The Story of a Royal Guard: A Shield Contingency [OUTDATED/CANCELLED]

I guess nopony will have to worry about that dragon ever again, though I'm still not entirely sure what happened to it. I continued on my way through the forest, my heart still pumping full of adrenaline. I walked slowly though, making sure I was going the right way and not getting caught by any other wild creatures.

Another reason I went slowly is because I was still trying to process what had happened. My sword was weaker now, but not by much. I'm guessing that whatever entity is inside my sword either got out or just ended up damaging the enchantment spell. Either way, I had no clue what sort of consequences there might be.

And then there was the fact that part of my cutie mark reappeared, and when it happened I remember feeling… protected, yet vulnerable. It was the strangest thing. For a moment, I had a burning desire to put myself in the line of danger before somepony else and be their shield. Was that who I was? I remember… not remembering. I had forgotten that’s what made me special. I would put myself in risk in defense of others, making myself vulnerable, but protecting others. And I knew now that I would do it again, even if I were to fail every time I tried.

I just needed to find a way to get the rest of myself back.

That was probably the strangest thing I’ve ever thought.

As the sun rose and the feeling came back into my hooves, there was a snap of twigs nearby. I stopped and turned my head towards the snap, but there was nothing there. I turned back, when I noticed a large boulder with a door on it, along with vaguely familiar housing decorations. Strange looking masks and trinkets hung about.

Where had it come from? I never noticed it before, though perhaps the darkness was to blame. I began to walk towards the door. “Hello? Is anypony there?”

Some clattering come from within, as if a cooking pan had been dropped.

“No, no ponies here,” came a harsh voice.

I knocked on the door. “Are you alright?”

There was some grumbling, then hoofsteps came up to the door and it opened, revealing a zebra. An old zebra, wearing large diamond rings around his neck.

“Who are you? What do you want?” he asked with a frown.

I took a step back from the door, gaping at the zebra. “I… nothing. I’m sorry for bothering you. I’ll just continue on my way.” I turned around and began to walk away with my teeth clenched.

“Hold on now,” said the zebra. “Come back here for a second. You’re a unicorn, right?”

I looked back cautiously. “Yeah.”

The zebra nodded and looked at the ground. “I knew a few unicorns once.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond. “That’s… nice.” I cleared my throat. “What were their names?”

The zebra chuckled and looked back towards the door. “Why don’t you come inside, I’ll tell you a story about them.”

Strange old zebra living inside of a boulder in the middle of a strange forest offering me to tell me a story about some unicorns I didn’t know. Nothing could go wrong with that, right? Now, my parents taught me well, don’t trust strangers in strange places, but nothing about this zebra struck me badly. He was kinda creepy, but as far as I knew zebras were harmless.

I walked back towards him slowly. “Alright.”

He opened the door and motioned his hoof inside. “The name’s Valhalla by the way.”

That’s an odd name, but I won't judge. “I’m... Swordulan. Nice to meet you.”

I walked inside his home. It was dark, having no windows and just a few lanterns hanging on the walls. Assorted rugs and tapestries were strewn about, and multiple potions and plant life were scattered around on stone tables or counters.

I looked at the place and nodded, mildly impressed. “It’s a nice place, for being inside a boulder.”

Valhalla snorted. “It’s the next best thing from a tree. Unfortunately this forest doesn’t have many good trees. Sit down. Would you like some tea? Home made.”

“No thanks.” Truth be told I was rather thirsty, but I wasn't ready to risk whatever brew this zebra had made up. I sat down on a stone bench next to a table. Lots of clutter was on top of the table, potions, some empty, some full and some broken. “You don’t get many visitors around here, do you?”

Valhalla walked over to another table and began preparing something in a cup. “No, I don’t. That’s the idea though. Being alone out here, away from everypony else’s troubles. Hmph. Yeah, some worth they are, worrying about Princesses and whatnot.”

“You like it out here?”

“I like the peace, when there aren’t strange explosions occurring in the middle of the night anyway. I like the nature.” Valhalla paused and took a sip from his cup. “She liked nature.”

“She?”

Valhalla glanced back at me for a second. “Not the unicorns I was talking about earlier.” He took another sip of tea. “No, she was something much more special than any magic could ever show me.”

He was beginning to confuse me. “You don’t seem much like the zebras I know.”

Valhalla chuckled. “And how many zebras do you know?”

“Two, including you. The other's name is Zecora, she lives in the Everfree Forest.”

Valhalla put his tea down and turned around. “Ah, and what’s so different between her and I?”

“She rhymes everything when she speaks, for one thing.”

Valhalla waved his hoof aside. “Traditional stuff. I left that behind a long time ago. No point in the rhyme, it takes up too much time.” He chuckled at himself. “Guess that sort of stuff never leaves you.” He sat down across from me at the table and stared at his potions.

“So, you were going to tell me about those unicorns?”

His eyes looked up at me. “Swordulan, have you ever lost someone you loved?”

That was uncalled for. I searched the ground trying to think what I would say. “I… guess?” The image of my father’s face appeared in my mind. “Not really. I’ve lost a lot, but never someone I’ve loved. Why do you ask something like that?”

Valhalla scooted forward in his seat and made himself more comfortable. “Let me tell you a story. I’m sure it’s one you’ve never heard of. It’s about those two unicorns, a pegasus, an earth pony and myself. The unicorn’s names were Evening Flash and Star Swirl-”

I interrupted, recognizing a name. “Star Swirl? The bearded?”

Valhalla grunted. “No, not that Star Swirl. No more interruptions please.”

I nodded. “Okay, I won’t. Continue.”

“Evening Flash and Star Swirl, the pegasus was named Willow Leaf and the earth pony was named…” Valhalla paused and smiled, looking away towards a pink towel that hung on the wall. “Maboo. Evening, Star, Willow and Maboo. We were quite the adventurous group back in the day.”

He had my curiosity now. “What happened to them?”

Valhalla sighed. “It's... rather sad, especially so since it was my fault. I’ll start at the beginning, which happened to be in this forest, right at the base of Foal Mountain. For most of my life I’ve been a traveler, learning different things about different ponies and their cultures, and it started one day when I was travelling around this forest when an old pony friend of mine spotted me. Her name was Maboo, and she was a bundle of energy. She was travelling with a group, which were the rest of the ponies I mentioned. They were on an adventure and needed some medical help, so I decided to pitch in.”

I interrupted again. “You don’t strike me as the medical type of zebra.”

“What do you think all these potions are for? Many, if not all zebras are masters of alchemy, potion brewing and healing techniques. I learned even more about those things than most of my kin through travelling. Back to my story. Maboo, Willow Leaf, Evening Flash and Star Swirl were a small group just trying to make their way in Equestria, but times were tough back then. Equestria was on the verge of a war against the Griffons as they continued to threaten my homeland. They wanted to stop a war from happening, so I joined them.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Stop a war between the Griffons? I’ve never heard of any Griffon wars.”

Valhalla pointed to himself. “And you’re looking at the reason why. I’m sure that officials have kept that bit of history in the dark. Never happened, never needed to happen, so you don’t need to know about it. Don’t go telling anypony about this either.”

I nodded. “Right. So you stopped the war from happening? How?”

“I made a choice. I stayed with Maboo’s group for a very long time, and we all became good friends. Willow and I became... particularly close. We were running back and forth from town to town spreading news, running diplomatic missions for Celestia herself and doing our best to prevent conflict, and if conflict did occur, tend to the victims. One day we were stuck Manehatten, and I received word about my homeland being invaded. That’s when I made the choice to leave the group in Manehatten and go home to help.”

“What happened to your group?”

“I didn’t learn about their fates until long after the war was averted. I went back home and was able to talk with the Griffons and we found a resolution to the problems they were having with my people, everyone was content. As the tension began to disappear, I went back to Manehatten to find all my friends were gone.” Valhalla’s eyes drooped. “Forever.”

I glanced down at my sword. “Were they… killed?”

Valhalla nodded. “One way or another. Evening and Star went down fighting off a group of Griffon assassins that had been targeting our group for some time. They beat them all in the end, but it was too much for them. With their tragic loss, Maboo apparently became... psychotic.” Valhalla flinched at the word. “Her end was the most terrible. Being unable to cope with the loss of her friends, she killed herself. She was such a happy pony… smiling all the time, always laughing and having fun. With her and myself gone, Willow lost morale. She simply gave up, and eventually the Griffons got her too.”

A tear slid down my face. “That’s awful. I… I’ve never heard of anything like that, even with my time in the Royal Guard. It all just seems so safe. I mean, I’ve seen my share of terrors here in Equestria, but I always felt like everything was going to be alright, that everypony was going to make it. I never worried.”

Valhalla solemnly nodded. “Things are very different now than they used to be. There's no worry about war, everything is guarded and safe. The only reason is because of my friend's sacrifice.”

It was hard to believe that there was someone like Valhalla alive, someone who’s seen more than I ever probably could. I still had questions, though I didn’t like having to ask after him telling me so much already. “So why are you living out here then? Wouldn’t you want to be in your homeland?”

Valhalla stood up and put away his cup. “No, anywhere but there. I stay here to get away from my mistake, and rather stay close to one of the best decisions of my life. No point in going anywhere else.”

A strange thought occurred to me. “What if you could go back? To the time when you made the choice to leave them, change your decision. Would you?”

Valhalla snorted as he began to sort through his potions. “I can’t, so I don’t see your point.”

I shook my head. “I think you can. In fact, I’m sure you can.”

He turned around to face me. “And how do you think so? I know time spells exist, but I also know that even the most powerful unicorn couldn’t create one that would last, and you don’t look like any powerful unicorn.”

“I don’t have to, I have this--” I levitated my sword into the air. “--And if you’ve traveled all over Equestria, maybe you’ll recognize these sort of crystals.”

Valhalla stared at the crystals. “They look like ordinary enchanting crystals. Clever to use on a weapon I suppose, but nothing special.”

I rolled my eyes. “They’re from the Crystal Empire, over a thousand years old.”

Valhalla took a closer look. “That’s impossible, they should have all disappeared.”

“Not these ones apparently.” I poured magic into my sword and shaped it into various animals. “Ever since I enchanted them, I’ve been able to do incredible things with the sword. Long range teleportation, fly, unlimited Sight Seeing range, spells nopony should be able to do on a normal object. If I can do that, I think I can make a permanent time portal, or something like that.”

“And then what? You want me to go back and change my past, and in possibly doing so change the entire future? I may wish I had my friends back, but I’m not that naive.”

I shook my head. “You don’t have to change anything. I bet I can shift you into a parallel universe where you can choose to stay with your friends and save them. Once you go through, you’ll be yourself at the time of your decision. Stay with them, find another way to stop the war.”

Valhalla narrowed his eyes. “Will I be the same as I am now? Will I remember?”

“I can’t guarantee any of that, but you should still be you. Come on.”

I had no idea if this was going to work, but it was worth a try. After that story, I felt a little guilty. This old zebra has been through so much worse than I have, and I felt like I owed him something for it.

We came outside and I found an open space which to do the spell. I levitated my sword in front of me and transformed it into a wall with the rims jutting forward.

I looked over at Valhalla. “Are you ready?”

He nodded. “Do it. I'm ready to go back, if I can.”

I started the spell, pouring magic into the sword as quickly as I could. I didn’t know what sort of spell I was doing, but with whatever that was left in the magic of the sword’s crystals I was sure it would know what I wanted. It could sense my magic and understand the type of spell I wanted, and so I was sure the portal would work. However, it was taking nearly all the strength out of me. I was firing magic into the sword at my maximum power, and I could feel the spell starting to come out, but it wasn’t enough.

I had to put my heart into this spell for it to work. Let emotions get involved. Usually when unicorns cast spells they have a special lock that prevents their emotions from controlling their magic, like how our pipes automatically make sure we don’t swallow food down the wrong tube. Sometimes it fails and we make mistakes, or it happens while we’re newborns. For this I let it go freely.

Immediately as I let my emotions go I felt a need to do something for another. Whether it was from Valhalla’s story or not, I don’t know, but I had to do this now, as an act of kindness. My own worries were nothing.

A burst of magic flowed through my horn and continued powering the spell. A new feeling overcame me. I wanted to laugh, laugh and smile at everything that’s happened in my life. I was such a boring stallion, working all day long and doing nothing else. I remembered the time when I was helping Shining Armor’s proposal with Cadance and she thought I was proposing to someone else. How embarrassing that was, but now I couldn’t help but laugh.

Another burst of magic flowed through my horn. Immediately I wanted to give something to someone I cared about. Maybe give things to everyone I cared about. That list seemed very small right now, but I could still try to be more generous with others outside of it. I had so much more to offer.

A third burst of magic. I have to be honest with myself now, would I really go back to Canterlot and do all those things? Or would I just try to get back into the Royal Guard and continue working again? It seemed most likely that I’d just apologize and get back to work.

A fourth burst of magic. No, I had to stay loyal to my friends. I owed them all that much. Shining Armor, Cadance, Captain Morningstar and the other officers in the Royal Guard. I would fight for them to the end.

A fifth burst of magic. Now I knew what to do. My friends came first, work came later. I could make more friends too. It would take me some time, but I knew I could do it. I’m a Royal Guard, and all Royal Guards are known to be stubborn and persistent. It was our magical quality.

A sixth and final burst of magic fired into the sword and the portal opened. I clenched my teeth and looked back at Valhalla. “Go now!”

Valhalla walked up to the portal but paused. He looked back at me with a smile for a moment. He jumped through.

After he disappeared the portal faded and the sword exploded in a flurry of energy, knocking me back. As the dust settled I walked over where the sword had been. It had transformed itself back to normal. I levitated it up and tried to shape it, but failed. My magic wouldn’t go into it anymore. I looked at the crystal and saw that it had cracked in half.

At that point I knew that I would never be able to fly again.