The Story of a Royal Guard: A Shield Contingency [OUTDATED/CANCELLED]

Forgetting what Katana had said, it was good to be back home. The next day all the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration were made, and it couldn’t have made me happier to have plenty of work to do hanging up decorations and setting up the castle courtyard.

The celebration went off without a hitch. With the Princesses returned and everything in order, the raising of the sun began, though not before Celestia had a few words.

“Citizens of Equestria! It is no longer with a heavy heart, but with great joy that I raise the summer sun. For this celebration now represents not the defeat of Nightmare Moon, but the return of my sister, Princess Luna!”

Luna flew up and began lowering the moon, and Celestia flew up and began raising the sun, and as they passed Twilight flew up with a sparkle to dazzle the crowd.

And with that the celebration was over.

Later in the day I found myself sitting at my desk in the barracks and staring at a document. I had a quill in my magic ready to write something on the document as though it were more paperwork, but there was nothing really to sign. I don’t know how long I was staring at it before I could accept what it really was.

STEADFAST SHIELD’S WILL: Concerning Swordulan Thunder Shield…

He was gone for good, and now I was to claim my inheritance. He left me with a small amount of bits, my grandfather’s shield and a letter, all of which would be waiting at my home.

I hadn’t given much thought to what happened to him, and now a pit was forming in my stomach. I left my mom, and though it seemed at the time she wanted to be left alone… I shouldn’t have left. And now I’m all alone, faced with what my dad’s left me. I don’t think I’m ready to face Equestria without somepony to go to for personal help. That’s always what my mom and dad were for. Sure I still have Shining Armor, Cadance and my Captain, but they have their own important jobs. I wouldn’t even get to see Shining Armor and Cadance that often.

I suppose now was the time to grow up and become as great as my grandfather had been.

After the rest of my patrols and paperwork were finished I headed home, and waiting for me outside my door was a package. My father’s will. I brought it inside with my magic and set it on the couch. On top was my grandfather’s shield, which had first been passed down to my dad, and now to me. It was a silver kite shield, and painted on the front was the head of a stallion, adorned with a diamond Royal Guard helmet. A valuable treasure, no doubt. The second item was a large bag of bits, which I had no idea what to do with. I wasn’t exactly a needy pony. Perhaps a new suit from Rarity would be nice.

At the bottom of the box was a letter addressed to me from my dad. I opened it up and began to read.

“Dear Swordulan, at the time I write this you are but a young colt in training. By the time you read this, I would expect you to be a fully grown stallion, strong and tall like your grandfather. If you are reading this, then I should be long gone. I just want you to know that I am proud of you, and I hope you live your life to its fullest. There is something I wish of you, though. Lately you haven’t had much time to be socializing and playing with the other young colts and fillies, and I fear such activities will not be in your interest as you grow older. If you’re reading this and still haven’t found that special somepony in your life, I’d like to convince you to--”

Dad, no…

“--go out there and search for the one--”

No, is he really going to make me?

“--that’s right for you. Love is a special thing that--”

He is…

“--everypony needs. It’ll get you through the roughest of times and keep you in the best of times. I may not be able to help you with this now, but I would like to make a suggestion. Do you remember the Dawns a few houses down from our home? They had a young filly, about your age, named Summer Dawn. I’m sure you remember her. I don’t want you going through your life alone, and I hope that you will take my advice and look her up, in your own time of course. If not her, then at least try to keep looking. Never forget that you have the potential to make somepony very, very happy. Live a good, healthy and loving life, son.”

I stared blankly at the letter for a few more minutes. How was I supposed to handle this? I suppose I could burn the letter, put its ashes in a container, put the container in a chest and lock the chest and attach a chained metal ball to it and sink the chest into the ocean, but… that might be too extreme. Ugh. I’m gonna have to do what he asks, aren’t I? If it was my dad’s last wish… I think it would be fitting to forgive him by at least trying.

Strangely enough, I did remember her. Summer Dawn, the cream coated, red-headed filly who I used to see playing outside in the streets every now and then. If I recalled correctly she was one of the librarians of the Canterlot Library. Hay, it was probably still early enough to head back to Canterlot and see herrr… blaugh, I’m not even ready to do something like this. Five years in the Royal Guard and I’ve faced plenty of the most terrifying villains to ever walk upon Equestria, and yet I can’t handle talking to a mare in an attempt to… I don’t even want to think about it. I was not prepared for this sort of thing.

Maybe I should take a run through the Everfree Forest. No, I’m not stupid enough to go looking for trouble. What sort of excuse was I trying to make up? Come on you flightless dweeb, it couldn’t be that hard. What else were my options?

Sleep on it?

Sleep on it.

Sleep on what? This shouldn’t be a contest, I should just do it. Shining Armor would want me to I bet. Maybe I should seek his advice beforehoof.

That could work.

Yeah, I’ll go see him tomorrow.

I woke up bright and early. Unfortunately that was due to a choir of birds outside my house refusing to shut up, so I blasted them with magic. Or I wished I did, but that would be a felony and I don’t need something like that on my permanent record.

Now that the Summer Sun Celebration had ended I was given the weekend off, if I so choose. Today I’d go to the Crystal Empire and seek Prince Shining Armor’s help for the epic quest to win a mare’s heart, and I would not fail this one! Well, I might, and in a way I want to, but being the stubborn stallion I am I refuse to slack off on the task.

I ate a quick breakfast and hurried out the door, only to realize the train to the Crystal Empire didn’t arrive until noon. I’d have to entertain myself until then. I decided to take a stroll through Ponyville to see if there were any issues going on, but all was relatively quiet beyond Pinkie Pie’s loud voice echoing in the distance.

“This is the most daring dare anypony ever dared dare another pony to dare!”

So somepony had dared dare another pony to dare them to a dare and it was quite daring. Yeah, I still don’t think I understand.

I headed for the library in the interest of finding something to read for a bit, but it was empty. No Twilight, no Spike, and there were dozens of books piled everywhere. You’d think a Princess living in a library would take care of it and have someone to look after everything when she was away, but no, not Twilight. Well, might as well grab something to read anyway. Some random book about Alicorn magic looked interesting, so I grabbed it and sat down.

I spent a little too much time in that book and nearly missed the train. Thankfully I was able to get on board right before it left. If I had thought about it I would’ve grabbed another book for the train ride, but I managed to catch a short nap along the way, so I was content.

It was only a couple of hours into the afternoon by the time I arrived. The Crystal Empire was alive as ever. The city and its citizens shined in a blaze of crystal light and joy. Talk of the Equestria Games coming to the empire was evident, and everypony seemed excited as ever. Most of the talk was about the Relay Race Qualifiers that were right around the corner, said to take place in Rainbow Falls. I might have to go see that, and it’d give me a good reason to finally visit Rainbow Falls. And maybe if this special somepony thing works out…

“Sir?” asked a guard in front of me who had been waving his hoof in front of my face.

I shook my head to snap out of the trance. “Sorry, what is it?”

I finally looked at the guard to see he had a bright orange coat with a dark blue mane and tail, and I swear I was almost looking at myself from a few years ago but with wings instead of a horn and… well, a blue mane and tail.

The guard reached out his hoof. “My name’s Flash Sentry, I’m one of the Lieutenants here and if I’m not mistaken you’re Lieutenant Swordulan Thunder Shield, right?”

I reached out my hoof to shake and nodded slowly. “That would be me.”

I couldn’t believe it, Shining Armor had replaced me already. Who did this guy think he was?

He smiled. “It’s such a pleasure to meet you, Shining Armor has told me so much about your valiant deeds for the Royal Guard! I have to admit, I’m a bit of a fan. You’re certainly an inspiration to the little guys here.”

I looked at him confusedly. “That’s a bit surprising. I had no idea I had an effect on the Royal Guard here.”

“Certainly! The Crystal Guards are particularly grateful for your service. We’ve all heard the stories how you and Shining Armor helped fend off the nasty King Sombra when the Crystal Empire was discovered again. It’s truly an honor to have you visit. Are you here to see Shining Armor?”

“I wouldn't say I helped too much with that, but thank you, and yes I am. Is he available?”

“Of course! Right this way, I’m sure he’ll be glad to see you.”

I followed Flash Sentry to the castle and insisted I could find my way around. I walked through a few halls and nearly passed Shining Armor as he made his own way through castle. He did a double take as he passed.

“Swordulan?!” he exclaimed. “You know you’re always welcome to visit, but maybe use a little forewarning in the future! Where have you been?”

I gave him a hoof bump. “Manehatten, Canterlot, Ponyville, and now here. Sorry about what happened at our last meeting, I was not acting myself. I’m getting things straightened out though.”

“It’s alright, and I’m glad to hear. Is it alright if I ask what happened?”

“My dad, uh… well he died, and paired with some other motions I was going through did not mix well. I got my cutie mark back though.”

“Oh, I hadn’t heard about that. I’m so sorry. But hey, you really did get your cutie mark back. How did you do it?”

“I’m still not entirely sure, but Discord said it had to do with my sword, which broke on my way back to Canterlot.”

“It broke?”

“Yeah, the crystal cracked and part of the enchantment was lost. Can’t do much with it anymore, though I haven’t been using it that much to test.”

“That’s a shame. Anyway, let’s walk and talk,” Shining Armor motioned me to follow. “I’m on my way to help supervise preparations for the Equestria Games. Maybe you can give me a hoof?”

I followed by his side. “Sure, but first I should tell you why I came here. You see, I got a letter from my dad which stated his last wish for me…”

“Go on.”

“And he requested that I try to find a special somepony. I have no experience in… anything like that, and no idea where to even begin.”

He laughed. “And so you came to me for advice?”

I sighed. “Yeah.”

“Well you came to the right place, but maybe not the right pony. Cadance is usually better at these kind of things, but I’ll still give my advice if you prefer.”

“For now, yes. Thanks.”

We walked to the stadium where the Equestria Games would be taking place. Dozens of crystal ponies were running about cleaning the bleachers, trimming the grass, organizing equipment and setting up various decorations and stages. Someone would approach Shining Armor every now and again asking what goes where.

“So what do you want to know first?” asked Shining Armor.

I spun my vision around trying my best to avoid eye contact with anyone. “I don’t know, maybe just… what do I do? Is there some kind of tactical approach I can take? Any specific strategies to use?”

Shining Armor laughed for a good minute, grabbing some strange looks. “Oh, Swordulan… I’m sorry, that was great. No, it doesn’t exactly work that way. You just have to be yourself, and be confident that it’ll be enough.”

“What if I’m not confident in myself?”

He paused to think. “Hmm. There’s always the corndog approach.”

“The corndog approach?”

“Yeah. Present yourself in a way that looks interesting and inviting, kind of fake it till you make it, and then once someone actually gets into you they’ll finally realize everything you have to offer, and who could refuse that?”

“So, pretend that I’m interesting when in reality… I really am interesting?”

“Uh, well, not exactly--” He sat still for a moment, the cogs in his mind spinning. He facehoofed. “Oh... and I thought that was such a brilliant plan for so long. Who cares, I still think you can do it. You’re a Royal Guard, some mares might find that interesting in itself.”

“But that’s all I seem to be. I’m a guard, and I’m really good at it! What else though!? I need some sort of depth, otherwise I don’t think I’m interesting at all! Do I just run around Equestria trying new things as if I were trying to get a new cutie mark?” I began imitating myself in a theoretical conversation. “‘Yeah! I’ve been all around Equestria doing new things. I scuba-dive, build bridges, fight monsters, explore dungeons, discover new plants and herbs and know every language from Equestrian to Gryphonian to Zebriac! I’m also creating my own language which I call Canadiac!’ ‘Oh my, Swordulan, you’re sooooo interesting!’”

“It sounds like you’ve got it figured out then.”

“I don’t though! I have no idea what I’m doing.”

Shining Armor patted me on the back. “Don’t worry about it. You should probably speak to Cadance though, I’m sure she would have better advice than I.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah… though I bet you’re only saying that because she’s your wife.”

“Ouch. Let’s keep that between the two of us, alright?”

I nodded. “I’ll go see her then. Main room, right?”

“It’s where she should be. I’ll catch you later.”

I walked away with a short laugh. “Yeah, it’s about time you payed me back for the hydra incident!”

“Oh come on, that was years ago! Let it go!”

I shook my head and continued on my way into the castle interior.