Hi. I'm Wing Blaze, the newest member of the royal guards. See, the princesses need more guards from time to time, either due to retirement or death. So, every year or so, the princesses hold events, called the "Guard Games."
Don't blame me for the name.
Anyways, they send in young ponies, about sixteen or seventeen, to compete. Almost every colt wants to be a royal guard. To make sure no weak ponies get accepted into royal duty, they make the competition really hard. Only the best of the best make it. Now, there are different courses for every species: Earth Ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns. The Pegasus course is obviously in the clouds. It has a closed in raceway, with loop-de-loops and all. Each colt goes in one by one. Fastest scores wins. Useless fact of the day: World Record is thirty-five seconds, two milliseconds.
Another useless fact of the day: I heard there was somepony who could break the sound barrier; but I also heard they weren't interested. Wanted to go to the Wonderbolts. Stupid Wonberbolts, only Pegasi to be famous . . . .
Later in the story, I meet this Pegasus, and fine, I thought she was a little cute. But not important for the story now. Onto the Unicorn course.
The Unicorn Course is not really a Course, but a magic test. The Unicorns are packed with armor, since arrows constantly shoot at them in this course. What they have to do is to either block the arrows with a barrier with their magic, or dodge them. Both will impress the Princesses. First few to deactivate the arrow spawner and cross the finish line, gets accepted. (The only reason why they have to deactivate is because Unicorns are usually the smart stereotype. Some have amazing agility, but not so much wits.)
Finally, the Earth Pony course. This course has the most obstacles, because you need to bereally athletic to become a guard when you're an Earth Pony. You have to slide, jump, crouch, twist around, etc. And to top it all off, you're getting dirt slapped on your face every few seconds. To sum it all up, it's kind of like a combination between the Unicorn and Pegasus course.
So, enough of the explaining. Let's get to the games.
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"Hello everypony!" A majestic voice boomed, hovering over the crowd. "Welcome to the Grand 1004th Guard Games!" The crowed screamed in delight as a response. "I, Princess Celestia, am here, along with my beautiful sister, Princess Luna." A gigantic television was on the very top of the arena, and everypony could see the blush in her face.
"And, for the first time, please welcome Princess Cadence and Princess Twilight Sparkle!" Luna shouted to the crowd, and, as in routine, the crowd cheered. "As you all know, we are here to host the games!" Cadence said, making sure the crowd quieted down enough for them to hear her voice.
Now, how can I know all of this?
Because I was there.
I looked up, seeing the four princesses in all their beauty. I was accepted into the Guard Games. I was in the place where every colt wanted to be. I couldn't help to smile with every second of it. All around me, I could notice all of the other colts smiling too. One was even jumping up and down, unable to control his happiness. There were at least one hundred where I was at the moment, but there were multiple 'resting' stations. "Now, in tradition, we are going to announce all the wonderful colts' names!" Princess Sparkle declared, happily.
"Now, let us start . . ." Princess Celestia began. "First off, Aerial Strike!" A Pegasus walked out of the clearing, with his blonde mane and light brown coat. He waved to the crowd while they responded with cheers. You could imagine the excitement of your family when your name is called.
"Next, Agility Bolt!" Luna beemed, revealing a young Earth Pony, obviously shy. He hid behind his brown mane, with the same color coat. Soon enough, he rushed back to safety, the resting zone.
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After a while of calling named, I realized they were called name by ABC. Knowing that I start with a W, I grumpily waited until they got to the W's.
"Everypony, next up is Wing Blaze!" Princess Luna boomed as I shot my ears up, noticing my chance. I flew across to the middle, smiling and waving my hooves. I brushed some of my red mane off and smirked. I am way too athletic to lose.
I happily trotted back into the resting zone, knowing that the name calling will end soon. Of course, I was right, because after thirty more minutes, the calling was over. "Everypony, go to your respectful positions!" Princess Celestia nicely commanded. Ponies flew, Unicorns trotted, Earth Ponies ran. I flew and looked around at my competition. Not threatening at all. I smirked. I sat on the platform for the waiting Pegasi, since once again, it was in alphabetic order. While I was waiting, I still couldn't believe I was there. I was really excited.
But at the same time, I felt like if I were to become a guard, tragedy was going to strike . . .
