it from far away.

I used my magic and pinpointed my sword all the way back in Ponyville and began to cast the spell. It took a lot of focus and strength, but I managed to get a peek what was going on. I could see Twilight using her own magic on the sword, but she quickly stopped at stared at it in confusion.

"What the?" I heard her say.

"What's the matter?" I heard Spike ask, though I couldn't see him.

"It's like somepony else just used a spell on the sword, I couldn't identify what spell it was though." answered Twilight.

She must have detected me using my magic on it. I focused my magic again and used another spell on it, a Throw Voice spell. "Hello? Can you hear me?"

"Gah!" yelped Twilight.

"It can talk?!" asked Spike.

"Of course not, swords can't talk. Somepony must be using another spell on it," answered Twilight. She turned her attention back on the sword. "Hello, who is this?"

I chuckled, I could have freaked Twilight out but I didn't feel in a very joking mood. "This is the Lieutenant and owner of the sword. How's the testing been going, Twilight?"

"Oh, well it's been going fine, I'm just about finished. Are you on your way back to get it?" asked Twilight.

"Yes and no, I'm on my way to Canterlot right now, it should be a few hours before I get there. Are you able to finish up by then? I plan on just teleporting the sword back to me." There was no point in going all the way back to Ponyville when I could easily enough teleport my sword back.

"Of course, I'll even attach a letter to it and tell you what I've found," responded Twilight.

"Great, I look forward to reading it." I cut off the spell and returned my attention to the window. Hopefully there was some good news waiting for me when I got to Canterlot.

The rest of the train ride went smoothly, and I hoped it would be my last ride for a while, I was starting to get sick of them, preferring to fly from city to city. It was faster that way too. 

The train arrived in Canterlot on time, as I walked out of the car I caught a glimpse of a picture I never noticed before. I did a double take and looked to see what had caught my attention. It was a portrait of my grandfather, Captain Iron Shield. I never knew him as a foal, he was long gone by that time, but I'd seen the pictures, though never this one. It looks like it was taken just a few months before he passed away. 

His mane had grayed, his coat's white shine had weakened, but he still looked confident and stoic as ever. He was dressed up in a light yellow uniform, having multiple badges attached to a blue strap signifying his position as Captain and the great things he'd done. We didn't use badges like those anymore. I saluted the photo and walked off the train and began heading my way to the Royal Barracks.

I reached the Captain's office and levitated some files off the desk. I wrote down new assignments for a few of our trainers and an officer to relocate to the Crystal Empire. One of the other Lieutenants came by to welcome me back and resign for his week off, I nodded him off and continued filing some paperwork that had been left for me.

Now it was time to see what Twilight was able to learn from my sword. I focused my magic and located it at the Ponyville Library as usual, and teleported it back to my position. It looked the same as ever, but as Twilight said she left a note attached. I took it off and opened it up.



Hello Lieutenant, I've studied and analyzed your sword and the results are a bit confusing, although somewhat stunning. Whenever you enchanted it, something seems to have slipped in at the time of enchantment, causing its magical properties to fluctuate randomly. The sword also seems to have some sort of resistance to magic, it's almost as if it doesn't like me using my magic on it. It has some sort of recognition pattern that I believe only recognizes you.

I'm normally not one to believe something like this can happen, but I think your sword is alive somehow. I couldn't identify or even guess what sort of strange magic is causing this, I brought up the subject with Princess Celestia and she wants to see the sword herself. I hope it helps, and I'm glad you let me study it, it was quite fascinating.

-Twilight Sparkle



I read through it curiously, occasionally glancing at my sword in confusion. There was one word that seemed out of place. Alive. How in Equestria could my sword be alive? It sounded so wrong, but then again I had to remind myself that I still didn't know everything about magic. I wasn't sure anypony truly knew how magic worked.

I levitated the sword and attached it to the back of my armor, shrinking it in size so it wouldn't be too clunky. I decided to see the Princess like Twilight suggested. I trotted out of the barracks at towards the castle, making my way through the halls and to the throne room, Celestia sat on her throne and by the looks of it had been expecting me.

"Hello Swordulan, I take it you have read the note Twilight left for you?" asked Celestia.

"Yes, I am not sure what to make of it though," I answered.

Celestia nodded. "I understand your confusion, I have not heard of anything like this for hundreds of years. May I see your sword?"

"Of course." I levitated my sword up to Celestia and she took it into her own magic, looking at the crystals in the hilt for a few seconds.

"You used these to enchant with?" asked Celestia.

"Yes, I had one of my old professors from Magic School help," I answered.

Celestia continued to study the sword. "Where did you get these crystals?"

"I bought them from the market, why?" I didn't see how where I got them would be relevant.

Celestia shook her head. "This can't be. These crystals resemble the kind of crystal that the Crystal Heart is made out of, they are thousands of years old and near impossible to find. It's known that dragons sometimes horde these kind of crystals, that is how the Crystal Heart was found to begin with, but you'll be very lucky to get away with taking them."

I paused in thought for a moment. "Whoever sold them to me must have found them somehow, or gotten them from somepony who did. I guess they didn't know how rare they were."

"Do you remember where you bought them?" asked Celestia.

"Yes, I will look for the place and see what I can find," I answered. "I will leave my sword here to study, if you wish."

Celestia nodded once. "Of course, I will see if I can find any more answers in the crystals while you are away." 

I trotted towards the door. "I should only be a few minutes." 

I walked out through the courtyard and down into the streets of the markets, again the sights and smells of food made my stomach grumble, but I continued to ignore it. Food can wait. I found the shop I had bought the crystals from and went inside. It was dark and dusty, lots of old or new trinkets and antiques strewn across the place, not much how I remembered it but it was somewhat familiar.

The Shopkeeper came out of the back room having heard me come in. "Can I help you, sir?" 

"Yeah, I bought a couple of crystals from here a few years ago. They were diamond shaped, about half the size of a hoof, cyan in color and were fairly light for crystals. I was wondering if you had any more of those?" I asked.

The Shopkeeper put his hoof to his chin and thought. "Cyan colored, diamond shaped crystals? Hmm, can't say we've had any of those. Could you possibly be thinking of the Alicorn Amulet?"

I looked at him confusedly. "Alicorn Amulet?"

The Shopkeeper smiled. He walked over to a shelf and pulled out a glass container. Inside was a small amulet depicting a black alicorn with a bright red gem in the center, which looked a lot like one of the gems in my sword's hilt.

"It's very dangerous, but very powerful. It enhances a unicorn's abilities to use magic, and cast spells that even the most powerful magician could not pull off," explained the Shopkeeper.

"No, I don't think that's what I'm looking for, but it does resemble the kind of crystals I bought. Can you tell me where you got it?" I asked.

"I'm afraid not, it is an ancient artifact. My grandfather happened by it during one of his travels and it's been passed down to me. He never did explain where it came from," answered the Shopkeeper.

"I see. Thank you for your time." I began walking out of the shop.

"Have a nice day!" said the Shopkeeper.

I walked my way back to the castle, but decided to finally stop and get something to eat to ease my pestering stomach. After eating a couple of fresh carrots I continued back to the castle and made it back to the throne room. Celestia was still using spells on my sword when I came in.

"Did you learn anything?" asked Celestia.

I sighed. "No, nothing that would help. What about you?"

Celestia continued studying the sword. "Nothing that Twilight hasn't told me about. Has anything else strange happened to your sword, besides the moment you enchanted it?" 

"Only when I was in the Crystal Empire. King Sombra broke it, using some sort of black crystals that infected it and made me unable to use any sort of powerful magic on it," I answered.

"I see. I think I may know how to figure out what is causing the sword's strong magic, but I will have to think about it," Celestia levitated my sword back to me. "Is there anything else you needed?"

"Yes, Cadance told me to come to your for help actually. My cutie mark, so I'm told, is disappearing," I levitated my armor off my back and revealed my cutie mark. "Cadance and Shining Armor said I used to have six stars in my cutie mark, but they've been disappearing. I never remember having six, I remember having four ever since I discovered my special talent."

Celestia stood up and took a closer look. "Oh my, I believe I've seen this before."

I tilted my head. "You have?"

"It's not something most ponies remember. It's a self inflicted disorder. When a pony starts to lose focus on his or her true self the magic within them loses focus as well, causing their cutie mark to fade and disappear. It is rare, but can still happen to anypony if they lose who they are," explained Celestia.

"But... I haven't lost focus, I know who I am," I said confusedly. 

Celestia walked back to her throne. "That is one of the effects of the disorder. Has anything happened to you recently that would have made you upset or feel lost and confused?" 

"I... I don't think so. There were some things that happened in Manehatten but... it's all so vague now," I answered hesitantly.

Celestia nodded regrettably. "I wish I could do something to help, but this is something only you have the power to fix. I know that some ponies have managed to live with it and be okay, and I believe you're strong enough to figure this out on your own. Don't forget what's happening, and you will be able to restore yourself."

"I will try. Thank you for your help, Princess. I need to get back to work." I took a bow and left the throne room once again, heading back to the barracks and filing a bit more paperwork before the day finished.

It was about time I got back to my usual work, my favorite perk about being in the Royal Guard is that nothing much ever happened. The most I had to do was some paperwork and assigning new guards to their stations and patrols. Every now and then I'd get a letter from Shining Armor concerning any new recruits or relocating guards.

Our new command structure was split into four sections of Canterlot, there was a Lieutenant for each section, each with their own small outpost to keep guards from having to walk all the way to the Royal Barracks when they turned in for the day or needed new orders. We rotated out which Lieutenant commands over where each week.

In my spare time I did my own research and experiments on enchantment and my sword, testing resistances to my magic. I learned that a normal object creates a small resistance to being levitated from weight, density and size, but that resistance hardly existed for my sword. I was able to lift it without problem, unlike other unicorns which had a bit of trouble keeping it balanced in the air, holding it physically had no difference though.

I learned that my cousin Katana had been put on community service. She was brought in a couple times with accusations of swiping some bits or some other kind of trinket. Each time she was caught I assigned her another week of sweeping streets or cleaning windows, much to my amusement. She was finally getting what was coming to her.

The weeks went by with not much to tell, though one day I heard a voice off in the distance yelling something to me. "Don't forget to write!" is all I could hear. I could of sworn I saw mountains moving in the distance. 

On weekends I flew down to Ponyville for a bit of relaxation, and I finally managed to get Shining Armor to send me one of their beds. At least I knew I'd be getting one good sleep in each week. When I wasn't studying magic books I was on the outskirts of Ponyville training with my sword, testing flight speeds with different board shapes.

I was also keeping track of how many stars were on my Cutie Mark, using a small document to mark how long I've had however many number of stars I had. A week after talking with Celestia it dropped down to two, leaving just the top two stars. It seemed to stay that way too, which was confusing as I thought in time the whole Cutie Mark would gradually disappear.

One day I was called into the castle by Princess Celestia. Hadn't been told why. I walked into the throne room where she was waiting. 

"I believe I know how we can learn where your swords source of magic comes from," started Celestia. "It was a hard decision, but I believe it can work."

I noted a box that sat next to Celestia. It was the container that protected Elements of Harmony. I looked at the Princess curiously. "Are you going to use the Elements of Harmony on it?"

Celestia chuckled. "No, I am going to have them used on something else. Follow me." Celestia stood up and walked out of the throne room and outside to a garden of statues. 

She headed for one of the largest statues. I recognized it the moment I saw it, hardly believing that Celestia could really be thinking about this, but with each step closer I could feel my anger building. When we reached the base of the statue I turned my head up, staring the statue right in the eye.

"Discord."
> Redirected Chaos
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"What are you going to do with Discord?" I asked Celestia angrily. 

"I believe that we can get Discord to change to good. I'm going to bring him to Ponyville with the Elements of Harmony and have Twilight and her friends try to reform him. I know it's a big risk, but if Discord can be persuaded to use his magic for good instead of evil it would be a great benefit to all of Equestria." explained Celestia.

"It's never gonna work, you can't reason with someone like him. He's called the Spirit of Chaos for a reason!" I argued.

"I understand your concern, but I have faith in my student and her friends. If he is unable to cooperate they can turn him back to stone," Celestia used her magic and levitated the statue onto a chariot. "I have to make a few more preparations for the royal summit before leaving, will you watch the statue for a moment?"

I nodded reluctantly. "Of course, Your Majesty."

Celestia walked back inside the castle, leaving me with Discord. I stared at the statue cautiously. I didn't trust the stone prison that held him. But as I looked at him I began to feel bad. The sheer expression of pain on his face was horrible. I couldn't imagine what it felt like to be turned to stone. I looked away in pity and waited for the Princess to return.

Within about five minutes she returned with her own chariot and a group of pegasus Royal Guards that pulled her.

"When the other rulers arrive for the royal summit send them to the council chamber and tell them I will be with them soon," instructed Celestia. 

"Very well, Princess," I said with a bow.

"And don't worry, Sword Shield, I'm sure Twilight and her friends will succeed." With Celestia's final sentence the guards flapped their wings and took off into the sky towards Ponyville, pulling Celestia and Discord with them.

Shortly after they left a guard came rushing towards me. "Lieutenant Shield! We have a situation in the market district!"

I gave him my full attention. "What kind of situation?"

"We have multiple reports of citizen's merchandise disappearing. We've narrowed down the suspect to a pegasus named Sky Runner, but she is no where to be found," reported the guard.

"I see, and you are telling me this why?" I asked curiously. I wasn't even in command over the market district this week.

The guard hesitated. "I would like to ask for your help in tracking her down."

I shook my head. "You should talk to Lieutenant Arrow, he is a much better tracker than I am. I'll have my guards be on the lookout for her though, do you have a description?"

"Yes, she has a white coat and bright red mane and tail. We don't have much else than that." answered the guard.

"Good enough. Report to Lieutenant Arrow, I'm sure he will be able to help," I ordered.

The guard saluted and ran off. I returned to my commanding station (which was the upper class district of Canterlot where some of the nobility and richer ponies lived) and assigned my guards on patrol to look out for the pegasus Sky Runner. Afterwards I assigned a couple of guards to the castle to direct the arriving guests to the council chamber and inform them of Celestia's whereabouts. 

I finished some paperwork dealing with recruit transfers and new equipment and resumed ordering guards around my station of Canterlot. A short while later Celestia returned and began the royal summit. I heard that Shining Armor had come for the summit speaking for the Crystal Empire, and anticipated getting a moment to talk with him.

A couple of hours passed and the summit had finished up. The royal guests started leaving and I managed to catch Shining Armor as he came out of the castle.

"Hey Cap', how'd the summit go?" I asked heartily.

"Lieutenant, I need to speak with you," replied Shining Armor sternly.

My smile faded. "Of course, what is it?"

"Follow me." Shining Armor walked me to the Royal Barracks and brought me to his office. The office was no longer truly his, but we all still referred to it that way.

Shining Armor sat down at his old chair and motioned me to do the same. Shining Armor sighed comfortably. "It's good to sit down in my old chair again, though I'm afraid it will have to be my last time."

"Sir?"

"Swordulan, I'm sad to say that I have to resign from the Royal Guard as its Captain. Since I married Cadance I've had to pull double time both as the Captain and as a Prince, and right now I've just got too much on my hooves to be able to keep up with the Guard," Shining Armor let out a regretful sigh. "I've promoted one of my Lieutenants as the new Captain, he'll be transferring here once he gets things sorted out in the Crystal Empire. I have to be honest with you though, I would have promoted you in a flash, but under the circumstances you're in that Celestia's told me about... I don't believe that you are fit for service as a Captain yet." Shining Armor paused and looked at me, waiting for my response.

I looked at the floor a moment and nodded. "I understand." In reality I felt like I had just been bucked in the face because of some facial deformity. I couldn't believe that Shining Armor didn't think I was fit to serve as a Captain, after working nearly all day and sometimes even during the night and I was still just a Lieutenant. But maybe I'm being too selfish, I should be glad I even made it to Lieutenant at all.

"I have full trust in the new Captain. His name is Justice Morningstar. I think you will grow to like him," Shining Armor stood up and walked towards the door. "I'm sorry if I let you down with the news. Have you been having any more disappearing stars lately?"

I nodded while still sitting in the chair. "One, I've uh, only got one." I couldn't remember the last time I checked the progress of my declining cutie mark.

"Hmm. Well, I hope you find a way to bring those stars back, because the Royal Guard could really use them right now." With that Shining Armor left, leaving me alone in the office.

I sighed defeatedly. I guess it was time to get back to work... again. As I stood up and turned around I was greeted by the presence of Princess Celestia.

"Oh, excuse me Your Highness, I did not hear you come in," I said with a quick bow.

"It's quite alright. Come with me, there is someone I'd like you to meet." Celestia motioned towards the door and walked outside. I followed outside and found Celestia to be standing next to Discord, who was anything but a stone statue.

"Sword Shield, I would like to introduce you to Discord."

"Yeah," I grunted, "We've met before."

"Spirit of Chaos, at your service!" said Discord with a bow. "From what I've heard I believe you have a magic crystal crisis on your hooves."

"I wouldn't call it a crisis."

"Nonetheless! I've promised to help or suffer the consequences." Discord glanced at Celestia.

"Very good. Discord will remain with you to help, Sword Shield. I must get back to my royal duties," said Celestia.

"Farewell, Celestia! I promise not to get into any trouble," said Discord.

Celestia flew off to the castle, leaving me and Discord in a staring contest. I blinked. I wasn't about to be reduced to a silly game.

"Hah! I won! Shall we play again?" asked Discord.

"It wasn't even a contest. Look Discord, you might be 'reformed', but I still don't trust you, even if the Princess does. I would like you to help me figure this thing out," I motioned towards my sword. "And that's it. I don't need anything else."

"Fine, right down to business then." Discord snapped his fingers and my sword teleported in front of him. He crumbled up the sword into a ball like it was a piece of paper and shaped it into a surfboard like I always used it.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Well it's not my fault your sword is so small I can hardly work with it. Feisty little piece of metal isn't it?" Discord stared at the crystals on the hilt and tapped them a few times. "Oh, what have we here?" Discord looked back at me. "I need you to stand on it and hover using your magic for a moment."

I walked over to the sword and jumped on, using my magic to keep it hovering in the air. "Anything happening?"

"Yes, I see..." Discord tapped the crystal again, but this time it let out a small shock into his paw. "Ah! Well that was quite rude of you! I never knew a sword that could have such a sour attitude."

"What? Who the hay are you talking to?" I asked confused.

"There is a magical entity inside the large crystal here. Not a very nice one either. It seems to have gotten itself trapped within your enchantment, and it resists most magical attempts at trying to identify or use it. Of course it was no match for me, though it did put up an amusing fight," explained Discord with a chuckle.

I shook my head in disbelief. "So you're telling me there's something alive inside of the crystal, and you're talking to it? What is it saying?"

"Don't be ridiculous, while it is alive it cannot actually talk. The only way it has to communicate is through emotion and feeling, and right now it is acting particularly hostile towards me," Discord poked the crystal a few more times with a grin. "You're so cute when you're angry."

"Alright, so I get that it's alive. How does it explain why it's so easy for me to use the sword, like being able to fly or teleport to it?" Thinking back I did some very amazing things with the sword. Stunts, chases, escapes, attacks and defenses. I fought some of Equestria's strongest foes with the thing. Of course I never actually beat them, but I still held my own.

"Well a normal enchantment reduces the amount of effort it takes to use magic on whichever item that is enchanted. Somehow the magical entity in your sword boosted the enchantment, making it foal's play for you to use magic on the sword. As for why it resists other's magic? I can only assume it recognized yours first and refuses to behave with anypony else's," explained Discord.

"Hmm. I have to say I'm impressed that you're figuring this all out so quickly," I complimented. 

"Just because I'm the Spirit of Chaos doesn't mean I'm not good at figuring out a magical mystery every once in a while," retorted Discord.

"Right. So is there anything else I should know? Is the 'entity' dangerous or do I not need to worry?" I hoped that it wasn't going to somehow explode in my face one day or turn against me and develop a will of its own.

"Well I don't think it's too happy about being stuck in there, especially for so long. I would suggest setting it free, but that might have some serious consequences, or none at all. There's no way to possibly know," answered Discord with a shrug.

I hopped back onto the ground. "Okay, then it stays for now. What would happen to the enchantment if I did release it? And how could I release it?" I wasn't exactly a master of enchantment magic.

"It would lose a good portion of power. Your spells might not work on it as well as they used to, or not at all. And you'll have to figure out how to release it on your own." Discord shrunk the sword back to its normal size and handed it back to me. 

I attached the sword back onto my armor. "I guess I'll figure it out one day," I shuffled my hooves for a second. "Thanks for the... uh... help, Discord." I could hardly believe I said that.

Discord sighed. "Yes, yes, fine. It was no problem at all. I can hear Celestia calling me back, so I must be off. Before I go I just want to say... I'm sorry."

"Sorry? Sorry for what?" I asked confused.

Discord pointed at my flank. "Your stars have left." He then disappeared in a bright flash of magic.

Well that was uncharacteristic. I glanced at my cutie mark. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, it was the same sword and shield as always, so I didn't understand what Discord was trying to point out. I shrugged it off and trotted back to my command post, ordering around guards for the rest of the day.

I thought about how there was something alive inside my sword. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, nor did I know how I'd ever figure out how to release it if it ever came necessary. I hoped I never had to do anything and just keep my sword the way it is.

A couple of days later our new Captain Justice Morningstar arrived. He called all of the Lieutenants together for a meeting as soon as he arrived. Myself and five others gathered outside of the Royal Barracks and stood in a line waiting to meet the new Captain.

Justice came out of the barracks. We all stood with a salute to our new Captain.

"Good afternoon, stallions! I am Justice Morningstar, you may address me as Captain or Sir. Is that clear?" His voice was very clear, but also commanding.

"Yes Sir!" we all answered.

Justice was a light grey coated pegasus with a golden mane and tail. His cutie mark was a shining golden hammer with two wings latched onto either side.

"Shining Armor has resigned his position as the Captain and promoted me in his place. I look forward to working with you all. He's briefed me on all of you and how things are currently working around here, but there will need to be a few changes. Do you have any questions?"

I stepped forward with a small grin. "Yes Sir, just one. Are you a morning pony?"

The Captain grunted. "Lieutenant Shield, I presume? Shining Armor warned me about you," He stepped closer to my face. "Yes, I am a morning pony. I will expect you to be up at dawn every morning to do twenty laps around the walls."

I smirked. "Good, the morning shifts tend to be a bit slow, we could use a Captain that's actually willing to wake up."

The other Lieutenants chuckled for a moment but quickly got back in line.

"Are there any other questions?" asked Justice.

Lieutenant Arrow stepped forward. "Yes Sir, what sort of changes are you planning on making?"

"Well the first one is no more command rotation. Each of you will be permanently assigned your own section of command over Canterlot," answered Justice, "I will have the Royal Barracks, Lieutenant Spotter will have the market district, Lieutenant Arrow will have the commercial district, Lieutenant Spar will have the nobility district, Lieutenant Frost will have the upper class district, Lieutenant Nails will have the lower class district and Lieutenant Shield will have the gates and wall patrols." 

I stepped forward again. "The gates and wall patrols? Sir, I believe I can do a better job commanding one of the larger districts, why put me at the walls?"

"Because I know you tend to eat a lot of carrots. You have the best eyesight out of everyone besides Lieutenant Spotter. I have him commanding over the market district because they tend to be more crowded, and he is very good at finding needles in haystacks. I want your eyes overlooking Equestria and keeping the walls safe. It may be an easier task, but it is by far one of the most important," explained Justice.

I backed off. "Understood. I won't let you down, Sir."

"That's what I like to hear. Are there any other questions?"

"NO SIR!" we roared back.

"Good. Return to your command posts and prepare to move to your new ones. I will check with each of you within the hour. Dismissed." 

The Captain returned to the barracks and the rest of us split up to our current command stations to pack up. I got to the upper class station and wrapped up some of my paperwork and tidied up the place using my magic.

As I was about to leave the Captain walked in. I stood at immediate salute. "Anything I can do for you, Sir?"

"At ease, I came to talk," answered Justice.

I lowered my hoof hesitantly. "Alright, I'm all ears."

"Shining Armor briefed me about your situation and why he promoted me over you. I have to be honest with you, it feels a little strange. I've heard about your performance in the Royal Guard and I still believe it should be you in my place instead, you have more experience in the field than I do," started Justice.

"Thanks, but... I'm no leader. I think Shining Armor chose well," I responded.

Justice called my bluff and shook his head in disagreement. "A commanding voice and knowing how to run a large security force doesn't make somepony a leader. The ability to make the hard decisions, the willingness to sacrifice yourself for others and the honor for one's self is what makes a leader. We as Royal Guards do not often need those abilities, but there are times that come when we do need them, and if the time comes again I don't believe I can live up to those abilities. From what I've heard about you, you can. I should be the one saluting you."

I hesitated, wondering how to respond. "Well... thanks. If the time comes I think you will know what to do, and if you don't then I'll have your back. I was upset, to say the least, when Shining Armor told me about you and his resignation, but I know he chose the new Captain correctly."

The Captain smiled and gave a salute. "Thank you, Lieutenant. I expect you to get on your way to the walls now."

I returned the salute. "Right away, Sir." I trotted off in the direction of the walls.

It was just like old times. I spent a lot of my hours patrolling the walls when I first joined the guard. Over time I moved into patrolling the castle, then back on the walls, and continued to switch between the two once I was a Lieutenant.

There was no command post for the walls or gates, instead it was one continuous patrol for the officer in command. Guards were assigned their patrols and shifts on the walls and gates from the Royal Barracks, and the officer in command made sure to keep the patrols flowing and keeping updated on every section of Canterlot. The job was also to spread news quickly. On slow days it wasn't so bad and was quite relaxing, on faster days it was a vigorous workout.

Even though I felt I could be doing better somewhere else, it would be good to get back to the old routine. My legs were hardly getting enough exercise lately.
> Lost Memories - Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Back on the walls again. I had to admit it was a bit difficult for my legs, I hadn't been running as much as I used to lately, but it was a welcome change from standing around all day and doing paperwork or waiting for something to happen to start ordering the guards around.

It took a while to get used to the new Captain, but Justice was getting along with the rest of the Lieutenants just fine. He was just as able as Shining Armor at giving orders and filing paperwork, although every now and then he would ask me to handle a portion of it. He couldn't write as quickly as a unicorn could.

One evening I found a strange list in my tent. It listed a number of stars that were on a cutie mark, specifically mine. It seemed to start at 5, and over the course of a few weeks worked its way down to 2. I looked around confused, when I heard a familiar sound come from outside.

I walked out of the tent to find Discord waiting for me.

"You forgot about that, didn't you?" asked Discord.

"I'm not sure I understand," I said uncertainly.

"Well you've had a bit of a condition for a while now it seems. You see this-" Discord conjured a picture of me. "-is what you used to look like."

I took a closer look at it. In the picture my Cutie Mark had six stars surrounding the shield and sword.

"But... I never had any stars in my cutie mark. Are you just playing some trick on me, Discord?" I couldn't remember ever having stars in my cutie mark, but I do remember having some sort of problem related to my cutie mark, which I remember is why I wasn't promoted as the Captain instead.

"I'm afraid not, my little pony. You see, you've been dealing with this for a while. Your cutie mark has been, how do I put it simply, disappearing," Discord conjured a whiteboard with a picture of my cutie mark, but with six stars surrounding it. "You used to have six stars on that flank of yours, but ever since that little incident in Manehatten it's been slowly fading," The stars on the whiteboard slowly disappeared one by one. "Even that shield could disappear any time now, who knows?"

I could hardly believe Discord, but even the small amount of evidence I had a had a hard time doubting. "How...? How is this happening? Why haven't I realized it?"

"It's just how the cutie mark works. When a star disappeared, whatever is left is all you remember having your whole life. You used to know about it, so you kept a list to keep track of them disappearing, but once they were all gone you had nothing to remember about any disappearing stars," explained Discord.

I stood in silence as I processed what Discord was telling me. How was this even possible? Losing a cutie mark seemed like the most ridiculous thing that could happen to a pony, and yet... here I was, not being promoted as the new Captain because of some mystery ailment, and now the Spirit of Chaos giving me photographic evidence. Not the most trusted of sources, but I felt Discord was being sincere, which was strange.

"Why are you telling me this, Discord?" I finally asked. "I would expect this the least from you, that is if it's true."

"Because there is nopony else here to tell you," answered Discord plainly. "And because... I owe you. I'm part of the cause for this happening."

I took a step back. "What?! You're the reason this is happening? Are you just trying to mess with my mind? I knew I couldn't trust you."

"Don't be ridiculous, I never said I'm the direct cause. Do you remember the first time we met?" Discord conjured a smoke screen, it pictured the chaotic scene back in Ponyville, and then it showed me trying to imprison Discord and failing horribly. 

I looked at the scene shamefully and nodded. "I remember."

"That was just the beginning. That was the final cord that needed to be struck. I was the one controlling your father and shouting all those terrible things at you, and now you've come to the point where you really are beginning to fail. Now take a look at this," Discord changed the smoke screen to the scene of Canterlot during the changeling invasion. "This was another failure that would only lead to more failure." 

The scene changed to the chamber where the Elements of Harmony were kept. I was inside trying to open the door to the Elements when an endless amount of changelings poured into the room. I attempted to fight them off, flying into the air and kicking them away, but was quickly overwhelmed.

I watched curiously, but confused. "But we won that battle. Cadance and Shining Armor-"

"Are the only reason you won. You could have prevented the battle from ever happening, you said it yourself. But you were too slow. For a unicorn who could fly you were still ever so slow." Discord snapped his paw and the scene in the smoke changed once again. 

It was the ancient castle of the Royal Pony Sisters on the night of the Summer Sun Celebration. It showed six mares walking into the Everfree Forest and making their way towards the castle, while in the background I was too busy zig zagging around Ponyville trying to figure out where to go. The smoke skipped to the end where Twilight and her friends defeated Nightmare Moon while I watched from afar.

"And we can't forget why this all happened to begin with, can we?" asked Discord. 

The scene changed once again to the Town Hall before Nightmare Moon had appeared. Celestia was preparing a speech, when suddenly a dark mist surrounded the room and Nightmare Moon appeared. Meanwhile I was busy outside looking at the sky, too occupied to know what was going on. The scene ended with Nightmare Moon imprisoning Celestia and me kicking open the door to see I had come too late.

"Always the slow but loyal guard," commented Discord.

I took my sword out and waved away the smoke. "Stop, that's enough. I'm done regretting the past, I don't need the guilt of it weighing on my back again."

"Good. Forgiving the past is a good start to getting back your cutie mark, but won't fix everything. You've been too hard on yourself, Sword Shield. Much too hard. I brought somepony that wishes to speak with you, she might be able to relate to your situation." Discorded moved aside and revealed a dark blue alicorn. 

I recognized her immediately. "Princess Luna?"

"Lieutenant Shield, it is good to see you again. I believe there is much to discuss, but not here. We will speak in private." Luna flashed her horn and teleported us both to an empty balcony on the castle. 

I peered over the wall, able to see almost all of Canterlot and how the golden towers shined in the setting sun.

"Enjoying the view?" asked Luna.

"It's one I've seen many times, though not from a balcony. It's hard to get tired of it," I answered.

Luna walked up to the edge and looked at the view as well. "Indeed. I have seen this many times over the past one thousand years. Even during my time on the moon it was all I could ever focus on. To see it change so much, to grow so large while I was... imprisoned. But I am ever so grateful that my sister was able to continue on and make our kingdom thrive."

I turned towards Luna curiously. "Do your memories from being on the moon ever haunt you?"

Luna smiled. "Not as much as they used to. My sister made the right choice, and for that I am eternally grateful. Had she not acted I would have destroyed Equestria in my jealousy."

I stayed silent a moment. I hadn't ever thought of how life would be if Nightmare Moon had won, I definitely wouldn't have been born. It made me feel a little bit insignificant.

Luna seemed to have heard my thoughts. "Do not feel so low in my presence, Swordulan Thunder Shield. If there is one thing I have learned from being on the moon is that everypony matters, no matter where they stand. If anything, you should be proud. Not everyone has a chance to talk to us Princesses like you have."

"Thanks," I said with a weak smile. "What exactly did you need to talk to me about?"

Luna pointed at my cutie mark. "Your condition. I've seen ponies go through the loss of their cutie mark, but many were able to regain them through friendship and family, but you don't have much of either, do you?"

I looked away. "I don't know anymore, I was never a pony to have many friends. Shining Armor and Cadance were the closest ponies that came to friends for me, but they're too busy ruling the Crystal Empire now. As for family... well, they've more or less abandoned me."

Luna nodded in understanding. "I felt the same way about Celestia and my past friends when they refused my requests for a longer night, and I spent many long days and nights wishing for revenge. There will always time to make new friends and forgive family, but you need to learn to forgive yourself first, which is always the most difficult part."

I took a step back and frowned. "I don't have time for making friends. I have a job to do. I'm loyal to my duties, it's why I rarely take breaks anymore. "

"Consider that choice wisely, you may have more time than you realize," responded Luna.

"As a Royal Guard I can't allow myself to just call it quits for a while just so I can go and make some friends. I have too many obligations," I said sourly.

Luna aggressively stepped forward. "And as a Royal Guard you are to listen and obey your Princess! What do you have to do that could possibly outweigh your own needs? I command you to go speak with the Captain, ask for time off for your own need. I must return to my duties. Go now, Swordulan Thunder Shield."

I was about to object, when Luna flashed her horn and disappeared, leaving me on the balcony. I sighed aggravatingly. I looked over the edge again and watched as the moon took its rise into the night sky. 

Without a second thought I stepped onto the ledge and jumped off, levitating my sword into position and transforming it into a surfboard. I swung the sword forward, heading in the direction of the Royal Barracks.

I arrived at the door and put away my sword, shortly walking into the main office. Captain Morningstar was finishing off some paperwork for the day when I came in. He looked up at me for a moment then returned to the paperwork.

"Anything to report, Lieutenant?" asked Justice.

I gave a salute. "No sir. Luna commanded me to come talk to you."

The Captain stopped and gave me his full attention. "Princess Luna? What does she need?"

I sighed. "She told me to ask for time off. I found a note in my tent and learned about my... 'condition'. Apparently I had forgotten about it again. Luna said I needed time off for myself to-" I hesitated to finish. I didn't want to seem like a weak guard in saying I needed to- "-make some friends." Buck, I said it anyway.

The Captain stared at me confused a moment. "Well I can't object to a Princesses wishes, but is this something you want?"

"No... I'd rather keep working," I answered with a grunt.

"Then there's nothing I can do. Lieutenant Shield, you are relieved of duty."

My eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. "WHAT? You're gonna boot me out just like that!?"

Justice smiled. "For the weekend. I'm not that cruel."

I almost punched him. Instead I took off my helmet and shook my head. "When I get back, you owe me big time."

"I'm sure I'll think of something to give you. Maybe your own chest-plate, or a sheath for that sword of yours."

"A sheath would only slow me down, Captain. But a chest-plate sounds nice, maybe with some good blue designs to match my eyes." I had always wanted my own custom armor instead of the stock Royal Guard set.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do. Oh, by the way, I have a message from you. Doesn't say who from." Justice walked over to another desk and picked up an unopened letter. I took it with my magic and opened it up to read. The writing was very disorganized, but it was somewhat readable.



Sword Shield, it's your cousin, Katana. I need your help. I'll keep it short as I don't have much time. I was hanging around Ponyville and was kidnapped by Diamond Dogs. They overheard me talking about that sword of yours, and now they want to trade me for your sword. So please come over here and kick these idiot's flanks before I do.



After I finished reading I crumpled up the paper and tossed it in the trash angrily.

Justice noticed and curiously asked, "What did it say?"

I put my helmet back on. "My cousin's been kidnapped by Diamond Dogs. They want to trade her for my sword."

"Do you want me to send some of my guards with you?" offered Justice.

I shook my head. "No, I can handle this myself." I didn't think having extra guards was going to help anyway.

Justice seemed perturbed. "What are you going to do?"

"Easy," I smirked. "I'm simply going to make them think I actually gave them my sword."
> Lost Memories - Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I had to admit, I hated having to do this, saving my cousin. Katana could never keep out of trouble, but I wasn't expecting her to be captured and held for ransom from me. She was probably one of the last ponies I wanted to have to save, but I guess family has its priorities. Maybe this time she will learn her lesson.

I sailed through the air on my sword towards Ponyville. Yet again it had been a while since I had been there, but it wasn't my final destination. I had my eyes set beyond Ponyville. There was an open field of just dirt and rocks about half a mile of the town, where the Diamond Dogs normally stayed. It was curious how the Diamond Dogs even survived underground, but judging by their lifestyle they probably just stole the food they needed.

I sailed over and past Ponyville, I couldn't see anypony below, but it was almost midnight so most of the town was already asleep. The only lights on were from the Town Hall and the Library. Twilight must have been doing some late night reading, as usual. I hadn't been doing as much reading as I used to. Normally I'd pick up a book about magic or history from time to time, but now I was always so busy doing my job.

I finally made it to the empty area outside of Ponyville. There were holes in the ground everywhere, most likely the home of the Diamond Dogs. Cowards. Cowards who hide in the ground. I wandered around and peered into one of the holes.

"I'm here with my big shiny sword," I called out. "Are you going to come take it and give me my cousin back, or do we have to do this the hard way?"

I waited for a response, but one never came. What a waste of time. I shouted a few more times into different holes, but nothing ever came back other than echoes. Maybe my cousin became smart enough to escape and took care of the Diamond Dogs? I dismissed that explanation the second I gave it any thought. Katana might have been good at being stealthy, but she was no escape artist.

Before I could transform my sword and fly away the ground beneath me caved in. I fell through the whole at high speed, tumbling the whole way. I barely managed to adjust my body and slow down before landing in an open room on all hooves. In a split second the area around me went dark and a bag went over my head and something tried to suffocate me. I struggled to fight back, kicking my hooves around but failing to make contact with anything. There was a jolt of pain in the back of my head, and then everything faded.

I woke up, once again surrounded by darkness. A dirty bag was still covering my head. I tried to move around but found that both my legs and hooves were bound. My armor had been stripped as well. I was trapped in what felt like a square metal box, but without a top. It must have been a mining cart. How stupid was I? To get caught so easily by a bunch of dumb Diamond Dogs. I shouldn't have let my guard down.

"Hey! What sort of pony do you take me for!?" I yelled.

A muffled feminine voice came from nearby. "Swordy! You're awake! They must have hit you pretty hard, I've been trying to wake you up for hours now."

It was Katana. I sighed in desperation. "Thanks, Katana. How in the hay did you get captured by Diamond Dogs in the first place?"

"Long story, Cous'. Can you please get us out of here now? This dirty rag over my head really stinks." 

Ever the complaining young Pegasus. I tried to focus on the rope that bound my hooves together, but my magic failed. "Can't yet, head is still spinning. Won't be able to use magic for a little bit."

"Aw, you've got to be kidding me! Some all powerful unicorn you are," Katana paused in her insults a moment. "I think I hear them coming."

Sure enough, I could hear some mumbling off in the distance headed this way. Whatever was out there marched up to my cart and stopped. They must have been looking right at me, cause I could smell their terrible breath.

"So, are you gonna release me now?" I asked plainly.

"Hahaha! Listen to this one, he thinks we are going to release him!" One of the Diamond Dogs lifted the dirty rag off my face, allowing me to get a first look at the room. My suspicions of the mining cart were right, and there were two Diamond Dogs staring down at me. I couldn't see much else other than the ceiling, which was barely high enough to fit the Diamond Dogs.

"Well you could do that and I'd leave peacefully with my cousin, or you can risk me escaping and bucking your flanks over to the next underworld."

"You trapped, no escapes for you. We take your shiny sword with the gems. Armor also very nice. We take it and sell it for gems," said one of the uglier dogs. I decided to call him Sudzey. All their voices were squeaky and irritating.

These idiots actually thought I wasn't able to escape. Just a few more minutes and I'd sure show them.

"So if you're not letting me go, what are you going to do with me?" I asked.

The dogs snickered. "We bury you."

"Cowards! How about you let me go and see if you're strong enough to bury me that way!" yelled Katana. I could hear her struggling around inside another mine cart. I was tempted to just leave her behind. One less annoyance couldn't hurt right?

"We bury you now. Celebrate with gems later." 

The Diamond Dogs began digging two holes nearby and stopped only seconds later. They sure didn't like to waste time. I managed to concentrate on my magic. About time it started working. Before the Diamond Dogs could get back to me I felt around with my magic for my sword. Once I felt I had it located I teleported it over top of my head, shaped it into a cone and slammed it down around the cart. 

"Hey! That's not fair!" cried Sudzey.

While the sword kept me safe I used my magic to untie my bonds. I stretched my legs real quick and stood up. I levitated the cone and transformed the sword back to normal and aimed it at the two dogs. 

"Release my cousin, or I'll be the one burying you," I threatened venomously.

Sudzey ran over to Katana's mine cart and quickly untied her while the other dog sat still with his hands high. Katana pounced out of the cart and pulled back her hoof. "This is for kidnapping me!" She launched her hoof forward into Sudzey's stomach. He clutched his abdomen when another punch connected with his skull. "And that is for kidnapping my cousin!" Sudzey quickly collapsed, unconscious.

"Hey! You didn't have to do that!" The other Diamond Dog ran over to his buddy and began trying to wake him up. 

I heard more voices coming from another tunnel. I looked in the direction and saw five shadows heading this way. Thinking fast, I pulled out my sword and transformed it into a surfboard. I magically dragged Katana and plopped her on the back.

I hopped onto the sword and transformed a pair of handlebars onto the board. "Hang on." I grabbed onto the handles and pumped my magic into the sword, accelerating forward.

We sped down another one of the tunnels away from the pursuing Diamond Dogs. There were still a few hot on our tails, big dogs, and boy could they run fast. I searched the ceiling for any holes to the surface, and failed to watch where I was going. I crashed into a dead end, throwing Katana off and into the air. She spread her wings and landed safely while I yanked the sword from the wall. No hole to the surface from here. Darn these tunnels.

"Look!" Katana was pointing back to where we came from. A group of Diamond Dogs were still coming straight towards us. I extended my sword and transformed it into a wall, cutting us all off.

"That won't hold them for long, they could just dig right around." I said.

"Well isn't there some way you can get us out of here? Use some teleport magic or something and just bring us to the surface!"

I grunted. "It doesn't work like that. I would just drill a hole right out, but we've got Diamond Dogs on our tails. Come here and follow my lead, I have an idea." I walked over to the sword and hugged it closely, motioning Katana to do the same. She walked up to it and hugged the wall like me.

"Alright, brace yourself, it might get a bit dizzy." I flared my horn up and in an instant the wall did a flip, doing exactly what I expected. It dropped us on the other side of the tunnel and trapped the Diamond Dogs in the dead end. After shaking off the slight vertigo I transformed the sword back a surfboard and used my magic to bring down the ceiling between us and the dogs before they even knew what happened.

I hopped back on my sword and once again dragged Katana on, then sped down the dark tunnels again. I swerved down any tunnels that looked lighter than the next, but was never able to find any holes in the ceiling. At least we had lost the Diamond Dogs, so it seemed. We ended up running into another dead end. I sighed in aggravation.

I looked at the ceiling in frustration and quickly kicked Katana off my sword. "Stand back, I'm gonna try something different."

I transformed my sword into the flying capsule I used to race against Rainbow Dash, only this time I transformed the front crystal into a large round drill. I stood inside the giant pony-sized drill and aimed it upwards, standing on my hind legs trying to keep it balanced. I levitated the drill to the ceiling and pulled my hooves back inside. I began to spin the sword, slowly accelerating and pushing upwards. Katana took a few steps back as dirt and rock started to fall around her. The sword spun so quickly I began to feel a part of it, pushing it up as hard as I could. Just a few more seconds and I could see the sky again. I finally breached the surface, and the first light of dawn was waiting to greet me. I dug the rest of the way out and got out of my sword, taking a moment to recover from all the spinning. I peered back into the hole. 

"Can you fly out, Katana?" I called down.

"No problem!" answered Katana. "Wish it wasn't so dirty."

I heard her flapping upwards, and within a few seconds she climbed out of the hole, all muddy and dirty. 

"You look fantastic," I said.

Katana slapped my horn. "Save it, conehead. You look just as bad."

"You're welcome."

I looked back down the hole and used my magic to cave it in again. Hopefully this was the last time I had to deal with Diamond Dogs. They still got away with my armor though. That will be annoying to explain to Justice, and probably quite the story to the other Lieutenants. At least it gave me a valid enough reason to get me my own set of armor.

"Promise not to go and get yourself kidnapped anymore?" I asked.

"I don't think I can keep that kind of promise," teased Katana. "But thanks for the save. Stone wasn't exactly there to save me this time, was he?"

I looked shamefully at the ground. "He could have used a bit of saving himself." Cousin Stone Shield hadn't been around for about two years now. He was fired from the Royal Guard and one day just kind of wandered off. Even the strongest of ponies fall, I suppose. None of us had expected it from him though.

Katana put a supportive hoof on my back, which surprised me. "Don't worry, Cous'. He was a good brother, the best. I know you two fought a lot, but that's what made you seem like such good friends. I was always in your face because I was jealous you seemed to pay all of your attention towards him, and now that he's gone... well, I'm sorry."

I looked at Katana in shock. This was the last thing I was expecting from her, but her words sounded genuine. I smiled at her for probably what was the first time ever. "Thanks. I'm sorry for despising you so much. I guess you really have grown u-"

Katana brought her hoof back. "Yeah, yeah. Cut the mushy talk, it doesn't work very well with you. I'd love to stay and chat, but I gotta fly." She spread her wings and dashed off into the sky.

Aaand moment gone. I shook my head and walked back towards Ponyville, transforming my sword into a belt and hanging it around my waist. I decided to stop by my house for an early breakfast. Luckily I always had a few carrots saved away. Not super fresh, but they were good enough. As I walked out my door I noticed a drastic change in the sky. The clouds had changed into a square grid. 

Discord. It must have been him. But this wasn't necessarily his style, an organized square grid of clouds? And they weren't pink, though some were raining, some were snowing and others were hailing. This looked more like organized chaos rather than something Discord would do.

I transformed my sword and launched into the sky, getting close to a few of the clouds and inspected them, when a lightning bolt went off right next to me, knocking me off my sword. I quickly flew the sword underneath my hooves and caught myself. What the hay is going on? I flew over Ponyville searching for what could possibly be the cause. It looked like there was some sort of angry mob growing on one of the bridges. 

I flew a bit closer and it looked like most of the ponies were shouting at who looked like Rarity. No wait, that is Rarity, but something was wrong with her. Her cutie mark had completely changed, it was no longer the three diamonds, but Rainbow Dash's cutie mark. But that didn't make any sense, how could Rarity have somepony else's cutie mark? Maybe it was Discord, switching around cutie marks. Discord or not, I started flying back towards Canterlot to see if he really was behind all this.

While I was flying back I tried to tidy up my mane a little bit, dusting off all the dirt and mud. I suppose a bath was called for after I confronted Discord. 

I actually hoped that Discord really was behind Rarity's cutie mark, it would have made things easier. Worst that could happen is he refuses and turns on Equestria again, but nothing the Elements of Harmony couldn't handle, right? The Elements could beat anything. Hay they could probably destroy whatever was inside my sword. I hadn't actually thought about that for a while, I seemed to have forgotten about my sword and been too focused on my duties. I still wasn't too sure what I wanted to do with it, it hadn't been doing anything strange at all, but still knowing that something was inside of it creeped me out. Sometimes I swear I could hear whispering coming from it.

Anyhow, I had finally made it into Canterlot. I saluted at the guards at the walls and made my way to the Royal Barracks. I landed right outside the door and transformed my sword into a belt. Justice was already out ordering guards around. I suppose paperwork went by quickly.

Justice noticed me land and worriedly ran over to me. "What happened to you? I was just about to send a patrol to search for you and possibly help. Did you save your cousin?"

He was actually worried? I guess the Captain didn't know me well enough. "Yeah, she's alright. Unfortunately I was ambushed and trapped, and time slipped away from me, but I'm good. They stripped my armor though, so... can I get that new blue set?"

"I think I can work something out." Yes! New armor. Now I can kick flank and look good at the same time. Not that I couldn't already do that.

"Great. There was also some strange stuff going on in Ponyville, and I think Discord might be involved. Do you know where he is?" Hopefully within reach.

"No, you should ask Celestia. She has him doing some work around Equestria," answered Justice.

Drats. "Alright. I'll go see Celestia and hopefully I can find Discord." I gave a quick salute.

Justice looked at me curiously. "You're on break, don't have to tell me everything you're up to or salute."

"Right, sorry. Force of habit. I expect that armor to be done by the time my break is over." I turned towards the castle and trotted off.

I hoped Discord wasn't on some long distance errand, I wasn't in the mood for a wild goose chase. Maybe wild wasn't the correct word, 'Chaotic' sounded more fitting.

As I made my way to the castle I stopped mid step. I should probably take a bath before stepping into the castle, it would have been both disrespectful and make a mess. I spotted a small dark cloud in the sky that hadn't let its load of water out yet and had an idea. I levitated out my sword and transformed it into a surfboard, jumping on and flying up to the cloud. I tested it with my hoof, and sure enough it seemed soaked inside. I backed up and quickly charged right through the cloud, its water completely soaking my body. I flew through it a second time, knocking the rest of the water out of the cloud and turning it to dust. 

It seemed to do the job, my coat was shining in the sunlight again. I flew to my tent and dried off with a towel I always kept close by.

I again made my way back towards the castle, trotting past multiple buildings that housed armor, weapons and supplies, through the archways that led to the castle and across the courtyard. The guards at the front doors gladly opened for me and I quickly found myself in the throne room. Celestia was sitting on her throne looking at some parchment. Paperwork most likely. I couldn't imagine how much paperwork the Princesses had to manage, certainly much more than I could probably handle.

"Princess Celestia," I started with a bow. "I'm looking for Discord. Do you know where he is?"

Celestia turned her attention to me. "He is busy with something in Fillydelphia. Why do you need him?"

"Something strange was going on in Ponyville, the weather was all haywire and I saw Rarity's cutie mark switched with Rainbow Dash's. I was thinking Discord might have been involved somehow," I answered with a tone of urgency.

Celestia just smiled. "I will look into it, thank you for informing me," she returned her focus to the parchment. "Have a wonderful day."

I stared in befuddlement, opening my mouth to say something but nothing came out. I skeptically turned around and walked out the door. That was really awkward. I had to believe Celestia knew what she was doing, so I continued walking, heading towards the wall overlooking Ponyville. A couple of the guards saluted me as I passed by, I couldn't help but return them. 

Break or not, these guys deserved it all. I've been told time and time again how useless the Royal Guard seemed to be, I never believed it, at first. At one point I really did think our jobs were kind of pointless, that we couldn't really get anything done. But later I realized, we had more important jobs than I realized. We kept important areas secure, and were able to let in the important ponies in. We could do heavy lifting for the Princesses, or even the citizens, and also give them quick transportation. We made sure Canterlot and the other cities were low in crime rate, which wasn't all that hard. We kept a strong presence that discouraged any foul business. We acted as servants for the Princesses at many times, being messengers or deliverers.

What we weren't was an army. We weren't all completely fit to fight, and that's why we couldn't fend off the changeling invasion. We had prepared for them, but we weren't ready. They outnumbered us and countered whatever tactics we tried. They could adapt to the battle, and we couldn't do anything to combat it. We were definitely not trained to fight Spirits of Chaos or a dark Alicorn, both with god-like powers.

So was the life of a Royal Guard, we were servants with a more militaristic role. I was happy with it, or so I wanted to be. There were parts of me that just went 'Hey, you should go out there, meet new ponies and learn new things', but the rest of me couldn't stand leaving behind my job.

So what was I doing?

Making new friends, forgiving old family.

It occurred to me that I would first need some help from someone wiser than myself. I looked down at Ponyville again, and then a little to the left. The Everfree Forest. Without another thought, I levitated out my sword and transformed it to its surfboard shape again, and dove over the wall, heading straight for the foreboding forest.

I had only met Zecora once, during a weekend while I was back in Ponyville. I was having a short discussion with Spike about food when the zebra walked into town. He introduced us and I learned that Zecora was living in the Everfree Forest, but not much else.

She seemed like the best pony, or I guess I should say zebra, to talk to right now. I had heard a lot how she helped with one problem or another for Ponyville's citizens. I wasn't sure what exactly I was going to say. I guess I should just talk and go with whatever comes to me.

I flew closer and closer down to the Everfree Forest, my mane whisking through the air and slapping the side of my head quite irritatingly. This is when having a helmet is nice, no crazy mane all over the place. 

After about a half hour's flight I made it to the edge of the Everfree Forest. I nose dived to the ground and straightened out right above the grass, slowing down and jumping off my sword before crashing into a tree. 

The edge of the Everfree Forest always weirded me out. On one side you had the bright green grass and trees and sunshine was nearly always present, but then once you got into the forest it all went dark. The sky would cease to exist, you could hear all kinds of creatures and insects buzzing or croaking in the distance, the trees were all warped and deformed.

It was truly a wonder anything managed to live out here at all.

But I stoically marched into the forest with nothing but my sword strapped around my back. There wasn't much of a clear path, nor had I really any idea where Zecora lived, but I figured I could manage. What little pathways I could make of twisted and turned. Once I ended up right back outside of the forest. I went further into town, ignoring the amount of singing going on, and then entered the forest again, hoping for a better path.

And it turns out, it seemed there was one. There was a twisty little road that looked like a pony had come and gone through it multiple times. I guessed that was where Zecora came in and out from. I quickly followed the path, being sure to keep one eye on the tracks and another on the trees ahead.

I finally managed to come across a small opening in the forest. In the middle was a large tree home, adorned with masks and other non-Equestrian ornaments. I guess that was one way of keeping wild creatures away.

I cautiously approached the door and gave three solid knocks. I heard a clatter of hooves approach the door. I was quickly overwhelmed in the moment between waiting for somepony to open the door. Panicking, I put on a crooked smile as the door creaked open.

The zebra stood in the doorway, looking curiously at who had bothered to knock her door. Her faced turned to a smile as she recognized who I was.

"Well if it isn't Mr. Shield, I hope my treasures had not caused you to yield," greeted Zecora with her rhyming speech.

I looked up at the strange masks again and back to Zecora. "No, of course not. I admire the decorations. Are they for spooking off other creatures that might come near?"

Zecora chuckled. "A good observation with your eyes so keen, but things are not always what they seem. For what reason have you come to me in my humble home?"

I looked at the ground and hesitated. "A bit of a personal matter, which I thought it was best to speak with you about. I'm in need of a bit of advice."

"Ah, my wisdom it is you need, come in and in your mind will I plant the seed," Zecora stepped aside and directed me to a table. "Would you like some tea? It is the best in all of Everfree."

"No thanks," I answered, happily walking in and sitting down at the small round table. 

The whole main room was adorned with potions, ingredients and strange tribal masks. There was a large brewing pot in the center with something already cooking inside. I wasn't sure exactly what, all the smells were completely foreign.

Zecora took a small cup and filled it from the brewing pot. I guessed it was the tea. I never really liked tea, it disagreed with my stomach whenever I tried any. She came and sat down across from me at the table.

Zecora took a small sip of the tea. "So tell me what is troubling you friend, that I might be able to help and mend."

"I've been put off duty for the weekend by both the Princess and my Captain. If you haven't heard, I've got some rare problem with my cutie mark and myself, causing it to disappear," I motioned towards my cutie mark, only the sword and shield being left. "Luna believes that the best way to fix it is to make some friends or forgive my family, and more importantly forgiving myself. I haven't any idea where to start with any of those."

Zecora nodded sympathetically. "So it is friends you require, in your situation quite dire. You seem to be starting well, but all of your social fears you must quell."

"I don't have that many social fears, and I don't really think I need to be making friends to fix my problem. I never had many friends before my cutie mark change, I think it might just make it worse if I do." In all honesty I still simply didn't want to be wasting time trying to make friends.

"Then what is it you fear? Is there family who has done you wrong, and left you not as strong?" asked Zecora plainly. 

The questions were a bit overwhelming and I hesitated to answer. "I don't know, not anyone I can think of, except my dad probably. My cousin also got on my nerves a lot, but I couldn't say she did me wrong. I think I cleared that up earlier today."

"I see. What has your father done, to make you hide and run?"

"Uh, I-" I wasn't sure where that came from. What did my dad do? A whole buckload of things. "-In my youth... he was never kind to me. He was the pony that basically ruined my foalhood and turned me into what I am today. I never intended to be a Royal Guard, but he forced me into it anyway and I went along because I didn't have much of a choice. I ended up becoming so forced into it I actually started to do well, and that's what got me up to be a Lieutenant. 

"Once I was there I felt like I belonged, that I could make a difference in Equestria. And then I was proved wrong, time and time again. Shown that I was nothing. Even with the amazing abilities I have I still lost the battles, and I'm still losing the war. Losing... to a bunch of mares, who happened to get lucky." 

"You speak of Twilight and her friends?"

As I spoke the anger in my voice grew. "Yeah, Twilight. She's always managed to be two steps ahead, as if by stroke of luck. I might as well be an innocent bystander when she comes around, there to save the day with the Elements of Harmony." 

Zecora shook her head. "You should not hold a grudge so heavily, and must hold your pace more steadily. Twilight Sparkle is the truest friend a pony could acquire, a friend who would be best to aspire."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. She was telling me to become more like Twilight? To make friends with her? I wasn't anywhere near willing for something like that. 

I stared at Zecora blankly for a moment, then stood up with a sigh. "Not for me. Thank you for trying to help, but I don't think I've found what I'm looking for. You'll have to excuse me."

I walked towards the door when Zecora spoke up one last time. "Before you go I have one last bit of advice. Your father whom you hate, talk to and forgive before it is too late."

I refrained from looking back and simply opened the door, stepping back into the forest, and shutting the door behind me with my magic.

I took out my sword and transformed it, flying up above the trees. The sky was just starting to dim with the sun lowering beyond the horizon. I suppose time had gotten a bit away from me, I hadn't realized how long it took me to find Zecora. 

I flew back towards Ponyville. Breaks were good for one simple reason: sleep. I had gotten a new bed for my house a while back, still not as nice as the ones in the Crystal Empire, but it was a large improvement over the mat in my tent. 

Before I made it into town a bright sparkling light appeared above it. I stopped my magic and squinted as the light nearly blinded me, forcing me to raise a hoof to my eyes to see. The light seemed to fall to the ground, growing dimmer as it fell. It reached the ground and an even brighter light appeared, slowly growing brighter. There was a flash, and then nothing. The light disappeared.

What the hay is going on? I slowly lurched forward on my sword to see where the light had landed. I spotted a group of ponies looking at the spot where the light seemed to have landed, but instead there was no light and instead what looked like the silhouette of an Alicorn. I flew closer, within hearing distance and was able to get a closer look. I finally recognized the group of ponies who were looking at the Alicorn; Twilight's friends.

"Twilight? Is that you?" I heard Applejack ask.

My focus immediately shifted onto the Alicorn. I squinted my eyes to see if Applejack was right, but that couldn't have been... it was impossible to think-

It was Twilight! The sudden realization caused me to gasp. It seemed to have synced up to the rest of her friends as they realized it was her too.

"Wha... I- I've never seen anything like it!" exclaimed Applejack. 

No bucking kidding, nothing like this had ever happened before! There were only myths about something like this happening. The others continued to converse while I watched from the rooftops, not paying attention to what was said.

How did she manage to become an Alicorn? My brain could hardly manage to process the amount of magic it would have taken for something like this to happen, each time I was left without an answer. She even looked like a Princess. No, this couldn't really be happening.

But then I heard an all too familiar voice. "That's because she is a Princess."

I looked back to confirm who had said that. Exactly as I thought, it was Princess Celestia, as if she appeared out of nowhere.  I could hardly believe my eyes or ears. Celestia herself saying that Twilight was now a Princess?

"A... a Princess?" asked Twilight confused.

Yes. A Princess. Congratulations Twilight, you've done the impossible. Try not to waste it being a tyrannical leader.

"Since you've come to Ponyville, you've displayed the charity, compassion, devotion, integrity, optimism, and of course, the leadership of a true princess," answered Celestia.

"But... does this mean I won't be your student anymore?" 

That was seriously the thing she was most worried about?

"Not in the same way as before. I'll still be here to help and guide you, but we're all your students now, too. You are an inspiration to us all, Twilight." Celestia knelt down and bowed to Twilight, and the rest of her friends followed.

My jaw almost ran right through the roof and down to the bottom floor. I couldn't handle it anymore. I got back on my sword and fueled as much magic into it as I could, flying off back to Canterlot. 

One question continued to spin in my mind. How? How? How? Why? How and why? I guess that was two questions, but they both focused on the same thing. How did Twilight become an Alicorn? Why did she become an Alicorn? Was she really that special to become a Princess? She might have been an amazing friend to some, but in no way had I ever thought of her as being a leader. 

Maybe she wasn't going to be a leader. Princess of what exactly? There wasn't much for her to rule, if anything at all. Celestia and Luna already did a perfect job at it, did they really need another Princess to help? The questions continued to spin.

I arrived back at Canterlot in record time, flying right to my tent. I opened the flap, walked in and laid down, putting my sword to the side.

I just wanted tonight to be over at this point. I drowned out the noise coming from outside and quickly fell asleep, hoping tomorrow might have something good in store, but I could only expect the worst.

I woke up the moment the sun fully shown across Equestria, a small glimmer of its light made its way into my tent and across my eye. I stirred, sitting up and squinting at the light, trying to rub some of the dust out of my eyes. 

I looked around the tent and spotted my sword. I reached out and grabbed it by the hoof, feeling the cold metal. I realized how much I never really held the thing, always either using my magic on it or wearing it around my waist like a belt. It captivated me in some way. It was a rather precious sword. Built with Equestrian Gold and a fine steel. And those gems, those gems were like eyes. They could stare at you for an eternity, no living creature could ever hope to win in a staring contest.

Before I was sucked away in the stones my attention was stolen away by the sounds coming from outside. I left the sword and opened the flap to my tent, seeing what all the commotion was about.

Everywhere. It was everywhere. News that Twilight Sparkle was going to be coronated as a new Princess of Equestria. Everyone was talking about it, even the guards were. As one pony or another passed by the greeted me with either 'Did ya hear about Twilight's coronation?' or 'Twilight's getting coronated as a new Princess! Isn't it exciting?'

I had nearly forgotten last night. Sleep always came so quickly for me, and with a guard's attitude I was always forgetting the past and pushing towards a safe future.

I walked out of the tent and made my way to the barracks. I had to dodge and swerve around guards as they were busily making their way to their patrols, some even managing a 'Good morning, Lieutenant' towards me. Nothing felt very good about this morning, the same feeling of confusion continued to overwhelm me.

Too much was going on at once. Too many questions for so many things, and not nearly enough answers.

I found Justice outside of the barracks, giving out orders to the numerous guards that continued to pour in as fast as he could.

I waited as the line of guards dissolved and Justice finally had a moment to speak.

"Busy day today, Shield," greeted Justice. Well good morning to you too. "I can't help but feel a bit regretful for putting you on break for the weekend, I could really use your help with all this."

"So I see. Is the coronation really that important to be having the whole 'Guard up at dawn and moving out as fast as possible?" I asked groggily.

The Captain continued to send guards one way or another. "We've got a lot going on. Some of the 'Guard are being used at the coronation by pulling Princess Twilight's chariot, or even singing in the choir. The rest are maintaining a strong presence. With something as huge as a Princess's coronation, we don't want any complications or problems. Lots of preparation needs to be handled. Still wish I had your organizing skills to assist, but I guess I shouldn't complain. How's the break gone for you?"

"I don't know. I was never good at knowing how to take a break, I'd rather be helping out." Except that wasn't entirely true. Helping plan out Twilight's coronation was the last thing on my to-do list. Still wasn't sure what the first thing was.

"Well I won't be having any of that. By the way, you got an invitation to the coronation itself. Shining Armor, Cadance, and a lot of other important ponies will be there. I'm too busy with the 'Guard to go myself, but I think you'd enjoy it. The invitation is in your locker. I gotta get over to the castle, you take care." Justice left for the castle, leaving me to find my invitation.

I walked into the barracks and down a hall to the locker room, where most of our business related mail got sent to. I found mine and opened it up to find a small pale letter addressed to me. I reluctantly opened it up with my magic.

Sure enough it was a simple letter and invitation to the castle to see Twilight's coronation in person. I tucked it under my sword-belt. I might as well attend, there was nothing better for me to do at the time.

I spent the time before the coronation watching the citizens gather up in the courtyards of the castle. Half an hour before it was supposed to start it looked like half of Equestria had showed up.

I went back to my tent and picked up my tuxedo and quickly put it on. I wasn't about to show up with nothing fancy on. I might not have liked Twilight, but I had to keep it stylish. 

When the time came I flew over to the castle and showed the guard at the door my invitation. I was let in and eventually found myself in the same room Cadance's wedding took place. I took my place in the back, almost the same spot I had been before Chrysalis attacked. A strange sense of déjà-vu overcame me.

Princess Celestia, Luna and Cadance were in front. They waited a few minutes until everyone was settled in and present, and then Celestia began.

"We are gathered here today in celebration of a momentous occasion. My most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, has done many extraordinary things since she's lived in Ponyville. She even helped reunite me with my sister, Princess Luna. But today, Twilight Sparkle did something extraordinary. She created new magic, proving without a doubt that she is ready to be crowned Equestria's newest princess. Fillies and gentlecolts, may I present for the very first time, Princess Twilight Sparkle!"

The doors opened and everypony turned to see the new Princess. Twilight Sparkle entered, dressed in an amazing white outfit, fit for a queen. A choir followed her, singing to behold the new Princess Twilight. Even some of the Royal Guards were part of it.

Everyone looked so happy, clapping and cheering over the new Princess. I was probably the only one in the room not doing the same. I could see Shining Armor up in the front, a tear or two in his eyes.

I couldn't handle it. No. I snuck out the door while no one was looking, taking out my sword and transforming it. I hopped on and found the nearest window, opening it and flying out over the crowd. I could see Twilight coming onto the balcony with the Princesses.

Twilight looked down at all her new citizens. "A little while ago, my teacher and mentor Princess Celestia sent me to live in Ponyville. She sent me to study friendship, which is something I didn't really care much about. But now, on a day like today, I can honestly say I wouldn't be standing here if it weren't for the friendships I've made with all of you. Each one of you taught me something about friendship, and for that, I will always be grateful. Today, I consider myself the luckiest pony in Equestria. Thank you, friends. Thank you, everypony!"

Luckiest pony in Equestria. I could not find a better description than that. Lucky. Who knew how you could ever become a Princess out of luck?

A flash of light appeared beside me. I looked over and expressed my distaste with a sigh.

"Discord." I wondered where he had gotten to.

Discord spun around me, hovering overhead. "Don't be so glum, Swordy old boy! You don't need to act like such a big stick in the mud like your father was. What do you have against Twilight anyway? I don't remember her doing anything to you."

"I thought you of all ponies would know. There's a lot more she's done than she knows about, or rather what she hasn't done," I answered gruffly. "And don't compare me to my father, I'm nothing like him."

"Really now?" Discord spun around into my face. "Enlighten me."

I stared at Discord for a moment, reluctant to answer. Or maybe I just didn't know the answer? I couldn't tell for certain. I wasn't sure how to respond at all. What am I supposed to tell him?

"Fine, have it your way. I came all the way from Saddle Arabia on important business to say 'Hello!' and you can't even answer the simplest of questions." Discord turned around and began walking downwards as if there was an invisible staircase. 

"Wait-" I flew down towards him, "-it wasn't a simple question. Or maybe it was, I can't truly tell. Twilight is great, she saved Equestria multiple times, found the true meaning of friendship, is one of the most successful magicians of all time and has everything she could have ever wanted. But she tells it like it is: She got lucky, and I inherited the bad luck. I had tried to save Equestria myself on a number of occasions, and you know how many times I was denied that to Twilight? Just because she happened to get lucky one time?"

"Seven times," answered Discord.

It took me by surprise. "Seven?"

"There were many more times you could have taken opportunity to 'Save Equestria' than you realize. Nightmare Moon, myself, the changeling invasion, King Sombra, all of them were just the big ones. Equestria's citizens have been in danger on hundreds of occasions. In your time, there have been seven of such occasions you lost to Twilight. And dozens more times when Twilight went out of her way to solve more minor problems. She's been around. Much more than you have, Sword Shield. It wasn't just luck, it was friendship. The same thing she and her friends taught me."

"Well I was always too busy working in the Royal Guard or dealing with family to make any friends, and now I'm not sure I have any left," I paused but my mouth remained open. A thought had struck my head that seemed ridiculous, and I tried to get rid of it as fast as I could, but it wouldn't leave. It plagued my mind like Parasprites. I was shaken back to reality as Discord waved his paw in front of me. I looked back at him. "Now if you'll excuse me, Discord, I need... to speak with my Captain." I didn't notice the shield disappearing.

I couldn't deny the idea anymore. I had to leave, get as far from Princess Twilight as possible. I had to quit the Royal Guard.

The logic in my mind conflicted over the idea like Cerberus arguing with each head over who gets the meat. I couldn't serve Twilight, but I hated leaving my job. It meant everything to me, without it I wasn't sure where to go. Always my daily routine, get up, get to my station and work all day, go to bed. I had purpose in that. But now... I couldn't see the purpose.

I flew down to the Royal Barracks and into the Captain's office. I found him chatting with Shining Armor when I got there.

They both turned their attention on me as I walked in.

"Hey, Swordulan! Good to see you again," greeted Shining Armor. "Were you at the coronation? I didn't see you."

I glanced at him. "I was in the back."

"Anything you need, Lieutenant?" asked Justice.

"Yes, Captain Morningstar. Something my mind can't understand why, but I believe my heart does. Sir," I looked at both of them in the eye. "I have to quit."

The smiles on their faces disintegrated immediately.

"What?" asked Shining Armor with disbelief.

Justice stared at me hard, searching for any possible signs of me lying. "I know you play pranks from time to time, but this is serious. What are your reasons?"

I shook my head. "My reasons are my own. I've made up my mind, and I believe it's time for me to go. For how long I'm not sure, but I think someday I'll come back, if you'll have me. I'm sorry."

Shining Armor nodded. "If you believe it's the best choice for you, I'm in full support, though I might have a harder time sleeping knowing you aren't helping keep these boys in check."

Justice sat down, hooves crossed and looking disappointed. "I don't think it is necessary for you to quit on such short notice. If you come back I can't promise there will still be a spot for another Lieutenant."

"I know. I believe in your ability to keep the 'Guard going, you don't need me. Not like this. My tent is cleared, anything in my locker is worthless to me as of now. So I guess this is goodbye." I turned towards the door ready to leave everything behind, but I stopped as I felt a hoof grab my back.

I turned to see it was Shining Armor. "Not goodbye," he said. "Just so long for now."

Both Shining Armor and Justice stood up tall and gave me a salute. I turned towards them both and saluted back. "You haven't seen the last of me, you can be sure of that."

I trotted out the door and levitated out my sword, the only object I still had on me, and transformed it to fly. I hopped on, aiming east to the last place I needed to visit. Manehatten. I hesitated a moment, looking back at the Barracks and over the walls of Canterlot. I levitated myself up into the air, getting a view of the city. Much of it was still celebrating.

"Goodbye, Canterlot. Stay safe and avoid any world destroying catastrophes, though I'm sure Twilight can always save you."

I sped off towards Manehatten. It was gonna be a bit of a flight, but there was one last pony I needed to finally talk to. My father.

As I flew past trees and train tracks anxiety built up within me. I hadn't seen him in ages, even though I'm sure it was less time than that. I passed the time counting how many trees went by as I traveled. One hundred and sixteen, though I think I missed a few.

I arrived at Manehatten with my magic almost all drained out. I landed in the middle of a wide street, crowded with ponies. My head throbbed from using so much magic to fly and made me a bit dizzy. I shook it off and continued down the street, making my way to my parent's apartment.

Even though I managed to shake off most of the dizziness I still felt weird. It was as if the life was drained out of me. I continued to walk around Manehatten, zig zag pattern, and finally found the right apartment.

I walked inside and made my way through the hallways and staircases until finding the correct door. I swallowed my anxiety and knocked. I probably looked like a mess, after flying for so long, but I didn't have time to fix up. I hadn't even bothered taking off my tuxedo, which was now sweaty and dirty with a few bug stains.

After waiting a long minute the door opened. My mothers face slowly came into view. She looked older, a lot older. As she looked up at me her face filled with shock, as if she had just seen a ghost.

"S-Swordulan, what are you doing here? Did you hear the news?" she asked almost sounding afraid.

I moved in closer, but she pulled away. "Mom, are you okay? What news? Where's dad?"

"He's... he's gone," she answered with her eyes welling up.

The weight of the word slammed into me like a train off the rails. I didn't need any more explanation, just one last question.

"When?" I asked emotionlessly.

"A week after you left."

A week after I left? That was months ago. "Why wasn't I told about this?"

She didn't answer. She just pulled back inside her apartment and closed the door on me, leaving me in the hall. I could hear her sobbing. 

"I came back to forgive him," I said through the door. "So when you see him again, tell him for me."

I walked through the halls and down the stairs, finding my way back outside again. He was gone, and now I wasn't sure where to go. I needed to find friends, ponies I could trust. A wave of vertigo washed over me, my life still feeling drained.

I walked the streets, only half conscious, looking for an address. After asking for directions I knew where to go. I ran up a street and down another, finding a medium sized apartment which fit the description I got. I walked inside and found the book of the door numbers and found the correct name.

With what strength I had left I trotted up a staircase and down a short hallway. I found the correct door and knocked. Another wave of vertigo churned my stomach.

The door opened and a bright blue young colt answered the door. He gasped with delight and turned around.

"Mommy! Mommy! It's Lieutenant Shield!" he shouted.

I gave him a weak smile and a third wave of vertigo hit me harder than before. I fell to the floor, only managing to look up to see a peach colored earth pony.

"Oh my gosh, what happened?" I heard her ask, but the sound in my ears was starting to become muffled.

"Help me," was all I could manage.

And then the lights went dark.

I'd like to say that everything will be okay, that everything will turn out alright, that with time I might be able to correct myself, but like the Royal Guard taught me: Hope for the best, expect the worst. I couldn't see any light at the end of the tunnel, not yet anyway. I just hoped when I got there it would be happy to see me.